Behold my hands … – Jesus proceeds to give them evidence that he was truly the same person that had been crucified. He first showed them his hands and his feet – still, pierced, and with the wounds made by the nails still open. Compare Joh 20:27. He told them to handle him and see him. He ate before them. All this was to satisfy them that he was not, as they supposed, a spirit. Nor could better evidence have been given. He appealed to their senses, and performed acts which a disembodied spirit could not do.

Handle me – Or touch me; feel of me. Compare Joh 20:27.

And see – Be convinced, for you could not thus handle a spirit. The object here was to convince them that his body had really come to life.

For a spirit … – He appeals here to what they well knew; and this implies that the spirit may exist separate from the body. That was the view of the apostles, and our Saviour distinctly countenances that belief.

Luk 24:41

Believed not for joy – Their joy was so great, and his appearance was so sudden and unexpected, that they were bewildered, and still sought more evidence of the truth of what they wished to believe. This is nature. We have similar expressions in our language. The news is too good to be true; or, I cannot believe it; it is too much for me.

Any meat – This word does not mean meat in our sense of it, but in the old English sense, denoting anything to eat.

Luk 24:42

Honey-comb – Honey abounded in Palestine, and was a very common article of food. Bees lived in caves of the rocks, in the hollows of trees, and were also kept as with us. The disciples gave, probably, just what was their own common fare, and what was ready at the time.

Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible

39-43. Behold, c.lovinglyoffering them both ocular and tangible demonstration ofthe reality of His resurrection.

a spirit hath notanimportant statement regarding “spirits.”

flesh and bonesHe saysnot “flesh and blood” for the blood is the life ofthe animal and corruptible body (Ge9:4), which “cannot inherit the kingdom of God” (1Co15:50); but “flesh and bones,” implying the identity,but with diversity of laws, of the resurrection body. (See onJoh 20:24-28).

Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown’s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible

Behold my hands, and my feet,…. The Evangelist John adds, “and side”; that is, the prints of the nails and spear, in his hands, and feet, and side; and the wounds they made there, and the scars they left behind; by which they might be convinced he was not a spirit, and be assured of the truth of his resurrection, and that in the same numerical body in which he suffered; as well as that it might be observed by them how great was his love to them, to endure what he did for them.

Handle me and see; or know by feeling, as well as by sight; so that if the one was not sufficient, the other might confirm; sight might be deceived, but feeling could not: Apollonius Tyaneus, to them that did not know whether he was alive or dead, and who took him for a spirit, proposed himself to be touched, and handled, that they might be convinced z:

for a spirit hath not flesh and bones; nothing but appearance, or air at most; no solid substance to be felt and handled:

as ye see me have; or may perceive, both by sight and feeling.

z Philostratus de Vita Apollon. l. 8, c. 5.

Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible

Myself (). Jesus is patient with his proof. They were convinced before he came into the room, but that psychological shock had unnerved them all.

Handle (). This very word is used in 1Jo 1:1 as proof of the actual human body of Jesus. It is an old verb for touching with the hand.

Flesh and bones ( ). At least this proves that he is not just a ghost and that Jesus had a real human body against the Docetic Gnostics who denied it. But clearly we are not to understand that our resurrection bodies will have “flesh and bones.” Jesus was in a transition state and had not yet been glorified. The mystery remains unsolved, but it was proof to the disciples of the identity of the Risen Christ with Jesus of Nazareth.

Fuente: Robertson’s Word Pictures in the New Testament

Handle [] . Compare 1Jo 1:1. The word occurs also Act 17:27; Heb 12:18. “It never expresses the so handling an object as to exercise a moulding, modifying influence upon it, but at most a feeling of its surface; this, it may be, with the intention of learning its composition (Gen 27:12, 21, 22); while, not seldom, it signifies no more than a feeling for or after an object, without any actual coming in contact with it at all” (Trench, ” Synonyms “). Compare Act 17:27. Used of groping in the dark, Job 5:14; of the blind, Isa 49:10; Deu 28:29; Jud 16:26. See on Heb 12:18.

Fuente: Vincent’s Word Studies in the New Testament

1) “Behold my hands and my feet,” (idete tas cheiras mou kai tous podas mou) “You all behold, just look upon my hands and my feet,” as they were pierced, Zec 13:6; Which their hands had handled, 1Jn 1:1-3. These were visible evidence of His identity. That nail prints were there indicates that He was nailed, not just tied to the cross.

2) “That it is I myself:” (hoti ego eimi autos) “That I am, it is me for real,” a real person, with my own body, and not merely an angel or a spirit, a temporary ministering servant, Heb 1:14.

3) “Handle me and see;” (pselaphesate me kai idete) “You all just feel me and perceive;” He challenged to strengthen their faith, to confirm them in assurance, Joh 20:20; Joh 20:27.

4) “For a spirit hath not flesh and bones,” -(hoti pneuma sarka kai ostera ouk echei) “Because a spirit does not have flesh and bones,” in which they may die and go to the grave, and come forth, 1Co 15:10.

5) “As ye see me have.” (kathos eme theoreite echonta) “As you all observe me as having,” even right now, as He showed them His nail pierced hands and feet, Joh 20:20; Joh 20:27; Rom 8:11.

Fuente: Garner-Howes Baptist Commentary

39. Look at my hands and my feet. He calls upon their bodily senses as witnesses, that they may not suppose that a shadow is exhibited to them instead of a body. And, first, he distinguishes between a corporeal man and a spirit; as if he had said, “Sight and touch will prove that I am a real man, who have formerly conversed with you; for I am clothed with that flesh which was crucified, and which still bears the marks of it.” Again, when Christ declares that his body may be touched, and that it has solid bones, this passage is justly and appropriately adduced by those who adhere to us, for the purpose of refuting the gross error about the transubstantiation of bread into the body, or about the local presence of the body, which men foolishly imagine to exist in the Holy Supper. For they would have us to believe that the body of Christ is in a place where no Mark of a body can be seen; and in this way it will follow that it has changed its nature, so that it has ceased to be what it was, and from which Christ proves it to be a real body. If it be objected, on the other hand, that his side was then pierced, and that his feet and hands were pierced and wounded by the nails, but that now Christ is in heaven without any vestige of wound or injury, it is easy to dispose of this objection; for the present question is not merely in what form Christ appeared, but what he declares as to the real nature of his flesh. Now he pronounces it to be, as it were, a distinguishing character of his body, that he may be handled, and therefore differs from a spirit. We must therefore hold that the distinction between flesh and spirit, which the words of Christ authorize us to regard as perpetual, exists in the present day.

As to the wounds, we ought to look upon this as a proof by which it was intended to prove to us all, that Christ rose rather for us them for himself; since, after having vanquished death, and obtained a blessed and heavenly immortality, yet, on our account, he continued for a time to bear some remaining marks of the cross. It certainly was an astonishing act of condescension towards the disciples, that he chose rather to want something that was necessary to render perfect the glory of the resurrection, than to deprive their faith of such a support. But it was a foolish and an old wife’s dream, to imagine that he will still continue to bear the marks of the wounds, when he shall come to judge the world.

Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary

(39) Behold my hands and my feet.The test thus offered to the disciples, like that afterwards given to Thomas, was to be to them a proof that they were not looking on a spectre from the shadow-world of the dead. The Resurrection was a reality, not an appearance. In St. Johns words, which our hands have handled (1Jn. 1:1), we have an interesting coincidence with the use of the same word here. The conditions of the problem must remain, however, transcendental and mysterious. There is a real corporeity, and yet there is a manifest exemption from the common conditions of corporeal existence. St. Lukes narrative presents an undesigned coincidence with that of Joh. 20:25. What Thomas asked for was the evidence which had, he heard, been given to others. Without that evidence he could not, he felt, believe.

Fuente: Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)

39. A spirit hath not flesh and bones We have here, in opposition to materialism, the clearest possible assertion of the independent existence of spirit. There is no other explanation of these words which does not insult the Saviour and abuse his language.

In regard to the nature of our Lord’s risen body previous to the ascension, we may say that there are FOUR different opinions prevalent. The first supposes a body in substance entirely new substituted for the previous body; the second, a body the same in substance and attributes; just as Lazarus’s natural unchanged body was raised the same as before death; the third, a body the same in substance but endowed with new properties and powers; the fourth, the same body glorified as completely as after his ascension.

We reject the first as being no resurrection at all, but a creation; and doubt the fourth as not provable if true. That the third is preferable to the second may thus appear.

Perhaps all will grant that our Lord’s ordinary stay or abode between his resurrection and ascension was in the invisible; his visible appearances during the forty days being only occasional. His body possessed then normally, and perhaps we may say naturally, in its risen nature, the power of invisibility, at will. It possessed, also, a superiority to the control of gravitation, to the need of food, clothing, and other bodily necessities, and, probably, a superiority to disease and a second mortality. But these are all new powers; possible by miracle, but not belonging to man or to Jesus corporeally as a man. The third, therefore, seems the preferable view.

This view assumes, that although our Lord’s risen body had its own proper form and substance, and its own proper outline and limitation, yet that he was able, more or less, to modify it at will. so as to retain or resume traces, constituent parts, or substantive properties of its former self, such as wounds, limbs, flesh, and bones. However modified, temporarily or permanently, by will or by nature, it would be the same body; able to prove itself such to human eyes by resuming its old familiar peculiarities. So he could identify himself to Thomas, Joh 20:25; he could be grasped by the women, Joh 20:29; could (like the angels in Gen 18:8; Gen 19:3) invest himself with apparent garments, and eat and drink before his disciples. Luk 24:41-43.

By his self-modifying power he could not only enter the invisible instantaneously, (Luk 24:31,) but could appear under another form, (Mar 16:12😉 could pass through any material impediments, doubtless by those interstices between particles which science has so amply revealed as belonging to solid bodies. Joh 20:19.* Nor was the rolling the stone from the tomb by angels necessary so far as his power was concerned; but necessary to render visible to the world’s perception, the external reality of the resurrection. So it was, apparently, that our Lord after his resurrection (as at no previous time) seemed often times unrecognisable to the best acquainted eyes. Joh 20:14; Joh 21:4; Joh 21:7; Joh 21:12. So his ready presence (Luk 24:36) at different places evinced his power of invisible and, probably, instantaneous transference through space at will.

[* In the most solid bodies the ultimate particles are supposed to be immensely smaller than the spaces between them. In a body as dense as water they are, proportionately, as “one hundred men distributed over the whole surface of England.” Sir William Armstrong’s Presidential Address before the British Association, 1864.] All this involves not the idea either that his body was properly glorified, as after his ascension; or, as some imagine, that it underwent a gradual glorifying process through the forty days. The endowment with the properties belonging to a resurrection body (properties possessed even by the risen wicked) is one thing; his investiture at his enthronement with his full Mediatorial glories at God’s right hand is quite another thing.

Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments

“See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. Handle me, and see, for a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you behold me having.” And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet.’

Then He showed them His hands and feet, and told them to handle Him and make absolutely sure for themselves that He really was flesh and bones. For then at least they would surely realise that He could not be a ghost (pneuma), a phantasma. Ghosts just did not have flesh and bones like He had.

The slightly more common New Testament description for a man was ‘flesh and blood’ (Mat 16:17; 1Co 15:50; Gal 1:16; Eph 6:12; Heb 2:14), but significantly we are informed that ‘flesh and blood cannot inherit the Kingly Rule of God’ (1Co 15:50). Jesus had taken on Himself ‘flesh and blood’ when He had become man (Heb 2:14), in order that He might help those who were flesh and blood, and it was that flesh and blood that He had sacrificed for them (Joh 6:53-57), so that by partaking of Him they might find life.

But now He was no longer ‘flesh and blood’, although He was ‘flesh and bones’ as they could feel for themselves (compare Eph 5:30). But we should notice that as such He could appear and disappear at will, so that it was clearly not solid flesh and bones as known to man, even though His disciples could feel them. Rather He has deliberately manifested Himself in this way so that they might be able to satisfy themselves of His reality. We cannot therefore read out from this the nature of the resurrection body, which is a ‘spiritual body’ (1Co 15:44-50).

Nevertheless Paul’s reference in Eph 5:30 serves to demonstrate that ‘flesh and bones’ was to be seen as an appropriate description for Jesus in His heavenly existence, possibly because Paul was connecting with these words of Jesus, which were thus clearly known to him. The question is, why? The answer may well be connected with Gen 2:23 where flesh and bones represented man and woman in their perfect manhood (before they became creatures of ‘flesh and blood?). Thus flesh and bones may be intended to indicate perfect manhood, whereby the One Who was God became perfect manhood, the second man, the last Adam, in order to deliver us to perfect manhood. ‘He was the son of Adam, who was the son of God’ (Luk 3:38). We can only leave it there. Any further theorising would probably only lead us into error for we are speaking of what we cannot know.

‘He showed them his hands and his feet.’ There they would see the marks and nail prints. Later He would even tell Thomas that he could put his fingers in them and put his hand in the hole that the spear had made in His side (Joh 20:27). He wanted them to be left in no doubt about His reality. The memory of this experience was to last a lifetime.

Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett

Luk 24:39 . In the first half of the verse Jesus desires to remove from His disciples their consternation , and that by means of their being required to convince themselves that it is He Himself (no other); in the second half He desires to oppose the notion of a , and that in such a way that they should be persuaded that it is He bodily . The two parts of Luk 24:39 correspond, that is to say, to the two parts of Luk 24:38 .

. . .] These, pointed to as a proof that it is He Himself , must afford this proof by the traces of the crucifixion, namely, by the wounds of the nails in the hands and feet (as to the nailing of the feet, see on Mat 27:35 ). Comp. Joh 20:20 . [276] According to Paulus and de Wette, Jesus pointed to His hands and feet as the uncovered parts, in order to oppose the notion of a spirit. In this way would have to be understood of the reality , not of the identity of His appearance. But the hands and the feet were seen even without special pointing to them; the latter presupposes a characteristic to be recognised by closer inspection. Even this characteristic, however, could not prove the reality (since it might appear as well in a or ), but probably the identity though apart from the reality, for which latter the conviction was to be added by means of touch .

] is in both cases: that . On . , comp. Hom. Od . xi. 219.

[276] Without reason Schleiermacher says of these wounds: “ they may have been two or four ” (p. 447). He has indeed taken up a position of great indifference about the question whether Jesus was actually or only apparently dead (in respect of which he sophistically misuses Act 2:27 ); but still a merely apparent death does not come to the same thing, and it is only opposed to the (true) view of the resurrection that the disciples took internal for external phenomena. See especially p. 471.

Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary

39 Behold my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me have.

Ver. 39. Behold my hands, &c. ] With those stamps of dishonour that the Jews did me with wicked hands. These he retained even after his resurrection, as for the confirmation of his apostles, so for our instruction, not to think much to suffer loss of honour for our brethren’s good and comfort.

Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)

39. ] There seems to be some doubt whether the reference to His hands and feet was on account of the marks of the nails , to prove His identity , or as being the uncovered parts of His body, and to prove His corporeity . Both views seem supported by the text, and I think both were united. The sight of the Hands and Feet, which they recognized as His, might at once convince them of the reality of the appearance, and the identity of the Person. The account of John confirms the idea that He shewed them the marks of the nails, both by His side being added, and by the expressions of Thomas which followed. The same seems also implied in our Luk 24:40 .

The assertion of the Lord must not be taken as representing merely ‘the popular notion concerning spirits’ (Dr. Burton); He who is the Truth, does not speak thus of that which He knows, and has created . He declares to us the truth, that those appearances to which He was now likened by the disciples, and spirits in general, have not flesh and bones. Observe . but not . This the resurrection Body probably had not , as being the animal life: see notes on Joh 6:51 , and Joh 20:27 .

Fuente: Henry Alford’s Greek Testament

Luk 24:39 . , etc.: Jesus shows His hands and feet with the wounds to satisfy them of His identity ( ). Then He bids them touch Him ( ) to satisfy themselves of His substantiality. , see with the mind; with the eye in case of the preceding . : either that , or because .

Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson

Behold. Greek. Plural of ide. App-133.:3.

see. Same as “behold”.

Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics

39.] There seems to be some doubt whether the reference to His hands and feet was on account of the marks of the nails, to prove His identity,-or as being the uncovered parts of His body, and to prove His corporeity. Both views seem supported by the text, and I think both were united. The sight of the Hands and Feet, which they recognized as His, might at once convince them of the reality of the appearance, and the identity of the Person. The account of John confirms the idea that He shewed them the marks of the nails, both by His side being added, and by the expressions of Thomas which followed. The same seems also implied in our Luk 24:40.

The assertion of the Lord must not be taken as representing merely the popular notion concerning spirits (Dr. Burton); He who is the Truth, does not speak thus of that which He knows, and has created. He declares to us the truth, that those appearances to which He was now likened by the disciples, and spirits in general, have not flesh and bones. Observe . -but not . This the resurrection Body probably had not,-as being the animal life: see notes on Joh 6:51, and Joh 20:27.

Fuente: The Greek Testament

Luk 24:39. ) I Myself, Jesus.-, a spirit) See Luk 24:37.

Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament

my hands: Joh 20:20, Joh 20:25, Joh 20:27, Act 1:3, 1Jo 1:1

for: Luk 23:46, Num 16:22, Ecc 12:7, 1Th 5:23, Heb 12:9

Reciprocal: Gen 45:12 – your eyes Mat 14:27 – it Mar 16:14 – and upbraided

Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

THE HANDS OF THE RISEN CHRIST

Behold My hands.

Luk 24:39

No doubt the first reason why Christ showed His Hands was to prove that He was the very same Jesus Who had been crucified.

I. They were pitiful Hands.Those Hands had blessed the children. Those Hands had touched the leper. Those Hands had multiplied the loaves. Those Hands had healed the sick.

II. They were powerful Hands.The Good Shepherd says of His sheep, No one shall pluck them out of My Hand (Joh 10:28). May we live day by day upheld by those Hands, and fall at last like tired children into those Everlasting Arms, which are soft as love and stronger than death!

III. They were pierced Hands.You can tell the true Christ by the holes in His Hands. The true Christ is the Sin-bearer. The sting of death is sin (1Co 15:56). The Te Deum is a translation from the Latin, and in the verse When Thou hadst overcome the sharpness of death, Thou didst open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers, the Latin is, When Thou hadst overcome the sting of death, with a reference no doubt to the words of St. Paul, The sting of death is sin. And who can tell the exceeding sinfulness of sin to pierce those sacred Hands?

IV. They were pleading Hands.His disciples would remember how those Hands had been uplifted in intercession all through His earthly life.

Rev. F. Harper.

Illustration

Love is full of service. It is tireless in its ministry. It is always giving itself away, expending itself on others. What will not the mother do for her child, what the true wife for her husband? Let the recollection of our childhood tell. We have seen many a pearly hand, whose whiteness rivalled the gems it wore, but the hands that live most in our recollection are the thin, worn, wrinkled hands of a motherthe dear weariless handswithout ornament, save the one plain gold ring worn through all the years from marriage-day to burial-day. What have these hands not done for us? They have lifted us up and laid us down. They fed us, and dressed us, and soothed us, and caressed us. It was love that made them active: it was love that made them tireless. And now that they are folded in everlasting rest, they still live in vision with us till we clasp them once more on the everlasting shore.

Fuente: Church Pulpit Commentary

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The body of Jesus came out of the grave in the same condition it had when it entered therein. That was necessary to furnish evidence that He was the same person who was crucified. An instance of this truth is what is recorded in this paragraph. And He retained that form as long as he was on earth because the disciples were in the flesh and could profit by association with Him only in that form. But we know it was changed before He reached heaven, for Paul says (1Co 15:50) that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God. (See notes in the following paragraph about his having no blood.) Also, 1Jn 3:2 says, “It doth not yet appear what we shall be,” and later in the verse he says that when He appears we shall be like Him. John knew what His appearance was like while on the earth, which shows that Jesus was changed between the time of the ascension from Mount Olivet and that of His arrival at the gates of heaven. From the above considerations, we know the popular theory about knowing Him “by the prints of the nails in his hand,” is an erroneous notion, which should be classed with the materialistic heresies of the Sadducees.

Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary

Luk 24:39. See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself. A comparison with Johns account leads us to find here a proof of His identity, from the wounds in His hands and feet. Since these members were uncovered, there is possibly even here a proof of the reality of the appearance.

Handle me, and see. The proof of the reality is the main thought here. The two parts of this verse correspond therefore to the two questions of Luk 24:38. They are invited to do what Mary Magdalene was forbidden to do. Well may John write (1Jn 1:1): which…. our hands have handled, of the Word of life. Comp. Joh 20:27.

A spirit hath not flesh and bones. This is a direct assertion of our Lord. There are disembodied spirits, without flesh and bones. Instead of flesh and blood, our Lord says flesh and bones. Alford suggests that the Resurrection Body probably had no blood, since this was the animal life. The thought is not without a bearing on the Roman Catholic view that the sacramental wine becomes the real blood of Christ.

Fuente: A Popular Commentary on the New Testament

Verse 39

Behold my hands and my feet, with the marks of the wounds upon them.

Fuente: Abbott’s Illustrated New Testament

Anyone wishing to prove his real presence might offer his hands and feet for inspection, as Jesus did. However the Roman soldiers had pierced Jesus’ hands and feet with nails so the wounds would have identified Him as Jesus (Joh 20:25-27). Jesus claimed, "It is I Myself" (Gr. ego eimi autos, cf. ego eimi, which John recorded Jesus saying frequently in his Gospel). He encouraged His followers to touch Him as well as to look at Him and to satisfy their senses that His body was real. His human body had flesh and bones, which ghosts do not have. The phrase "flesh and blood" is a similar expression that also describes a physical body (cf. 1Co 15:50).

Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)