resurrection by many and various2 proofs, in order to build up faith and trust,
SERMON 229J
PREACHED ON THE WEDNESDAY AFTER EASTER
Date: 417-4181
The error of the apostles in thinking the risen Christ was a spirit is the central doctrine of the Manichees
1. The Lord Christ was prepared to convince us of the certain truth of his resurrection by many and various2 proofs, in order to build up faith and trust, and drive mistrust and faithlessness from our hearts, to remove in fact every possible doubt about his resurrection. It would have been insufficient to present himself to the eyes for seeing, if he hadn't also offered himself to the hands for touching. What many godless and heretical Manichees surmise and believe about Christ, that he wasn't real flesh, but a spirit having the appearance of flesh, not for instructing faith but for playing tricks on the eyes; so that he wasn't actually a man, but was thought to be one; wasn't actually flesh, but seemed to be so; so what the Manichees believe (and they have made a dogma out of it, and confirmed it as their error) was the first thought that came up into the minds of the apostles.
And those Manichees, indeed, believe Jesus never was a man; they are afraid of endowing the Word with flesh, and they are not afraid of blocking the truth with falsehood. He has true flesh, with which truth is to show up falsehood, and build up the truth in the hearts of us all. So they believed that the Lord Jesus Christ never was a man; the disciples, on the other hand, knew him as a man, with whom they had spent so much time. They had seen him walking, sitting' sleeping, eating, drinking; they knew all about him, they knew he had sat down, tired out, beside a well.3 From this long familiarity they knew he really and truly was a man; but after he had died, when were they ever to believe that what they had known could be resuscitated, as it had certainly been able to die? So he appeared to their eyes just as they had known him; and as they didn't believe that true flesh could rise from the tomb on the third day, they thought they were seeing a spirit. This mistake of the apostles is the particular doctrine of the Manichees.