Feature
03 Nov 2025
The Promise
There are some beliefs which many wrongly attribute to Christianity. One is the teaching that, after death, the redeemed will dwell for eternity as disembodied spirits in a spiritual realm called “heaven”.
What Christianity actually teaches is that there will be a resurrection of our bodies on the last day. We will then live for eternity as embodied beings in the “new heavens and new earth”, which is a physical reality, fit for creatures with physical bodies.
What will our resurrection bodies be like? The clearest picture is seen in Jesus, after his resurrection from the dead (1 Cor 15:20, Phil 3:20-21). Because Jesus (in addition to being fully God) is fully human, and remains fully human even after his death and resurrection, the resurrected body he possesses is the same type we will inherit at the end of history.
The post-resurrection accounts of Jesus describe him having a physical body, one able to converse and eat and drink with his disciples (Matt 28:9, Lk 24:39-43). This body also seems able to transcend the laws of nature to which we are currently subject. It is able, for example, to suddenly vanish from sight and enter a room through locked doors (Lk 24:30-31, Jn 20:19).
The apostle Paul further teaches that the resurrection body will be imperishable, glorious and powerful (1 Cor 15:42-43). Paul also calls this a “spiritual body” (1 Cor 15:44). By this, Paul refers to the physical resurrection body being filled with the Holy Spirit and enabled to overcome the processes of nature (e.g. decay).
These biblical descriptions of the resurrection body paint the picture of perfection. Many of the limitations and weaknesses we experience in our current bodies will no longer plague us in our resurrected existence. Certainly, we can be sure that there will be no more diseases, disabilities, injuries and ageing. We will have perfect bodies, existing in a perfect physical environment infused with God’s love, joy and peace.
The Problem
There is, however, a problem, presented by the post-resurrection accounts in John’s Gospel (specifically Jn 20:20-29).
This passage describes the resurrection body of Jesus having significant blemishes. The marks of crucifixion are still present in Jesus’ hands and feet. The gaping wound at his side caused by the piercing of a spear—it is still there. To put it bluntly, Jesus’ resurrection body remains severely marred. How then can it be perfect? Did something go wrong?
Let us examine two possible paths to resolve this conundrum.
The Possible Paths
The first solution was proposed by contemporary American theologian Millard Erickson. He suggested there is a “two-stage exaltation” of Jesus’ body after his resurrection. The body which Jesus showed to his disciples was only at the first stage. The wounds of crucifixion were present to convince the disciples that it was the same Jesus who had risen from the dead. After his ascension into heaven, however, Jesus’s resurrection body assumed its final exaltation. The wounds are no longer there, and the body becomes truly whole and perfect.
For the second solution, we have to go back in time to thinkers in the early and medieval church, like Augustine of Hippo and Thomas Aquinas. As they wrestled with this conundrum, these theologians arrived at an amazing insight: The crucifixion wounds of Jesus do not detract at all from the beauty and perfection of his resurrection body. On the contrary, these wounds enhance its beauty, and complete its perfection.
Why is this the case? The wounds on Jesus’ body are the wounds of love. In God’s scale of values, there is no higher perfection than love.
What, really, is love? It is easy to proclaim our love for another. But whether it is genuine or not is seen through concrete acts. It is only when we sacrifice something dear to us for the sake of the one we profess to love that true love is manifested. Jesus’ wounds are therefore beautiful because they serve as a memorial of the true love God has for us. This is a love which does exist not only in proclamation, but which went all the way to the humiliation, torture and death of the cross. Because of this, what seems to our eyes to be marks of deformity and ugliness are, to God’s eyes and the eyes of all creatures in the new heavens and new earth, the height of beauty, completeness and perfection.
True Perfection
You can probably tell from the way I described the two possible solutions that I think the second is the correct one. Erickson’s proposal is problematic for several reasons, which we are unable to discuss here. But its chief shortcoming is that it takes the perspective of the world as its starting point. What the world sees as “beautiful” and “perfect”, Erickson assumes to be correct. He then recounts (or “creatively reinterprets”) the gospel narrative such that it fits into the world’s understanding. It is the world which has the final say on the meaning of these concepts.
The earlier theologians, too, have presuppositions as to what “beauty” and “perfection” mean. But they were much more ready to have their understanding challenged by the gospel. They were aware that the gospel paints a different picture of reality from that of the world, and that terms and concepts may mean something quite different in its light.
In the reality portrayed by the gospel, “beauty” and “perfection” are not finally determined by our outward appearance. They are instead manifested most decisively when we love—when we go beyond mere words and truly love to the point of sacrifice. The people admired by everyone in the new heavens and new earth for their beauty and perfection will not be those with flawless outward appearances. They are those who, inflamed with the love of Jesus, gave their lives in service to God and their neighbours.
In a previous article in the ETHOS Institute Feature section (“Whose Meaning, Which Reality?”, 6 Nov 2023), I argued that there is an urgent need for our churches to inculcate the Christian view of reality in our members, as many of us have embraced the world’s understanding of terms like “love” and “justice”. As a result, we find the church’s opposition to practices like same-sex marriage untenable and even repulsive.
We have another instance here of how embracing world’s understanding has led Christians down the wrong path. There is certainly nothing sinful about having good physical features. It is not wrong to want to look presentable. But, under the influence of the world, many of us have gone overboard and become obsessed with our appearance. We spend ever more of our time and money on ourselves, in a never-ending quest to become more beautiful and perfect. In doing so, we are ironically diverted from the path towards true beauty and perfection—the path of the giving of ourselves in service to others in love.
These crucial questions remain: Whose meaning? Which reality? May we answer them well!
[This article was first published in the Dec 2024-Mar 2025 issue of “Trumpet”, a newsletter of Trinity Theological College (TTC). It has been slightly edited and is reproduced here with the permission of TTC.]
Dr Leow Theng Huat is a lecturer of theology at Trinity Theological College. He is a member and local preacher of Wesley Methodist Church.