The Nugget:
Luke 24:39 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.
My Comment:
Some religious groups, such as the Jehovah’s Witnesses, and some world religions, including Islam, are very mistaken about what the Bible teaches about our Lord Jesus Christ and what the Bible teaches about the Holy Spirit.
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe in the bodily resurrection of Jesus Christ. They teach that Jesus was raised as a spirit being.
Guess what! If you believe that, you are in for a big surprise when you pass from life into death. It is an absolute requirement for salvation that you must believe that Jesus rose bodily from the dead. See Romans 10:9, 10.
Jehovah’s Witnesses do not believe the Holy Spirit is a Person. Here again, they are utterly mistaken in their belief. Only a person can be grieved, yet the Bible tells us not to grieve the Holy Spirit. See Ephesians 4:30.
The Muslims correctly believe the Holy Spirit is a person. They correctly understand that the Holy Spirit is the Comforter that Jesus promised to send.
But then the Muslims spoil it all when they teach that Mohammed is the Comforter that Jesus promised to send.
The Bible is clear that the Holy Spirit was sent by Jesus Christ and that the disciples received the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost as recorded in Acts 2:1, 2, 3, 4.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit is not Mohammed!
The Muslim Questions:
A Muslim asked, “Please, what is the difference between holy spirit, holy ghost, angel, and spirit?”
I answered:
“Holy Ghost” and “Holy Spirit” refer to the same Person. These are just different English ways of saying what in the original Greek text is stated using the single word pneuma. The English translators did that for literary reasons to make the English sound better in the KJV. That is an example of how as a literary translation the King James Version ranks the best for English versions.
Angels are spirits but not all spirits are angels.
Another presumably Muslim poster asked, “Jerome Smith, you are absolutely right. But please help us with the other examples of spirits aside [from] the angels as you explained above.”
My Answer (Don’t miss this most interesting Bible study):
Upon His bodily resurrection, Jesus Christ said he was not a spirit, because he demonstrably had flesh and bones, and spirits do not:
Luk 24:39 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.
This was in response to what we read in Luke 24:36, 37,Luk 24:36 And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you.
Luk 24:37 But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.
Act 23:8 For the Sadducees say that there is no resurrection, neither angel, nor spirit: but the Pharisees confess both.
A “spirit” was the common term for one passed into the unseen state. The Pharisees confessed their belief in “spirits,” carefully distinguished from “angels,” and in opposition to the infidelity and unbelief of the Sadducees. “Spirit” used in this sense is taken as ordinarily applying to the spirits of men apart from the body.
The above verses employ the Greek word “pneuma” for “spirit.”
Another Greek word, “phantasma,” is used in Matthew 14:26 and Mark 6:49 and this Greek word is also translated “spirit” but means “an apparition” or “phantom” or what we might think of as a “ghost.”
Mat 14:26 And when the disciples saw him walking on the sea, they were troubled, saying, It is a spirit; and they cried out for fear.
Mar 6:49 But when they saw him walking upon the sea, they supposed it had been a spirit, and cried out: The word “spirit” is also used of demons or evil spirits as at Matthew 8:16.In my book, The New Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, and also in my book, The Ultimate Cross Reference Treasury, I have placed a note at Matthew 8:16 giving a complete breakdown or analysis of all the uses of the word “pneuma” or “spirit” and its Hebrew equivalent, “ruach,” in the Bible.