ACC ~ Acts 1 v11

THE REASONS FOR THE ANGELS’ APPEARANCE. BEDE: The angels appeared to the disciples for two reasons, namely, to console them in their sorrow at his ascension by reminding them of his return and to show that he had truly gone to heaven, not merely apparently so, as in the case of Elijah. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.11A.

HE WILL COME IN THE BODY. CHRYSOSTOM: Now, as they watched, their conceptions were elevated. He gave them not merely a subtle hint of the nature of his second coming. For this phrase—“thus he will come”—means with the body. This is what they desired to hear. And concerning the judgment he said again that he will come in this same way upon a cloud. HOMILIES ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 2.

COMING IN GLORY. BEDE: He will come to judge in the same form and substance of a body in which he had come to be judged [by Pilate]. To him God truly gave, and did not take away, an immortal nature. His eternal and divine glory, which once was manifested to three of his disciples on a mountain, will be seen by all the saints with the accomplishment of the judgment, when the wicked person will be removed so that he may not see the glory of God. COMMENTARY ON THE ACTS OF THE APOSTLES 1.11B.

A TRANSFORMED BODY. AUGUSTINE: How did they see him go? In the flesh which they touched, which they felt, the scars of which they even probed by touching; in that body in which he went in and out with them for forty days, manifesting himself to them in truth, not in any falsity; not as an apparition, not as a shadow, not as a spirit, but as he himself said, not deceiving, “Handle and see, for a spirit does not have flesh and bones, as you see me to have.” Now, indeed, that body is worthy of a heavenly dwelling place, not subject to death, not changeable through ages. For as he had grown to that age from infancy, so he does not decline to old age from the age which was young adulthood. He remains as he ascended. He is going to come to those to whom, before he comes, he wanted his word to be preached. So, therefore, he will come in a human form. The ungodly, too, will see this. Those placed to the right will see it too; those separated to the left will see it too, as it was written, “They shall see him whom they have pierced.”If they will see him whom they have pierced, they will see the same body which they thrust through with a spear; [for] the Word is not struck by a spear. Therefore, the ungodly will be able to see this very one whom they were also able to wound. They will not see the God lying hidden in the body; after the judgment he will be seen by those who will be on the right. This, therefore, is why he said, “The Father judges no one but has given all judgment to the Son,” because the Son will come, clearly visible, to the judgment, appearing in human body to human beings, saying to those on the right, “Come, blessed of my Father, receive the kingdom”; saying to those on the left, “Go into everlasting fire which was prepared for the devil and his angels.” TRACTATES ON THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 21.13.2-4.

CHRIST STILL HAS FLESH. CHRYSOSTOM: In us “after the flesh” implies our being in sins; “not after the flesh” implies not being in sins. In Christ, however, “after the flesh” implies his being subject to the affections of nature, such as thirst, hunger, weariness, sleep. (For “he committed no sin, and no deceit was found in his mouth.”Therefore he also said, “Which of you convicts me of sin?” and again, “The ruler of this world is coming, and he has no power over me.”) For him the phrase “not after the flesh,” then, means being freed from even these things, not being without flesh. For indeed with the flesh he comes to judge the world, with a flesh that is impassible and unmixed. We too will advance toward this, when our body conforms “to the body of his glory.” HOMILIES ON 2 CORINTHIANS 11.3.

CHRIST’S HUMAN NATURE IS LIMITED. THEODORET OF CYR: Now they saw his nature as limited. For I have heard the words of the Lord, “You shall see the Son of man coming in the clouds of heaven,” and I acknowledge that what is seen by human eyes is limited, for the unlimited nature is invisible. Furthermore to sit upon a throne of glory and to set the lambs upon the right and the kids upon the left indicates limitation. DIALOGUE 2.