R.C. Sproul

Now, does the Bible say straightforwardly and directly that Jesus' body passed through that door?

It doesn't say that.

it does leave the impression that that is a possibility because what the scripture said was that the disciples were assembled in the upper room and Jesus appeared with them, comma, and the door was shut.

Now, the question we have to ask is why does John give us this little tidbit of information that the door was shut?

Was the purpose of John's including that information to tell us something about Jesus' remarkable entrance into the room?

It's very possible.

Perhaps the scenario John has in mind is they're huddled there in the room, the door is shut, the door is locked, and suddenly, without walking through the door, it just, whoosh, Jesus appears in the room, either sort of floating through the door or just appearing in the middle of the room.

That maybe is what he meant to communicate.

He didn't say that, but he does leave the impression that that was a possibility.

Or is there perhaps another reason why John tells us that the door was shut?

On another occasion, he adds some information when he said, yes, they're gathered there in the upper room and the door was shut.

Why?

For fear of the Jews.

And that the point of describing that the door was shut was not to tell you just anything about the resurrected nature of Jesus' body, but rather to tell us something about the attitude and the posture of his disciples when he came to them.

That they were frightened, that they were withdrawn, that they were in hiding, that they were terrified that the same thing that happened to their Lord was going to happen to them.

And so out of fear, they shut the door, and that's why the door was shut, and Jesus appears in their midst.

And now the scenario could be that these people are huddled together in this upper room.

They're frightened.

They're hiding.

And Jesus calmly walks up the stairs, opens the door, and walks in on them.