Section 26.  The orthodox view further confirmed. I. By a consideration of the reality of Christ’s body. II. From our Savior's declaration that he would always be in the world. This confirmed by the exposition of Augustine.

But as nothing will be more effectual to confirm the faith of the pious than to show them that the doctrine which we have laid down is taken from the pure word of God, and rests on its authority, I will make this plain with as much brevity as I can. The body with which Christ rose is declared, not by Aristotle, but by the Holy Spirit, ^Q26to be finite  and to be contained in heaven until the last day.

(^Q26 This is quite questionable as Calvin contradicts his own assertion in Section 2 ^{see Q2return}. I don't know where in scripture or how Calvin could have now arrived at this deduction of the risen Christ residing in a finite body of limited capacity, neither do I see its efficacy in supporting his basic arguments.  Perhaps "to be finite" is a pour choice of words, for if the risen body of Jesus is finite then He is subject to corruption.   But we know that through the Spirit of Holiness and by the power of the eternal Life given to Him by His Father, His human body did not see corruption for in that body Jesus Christ inherited for all the faithful incorruption and immortality. ^{(See 1 Corinthians 15:45-54, 2 Corinthians 3:18)} The first Scripture says: "For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality".  And the Second says: "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the Glory of the Lord, are changed into the same 'image' from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."  The Lord Jesus Christ arose from the dead not in a finite body, but of an incorruptible multifaceted nature that is beyond are capacity to understand. ^{(Philipipans 3:20-21)} And yet we through faithfulness to the New Covenant of promise are to be changed even as His mortal body was changed into the glorious multidimensional nature that He previously had with His Almighty Father. The Lord's substance in any form is definitely not finite but infinite. John writes in ^{(1 John 3:2-3)}: "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is. And every man that hath this hope in him purifies himself, even as he is pure". ^19return   The first man is of the earth, earthy; the second man is the Lord from heaven. As is the earthy, such are they also that are earthy: and as is the heavenly, such are they also that are heavenly. And as we have borne the image of the earthy, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly. ^{(1 Corinthians 15:47-49)}

I am not unaware how confidently our opponents evade the passages which are quoted to this effect. Whenever Christ says that he will leave the world and go away ^{(John 14:2, 15-28}), they reply, that that departure was nothing more than a change of mortal state. Were this so, Christ would not substitute the Holy Spirit, to supply, as they express it, the defect of his absence, since he does not succeed in place of him, nor, on the other hand, does Christ himself descend from the heavenly glory to assume the condition of a mortal life. Certainly the advent of’ the Spirit and the ascension of Christ are set against each other, and hence it necessarily follows that Christ dwells ^Q26awith us according to the flesh, in the same way as that in which he sends his Spirit.

^Q26aOn this point Calvin crosses over into his own vanity and confusion with his lack of knowledge.  Jesus does not dwell in humanity according to the flesh, but accordingly within the redeemed soul and spirit of the man or women.  For one thing it is written that no flesh shall glory in His Presence. ^{(1 Cor.1:29)} Secondly, the life of the flesh is in the blood.  ^{(Leviticus 17:11)} That life in Hebrew is nephesh, and the nephesh is the soul of the creature, in this case the soul of man.  Jesus answered and said unto him, "If a man loves me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and We will come unto him and make our abode with him. ^{(John 14:23)}  I and the Father are one. ^{(John 10:30)}  With helpful understanding please go to the The soul and the life.

Moreover, he distinctly says that he would not always be in the world with his disciples ^{(Mt. 26:11)}. This saving, also, they think they admirably dispose of, as if it were a denial by Christ that he would always be poor and mean, or liable to the necessities of a fading life. But this is plainly repugnant to the context, since reference is made not to poverty and want, or the wretched condition of an earthly life, but to worship and honor. The disciples were displeased with the anointing by Mary, because they thought it a superfluous and useless expenditure, akin to luxury, and would therefore have preferred that the price which they thought wasted should have been expended on the poor. Christ answers, that he will not be always with them to receive such honors. No different exposition is given by Augustine, whose words are by no means ambiguous. When Christ says, “Me ye have not always,” he spoke of his bodily presence. In regard to his majesty, in regard to his providence, in regard to his ineffable and invisible grace, is fulfilled what he said: “Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world” ^{(Mt. 28:20)}; but in regard to the flesh which the Word assumed—in regard to that which was born of the Virgin—in regard to that which was apprehended by the Jews, nailed to the tree, suspended on the cross, wrapped in linen clothes, laid in the tomb, and manifested in the resurrection,—“Me ye have not always.” Why? Since he conversed with his disciples in bodily presence for forty days, and, going out with them, ascended, while they saw but followed not. He is not here, for he sits there, at the right hand of the Father. And yet he is here: for the presence of his majesty is not withdrawn. Otherwise, as regards the presence of his majesty, we have Christ always; while, in regard to his bodily presence, it was rightly said, “Me ye have not always.” In respect of bodily presence, the Church had him for a few days: now she holds him by faith, but sees him not with the eye ^{(August. Tract. in Joann. 50)}. Here (that I may briefly note this) he makes him present with us in three ways—in majesty, providence, and ineffable grace; under which I comprehend that wondrous communion of his body and blood, provided we understand that it is effected by the power of the Holy Spirit, and not by that fictitious enclosing of his body under the element, since our Lord declared that he had flesh and bones which could be handled and seen. Going away, and ascending, intimate, not that he had the appearance of one going away and ascending, but that he truly did what the words express. Some one will ask, Are we then to assign a certain region of heaven to Christ? I answer with Augustine, that this is a curious and superfluous question, provided we believe that he is in heaven.