Luke 24:37

37 and being amazed, and becoming affrighted, they were thinking themselves to see a spirit.

Luke 24:37 Meaning and Commentary

Luke 24:37

But they were terrified and affrighted
At the sight of him, and at his sudden appearance among them, without being heard, or seen before, and the doors shut and bolted; they could not tell how to account for it, that it should be Jesus himself risen from the dead in his own body, though they had been just speaking of his resurrection, and had had a confirmation of it from the disciples that went to Emmaus: and supposed that they had seen a spirit;
that what they saw was a phantom, or apparition, or a spirit, that had assumed, and appeared in, the shape of Jesus, and was not he himself.

Luke 24:37 In-Context

35 and they were telling the things in the way, and how he was made known to them in the breaking of the bread,

36 and as they are speaking these things, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them, and saith to them, `Peace -- to you;'

37 and being amazed, and becoming affrighted, they were thinking themselves to see a spirit.

38 And he said to them, `Why are ye troubled? and wherefore do reasonings come up in your hearts?

39 see my hands and my feet, that I am he; handle me and see, because a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye see me having.'