Luke 24:37

37 But they were startled and became terrified, [and] thought [they] had seen a ghost.

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 began describing {what happened} on the road, and how he was recognized by them in the breaking of the bread.

36 And [while] they were saying these [things], he himself stood there among them.

37 But they were startled and became terrified, [and] thought [they] had seen a ghost.

38 And he said to them, "Why are you frightened? And for what [reason] do doubts arise in your hearts?

39 Look at my hands and my feet, that I am I myself! Touch me and see, because a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as {you see that I have}."

Footnotes

• [a]. *Here "[and]" is supplied because the two previous participles ("startled" and "terrified") have been translated as finite verbs