John Calvin Commentary Luke 24:37

"But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they beheld a spirit." — Luke 24:37 (ASV)

And they were terrified and frightened. John does not mention this terror; but as he also says that Christ showed His hands and sides to the disciples, we may conjecture that he had omitted some circumstance. Nor is it at all unusual for the Evangelists, when they aim for brevity, to cover only a part of the facts.

From Luke, too, we learn that the terror excited in them by the strangeness of the spectacle was such that they dared not trust their own eyes.

A short time before, they had come to the conclusion that the Lord was risen, (Luke 24:34), and had spoken of it unhesitatingly as a matter fully ascertained. Now, when they saw Him with their own eyes, their senses were struck with astonishment, so that they think He is a spirit.

Though this error, which arose from weakness, was not free from blame, still they did not so far forget themselves as to be afraid of enchantments.

But though they did not think that they were being deceived, they were still more inclined to believe that an image of the resurrection was being presented to them in a vision by the Spirit, rather than that Christ Himself, who had recently died on the cross, was alive and present.

So then, they did not suspect that this was a vision intended to deceive them, as if it had been an idle phantom. But, seized with fear, they thought only that what was actually placed before their eyes was being presented to them in spirit.