But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they had seen a spirit.

But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they beheld a spirit.

But they being troubled and frightened, supposed that they saw a spirit.

But they, being confounded and being frightened, supposed they beheld a spirit.

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

Startled, and in the utmost alarm, they thought they were looking at a spirit;

But they were full of fear, being of the opinion that they were seeing a spirit.

Yet truly, they were very disturbed and terrified, supposing that they saw a spirit.

In their terror and alarm they thought they saw a ghost,

And they were terrified and affrighted. 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 some circumstance had been omitted by him. Nor is it at all unusual with the Evangelists, when they aim at brevity, to glance only at 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 dare not trust their eyes. But a little ago, they had come to the conclusion that the Lord was risen, (verse 34,) and had spoken of it unhesitatingly as a matter fully ascertained; and now, when they behold him with their eyes, their senses are 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 are imposed upon, still they are more inclined to believe that an image of the resurrection is exhibited to them in vision by the Spirit, than that Christ himself, who lately died on the cross, is 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 there was exhibited to them in spirit what was actually placed before their eyes.

And supposed that they had seen a spirit - But if there be no such thing as a disembodied spirit, would not our Lord have shown them their error? Instead of this, he confirms them in their opinion, by saying, A spirit hath not flesh and bones as you see me have, Luke 24:39; therefore he says, handle me and see me. They probably imagined that it was the soul only of our blessed Lord which they saw; but they were soon fully convinced of the identity of his person, and the reality of his resurrection; for,
1. They saw his body.
2. They heard him speak.
3. They handled him.
4. They saw him eat a piece of broiled fish and honeycomb, which they gave him.
In these things it was impossible for them to have been deceived.

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.

a spirit--the ghost of their dead Lord, but not Himself in the body (Acts 12:15; Matthew 14:26).
thoughts--rather, "reasonings"; that is, whether He were risen or no, and whether this was His very self.