Was Jesus' Physical Body Raised from the dead?

In my previous article,  "Did Jesus Really Rise from the Dead?"  I set out to prove from the available evidence that Jesus did in fact rise from the dead. In light of this, I feel that the evidence weighs overwhelmingly in the affirmative: Jesus rose from the dead. However, one question still remains: If Jesus did rise from the dead, did he do so in a physical body? Or was his resurrection merely a "Spiritual Resurrection"? 

    Now it may surprise you that this idea of a “Spiritual Resurrection” actually has its origins in the late first century. At this time there was a psuedo-christain movement known as Gnosticism, who believed Jesus was never a mortal being. According to Gnostic teachings, all things material are inherently evil; only the spiritual is good. Therefore Jesus could not have existed as a physical being. Rather, they taught that he exists as a divine spirit, and only had the appearance of being human. Ergo, he was not a human being. He did not actually die. And he most certainly did not rise from the dead in a physical body—it was a “Spiritual Resurrection.”

    Despite the fact that the Apostles themselves identified the Gnostic movement as a cult and condemned its founders as false teachers, the Gnostic belief in a “Spiritual Resurrection” has survived to the present day. However, if one looks at what Jesus himself said and did after his resurrection, it soon becomes clear that he did in fact rise from the dead in a physical body.

    “‘Why are you frightened?’ he asked. ‘Why are your hearts filled with doubt? Look at my hands. Look at my feet. You can see that it’s really me. Touch me and make sure that I am not a ghost, because ghosts don’t have bodies, as you see that I do.’ As he spoke, he showed them his hands and his feet.
    “Still they stood there in disbelief, filled with joy and wonder. Then he asked them, ‘Do you have anything here to eat?’ They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he ate it as they watched.”
~ Luke 24:38-43 New Living Translation (NLT)  [Emphasis Added]

    “Eight days later the disciples were together again, and this time Thomas was with them. The doors were locked; but suddenly, as before, Jesus was standing among them. ‘Peace be with you,’ he said. Then he said to Thomas, ‘Put your finger here, and look at my hands. Put your hand into the wound in my side. Don’t be faithless any longer. Believe!’
    “‘My Lord and my God!’ Thomas exclaimed.
    “Then Jesus told him, ‘You believe because you have seen me. Blessed are those who believe without seeing me.’”
~ John 20:26-29 New Living Translation (NLT)

    Jesus made a point of eating in front of his disciples in order to show them that he was not a spirit or ghost. He was a living, breathing, human being; complete with flesh, bone, and appetite—as Jesus himself stated in Luke 24:39

    There was no “Spiritual Resurrection.” In fact, the concept of a “Spiritual Resurrection” was completely foreign to the Jewish culture. The Greek culture of the day, however,  had no trouble believing in a spiritual afterlife; it was the idea that a man could come back from the dead that gave them pause, as seen in Acts 17:32. 
    Gnosticism drew its inspiration primarily from Greek philosophers, and openly mocked both Judaism and the Jewish God. In contrast, the people to whom Jesus appeared—the Apostles who would later pen the New Testament—were all Jews. When they said that Jesus had been raised from the dead, they meant a physical, bodily resurrection. There was no such thing as a Spiritual Resurrection in their culture. To be raised from the dead literally meant coming back to life. This is further emphasized by the fact that every resurrection recorded in the Bible involves someone coming back from the dead physically. ( i.e. 1 Kings 17:17-24, 2 Kings 4:1-37, 2 Kings 13:21, Luke 7:13-15, Matthew 9:18-26, Matthew 28:5-7, John 11:43-44, Acts 9:36-42, Acts 20:9-12, Revelation 20, etc.)

    In short: The physical resurrection of Jesus was the cornerstone of the Apostle's faith and is the very foundation of Christianity itself, as stated in 1 Corinthians 15:12-23.

    Therefore, it is clear from the available cultural evidence and historical accounts of Jesus' resurrection, that Jesus Christ was indeed raised from the dead in a physical body. To argue otherwise would mean contradicting not only God's word but also Jesus Christ himself:

    “‘All right,” Jesus replied. “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”
    “‘What!’ they exclaimed. ‘It has taken forty-six years to build this Temple, and you can rebuild it in three days?’ But when Jesus said ‘this temple,’ he meant his own body. After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered he had said this, and they believed both the Scriptures and what Jesus had said.”
~ John 2:19-22 New Living Translation (NLT)  [Emphasis Added]