The Protestant Reformation continued the orthodox affirmation of the material nature of the resurrection body. The Lutheran Formula of Concord (A.D. 1576) reads: "We believe, teach, and confess...the chief articles of our faith (of Creation, of Redemption, of Sanctification, and the Resurrection of the flesh)...." The French Confession of Faith, prepared with the help of John Calvin and approved by the Synod of Paris (A.D. 1559), pronounced that "although Jesus Christ, in rising from the dead, bestowed immortality upon his body, yet it did not take away from the truth of its nature, and we so consider him in his divinity that we do not despoil him of his humanity."

The Belgic Confession (A.D. 1561), adopted by the Synod of Dort (A.D. 1619), declares that "all the dead shall be raised out of the earth, and their soul joined and united with their proper bodies in which they formerly lived." Further, the Thirty Nine Articles of Religion of the Church of England (A.D. 1562) confess that "Christ did truly rise again from death, and took again his body, with flesh, bones, and all things appertaining to the perfection of Man's nature; wherewith he ascended into Heaven...." And the Westminster Confession (A.D. 1647) proclaimed that Jesus "was crucified, and died; was buried, and remained under the power of death, yet saw no corruption. On the third day he arose from the dead, with the same body in which he suffered; with which he ascended into heaven...."

Even some who deny that Christ rose in the flesh admit that "until the time of the Reformation the creeds of the West spoke only of the resurrection of the flesh."