Do Elijah and Enoch still await glorified bodies, and does Apocalypse 11 foretell their return and martyrdom?
Robert Sungenis answers that Elijah and Enoch were taken into heaven in their bodies, though he thinks they would need an eternal spiritual body to live in heavenly glory. He holds that Apocalypse 11 never names them and is symbolic, the two witnesses standing for the preaching of the gospel across the whole New Testament age, and traces the expected return of Elijah to Augustine's reliance on the Septuagint of Malachi 4:5.
A viewer challenges Robert, claiming the eternal body is not another body and that Elijah and Enoch have not yet received their bodies but will after being martyred in Apocalypse 11; Robert responds.
Answer
I did not say the eternal body was another body; I said it was our eternal spiritual body, which is what Paul calls it in 1 Corinthians 15. I flatly disagree that Elijah and Enoch have not received theirs. They were taken into heaven in their bodies, not into the grave, so at the least they had their bodily form, though I think they would need a new eternal spiritual body to survive in heavenly glory. As for Apocalypse 11, you are misreading it; you will not find the words Elijah or Enoch there. You find figures who may be similar to Elijah calling down fire, but whether that refers to Elijah returning, Scripture will not support. This traces to Augustine's mistake: because the Septuagint, which is not inspired, reads Elijah the Tishbite in Malachi 4:5, he thought the real Elijah would return, but the Hebrew says only Elijah, and Jesus interpreted that coming of Elijah as John the Baptist. The whole of Apocalypse 11 is symbolic: the two witnesses, two candlesticks, and two olive trees signify the preaching of the gospel, and the 1,260 days and 42 months are the whole New Testament period from Christ's death and resurrection until the second coming, not literal days.