seekeroftruth
Well-Known Member
1 Corinthians 15:1 Now, brothers and sisters, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. 2 By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
3 For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
9 For I am the least of the apostles and do not even deserve to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God. 10 But by the grace of God I am what I am, and his grace to me was not without effect. No, I worked harder than all of them—yet not I, but the grace of God that was with me. 11 Whether, then, it is I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed.
This is right from the commentary. [italics added]And that He was seen by Cephas: No one saw the actual resurrection of Jesus. No one was present in the tomb with Him when His body transformed into a resurrection body. If someone were there, perhaps in a brilliant flash of light, they would have seen the dead body of Jesus transformed, and virtually vaporize out of the grave clothes. Perhaps it would be something along the lines of the way a body was transported on the old Star Trek series; the molecules would alter, and the person could pass through a solid object, and re-assemble themselves into a solid person. We know that Jesus could do this after His resurrection; He could miraculously appear in a room that had all the doors locked and the windows shut. Yet He was no phantom; He had a real flesh and bone body.
Last of all He was seen by me also: By saying as by one born out of due time, Paul may mean that he did not have a three-year “gestation” period as the other apostles; he came on the scene suddenly.
Paul used the ancient Greek term ektroma meaning, “abortion, stillbirth, miscarriage” - it speaks of an untimely birth with “freakish” associations. Some think Paul used this striking word because the Corinthian Christians so consistently depreciated his stature as an apostle. They considered him truly a paulus (“little”) apostle, but Paul will glory in his weakness.
Seen by me also: The cumulative testimony of these witnesses is overwhelming. Not only did they see Jesus after His death, but they saw Him in a manner which revolutionized their faith and trust in Him.
The changed character of the apostles, and their willingness to die for the testimony of the resurrection, eliminate fraud as an explanation of the empty tomb.
Why didn’t Paul mention the appearances of Jesus to the women at the tomb as evidence of Jesus’ resurrection? Probably because in that day a woman’s testimony was not received in law courts. It was true, and it was good evidence for the apostles at that time, but the world of that day would reject that testimony, because it came from women.
For those of you who have forgotten, Cephas, is the same as Peter. Paul says Jesus appeared to Peter. Paul says all the others saw Jesus Resurrected, and ate with Him long before Paul "met" Him.I've been saying, "No one saw Jesus talking to Paul". These verses say the Resurrection was not seen. We all know the Resurrection happened. The body is gone. So, Jesus did leave the sealed solid stone tomb, but no one saw Him do it. I wonder, if the whole world had witnessed the Resurrection with their own eyes.... what affect would that have had on the Gospel? Would more people Believe?
Some preachers say it takes greater "faith" to Believe the unseen. If that's the stance, then why bother letting some see and not others?
OK.... so, Jesus could have appeared to Paul... without anyone seeing Him... but why on earth would Jesus do that? Was it to punish Paul for holding the coats for his buddies while they beat Stephen to death? Was it for arresting Christians and putting them in prison?
Or... was Paul just making all this up to infiltrate the Christian Church and destroy it from within.... like cancer.
Paul is just "all about himself". Peter is just "all about denial".
Jesus left that tomb. The body is missing. He appeared to a lot of people. Thomas saw the holes in His hands.
The men with Paul didn't hold Paul's coat after Jesus knocked him down. The men with Paul didn't see or hear Jesus. We only have Paul's account. Two witnesses were required to bring charges back in the day. Paul couldn't even scrounge up one witness.
Jesus left the tomb and took His own body with Him.
Jesus left the burial clothes behind.
