Resurrection Witnesses;
Paul; Grace; 1 Cor. 15:5-11
Starting in verse 4 Paul
begins to marshal evidence. The problem here for the Greeks was they didn’t
believe in the physical bodily resurrection, it wasn’t part of their culture, it wasn’t part of their background. In fact, just
the opposite was true. Because of the influence of Platonism, the philosophy of
Plato, they did not believe the material world was important. They believed the
physical body was a secondary, lesser existence than that which was in the
ideal world and physical existence was a sort of imprisonment for the soul in
time in this physical body, but once you died then you were freed from this
imprisonment in a physical body and you were released back to heaven where the
soul had its primary and best existence. So to say that the body would be
raised from the dead went completely against all of Greek thought and culture.
They did not believe in the importance of physical bodily resurrection. The
Corinthians didn’t understand resurrection and so Paul is
having to straighten that out in this study.
In order to
do that he is going to marshal an array of witnesses. He wants to make a point, so he is going to bring
witness in after another witness in order to demonstrate his point. The first
witness is the Scripture, the Old Testament prophecies. It was prophesied by
God that there would be this resurrection related to the Messiah. There are
three references that Jesus referred to, the first being the sign of Jonah, a typological
reference, Jonah 1:17. Psalm 16:10 has to do with bodily corruption which takes place
following death. This reference in only to Jesus Christ.
It is not to David, David is in the tomb even today, his
body has gone through corruption. Isaiah 53:10, “prolong his days” is
resurrection.
There were numerous
witnesses to Jesus’ resurrection. 1 Corinthians 15:5 NASB
“and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.”
These mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15 are not all the witnesses and Peter was not
the first one to witness the resurrection, but he is the first one Paul
mentions. This is a very brief summary of what took place. Actually, Jesus
appeared to numerous people. Peter was the third person to witness the
resurrection but Paul emphasizes Peter because he was the one who had denied
the Lord, and Paul mentions him first because the emphasis in this whole
passage is on grace, that the resurrection of Christ is part of the grace of
the gospel.
To whom did Jesus appear
after the resurrection? First of all He appeared to Mary Magdalene, and this is
recorded in Mark 16:9-11 and John 20:11-18. Mary was coming to the tomb to wrap
His body in more spices because they had been in a hurry to prepare the body
after they had taken Him down from the cross. After His appearance to Mary
Magdalene there were other women coming to the tomb to help her in wrapping and
preparing the body and Jesus appeared to them as well. This is recorded in
Matthew 28:9, 10. Then we know He appeared to Peter alone. We are not told that
the Lord appeared to Peter anywhere, but what we are told is that on the fourth
appearance He appeared to one disciple, not one of the twelve but one other
student of the Lord, a believer named Cleopas, and an
unnamed disciple on the road to Emmaus. This is a remarkable record in Luke
24:13-32 because Jesus doesn’t identify Himself. Somehow He veils His Himself
so that they don’t recognize Him and He begins to ask them about all the events
of the past couple of days in Jerusalem. They are going to go through all the details but
they don’t really understand who Jesus is. So because they are disturbed and
confused the Lord then begins to go through the Old Testament, through prophecy
after prophecy to show that all the things that had just transpired in Jerusalem were all prophesied in the Old Testament. Then when
they arrived at Emmaus they suddenly realized who He was and then He left. Then
when they report this what is recorded in Luke 24:34 is that they make the
comment that He had already appeared to Peter. So we are never told about the
Lord’s appearance to Peter. That must have been quite a conversation took place
when the Lord appeared to Peter and Peter realized that he was forgiven for his
sins and for denying the Lord. But we are not given the details,
we are just told that He had already appeared to Peter. So we know He appeared
to Peter before He appeared to the two disciples on the road to Emmaus.
Then, fifth, He appeared
to the twelve. They are called “the twelve,” even though they are missing one.
That tells us that the term, “the twelve,” had become a sort of technical
designation for the disciples. Judas is gone, he is off the scene. Yet in 1
Corinthians 15:5 Paul says Jesus was seen by Cephas,
then to the twelve, but there are only eleven. The term “twelve” is a technical terms for the disciples, even if there had only
been ten they were still being called the twelve. It was just a nickname for
the team. Thomas wasn’t there at first and it is later that Jesus appears to
all of them, including Thomas, and that was the sixth appearance. John
20:26-29.
The seventh appearance: he
appears to seven of the disciples by the Sea of Galilee, John 21:1-23. The eight appearance is mention in 1
Corinthians 15:6 NASB “After that He appeared to more than five hundred
brethren at one time, most of whom remain until now, but some have fallen
asleep.” So those 500 were all witnesses of the resurrection; most of them are
still alive. The term “fallen asleep” is from the Greek verb koimao [koimaw]which means to fall asleep but it is used
figuratively as an idiom for the believer’s body going into the grave. It is
not talking about soul sleep. When the believer dies he is instantly face to
face with the Lord. 1 Corinthians 11:30 uses the term “sleep” when Paul warns the
Corinthians about the fact that they had been abusing the Lord’s table and that
for this reason many were sick and weakly among them, “and many sleep.” There
that is a term for the sin unto death; they had died physically. 1 Thessalonians 4:14 talks about the fact that when the
Rapture comes those who are asleep, the dead in Christ, will rise first.
The ninth appearance is
mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15:7 NASB “then He appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.” This is when the Lord appears to His half brother
James and it is not mentioned in any of the Gospel accounts. Both James and
Jude both trusted the Lord after the resurrection, and James became the leader
in the church in Jerusalem. Acts 1:14; Galatians 1:19. The tenth appearance was
to the disciples at the ascension. Luke 24:44-49; Acts 1:3-8. Again and again
and again the disciples witnessed the resurrected Jesus Christ.
The eleventh appearance
was to Stephen, Acts 7:55, 56. His twelfth appearance was the appearance to
Paul in Acts chapter nine. This is when Paul was saved, when the Lord Jesus
Christ commissioned him on the road to Damascus. 1 Corinthians 15:8 NASB “and last of all,
as to one untimely born, He appeared to me also.” This phrase
“untimely born” is the Greek word ektroma
[e)ktrwma] which
literally means an abortion, a premature birth, or a miscarriage. The term was
used as an insult in the ancient world to refer to someone who has some sort of
deficiency in the way he was born. So Paul refers to his salvation as an
abortion because it was out of time, it wasn’t like the other apostles. He
emphasizes the fact that he was the one who was persecuting the church and that
he is the least of all worthy to be saved. The emphasis there is grace. 1
Corinthians 15:9 NASB “For I am the least of the apostles, and not
fit to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the church of God.” We have seen that an apostle was not
an office in the church, it was a spiritual gift. Spiritual gifts are given by
the Lord Jesus Christ and distributed by the Holy Spirit at the moment of
salvation. In Acts chapter one we have an example of what happens when good
intentions get ahead of themselves and people start trying to solve problems
without divine authorisation: the election of Matthias.
1 Corinthians 15:10 NASB “But by the grace of God I am what I
am…” It had nothing to do with his achievements prior to salvation. “…and His grace toward me did not prove vain…”
His grace saved Paul for a purpose, and Paul has been fulfilling that purpose
as an apostle. “… but I labored even more than all of
them, yet not I, but the grace of God with me.” Paul worked. If
you are really grace oriented you will grow as a believer by means of the grace
and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ, and you will get involved in Christian
service; you will fulfil your role in your spiritual gift in the body of Christ.
[11] “Whether then {it was} I or they, so
we preach and so you believed.” In summary, in verse 11 Paul says no matter who
communicated the gospel to you it all had the same basis,
that is that Christ died on the cross as a substitute for your sins and
Christ was raised again on the third day according to the Scriptures. This is
what we preach and what we believe.