Sunday Devotional: 1 Corinthians 15:5-8

⁵ And that he appeared to Kephas, then to the Twelve, ⁶ then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at the same time,  most of whom are still around, though some have died. ⁷ Next he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, ⁸ and last of all–as though to a miscarriage–he appeared to me.

As we have seen over the past couple of weeks, in this section of his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul is asserting the centrality of Christ’s death and resurrection–and the importance of resurrection for the believer–in the face of some who deny it. He has stated that the central truth of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection was handed down to him, presumably from the apostles, and these events were all fortold in Scripture. Now he undergirds the testimony of Scripture with the testimony of eyewitnesses.

The Gospel accounts detail the way in which the risen Jesus appeared to Peter and “the Twelve”–Paul’s shorthand for Jesus’s inner core group of twelve apostles. We don’t have a written account of Jesus’s appearance to “five hundred brethren,” but clearly this was known to Paul, and possibly to the Corinthian church. It’s not unreasonable to assume that as significant an event as Jesus appearing to five hundred people “at the same time” (Greek: ephapax) would have been told throughout the Christian world at that time. The fact that only some of those five hundred have died, but most are still alive (Greek: menousin, literally “they remain”), indicates that this was an event that happened relatively recently, and people were still alive to talk about what they experienced. Jesus then appeared to James, and then the other apostles. Since he already mentioned Jesus appearing to “the Twelve,” this must be a reference to a subsequent appearance. We could discuss which occasion he means–one from the Gospels, or the appearance in Acts 1 prior to the ascension, or an occasion not recorded–but that would be way beyond the scope of this brief devotional.

Finally, Paul mentions that fact that Christ appeared to him, meaning, of course, at his conversion on the Damascus road. “Finally” could mean that this was Christ’s last post-resurrection appearance, or it could simply mean that this is the last appearance in the list Paul wishes to mention. It’s certainly the most significant for Paul, since it was at this appearance that he was converted, and that his ministry began. Paul speaks of this event as Christ appearing to him “as to a miscarriage.” The meaning behind the Greek (ektrôma) is that of a child born before the full gestation period has been completed. Since, in the ancient world, this would normally happen in the case of a miscarriage, Paul’s use of the term points to the fact that a) his re-birth was “untimely”–he wasn’t one of the original Twelve, so he was a late-comer to the core apostolic group, and b) he considered himself to be “the least of the apostles” (verse 9), because he was a persecutor of the church.

Paul provides all this testimonial evidence to bolster the Corinthian church’s confidence in the reality of Christ’s resurrection. The fact that he was seen by so many people at different times–and people whose testimony is trustworthy (e.g., the apostles, from whom they received the gospel message via Paul)–should put an end to the speculations going around that Christ wasn’t really raised from the dead.

These days, we tend to look down on eyewitness testimony, unless it is corroborated by solid evidence. We know how unreliable our memories can be, and how prone we are to allow our recollections to be shaped by our own perception of reality, or how we want to remember things we saw or experienced. In his book JESUS AND THE EYEWITNESSES, New Testament professor Richard Baukham re-evaluates eyewitness testimony, and makes some excellent points with regard to the New Testament accounts. First, eyewitness testimony in the ancient world was not uncritical. They also had standards by which a testimony could be accepted, often involving corroborating accounts. Also, he points to studies that show how it’s the mundane things in life that we often have the most trouble recalling, especially in detail. When it comes to extraordinary events–especially events that have great shock or emotional effect on us–our memories tend to be more precise, and more reliable.

So when Paul talks about groups of people of various size all seeing the risen Christ, he expects this evidence of the resurrection to be taken seriously, as it should be. These were no mass hallucinations, but different people at different times all seeing the same thing that Paul saw: Christ raised and glorified, and leading his church.

I hope this brief study has strengthened your faith in the truth of the resurrection, and emboldened your proclamation of this essential gospel fact.

Have a great week!