and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
Show the surrounding paragraph
1 Corinthians 15:5-8 sits inside this longer paragraph.
Now I declare to you, brothers, the Good News which I preached to you, which also you received, in which you also stand, by which also you are saved, if you hold firmly the word which I preached to you—unless you believed in vain. For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also. For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God. But by the grace of God I am what I am. His grace which was given to me was not futile, but I worked more than all of them; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me. Whether then it is I or they, so we preach, and so you believed.
Parallel Translations
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and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
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and that he he was sene of Cephas then of the twelve.
After that he was sene of moo the five hodred brethren at once: of which many remayne vnto this daye and many are fallen aslepe.
After that appered he to Iames then to all the Apostles.
And last of all he was sene of me as of one that was borne out of due tyme.
Show all 3 translations
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And that he was seene of Cephas, then of the twelue.
After that, he was seene of more then fiue hudreth brethren at once: whereof many remaine vnto this present, and some also are asleepe.
After that, he was seene of Iames: then of all the Apostles.
And last of all he was seene also of me, as of one borne out of due time.
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (5)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (28)
- 1 Corinthians 9:1 (v8) Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Haven’t I seen Jesus Christ, our Lord? Aren’t you my work in the Lord?
- Matthew 28:10 (v6) Then Jesus said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Go tell my brothers that they should go into Galilee, and there they will see me.”
- Mark 16:7 (v6) But go, tell his disciples and Peter, ‘He goes before you into Galilee. There you will see him, as he said to you.’ ”
- Mark 16:14 (v5) Afterward he was revealed to the eleven themselves as they sat at the table, and he rebuked them for their unbelief and hardness of heart,…
- Acts 26:16 (v8) But arise, and stand on your feet, for I have appeared to you for this purpose: to appoint you a servant and a witness both of the things…
Show all 28 cross-references
- Acts 18:9 (v8) The Lord said to Paul in the night by a vision, “Don’t be afraid, but speak and don’t be silent;
- Acts 22:18 (v8) and saw him saying to me, ‘Hurry and get out of Jerusalem quickly, because they will not receive testimony concerning me from you.’
- Acts 9:17 (v8) Ananias departed and entered into the house. Laying his hands on him, he said, “Brother Saul, the Lord, who appeared to you on the road by…
- Luke 24:50 (v7) He led them out as far as Bethany, and he lifted up his hands, and blessed them.
- Acts 9:3-6 (v8) As he traveled, he got close to Damascus, and suddenly a light from the sky shone around him. He fell on the earth, and heard a voice…
- Acts 22:14 (v8) He said, ‘The God of our fathers has appointed you to know his will, and to see the Righteous One, and to hear a voice from his mouth.
- 2 Corinthians 12:1-6 (v8) It is doubtless not profitable for me to boast. For I will come to visions and revelations of the Lord. I know a man in Christ, fourteen…
- John 20:19-26 (v5) When therefore it was evening on that day, the first day of the week, and when the doors were locked where the disciples were assembled,…
- Acts 1:2-12 (v7) until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To…
- Acts 1:2-14 (v5) until the day in which he was received up, after he had given commandment through the Holy Spirit to the apostles whom he had chosen. To…
- Acts 13:36 (v6) For David, after he had in his own generation served the counsel of God, fell asleep, was laid with his fathers, and saw decay.
- Luke 24:33 (v7) They rose up that very hour, returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven gathered together, and those who were with them,
- Luke 24:34-49 (v5) saying, “The Lord is risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” They related the things that happened along the way, and how he was…
- John 1:42 (v5) He brought him to Jesus. Jesus looked at him, and said, “You are Simon the son of Jonah. You shall be called Cephas” (which is by…
- 1 Corinthians 1:12 (v5) Now I mean this, that each one of you says, “I follow Paul,” “I follow Apollos,” “I follow Cephas,” and, “I follow Christ.”
- Luke 24:36 (v7) As they said these things, Jesus himself stood among them, and said to them, “Peace be to you.”
- Acts 10:41 (v5) not to all the people, but to witnesses who were chosen before by God, to us, who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead.
- Acts 12:17 (v7) But he, beckoning to them with his hand to be silent, declared to them how the Lord had brought him out of the prison. He said, “Tell these…
- 1 Corinthians 3:22 (v5) whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come. All are yours,
- 1 Corinthians 9:5 (v5) Have we no right to take along a wife who is a believer, even as the rest of the apostles, and the brothers of the Lord, and Cephas?
- Acts 7:60 (v6) He kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, “Lord, don’t hold this sin against them!” When he had said this, he fell asleep.
- 1 Corinthians 15:18 (v6) Then they also who are fallen asleep in Christ have perished.
- 2 Peter 3:4 (v6) and saying, “Where is the promise of his coming? For, from the day that the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the…
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (23 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8 Of those twelve picked and chosen Apostles, which were…
Of those twelve picked and chosen Apostles, which were commonly called twelve, though Judas was put out of the number.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv5–8 5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then…
5 And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve:
Ver. 5. Seen of Cephas] Adam died, and we hear no more of him. But Christ showed himself after death in six several apparitions for our confirmation.
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Then of the twelve] So they are called for the rotundity of the number, utcunque unus vel alter vel deesset eel abesset. Judas had made one long letter of himself, Longam literam fecit.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv5–8 We read not in the history of the gospel…
We read not in the history of the gospel of Christ’s appearing unto Peter, unless he were one of those to whom Christ appeared, as they were going to Emmaus; for which there is this probability, because when they came to Jerusalem, they told the rest, that the Lord was risen, and had appeared unto Simon, Luk 24:34 (if Simon Peter be there meant). His appearance to the whole number of the disciples we have recorded, Joh 20:19; they are called twelve, ( though Judas was now dead, and Thomas at that time was not there), because twelve was the number that God had appointed the college of apostles to consist of; so, Gen 42:13, the children of Jacob said they were twelve brethren, though they thought at that time that Joseph (who made the twelfth) was dead. This is much more probably the sense, than the fancy of some, that Barnabas, who was afterward chosen to supply the room of Judas, being at that time a disciple, might at that time be with them; for admit he were, yet Thomas, we are sure, was at that time absent.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
William Burkitt 1703 · Public Domain On v8 As Christ was seen of St. Paul last of…
As Christ was seen of St. Paul last of all the apostles, so it is probable he was seen last by him, of all persons. We read not of any that saw Christ after St. Stephen and St. Paul, who here reckons himself among those who were eye-witnesses of the risen Jesus: Last of all he was seen of me also.
Observe farther, the great humility of St. Paul, in styling himself an untimely birth, or a person born out of due time.
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But in what sense doth he mean that he was born out of due time?
Answer, 1. Negatively; not that he was, as to his spiritual birth, born too soon, but rather too late. Alas! he had been too long a proud Pharisee, a formal professor, a fiery persecutor. In this sense he was no abortive, or born out of due time, or rather born too late than too soon.
But positively, he calls himself an abortive, or untimely birth,
1. Because he was the last of the apostles that was called; the rest were called by Christ whilst here on earth. Paul was called by Christ from heaven, after his departure from earth to heaven.
2. Because of the suddenness and violence of his conversion; an abortion is occasioned by some sudden surprise, some strain, or violent motion. St. Paul’s conversion was a wonderful violent conversion, out of the ordinary way and course; he was smitten from his horse to the ground, and lay as one dead in his passage to his new life.
3. Because abortive children are lesser, weaker, and more imperfect children, than those of full growth. As an abortive child is the least of children, so he reckons himself the least of the apostles, and styles himself so in the next verse, where he thus speaks, I was as one born out of due time.
William Burkitt's Expository Notes on the New Testament (1700–1703) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv5–8 And that he was seen of Cephas,.... Or Simon…
And that he was seen of Cephas,.... Or Simon Peter; for Cephas was a name given him by Christ, Joh 1:42. This was not another Cephas, one of the seventy disciples, as Clemens suggests (g), but the Apostle Peter himself, to whom it is certain the Lord appeared. Not that he was the first person by whom Christ was seen after his resurrection, for he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, Mar 16:9 but the testimony of the women the apostle omits, and it seems as if Peter was the first of the men that saw Christ when risen, see Luk 24:34. Whether he was one of the disciples that went to Emmaus, to whom Christ joined himself, and entered into discourse with, is not certain; it should rather seem, that the appearance here referred to was when he was alone;
then of the twelve; though there were then but eleven of them, Judas being gone from them, and having destroyed himself; and at the first appearance of Christ to them, there were but ten present, Thomas being absent; and yet because their original number, when first chosen and called, were twelve, they still went by the same name; see Joh 20:24. The appearance or appearances here referred to are those in Joh 20:19. The Vulgate Latin reads the "eleven"; and so the Claromontane exemplar.
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(g) Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 12.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv5–8 By the twelve - This was their standing appellation;…
By the twelve - This was their standing appellation; but their full number was not then present.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Verse 5. That he was seen of Cephas, then…
Verse 5. That he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve] This refers to the journey to Emmaus, Luk 24:13, Luk 24:34; and to what is related Mr 16:14.
Then of the twelve] Instead of δωδεκα, twelve, ενδεκα, eleven, is the reading of D*EFG, Syriac in the margin, some of the Slavonic, Armenian, Vulgate, Itala, and several of the fathers; and this reading is supported by Mr 16:14. Perhaps the term twelve is used here merely to point out the society of the apostles, who, though at this time they were only eleven, were still called the twelve, because this was their original number, and a number which was afterward filled up. See Joh 20:24.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8 1Co 15:5. And that he was seen of Cephas…
1Co 15:5. And that he was seen of Cephas — As mentioned Luk 24:34, who saw him before any of the other apostles. He appeared, indeed, after his resurrection, first of all to Mary Magdalene: but as no woman was employed to testify his resurrection to the world, St. Paul did not think it necessary, in exhibiting the proofs of Christ’s resurrection, to mention any of his appearances to the women. Then of the twelve — That company of apostles so called, though several of the number were not present when he appeared. Macknight thinks, that in this expression all our Lord’s appearances to his apostles, from the time he arose, to the time he showed himself to the five hundred brethren at once, are comprehended; namely, his appearance to the apostles on the evening of the day on which he arose, and on the eighth day thereafter, and at the sea of Tiberias, as also every other appearance to them which the evangelists may have omitted to relate; for that they omitted some is certain.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv5–8 And that he was seen of Cephas - Peter;…
And that he was seen of Cephas - Peter; See the note at Joh 1:42. The resurrection of Christ was A fact to be proved, like all other facts, by competent and credible witnesses. Paul, therefore, appeals to the witnesses who had attested, or who yet lived to attest, the truth of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and shows that it was not possible that so many witnesses should have been deceived. As this was not the first time in which the evidence had been stated to them, and as his purpose was merely to remind them of what they had heard and believed, he does not adduce all the witnesses to the event, but refers only to the more important ones. He does not, therefore, mention the woman to whom the Saviour first appeared, nor does he refer to all the times when the Lord Jesus manifested himself to his disciples. But he does not refer to them in general merely, but mentions “names,” and refers to persons who “were then alive,” who could attest the truth of the resurrection. It may be observed, also, that Paul observes probably the exact “order” in which the Lord Jesus appeared to the disciples, though he does not mention all the instances. For an account of the persons to whom the Lord Jesus appeared after his resurrection, and the order in which it was done, see the notes on the Gospels.
Then of the twelve - The apostles; still called “the twelve,” though Judas was not one of them. It was common to call the apostles “the twelve.” Jesus appeared to the apostles at one time in the absence of Thomas Joh 20:19, Joh 20:24; and also to them when Thomas was present, Joh 20:24-29. Probably Paul here refers to the latter occasion, when all the surviving apostles were present.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv7–8 He was seen by James. The time is not…
He was seen by James. The time is not mentioned in the gospels. (Witham)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv5–8 seen of Cephas--Peter (Luk 24:34).
seen of Cephas--Peter (Luk 24:34).
the twelve--The round number for "the Eleven" (Luk 24:33, Luk 24:36). "The Twelve" was their ordinary appellation, even when their number was not full. However, very possibly Matthias was present (Act 1:22-23). Some of the oldest manuscripts and versions read, "the Eleven": but the best on the whole, "the Twelve."
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv5–8 5-8. From among the appearances of our Saviour after…
5-8. From among the appearances of our Saviour after his resurrection, Paul selects six as amply sufficient. Renan says in his “Apostles,” that the nervous imagination of one woman, Mary Magdalene, at the sepulchre, has changed the state of the world. But as if to refute so sweeping a statement by anticipation, Paul entirely omits the testimony of Mary, and also of the other females. He adduces mostly the apostles; especially the two most eminent, Peter and James, a company of five hundred, and last of all, himself.
5. The twelve—Though Judas was dead and Thomas absent, so that they were but eleven, Paul calls the apostolic college by its habitual numerical title, the twelve. See our vol. ii, p. 81.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 7, 8 5. of Cephas] See Luk_24:34. St Paul and St…
5. of Cephas] See Luk_24:34. St Paul and St John alone use the Aramaic form of the Apostle’s surname, the former only in this Epistle and once in the Epistle to the Galatians. This, coupled with the fact that St John only uses the Aramaic form in the narrative in ch. Joh_1:42, is one of those minute touches which speak strongly for the genuineness of his gospel.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv5, 6, 8 (5) That he was seen of Cephas.—From the indications…
(5) That he was seen of Cephas.—From the indications of sequence here given we may conclude that the appearances here grouped together are arranged in chronological order. We have these appearances:—(1) To Cephas (see Luk_24:34). (2) To the Twelve—the phrase “the Twelve” being used to indicate, not the number of those present, but the group to which they belonged, as Decemviri might be used, or Hebdomadal Council, not to express the exact number but the corporate body—(see Luk_24:36; Joh_20:19). This was probably the appearance to the ten Apostles, and is distinguished from a subsequent appearance to “all the Apostles.” (3) To above five hundred brethren at once. This must have been in Galilee, for at a later date (see Act_1:15) the Church at Jerusalem consisted of only one hundred and twenty disciples. (See Mat_28:16-17, and Act_1:15.) (4) To James. This appearance is recorded only here and in the Gospel of the Hebrews, which is quoted by St. Jerome, “But the Lord, when he had given the sindôn” (the same word as that for the “linen garment,” in Mar_14:51) “to the servant of the priest, had a table brought out, and bread on it, which He blessed and gave to James, saying, ‘Eat thy bread now, brother, since the Son of Man has risen from the dead;’ for James had sworn that he would not eat bread from the hour in which he had drunk the cup of the Lord until he should see Him rising from the dead.” (5) To all the Apostles, Thomas being present (Joh_20:26). (6) St. Paul himself (Act_9:5). To these facts St. Paul appeals. Most of those who saw Him were alive. Their enemies were alive to dispute it if they could. The witnesses had nothing to gain, everything to lose by telling the truth. The evidence was set forth some twenty-five or thirty years after the occurrence of the alleged facts. The Apostle here maintains the truth of an historical fact. He appeals solely to historical proof, and accumulates a mass of historical testimony, such as in any matter of history, if produced so shortly after the occurrence, would be deemed overwhelming.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv5–8 Was seen of Cephas. (Luk_24:34) (The appearances to the…
Was seen of Cephas. (Luk_24:34) (The appearances to the Joh_20:14, etc.) are omitted, as being evidential rather to the apostles than to the world. The twelve. (Joh_20:19, Joh_20:26) Some officious scribes have in some manuscripts altered the word into" the eleven." But "the twelve" is here the designation of an office, and great ancient writers are always indifferent to mere pragmatic accuracy in trifles which involve nothing. To witness to the Resurrection was a main function of "the twelve". (Act_2:23 Act_3:15 Act_10:40, etc.)
Vers. 5-11. Apostolic testimony to Christ"s resurrection, and testimony of others.
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A prominent feature of Christ"s plan was to train the apostles to be his witnesses. Conceive what this involved: on their part, a discipline of the senses as inlets of the mind, close and patient attention, constant revisals of impressions, contentedness under mystery, boldness of statement, heroism in adhering to testimony. Along with these qualities, an experience of the truth in Christ as a transforming power was to impart a peculiar character to all they affirmed, so that Christ Jesus, living, dying, risen, exalted, glorified, was to be seen in them as well as through them. On the part of Christ, what condescension and sympathy, what painstaking, what persistent efforts, were necessary to make these rude Galileans competent to the duties of testifiers! "Ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning." To be messengers was not enough; they were to be witnesses also, for the "Holy Ghost shall come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judaea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth." These men felt that they were Christ"s chosen witnesses, and that their testimony was the chief agency employed by the Spirit to save the world. It was natural, then, for St. Paul to begin his argument on the resurrection of the body by calling attention to the fact that the risen Christ "was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve." For the space of forty days he manifested himself at intervals to their senses, and during this intermediate period a special dispensation to the disciples, differing widely from all that went before or came after their education as witnesses, and particularly as witnesses of his resurrection, was carried on to the verge of completeness at Pentecost. In fact, Pentecost was the forty days consummated. And was this great training merely in the historical fact that he had risen? Forty days were not needed for this. Twenty-four hours after he had reappeared, all the twelve, except St. Thomas, were firm believers of the fact. But they were to feel the connection between his resurrection and death as spiritual truths of the highest moment, truths of the Divine government, truths of holy sentiment, and thus fitted for the full dispensation of the Holy Ghost at Pentecost. "Did not our heart burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the Scriptures?" The heart, the burning heart, the heart of saving faith, this is the distinctive type of experience now, and, for the first time, Christian emotion as to its essential quality is brought into notice. St. Paul enumerates the witnesses: St. Peter, the twelve, the five hundred brethren, St. James; and adds, "all the apostles." Then he mentions himself: "Last of all, he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time." Could he speak of this in the way simply of historical summation? Not he; memory was too active, feeling too acute, humility and gratitude too profound, for a bare logical statement. In an instant, the devout soul hastens to acknowledge what it never lost an opportunity of expressing its sense of God"s mercy in calling him, a persecutor of the Church of God, to the apostleship. "By the grace of God words often abused since he used them, but most sacred and glorious as he uttered them the grace of God I am what I am." That grace had not been bestowed in vain; nor does he hesitate to say that be had "laboured more abundantly than they all," and then "I" sinks out of sight, and it is all of grace. Notice the stages of the idea: born untimely; least of the apostles because he was guilty of persecution; the only man among them who stood against this dark background, but the light in the foreground is the more resplendent for that; not ashamed to confess his utter unworthiness in order to magnify the grace of God, and this grace deserving the entire honour of the more abundant labour. What an insight into the man! If, as we suppose, the hours when this chapter was written were extraordinary even in his wonderful mental history; if there was a fuller and closer interblending of his faculties than he had ever experienced; if human knowledge and culture then brought to inspiration their largest and richest tribute, and if inspiration brought to them its mightiest quickening; what could be more striking than the fact that in this very period of exaltation, when intellect was in the splendid array both of its endowments and acquisitions, and when the power of speech had suddenly possessed itself of new facilities of expression, he cannot proceed without pausing to bow his heart in adoration before the God of grace! Uppermost, indeed, was the thought of him who had "died for our sins," and the glory of Christ risen as personal to him and his apostleship was the grace shown to him as a persecutor of the Church of God. And we who read his glowing words, what finer privilege can the unfoldings of the human soul in literature give us, what privilege so fine as this in which the apostle of the Gentiles, rising above the levels of all common experience, speaks from a height which would be the abode of silence save that humility would offer its homage to the grace of Christ! The nobility of the man displays itself here; for, though labouring "more abundantly than they all," yet he claims no more than to be one of the witnessing company of the apostles. After all, it is not the individual testimony of St. Peter, St. James, St. Paul, but the concurrent and united evidence, that is the important fact. Years intervened between the forty days and the scene on the road to Damascus, and he comes with his later testimony to join the group of the earlier witnesses. "Whether it were I or they we are all agreed as to the appearance of the risen Lord we preach, and so ye believed. L.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv5, 8 And that He was seen of Cephas, then of…
1Co_15:5-8
And that He was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve.
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The infallible proofs of our Lords resurrection
I. The witnesses were--
1. Numerous.
2. Competent in respect of their acquaintance with Christ, their intelligence, their opportunities of seeing Him.
3. Honest.
II. Their evidence.
1. Was immediately given.
2. Where the facts occurred.
3. Harmonious.
4. Constantly repeated.
5. Openly given while hundreds of them were alive.
6. Steadily maintained even unto death. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
The evidence for the resurrection
As the resurrection of Christ is an historical fact, it is to be proved by historical evidence. The apostle therefore appeals to the testimony of competent witnesses. Confidence in such testimony is not founded on experience, but on the constitution of our nature. We are so constituted that we cannot refuse assent to the testimony of good men to a fact fairly within their knowledge. To render such testimony irresistible it is necessary--
1. That the fact to be proved should be of a nature to admit of being certainly known.
2. That adequate opportunity be afforded to the witnesses to ascertain its nature, and to be satisfied of its verity.
3. That the witnesses be of sound mind and discretion.
4. That they be men of integrity. If these conditions be fulfilled, human testimony establishes the truth of a fact beyond reasonable doubt. If, however, in addition to these grounds of confidence, the witnesses give their testimony at the expense of great personal sacrifice, or confirm it with their blood; if, moreover, the occurrence of the fact in question had been predicted centuries before it came to pass; if it had produced effects not otherwise to be accounted for, effects extending to all ages and nations; if the system of doctrine with which that fact is connected so as to be implied in it, commends itself as true to the reason and conscience of men; and if God confirms not only the testimony of the original witnesses to the fact, but also the truth of the doctrines of which that fact is the necessary basis, by the demonstration of His Spirit, then it is insanity and wickedness to doubt it. All these considerations concur in proof of the resurrection of Christ, and render it the best authenticated event in the history of the world. (C. Hodge, D.D.)
The appearances of Christ after His resurrection
I. To whom permitted.
1. To individuals.
2. To the twelve.
3. To a large body of disciples.
4. To the faith of every true believer.
II. With what design.
1. To confirm the truth.
2. Establish the faith of the disciples.
3. Subdue opposition as in the case of Paul.
4. Comfort and assure His people. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
After that He was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain,… but some are fallen asleep.--
More than five hundred witnesses
I. The fact.
1. Not elsewhere recorded.
2. Must have been well known.
3. Was widely published when it could easily have been disproved.
4. Was never disputed.
II. Its importance.
1. The witnesses of the resurrection were sufficiently numerous and diverse in point of intelligence, etc., to supply the severest test of its reality.
2. To afford ample means of investigation.
3. To satisfy the most persistent unbelief.
III. Its lessons.
1. Christ is the living Redeemer.
2. Reveals Himself to many or few.
3. Manifests Himself to His own as He does not unto the world.
4. Shall finally be revealed when every eye shall see Him. (J. Lyth, D.D.)
Appearances of the risen Redeemer
We have here--
I. A mighty proof of the resurrection of Christ. Two or three witnesses, intellectually and morally competent, would be regarded in a court of justice as sufficient to establish any fact, but here are five hundred. To suppose that they were all deceived would be to suppose one of the most stupendous miracles ever wrought. Mark, Paul states this fact when the greater part were still alive. Would any man, under such circumstances, dare to have made the assertion had it not been an indisputable fact?
II. An interesting view of the departure of good men from the world. Some are fallen asleep. Sleep does not include extinction; must exclude suffering. Sleep is--
1. A welcome rest. Sleep is refreshing. The work of a Christian here is hard work, the work of cultivation, building, battling, voyaging. Sleep reinvigorates the system, gives new tone to the frame, new vigour to the limb. The holy dead renew their strength in eternity.
2. An anticipation of waking. Men yield themselves to repose with the hope of morning; a morning in which they will go forth to the joys and duties of life with a new zest and energy. Who dreads sleep? No good man need dread death.
III. A suggestive event in the experience of the apostle (verse 8). When did Paul see Christ? When Christ was in heaven (Act_9:5). Then, though in heaven--
1. He is cognisant of the movements of individual men. He knew all about Saul of Tarsus.
2. He can reveal Himself to men on earth.
3. His love for sinners is unabated. He spoke to Saul the persecutor, the chief of sinners. (D. Thomas, D.D.)
The character and death of the saints
I. The character of those of whom it may be said when they die,they are fallen asleep. Brethren, and not on account of a natural relationship, but of a spiritual union. They were brethren, because they had been united to the Elder Brother, the First-born among many brethren; and their union to Him was the foundation of their union to each other. As brethren, there was a sameness in their principles--in their hopes--in their consolations--in their rejoicing when they beheld a risen Saviour.
II. The state of such persons after death. Sleep denotes--
1. Their rest. The time of sleep is the time of rest so sweet to the labouring man. The believers life here is compared to a day; his departure home to a night. Hence the exhortation, Work while it is called day, for the night cometh when no man can work. Every description of Christian character conveys the idea of labour. He has to run, to fight, to wrestle, etc.; and death is as the commencing of repose when the labour of the day is done.
2. Their safety. We could not go to rest at night if we knew that a robber would invade our dwelling-place, or a fire consume it, or a wind prostrate it, or a murderer attempt our lives. It is when we have barred our houses against intruders, and committed ourselves to the protection of our Creator, that we close our eyes in hope that we shall both lay ourselves down and sleep in peace and safety. The figure illustrates the perfect safety of those who have entered into peace. It is then that the believer enters into regions which will never be ruffled, and into glories which will never be obscured, and upon joys which will never be interrupted. For no enemy can harass there, no care oppress, no affliction try. And it is a precious remembrance, that the body is safe too. The body of the saint in the tomb is a precious deposit. Christ will rescue it from the darkness and the disgrace of the tomb, and will invest it with honour and immortality.
3. Their resurrection. When we sleep at night, it is with a hope of waking again in the morning.
Conclusion: Let this subject--
1. Comfort us concerning our departed friends.
2. Comfort us under our present trials.
3. Excite inquiries whether, if we die at this moment, it would be a sleep in Christ Jesus. (W. Hodson.)
What the sight of the risen Christ makes life and death
Consider--
I. What life may become to those who see the risen Christ. The word remain not only tells us that the survivors were living, but the kind of life they lived. It is the same expression as If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee? Now, that saying went abroad amongst the brethren, and it may have been floating in Pauls memory, and have determined his selection of this expression. So, then, the sight of a risen Christ--
1. Will make life calm and tranquil. Fancy one of these after that vision going home. How small and unworthy to disturb the heart in which the memory of that vision was burning would seem the things that otherwise would have been important and distracting! Our faith in the risen Christ ought to do the same thing for us. If we build our nests amidst the tossing branches of the worlds trees, they will sway with every wind, and perhaps be blown away from their hold altogether. But we may build our nests in the clefts of the rock, like the doves, and be quiet, as they are. They who see Christ need not be troubled. The ship that is empty is tossed upon the ocean, that which is well laden is steady. The heart that has Christ for a passenger need not fear being rocked by any storm. Make Him your scale of importance, and nothing will be too small to demand and be worthy of the best efforts of your work, but nothing will be too great to sweep you away from the serenity of your faith.
2. Will lead to patient persistence in duty. The risen Christ is--
(1) The Pattern for the men who will not be turned aside from the path of duty by any obstacles, dangers, or threats.
(2) The example of glory following upon faithfulness.
(3) The helper of them that put their trust in Him. By patient continuance in well-doing let us commit the keeping of our souls to Him and abide in the calling wherewith we are called.
3. Leads to a life of calm expectancy. That vision sent these five hundred men home to make all the rest of their lives one patient expectation of the return of the Lord. These primitive Christians expected that Jesus Christ would come speedily. That expectation was disappointed in so far as the date was concerned, but after nineteen centuries it still remains true that all vigorous and vital Christian life must have in it the onward look. He has come, He will come; He has gone, He will come back. And for us life ought to be a confident expectance that when Be shall be manifested we also shall be manifested with Him in glory.
II. What death becomes to those who have seen Christ risen from the dead. The Christian reason for calling death a sleep embraces a great deal more than the heathen reason for doing so, inasmuch as to most others who have used the word, death has been a sleep that knew no waking, whereas the Christian reason for employing the symbol is that it makes our waking sure. The New Testament scarcely ever employs the words dying and death for the act or for the state it keeps those grim words for the reality, the separation of the soul from God. But the reason why Christianity uses metaphors for death, is the opposite of the reason why the world uses them. The world is so afraid of dying that it durst not name the grim, ugly thing. The Christian faith is so little afraid of death, that it, does not think such a trivial matter worth calling by the name, but only names it falling asleep. Even when the circumstances of that dropping off to slumber are painful and violent, the Bible still employs the term. Is it not striking that the first martyr dying a bloody death should have been said to fall asleep? If that be true of such a death, no physical pains of any kind make the sweet word inappropriate for any. We have here not only the designation of the act of dying, but that of the condition of the dead. They are fallen asleep, and they continue asleep. There lies in the figure the idea of--
1. Repose. They rest from their labours. In that sleep there are folded round the sleepers the arms of the Christ on whose bosom they rest, as an infant does on its first and happiest home, its mothers breast.
2. Continuous and conscious existence. It has been argued from this metaphor that the space between death and the resurrection is a period of unconsciousness, but the analogies seem to me to be in the opposite direction. A sleeping man does not cease to know himself to be, or to be himself. That consciousness of personal identity survives dreams sufficiently show us. And therefore they that sleep know themselves to be, and know where they rest.
3. Waking. Sleep is a parenthesis. If the night comes, the morning comes. They shall be satisfied when they awake with His likeness. Conclusion: Now, then, the risen Christ is the only ground of such hope, and faith in Him is the only state of mind which is entitled to cherish it. Nothing proves immortality except that open grave. Every other foundation is too weak to bear the weight of such a superstructure. The old Greek architects were often careless of the solidity of the soil on which they built their temple, and so many of them have fallen in ruins. The temple of immortality can be built only upon the rock of that proclamation, Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. (A. Maclaren, D.D.)
Fallen asleep
Yes, the companions of Jesus died one by one. Consider the great value of such men and of all good men to the Church, and the loss caused by their removal. Yet no word of lamentation is used. It is not said that they have perished, or passed into the land of shades, but that they are fallen asleep. The spirit is with Jesus in glory: the body rests till His appearing. Fallen asleep suggests a very different idea from that which distressed the minds of the heathen when they thought of death.
I. The figure here used.
1. An act of the most natural kind: fallen asleep.
(1) It is the fit ending of a weary day.
(2) It is not painful, but the end of pain.
(3) It is so desirable that, if denied, we should pray for it.
(4) It is most sweet when the place of our sleep is Jesus.
2. A state of which rest is the main ingredient.
3. A position of safety from a thousand dangers, such as beset the pilgrim, the worker, the warrior.
4. A condition by no means destructive.
(1) Neither destroys existence, nor even injures it.
(2) Should not be viewed as an evil.
5. A posture full of hope.
(1) We shall awake from this sleep.
(2) We shall awake without difficulty.
(3) We shall arise greatly refreshed.
II. The thoughts aroused by that figure.
1. How did we treat those that are now asleep?
(1) Did we value their living presence, work, and testimony?
(2) Ought we not to be more kind to those who are yet alive?
2. How can we make up for the loss caused by their sleep?
(1) Should we not fill their vacant places?
(2) Should we not profit by their examples?
3. How fit that we should also be prepared to, fall asleep!
(1) Is our house in order?
(2) Is our heart in order?
(3) Is our Christian work in order?
4. How much better that the faithful should fall asleep than that the wicked should die in their sins!
5. How patiently should we bear up under the labours and sufferings of the day, since there remaineth a rest for the people of God!
III. The hopes confirmed by that figure.
1. The sleepers are yet ours, even as those in the house who are asleep are numbered with the rest of the inhabitants.
(1) They have the same life in them which dwells in us.
(2) They are part of the same family. We are seven.
(3) They make up one church. One church above, beneath.
2. The sleepers will yet awake.
(1) Their Fathers voice will arouse thrum.
(2) They shall be awake indeed: full of health and energy.
(3) They shall have new clothes to dress in.
(4) They shall not again fall asleep.
3. The sleepers and ourselves will enjoy sweet fellowship.
(1) Sleep does not destroy the love of brothers and sisters now.
(2) We shall arise as one unbroken family, saved in the Lord.
Conclusion:
1. Let us not hopelessly sorrow over those asleep.
2. Let us not ourselves sleep till bed-time comes.
3. Let us not fear to sleep in such good company.
Death as sleep
Gods finger touched him, and he slept. (Tennyson.)
Sleep the time of growth
Physiologists hold that it is during sleep chiefly that we grow; what may we not hope of such a sleep in such a bosom? (S. T. Coleridge.)
After that He was seen of James.--
Seen of James
Words soon read and soon forgotten, but conveying to the thoughtful reader a world of instruction. All Scripture … is profitable, etc. These incidental allusions are meant to challenge inquiry.
I. Who was James? The Lords brother (Gal_1:19). Whether the son of Mary, or the son of Joseph by a former wife, or our Lords first cousin, it is impossible to say with certainty. All we can say is that the relationship was very close. The incident is illustrative of Christs mindfulness of His brethren according to the flesh. The touching incident on the Cross is paralleled here. In His humiliation He did not forget His mother. In His glory He did not forget His brethren. Nor does He now (Heb_4:13-15).
II. When did Christ appear to James? Placed where this brief account of the incident is, we should infer that it occurred during the forty days, and Act_1:14 confirms this. The appearance was therefore--
1. Early.
2. Tangible.
III. Why did Christ appear to James? To convict and remove his unbelief. Christ appeared to three types of unbelievers.
1. To Thomas the pious sceptic.
2. To Paul the inveterate disbeliever.
3. To James the scoffing unbeliever (Joh_7:3-5)--the hardest of all, as experience shows, to convince.
In each case, however, unbelief gave way to faith. Faith is the faculty which grasps the meaning of the vision of Christ; but the appearance of Christ is necessary to quicken the faith which apprehends it. Christ now appears to unbelievers in His Word, providence, etc. Lord, open their eyes!
IV. What effect did the appearance of Christ have on James? This we can estimate by what James afterwards became.
1. President of the Church at Jerusalem.
2. The chairman of the Apostolic Synod.
3. The writer of the most practical Epistle of the New Testament.
The vision of Christ is the inspiration of all Christian usefulness. The original disciples (Joh_1:1-51) and Paul saw Christ for themselves, hence were able to describe Him to others and to lead others to Him.
V. What is the evidential value of this appearance? James was called the Just, by Jews as well as Christians. No man was less likely to deceive or be deceived. (J. W. Burn.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain On vv5–8 5. That he was seen of Cephas. He now…
5. That he was seen of Cephas. He now gives the proof of these facts. The women saw Christ before Peter Cephas, but Paul names the witnesses who would carry most weight to the Corinthians. For the appearance to Peter, see Luke 24:34. Then of the twelve. See Matt. 28:17 and John 20:19, 25.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
William B. Godbey 1900 · Public Domain On vv6, 8 1Co 15:1-21
THE RESURRECTION OF THE DEAD
1Co 15:1-21
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6. “— of whom most remain to this day, but some are fallen asleep.” Our Savior corrected them when they said Lazarus was dead, refusing to receive their report. He said, “Lazarus is not dead, but sleepeth.” The great Bible truth involves the conclusion that man inherited immortality from the creative fiat appertaining to soul, mind and body. Hence the body is as immortal as the soul, only taking a nap in the dust, awaiting the mandate of God, revealed by the resurrection trumpet. It is very injudicious for us to speak of our departed loved ones as dead, as it is difficult to keep hearts and faces bright while indulging in blue talk. “Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.” We should look upon and speak of our departed friends as yet alive, and living in a better country than ever before.
William B. Godbey, Commentary on the New Testament (1896–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v6 1 Corinthians
1 Corinthians
REMAINING AND FALLING ASLEEP
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1Co 15:6.
There were, then, some five-and-twenty years after the Resurrection, several hundred disciples who were known amongst the churches as having been eyewitnesses of the risen Saviour. The greater part survived; some, evidently a very few, had died. The proportion of the living to the dead, after five-and-twenty years, is generally the opposite. The greater part have ‘fallen asleep’; some, a comparatively few, remain ‘unto this present.’ Possibly there was some divine intervention which supernaturally prolonged the lives of these witnesses, in order that their testimony might be the more lasting. But, be that as it may, they evidently were men of mark, and some kind of honour and observance surrounded them, as was very natural, and as appears from the fact that Paul here knows so accurately {and can appeal to His fellow-Christians’ accurate knowledge} the proportion between the survivors and the departed. We read of one of them in the Acts of the Apostles at a later date than this, one Mnason, an ‘original disciple.’
So we get a glimpse into the conditions of life in the early Church, interesting and of value in an evidential point of view. But my purpose at present is to draw your attention to the remarkable language in which the Apostle here speaks of the living and the dead amongst these witnesses. In neither case does he use the simple, common words ‘living’ or ‘dead’; but in the one clause he speaks of their ‘remaining,’ and in the other of their ‘falling asleep’; both phrases being significant, and, as I take it, both being traced up to the fact of their having seen the risen Lord as the cause why their life could be described as a ‘remaining,’ and their death as a ‘falling asleep.’ In other words, we have here brought before us, by these two striking expressions, the transforming effect upon life and upon death of the faith in a risen Lord, whether grounded on sight or not. And it is simply to these two points that I desire to turn now.
I. First, then, we have to consider what life may become to those who see the risen Christ.
‘The greater part remain until this present.’ Now the word remain is no mere synonym for living or surviving. It not only tells us the fact that the survivors were living, but the kind of life that they did live. It is very significant that it is the same expression as our Lord used in the profound prophetic words, ‘If I will that he tarry till I come, what is that to thee?’ Now we are told in John’s Gospel that ‘that saying went abroad amongst the brethren,’ and inasmuch as it was a matter of common notoriety in the early Church, it is by no means a violent supposition that it may be floating in Paul’s memory here, and may determine his selection of this remarkable expression ‘they remain,’ or ‘they tarry,’ and they were tarrying till the Master came. So, then, I think if we give due weight to the significance of the phrase, we get two or three thoughts worth pondering.
One of them is that the sight of a risen Christ will make life calm and tranquil. Fancy one of these 500 brethren, after that vision, going back to his quiet rural home in some little village amongst the hills of Galilee. How small and remote from Him, and unworthy to ruffle or disturb the heart in which the memory of that vision was burning, would seem the things that otherwise would have been important and distracting! The faith which we have in the risen Christ ought to do the same thing for us, and will do it in the measure in which there shines clearly before that inward eye, which is our true means of apprehending Him, the vision which shone before the outward gaze of that company of wondering witnesses. If we build our nests amidst the tossing branches of the world’s trees, they will sway with every wind, and perhaps be blown from their hold altogether by such a storm as we all have sometimes to meet. But we may build our nests in the clefts of the rock, like the doves, and be quiet, as they are. Distractions will cease to distract, and troubles will cease to agitate, and across the heaving surface of the great ocean there will come a Form beneath whose feet the waves smooth themselves, and at whose voice the winds are still. They who see Christ need not be troubled. The ship that is empty is tossed upon the ocean, that which is well laden is steady. The heart that has Christ for a passenger need not fear being rocked by any storm. Calmness will come with the vision of the Lord, and we shall abide or ‘remain,’ for there will be no need for us to flee from this Refuge to that, nor shall we be driven from our secure abode by any contingencies. ‘He that believeth shall not make haste.’
It is a good thing to cultivate the disposition that says about most of the trifles of this life, ‘It does not much matter’; but the only way to prevent wholesome contempt of the world’s trivialities from degenerating into supercilious indifference is, to base it upon Christ, discerned as near us and bestowing upon us the calmness of His risen life. Make Him your scale of importance, and nothing will be too small to demand and be worthy of the best efforts of your work, but nothing will be too great to sweep you away from the serenity of your faith.
Again, the vision of the risen Christ will also lead to patient persistence in duty. If we have Him before us, the distasteful duty which He sets us will not be distasteful, and the small tasks, in which great faithfulness may be manifested, will cease to be small. If we have Him before us we have in that risen Christ the great and lasting Example of how patient continuance in well-doing triumphs over the sorrows that it bears, by and in patiently bearing them, and is crowned at last with glory and honour. The risen Christ is the Pattern for the men who will not be turned aside from the path of duty by any obstacles, dangers, or threats. The risen Christ is the signal Example of glory following upon faithfulness, and of the crown being the result of the Cross. The risen Christ is the manifest Helper of them that put their trust in Him; and one of the plainest lessons and of the most imperative commands which come from the believing gaze upon that Lord who died because He would do the will of the Father, and is throned and crowned in the heavens because He died, is-By patient continuance in well-doing let us commit the keeping of our souls to Him: and abide in the calling wherewith we are called.
And, again, the sight of the risen Christ leads to a life of calm expectancy. ‘If I will that He tarry till I come’ conveys that shade of meaning. The Apostle was to wait for the Lord from Heaven, and that vision which was given to these 500 men sent them home to their abodes to make all the rest of their lives one calm aspiration for, and patient expectation of, the return of the Lord. These primitive Christians expected that Jesus Christ would come speedily. That expectation was disappointed in so far as the date was concerned, but after nineteen centuries it still remains true that all vigorous and vital Christian life must have in it, as a very important element of its vitality, the onward look which ever is anticipating, which often is desiring, and which constantly is confident of, the coming of the Lord from Heaven. The Resurrection has for its consequences, its sequel and corollary, first the Ascension; then the long tract of time during which Jesus Christ is absent, but still in divine presence rules the world; and, finally, His coming again in that same body in which the disciples saw Him depart from them. And no Christian life is up to the level of its privileges, nor has any Christian faith grasped the whole articles of its creed, except that which sets in the very centre of all its visions of the future that great thought-He shall come again.
Questions of chronology have nothing to do with that. It stands there before us, the certain fact, made certain and inevitable by the past facts of the Cross and the Grave and Olivet. He has come, He will come; He has gone, He will come back. And for us the life that we live in the flesh ought to be a life of waiting for God’s Son from Heaven, and of patient, confident expectancy that when He shall be manifested we also shall be manifested with Him in glory.
So much, then, for life-calm, persistent in every duty, and animated by that blessed and far-off, but certain, hope, and all of these founded upon the vision and the faith of a risen Lord. What have fears and cares and distractions and faint-heartedness and gloomy sorrow to do with the eyes that have beheld the Christ, and with the lives that are based on faith in the risen Lord?
II. So, secondly, consider what death becomes to those who have seen Christ risen from the dead.
‘Some are fallen asleep.’ Now that most natural and obvious metaphor for death is not only a Christian idea, but is found, as would be expected, in many tongues, but yet with a great and significant difference. The Christian reason for calling death a sleep embraces a great deal more than the heathen reason for doing so, and in some respects is precisely the opposite of that, inasmuch as to most others who have used the word, death has been a sleep that knew no waking, whereas the very pith and centre of the Christian reason for employing the symbol are that it makes our waking sure. We have here what the act of dying and the condition of the dead become by virtue of faith in the Resurrection of Jesus Christ.
They have ‘fallen asleep.’ The act of dying is but a laying one’s self down to rest, and a dropping out of consciousness of the surrounding world. It is very remarkable and very beautiful that the new Testament scarcely ever employs the words dying and death for the act of separating body and spirit, or for the condition either of the spirit parted from the body, or of the body parted from the spirit. It keeps those grim words for the reality, the separation of the soul from God; and it only exceptionally uses them for the shadow and the symbol, the physical fact of the parting of the man from the house which here he has dwelt in. But the reason why Christianity uses these periphrases or metaphors, these euphemisms for death, is the opposite of the reason why the world uses them. The world is so afraid of dying that it durst not name the grim, ugly thing. The Christian, or at least the Christian faith, is so little afraid of death that it does not think such a trivial matter worth calling by the name, but only names it ‘falling asleep.’
Even when the circumstances of that dropping off to slumber are painful and violent, the Bible still employs the term. Is it not striking that the first martyr, kneeling outside the city, bruised by stones and dying a bloody death, should have been said to fall asleep? If ever there was an instance in which the gentle metaphor seemed all inappropriate it was that cruel death, amidst a howling crowd, and with fatal bruises, and bleeding limbs mangled by the heavy rocks that lay upon them. But yet, ‘when he had said this he fell asleep.’ If that be true of such a death, no physical pains of any kind make the sweet word inappropriate for any.
We have here not only the designation of the act of dying, but that of the condition of the dead. They are fallen asleep, and they continue asleep. How many great thoughts gather round that metaphor on which it is needless for me to try to dilate! They will suggest themselves without many words to you all.
There lies in it the idea of repose. ‘They rest from their labours.’ Sleep restores strength, and withdraws a man at once from effort on the outer world, and from communication from it. We may carry the analogy into that unseen world. We know nothing about the relations to an external universe of the departed who sleep in Jesus. It may be that, if they sleep in Him, since He knows all, they, through Him, may know, too, something-so much as He pleases to impart to them-of what is happening here. And it may even be that, if they sleep in Him, and He wields the energies of Omnipotence, they, through Him, may have some service to do, even while they wait for their house which is from heaven. But there is no need for, nor profit in, such speculations. It is enough that the sweet emblem suggests repose, and that in that sleep there are folded around the sleepers the arms of the Christ on whose bosom they rest, as an infant does on its first and happiest home-its mother’s breast.
But then, besides that, the emblem suggests the idea of continuous and conscious existence. A man asleep does not cease to be a man; a dead man does not cease to live. It has often been argued from this metaphor that we are to conceive of the space between death and the resurrection as being a period of unconsciousness, but the analogies seem to me to be in the opposite direction. A sleeping man does not cease to know himself to be, and he does not cease to know himself to be himself. That mysterious consciousness of personal identity survives the passage from waking to sleep, as dreams sufficiently show us. And, therefore, they that sleep know themselves to be.
And, finally, the emblem suggests the idea of waking. Sleep is a parenthesis. If the night comes, the morning comes. ‘If winter comes, can spring be far behind?’ They that sleep will awake, and be satisfied when they ‘awake with Thy likeness.’ And so these three things-repose, conscious, continuous existence, and the certainty of awaking-all lie in that metaphor.
Now, then, the risen Christ is the only ground of such hope, and faith in Him is the only state of mind which is entitled to cherish it. Nothing proves immortality except that open grave. Every other foundation is too weak to bear the weight of such a superstructure. The current of present opinion shows, I think, that neither metaphysical nor ethical arguments for the future life will stand the force of the disintegrating criticism which is brought to bear upon that hope by the fashionable materialism of this generation. There is one barrier that will resist that force, and only one, and that is the historical facts that Jesus Christ died, and that Jesus Christ has risen again. He rose; therefore death is not the end of individual existence. He rose; therefore life beyond the grave is possible for humanity. He rose; therefore His sacrifice for the world’s sin is accepted, and I may be delivered from my guilt and my burden. He rose; therefore He is declared to be the Son of God with power. He rose; therefore we, if we trust Him, may partake in His Resurrection and in some reflection of His glory. The old Greek architects were often careless of the solidity of the soil on which they built their temples, and so, many of them have fallen in ruins. The Temple of Immortality can be built only upon the rock of that proclamation-Jesus Christ is risen from the dead. And we, dear brethren, should have all our hopes founded upon that one fact.
So then, for us, the calm, peaceful passage from life into what else is the great darkness is possible on condition of our having beheld the risen Lord. These witnesses of whom my text speaks, Paul would suggest to us, laid themselves quietly down to sleep, because before them there still hovered the memory of the vision which they had beheld. Faith in the risen Christ is the anchor of the soul in death, and there is nothing else by which we can hold then.
As the same Apostle, in one of his other letters, puts it, the belief that Christ is risen is not only the irrefragable ground of our hope that we, too, shall rise, but has the power to change the whole aspect of our death. Did you ever observe the emphasis with which He says, ‘If we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him?’ His death was death indeed, and faith in it softens ours to sleep. He bore the reality that we might never need to know it, and if our poor hearts are resting upon that dear Lord, then the flames are but painted ones and will not burn, and we shall pass through them, and no smell of fire will be upon us, and all that will be consumed will be the bonds which bind us. He has abolished death. The physical fact remains, but all which to men makes the idea of death is gone if we trust the risen Lord. So that, between two men dying under precisely the same circumstances, of the same disease, in adjacent beds in the same hospital, there may be such a difference as that the same word cannot be applied to the experiences of both.
My dear friends, we have each of us to pass through that last struggle; but we may make it either a quiet going to sleep with a loved Face bending over our closing eyes, like a mother’s over her child’s cradle, and the same Face meeting us when we open them in the morning of heaven; or we may make it a reluctant departure from all that we care for, and a trembling advance into all from which conscience and heart shrink.
Which is it going to be to you? The answer depends upon that to another question. Are you looking to that Christ that died and is alive for evermore as your life and your salvation? Do you hold fast that Gospel which Paul preached, ‘how that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day, according to the Scriptures’ ? If you do, life will be a calm, persevering, expectant waiting upon Him, and death will be nothing more terrible than falling asleep.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain On vv5–8 and that he appeared to Cephas [ Luk_24:34 ];…
and that he appeared to Cephas [ Luk_24:34 ]; then to the twelve [ Joh_20:26-29 . "The twelve" was an official name for the apostles, though there were but eleven of them at this time];
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv5, 8 (See Scofield "Mar 16:14").
then
(See Scofield "Mar 16:14").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5, 8 Connecting Statement:
Connecting Statement:
If you need for verse 5 to be a complete sentence, end 1 Corinthians 15:4 with a comma so that verse 5 completes the sentence begun in 1 Corinthians 15:3.
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appeared to
"showed himself to"
five hundred
500 (See: Numbers)
some have fallen asleep
"Sleep" here is a common euphemism for death. AT: "some have died" (See: Euphemism)
translationWords
Peter
the twelve
life
asleep
James (brother of Jesus)
apostle
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv5–8 15:5 He was seen by Peter: See Luke 24:34.…
15:5 He was seen by Peter: See Luke 24:34. • then by the Twelve: See Matt 28:16-17; Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36; John 20:19.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.