Witnesses to the Resurrection (1 Cor. 15:5-11)

Paul has pointed out to the Corinthians what the Old Testament predicted about the Messiah. When he came, he would die for our sins and then after being buried he would be raised again on the third day. Perhaps a response he anticipated was something like, ‘It is easy for you to say that because we know that you know the Old Testament very well. Can you provide evidence that Jesus fulfilled those requirements?’ After all, if Paul cannot prove that the resurrection of Jesus took place, what would be the point of preaching about it? Maybe that was the reason why he proceeded to list some of the witnesses who saw Jesus alive after his death.

Why these six appearances?

The list that Paul gives is surprising because he does not begin with those who saw Jesus first after his resurrection. We are told elsewhere who they were: Mary Magdalene, a group of women and the two who were travelling to Emmaus, one of whom we know was a man. Why did he not mention them? One common suggestion is that he did not wish to mention women because in general they were not regarded as credible witnesses. I doubt if that is the case because Paul was willing to commend women who served the Lord, such as Priscilla and Phebe. In any case, one of the two from Emmaus was a man, and his witness is not mentioned. Perhaps all these people would have been present at the large gathering of five hundred who met with Jesus on one occasion.

Another possible reason for only mentioning the six appearances is because those individuals later became leaders in the church. At the time of writing, which was about twenty-five years after the resurrection, Paul was familiar enough with the five hundred to know that most of them were still alive. It is possible that he knew them because he had come across them in his travels. Perhaps some of them had even moved to Antioch. Of course, we are not told by Paul why he selected the six that he does, but it must be of significance that five of them refer to apostles if we regard James as one (and Paul says he was in Galatians). So it would make sense if the five hundred also had some authority in the church. Moreover, in verse 11, Paul suggests that those in the list were all preachers when he contrasts the service of the other apostles with his.

The individuals mentioned

Two of the six took place on the day that Jesus rose from the dead and they are the appearances to Cephas and to the twelve. The third appearance, the one to the five hundred, is regarded as the meeting that took place in Galilee, which had been pre-arranged by Jesus and was referred to by the angels when he rose from the dead. Maybe after that, he appeared to James somewhere in Galilee, maybe even in Nazareth. After that, he appeared to the apostles. Then some years later he appeared to Paul himself.

Peter

Cephas is another name for Peter. He was popular in Corinth, with one of the groups that liked a human leader claiming to follow him. One thing is certain and that is that they would not have been impressed by his strong denials of Jesus when he was arrested and put on trial. We are familiar with how Peter denied his Master. It is striking that the authors of the Gospels say a lot about Peter’s denial, but they don’t say very much about what took place when Jesus met Peter. Maybe that is because Peter never revealed what took place. After all, some things in the Christian life are private.

One thing is obvious. This appearance was a time of restoration for Peter. He had spent three days in great distress because of his denial of Jesus. The last sight he had seen of Jesus was when the Saviour turned and looked at Peter after his third denial. I suppose it is safe to say that Peter would have given anything to see Jesus once again, but he was dead. Then on the day after the Sabbath, Mary Magdalene came and told him and John that Jesus was alive. They ran to the tomb, but Jesus was not there. How disappointing! Then later that day Jesus found Peter – after all, his eye had been upon him, watching his moves. It must have been wonderful to meet Jesus and experience restoration. After all, without the resurrection, there would have been no recovery. Maybe that is why Peter had to wait until the third day before he received any comfort from heaven. 

The twelve

This description was a way by which Jesus’ closest disciples were known, even if all of them were not present. Obviously, Judas would not have been among them after the resurrection and his successor was not chosen until after Jesus ascended to heaven. The Gospels tell us that he appeared to the twelve on several occasions, but Paul does not refer to later ones here because he means those appearances before he was seen by the five hundred. So he could be referring to the appearance that took place in the Upper Room on the evening of the resurrection day and the next one that took place a week later.

What was significant about those occasions? Here are some details. First, Jesus assured them that he was at peace with them when he greeted them by extending peace to them, and this was the case even although they had denied him. Second, Thomas was not present on the first occasion and after it he was not convinced that Jesus had risen. Yet he was there on the following occasion and was invited to inspect the wounds of Jesus caused by crucifixion. Like Peter in a sense, Thomas received a personal assurance of the risen Christ. Without the resurrection of Jesus, Thomas would have been a sceptic. But he became a witness, with the others of the twelve, of the resurrection. 

The five hundred

As mentioned above, this appearance seems to be connected to a great gathering of believers that occurred in Galilee. Matthew refers to an occasion when people saw the risen Christ in Galilee, and even although they saw him some initially doubted what they were seeing. This is probably the same occasion. We are familiar with the saying that something is too good to be true. Yet although that is the case we want to know about it. Those people came to see Jesus, even although it seemed impossible that he was alive. They were drawn to him because they wanted to serve him.

Most of them were still alive and would testify that they saw the risen Saviour. The way Paul describes those of that number who had died is significant. He says that they have fallen asleep. But he could only use that description because of the resurrection of Jesus. Those who are asleep do so because they will waken up when the morning comes. They are still sleeping, indeed all of them are now sleeping. But the resurrection is coming for them because Jesus rose.

James

He was the brother of Jesus and although devout he was not impressed by Jesus. James had lived in the same house as Jesus, had been helped by Jesus, and had refused to accept that Jesus was the Messiah. Indeed, on one occasion, he is recorded as speaking sarcastically to Jesus about his ability to work miracles. Surprisingly, James had not been able to work out that his brother fulfilled many of the evidences given in the Old Testament about the Messiah.

James was not affected in a spiritual way by the death of Jesus. It is likely that James would have been in Jerusalem for the Passover because attendance was required for every male Jew. Perhaps his time there was spoiled when his brother was arrested and put to death. Maybe James left Jerusalem as soon as he could, which may explain why Jesus asked John to take care of Mary. Whether that was the case or not, James did not become a believer in Jesus merely because he had heard that Jesus was alive. But he became one when Jesus appeared to him.

I suppose we could say that the man who suggested to Jesus that he should go and do some miracles in Jerusalem discovered that Jesus had done that when he died there and when he rose again. Likely, James bowed before Jesus and later became his devoted servant. But he only did so because of the resurrection.

The apostles

They are the same as the twelve, but they may be called by their roles because Paul is drawing attention to the commission and other information that Jesus gave to them during the days that they were with him after his resurrection. These men had gone into the geographical world and spread the news about the risen Jesus. They did so because they had seen him alive, and they did so because they were dedicated to his cause. One of the factors that drove them on was his resurrection.

Paul 

Everyone knows that Paul was hostile to Jesus and his followers. While he accepted that he could not touch Jesus, he knew that he could touch the followers of Jesus very cruelly, and he did. So he received the shock of his life when he met Jesus, but later he realised that it was the time when he received life, and he must have the reception of life included in his description that he was untimely born. It happened long after the others he mentions, but yet it was his new birth. And Paul only received forgiveness and his role because of the resurrection of Jesus.

The effect of the resurrection

What were the effects of meeting Jesus after he rose from the dead? We are given some details by Paul in verses 9 and 10. 

First, Paul regarded himself as the least of the apostles because he had committed a sin that the others apostles had not done, which was to persecute believers, and which he did to a terrible extent and with great malice. He thought he was worse that Peter the denier and Thomas the sceptic and the others. So humility marks those who meet the risen Jesus. 

Second, Paul was able to assess what he had done for Jesus and we might be surprised at his description of it when he says he worked harder than any of them. Belief in the resurrection of Jesus makes someone work hard for Jesus. We can see from the New Testament just how hard Paul worked for Jesus wherever he went, including Corinth. He did so because he was grateful.

Third, we can see from his description that Paul traced all the effects of his ministry to God’s grace, and among the effects was the conversion of the Corinthians. Paul did not trace his success to his own abilities of which he had plenty. Instead he ensured that God received the glory, and he stresses in verse 11 that was why the Corinthians had accepted the gospel. In this, Paul was honest with everyone. The resurrection made him an honest man.

Fourth, Paul realised that the grace of God was what made him a Christian, and it was the grace of God that enabled him to live as a Christian. Therefore, he was a hopeful man because he expected that the grace he had experienced in the past and in the present would be with him in the future. And he had this hope because of the resurrection.