1 Corinthians 15:3-8 “For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (4) and that He was buried, and that He rose again the third day according to the Scriptures, (5) and that He was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve. (6) After that He was seen by over five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep. (7) After that He was seen by James, then by all the apostles. (8) Then last of all He was seen by me also, as by one born out of due time.”
In the above quoted letter to the church at Corinth, the apostle Paul lists many witnesses whom God had chosen to see our risen Lord. Not only does Paul give us a list of who had seen our risen Lord, but he also gives us a chronological account of just when the Lord Jesus appeared to each one. He starts his list with Peter, and from scripture we know that our Lord Jesus appeared to Peter on the afternoon of the first day that our Lord had been raised from the dead (Luke 24:33-34). Paul tells us that Jesus then appeared to the twelve. When Paul refers to the twelve, he is speaking about the twelve apostles of the Lamb. Here Paul was referring to the period of the first eight days after our Lord had risen from the dead, for on the first occasion only eleven of the twelve were present. The first occasion was the first night that our Lord appeared to the disciples as they were gathered together in the upper room. Although Matthias had not yet been named as the one to replace Judas, he was there that night, but Thomas was not there that night and the Lord appeared again to the disciples eight days later. On that occasion, Thomas was present and thus became a witness of our Lord’s resurrection (John 20:26). The next occasion that Paul tells us about was on the mountain in Galilee. Before our Lord went to the cross He told the disciples that after He had risen, that He would appear to them on a designated mountain in Galilee. The angels that appeared to Mary and the others also told them to go to the mountain in Galilee where our Lord would appear to them (Mark 16:7). It was this occasion that Paul referred to when he said that our Lord was then seen by over five hundred brethren at once. This event took place roughly twenty-five years prior to Paul’s letter to the church at Corinth. And most of those disciples who had seen our Lord on that day were still alive, and Paul stated that they could verify his statement as being factual. The next person listed by Paul as having seen our risen Lord was the Lord’s brother, James. James had grown up with the Lord Jesus as Joseph and Mary’s second oldest son after Jesus. When our Lord began His public ministry and revealed Himself as the Son of God, none of His earthly family believed in Him, including His younger brother James. Two of our Lord’s brothers, i.e. James and Jude, were appointed by God for salvation and were also called to the ministry as apostles, because of which our Lord Jesus appeared to both brothers after His resurrection. Paul only mentions our Lord appearing to James however, and so our Lord would have appeared to Jude at a later stage. It was because of our Lord appearing to these two younger brothers of His that they then believed in Him and were saved. Paul then tells us that Jesus appeared to all the apostles and Paul includes himself in that category. The apostles referred to by Paul were not the twelve apostles of the Lamb, but the many others called to the office of apostle at that time. One of the qualifications of one called to the office of apostle, even today, is that they will have seen the Lord Jesus at some point in their ministry. We know from scripture that Paul’s list of all that saw our risen Lord is not a fully comprehensive one. We know this because there are others that we know of, such as Mary Magdalene to whom Jesus first appeared (Mark 16:9), and the two disciples that saw the Lord Jesus on the road to Emmaus (Luke 24:13-31). And so we see that our Lord Jesus certainly appeared to many witnesses. Since the time that Christ appeared to Paul and to the other apostles He has also appeared to many other individuals in the church over the centuries, and these instances have also been recorded. All these incidents of seeing our risen Lord Jesus were exceptions however and only occurred as the Lord willed. And so as believers, we have many eyewitness accounts of those who have seen our risen Lord. And all those accounts have been given to us by men and women of good reputation, many of whom were martyred for their testimony of the Lord’s resurrection.
Michael E.B. Maher
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