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"For 1 delivered unto you first of
alJ that which 1 also received, how
that Christ died for our sins accord–
ing to the scriptures; and that he
was buried, and that
he rose again
the third day
according to the scrip–
tures: And that he was seen of
Cephas [Peter], then of the twelve:
After that,
he was seen of above five
hundred brethren at once;
of whom
the greater part remain [alive) unto
this present (time], but sorne are
fallt:n asleep [have died). After that,
he was seen of James [the brother of
Christ]; then of all the apostles
[once again]. And last of all
he
was
seen ofme also,
as of one born out of
due time"
(l
Cor. 15:3-8). Paul 's
summary, however, is not intended
to correspond exactly to the resur–
rection appearances in the Gospel
accounts.
It
is written more as a gen–
eral overview of the total picture.
A Change of Heart in Old Age?
Over the long haul, did the apostles'
conviction that Christ had indeed
been resurrected begin to wane as
the years rolled by and they ap–
proached old age? Did the mere
passage of time do what even whip–
pings, imprisonments and death
threats had failed to accomplish?
The Bible records the old-age
convictions of three of the "pillar"
apostles- Peter, Paul and John.
Peter's second general epistle was
written shortly before bis martyr–
dom. Notice verse 14 of the first
chapter: "Knowing tha t
shortly
I
must put off this my tabemacle,
even as our Lord Jesus Christ hath
shewed me [in John 21]." By this
time, had Peter's earlier heartfelt
convictions undergone a slow wilt–
ing process?
Just the opposi te! Peter told his
audience: "For we have not fol–
lowed cunningly devised fab les,
when we made known unto you
the
power and coming
of our Lord Jesus
Christ, but were
eyewitnesses of his
majesty"
(verse 16).
There is nothing in this last letter
of Peter's to even slightly imply tbat
bis personal religious beliefs bad
undergone any basic change. His
earliest teachings were intact.
What about Paul? Did the fact
that he was not of the original
twelve slowly begin to erode his be–
liefs and lead to a later repudiation
The
PLAIN TRUTH July 1977
of the heavenly vision he had seen?
Did the fact that he had to suffer
more than the other apostles finally
begin to gnaw at him as time went
by? Did a life-style that included tbe
ha t red and enmity of his own
people, severa! bouts with a ball and
chain, and deprivation of many
physical necessities ultímately begin
to take its toll?
Let's see what he wrote just prior
to bis death. Paul's second pastoral
epistle to Timothy was bis last. I n
the fourth chapter, he wrote to the
young evangelist: "Por 1 am now
ready to be offered, and the time of
my departure
is al hand''
(verse 6).
Notice now another verse in the
very same letter to Timothy: "Re–
member that
Jesus Christ
of the
seed of David
was raised from the
dead
according to my gospel" (2:8).
This one verse makes it clear that
Paul
never
changed bis mind about
what he had seen and heard. He was
an eyewitness- having asked the
Corinthian church even years after
the actual resurrection: "Have 1 not
seen Christ?"
The Aged Apostle
Apparently only John, of all the
original apostles, died of old age.
He outlived most or aUof the others
by about thirty years. He lived to
see Jerusalem vanquished by the ar–
mies of Titus. According to many
scholars, all of bis writings should
be dated in the late first century.
But had the passage of time
dirnmed
his
convictions about Christ?
Did
he
later reject the resurrection,
in spite of the lifelong endurance of
the other apostles?
No, John was busily proclaiming
the very same gospel (which in–
cluded the resurrection of Jesus
Christ) right to the end of his li fe. In
his first general epistle, bis prologue
begins: "That which was from the
beginning, which we have heard,
which we have seen with our eyes,
which we have looked upon, and
our hands have handled, of the
Word oflife; (Por the life was mani–
fested, and we have seen it, and
bear
witness,
and shew unto you that
eterna! life, which was with the
Father, and was manifes ted unto
us;) That which we have seen and
heard declare we unto you ..." (1
John
1:
1-3).
Note that John appeals to three of
our five senses in bis logical declara–
tio n- hearing, touch and sight–
some thing th at even th e mos t
uneducated among us can readi ly
understand.
Turn now to the book of Revela–
tion, which is the record that John
wrotc of what he saw and heard.
Notice bis introduction to Christ's
seven letters to the churches in Asia
Minor: "Jobo to the seven churches
which are in Asia ... and from Jesus
Christ, who is the faithful witness,
and the
first begotten
[or born] of the
dead ..." (Rev. 1:4-5).
Notice verse 18 where Christ is
speaking in the first person:
"1
am
he that liveth,
and was dead;
and,
behold,
1 am alive for evermore.
... "
Here you have Christ's
own personal
witness
of His resurrection through
the pen of the apostle John in his
very old age.
A Unlque AHitude and Approach
In these three installments on the
death and resurrection of Jesus
Christ of Nazareth, knowledge has
been given to you that you may
never have seen or heard before.
What are you going to do with it?
What is the ideal a ttitude and ap–
proach to new knowledge-some–
thing not generaUy brought out
even in our Christ-professing
churches?
Theapostle Paul oncewent toa city
where he encountered a group of
people with one of the most unusual
approaches to newknowledge in all of
human history. It's one that is almost
never used today, even in educational
circles. This approach will do you no
harm. But it does preempt prejudice,
bias, ba tred, racism, etc. lt demands a
patient, open-minded and objective
search for truth.
Notice Luke's account of Paul's
enco unter with these unusua l
people in tbe seventeenth chapter of
Acts: "And the brethren immedi–
ately sent away Paul and Silas by
night unto
Berea:
who coming thi–
ther went into the synagogue of the
Jews. These were more noble than
those in Thessalonica, in that they
received the word with all readiness
of mind, and
searched the scriptures
daily, whether those things were so"
(verses 10-11).
(Continued on page 41)
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