The Apostle Paul and the Empty Tomb by Jindich Mnek

THE APOSTLE PAUL AND THE EMPTY TOMB BY JINDICH MNEK There are between the Evangelists differences in the pictures of the external evidence of Jesus' resurrection. These differences are not significant because the main outline is very similar: The stone was taken away and the tomb was empty. Jesus' body was not in the hands of His enemies, because His disciples had met Him as the Risen Lord. How is the subject of the empty tomb treated in other books of the New Testament ? The only clear answer is given in the Acts of the Apostles. In one of his speeches Peter says of David, that "he foresaw and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that he was not abandoned to Hades, nor did his flesh see corruption. This Jesus God raised up, and of that we all are witnesses" (II 31-32). It is possible to gain from this text the recognition, that the words "raised up" include in the New Testament the faith in the empty tomb. We have still another place in the Acts of the Apostles, where the burying of Jesus' body in the tomb and His resurrection is spoken of. The Apostle Paul in his preaching in Antioch of Pisidia says of Jesus' enemies: "Though they could charge him with nothing deserving death, yet they asked Pilate to have him killed. And when they had fulfilled all that was written of him, they took him down from the tree, and laid him in a tomb. But God raised him from the dead; and for many days he appeared to those who came up with him from Galilee to Jerusalem, who are now his witnesses to the people" (xiii 28-31). In the same speech Paul says of David, that he "fell asleep and was laid with his fathers, and saw corruption" (v. 36). In this connection it is said of Jesus, that "he, whom God raised up saw no corruption" (v. 37). To see corruption means to decay. According to this speech Paul believed in the empty tomb. Yet it is well known that the theological presentation of the Apostle Paul in the Acts of the Apostles is not in full agreement with the theology which we find in his Epistles. To say on the 277 basis of the Acts of the Apostles that Paul believed in the empty tomb would not be theologically responsible. We can come to a con- clusion about the character of Paul's faith only on the basis of his Epistles. Does here Paul speak of the empty tomb ? Not at all. The word "tomb" is not to be found in his Epistles. And it is ne- cessary to join to this fact another one: Paul does not speak anywhere ot the women as witnesses of the resurrection. In his enume- ration of these, to whom the resurrected Lord appeared, Peter (Cephas) is mentioned in the first place and after him the twelve (I Cor. xv 5). Does not the Apostle mention the tradition of the appearance of the Resurrected to the women at the tomb for the simple reason that he does not know the tradition of the empty tomb ? The second possibility is that he knew both these traditions and that he did not speak of them, because according to his Jewish past he did not appreciate women's testimonies and left them aside. The question if Paul believed or not in the empty tomb is impor- tant for the theology of the New Testament. If he did not believe in the empty Christ's tomb, a serious difference between him and other New Testament authors would exist. When studying this problem we must keep in mind the fact that Paul's Epistles, which we have in the New Testament, represent only a torso of his correspondence. If we possessed the complete correspondence of the Apostle, our task would be probably easier. We have already mentioned the fact, that Paul does not speak anywhere of the empty tomb. But he speaks often about the resurrection of Christ, of the anastasis (e.g. Rom. i 4; vi 5; 1 Cor. xv 12-13; Phil. iii io). The substantive anastasis includes a movement of the body. The verb egeiyein which Paul uses for the description of the resurrection of Christ, has the same meaning (e.g. Rom. x 9 ; 1 Cor. vi 16). In several places in the New Testament the verb egeiyein is used to describe the movement of the body, which rises from the sleep (Matt. ii 13; viii 26). Philological evidence then shows, that in Paul's conception the body participates in the resurrection. Let us now look at some of Paul's main statements about the resurrection of Christ. First of all I Cor. xv 3-5: "For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to twelve...". Does .

Load more