Charles Ellicott Commentary Matthew 27:52

"and the tombs were opened; and many bodies of the saints that had fallen asleep were raised;" — Matthew 27:52 (ASV)

Many bodies of the saints which slept arose — It is perhaps not surprising that a narrative so exceptionally marvelous, and standing without any supporting testimony elsewhere in the New Testament, has presented many minds with difficulties that seem almost insurmountable.

Consequently, they have either viewed it as a mythical addition or, shrinking from that extreme conclusion, have explained it as simply meaning that the bodies of the dead were exposed by the earthquake mentioned in the preceding verse. Others have seen in it only the honest report of an over-excited imagination.

On the other hand, the brevity and simplicity of the statement distinguish it very widely from similar legends, such as we find, for example, in the apocryphal Gospel of Nicodemus. This simplicity tends to exclude the mythical element, which, as a rule, delights in luxuriant expansion. With the mythical element excluded, we can hardly imagine the Evangelist writing without having received his information from witnesses he thought trustworthy. The question then arises whether the narrative is inherently incredible.

On that point, people will naturally differ according to their perspective on the Gospel records. However, those who believe that when our Lord passed into Hades—the unseen world—it was to complete there what had been started on earth and to proclaim His victory over death and sin, will hardly think it impossible that there should have been outward tokens and witnesses of such a work. Indeed, the fact that St. Matthew records supplies what is believed to be the most natural explanation for language that is hardly less startling, which we find in the epistle that even the most adverse critics admit is from the hand of St. Peter. If he, or those he knew, had seen the saints who slept and had risen, we can understand how deeply it would have impressed on his mind the fact that his Lord, when put to death in the flesh, had been quickened in the spirit, and had preached to the spirits in prison (1 Peter 3:19), so that glad tidings were proclaimed even to the dead (1 Peter 4:6).

We are not told who it was that appeared. Most commentators have followed—somewhat unhappily, I venture to believe—the lead of the apocryphal Gospel just mentioned and have identified them with the Patriarchs and Prophets of the Old Testament. It is clear, however, that St. Matthew’s statement implies they were those who came out of the opened graves—that is, they had been buried in the tombs of Jerusalem. Remembering that the term “saints” was applied almost from the very beginning to the collective body of disciples (Acts 9:13, 32, 41), it seems more natural to see them as believers in Jesus who had passed to their rest before His crucifixion.

On this supposition, their appearance addressed the feeling, sure to arise among those looking for an immediate manifestation of the kingdom, that those who had died were shut out from their share in it—a concern that later arose at Thessalonica (1 Thessalonians 4:13). We thus have an adequate reason for their appearance: so that friends and family might not sorrow for them as others who have no hope. From this point of view, the statement that they did not appear until after our Lord’s resurrection is significant. The disciples were thus taught to view that resurrection not as an isolated phenomenon, but as the firstfruits of the victory over death (1 Corinthians 15:20), in which not only they themselves, but also those whom they had loved and lost, were to be sharers.