Charles Spurgeon Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:5-8

"and that he appeared to Cephas; then to the twelve; then he appeared to above five hundred brethren at once, of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep; then he appeared to James; then to all the apostles; and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also." — 1 Corinthians 15:5-8 (ASV)

And that he was seen of Cephas, then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain until now, but some are fallen asleep.

After that, he was seen of James; then of all the apostle. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

The apostle does not attempt to defend the doctrine of the resurrection by an argument drawn from reason, but he proves it by undoubted evidence. If I had to prove that there existed such a tree as the cedar, I would not use logical arguments further than this: I produce a certain number of men who have seen a cedar, and the thing is proved by their testimony. If the evidence of honest men is not accepted, then there is an end, not only to Christianity, but to all the sciences, and you and I must wander forever in a maze of doubts.

Now, of all the facts recorded in history, there is not one which is better attested than the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The men who testified that they had seen the risen Christ evidently had no selfish reason for doing so. What is the result of their testimony?

They were cast into prison, they were stoned, they were sawn in two, simply for believing the evidence of their own senses and testifying what they knew to be true. It is clear that they would have had no interest in publishing this fact if it had not been true; their interest would have been quite the opposite. Besides, it was not as if only a few had seen him, but over five hundred brethren at once beheld him. For forty days he was gazed upon by different persons, and the fact is proved beyond all doubt.

And that he was seen of Cephas—that is, Peter—then of the twelve: after that, he was seen of above five hundred brethren at once; of whom the greater part remain unto this present, but some are fallen asleep. After that, he was seen of James, then of all the apostles. And last of all he was seen of me also, as of one born out of due time.

I suppose, brothers, that people may arise who will doubt whether there ever was such a man as Julius Caesar or Napoleon Bonaparte; and when they do—when all reliable history is flung to the winds—then, and only then, may they begin to question whether Jesus Christ rose from the dead, for this historical fact is attested by more witnesses than almost any other fact that stands on record in history, whether sacred or profane.

The risen Christ was seen by many people who knew him intimately before he died, by those who saw him put to death, and who saw him when he was dead. He was seen on various occasions: privately by one, by two, and by twelve of those who had been his companions for years; at other times, he was seen in public by large numbers who could not all have been deceived.

These men were so certain that this was indeed the same Christ who had lived, and died, that although it was at first difficult to make them believe that he had risen from the dead, it was impossible to make them doubt it afterwards. The greater part of them died to bear witness to this fact; they were martyred because they confessed that Jesus had indeed risen from the dead.

There is no fact in history, from the days of Adam until now, that is better attested than this great central truth of the resurrection of Christ; so we accept it and receive it gladly.

Paul finishes his list of witnesses by including himself as one of them, although his conversion was, to him, such a marvellous display of divine grace that he was like "one born out of due time."