Expositor's Bible Commentary Commentary 1 Corinthians 15:8

"and last of all, as to the [child] untimely born, he appeared to me also." — 1 Corinthians 15:8 (ASV)

“Of first importance” stresses the centrality of the doctrines cited to the Gospel. Paul gives two kinds of witness to the historic events of Christ’s death and resurrection: the OT Scriptures and the testimony of eyewitnesses. He does not quote specific OT passages but must have had in mind such texts as Isa 53:5–6 and Ps 16:8-11. He mentions Christ’s burial to show the genuineness of his death and resurrection. Paul feels no compulsion to cite any eyewitnesses of Christ’s death, because its factuality was commonly accepted. The resurrection was a different matter, however. If Christianity was to be believed, valid eyewitnesses must be cited to attest this historical event and set to rest doubts about the resurrection of the dead.

That “Christ died for our sins” (v.3) implies that Christ was sinless. That he was raised agrees with the Scripture in Ps 16:10 (cf. Acts 2:25–32); so also does Paul’s statement about the third day, which may be based on Jesus’ words in Mt 12:40 that relate his three days in the tomb to Jonah’s three days inside the fish . According to Jewish reckoning, “three days” would include part of Friday, all of Saturday, and part of Sunday. Part of the message Paul passed on to the Corinthians was eyewitness reports of the resurrection of Christ, some of whom Paul names. It is natural for him to include Cephas (Peter) and the apostles (possibly referring to the meeting recorded in Lk 24:36ff. and Jn 20:19ff.).

“The Twelve” is a designation of the apostles as a group and is not to be pressed numerically, since Judas was no longer there and on one occasion Thomas was not with them. The apostolic witness was of vital importance for the Corinthians, and Paul doubtless included the witness of the 500 especially to impress doubting believers with the sheer number of eyewitnesses of the event. Some of them may have been known to the Corinthians. This appearance of Christ to so many at one time may have taken place in Galilee, where the eleven and many more went to meet the risen Lord (Matthew 28:10, 16).

“Fallen asleep” (GK 3121) is an early Christian expression for dying (cf. Acts 7:60; 1 Corinthians 11:30). The James mentioned in v.7 certainly is not one of the two apostles of that name—James the son of Zebedee and James the son of Alphaeus (Matthew 10:2–4), since the whole group of apostles is mentioned next and would include these two. Instead, it must be the Lord’s half-brother (Matthew 13:55), who had, with his brothers, joined the apostolic band (Acts 1:14) and eventually became prominent in the Jerusalem church (Acts 15:13). We do not know when this appearance took place. Since Paul had mentioned “the Twelve” in v.5, “all the apostles” (v.7) must be used more loosely to include others who met with the apostolic band (cf. Acts 1:13–15).

All this evidence (vv.5–8) was received by Paul from the eyewitnesses themselves (cf. Gal. 1:18-19) and possibly from some of the gospel writers. Paul includes himself as the last witness (v.8). He describes himself as one born of a miscarriage, thus conveying his feeling that he was not a “normal” member of the apostolic group, but one who had been snatched out of his sin and rebellion by the glorified Christ (Acts 9:3–6).