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markporter
Fire over Oxford
Date Joined Oct 2003
Total Posts : 263
| Posted 2/21/2005 1:45 PM (GMT -6) |   | | Was just wondering what all you guys make of these verses with the resurrected saints, they puzzle me. | | Back to Top | | |
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Humphrey Bogart
Registered Member
Date Joined Jun 2003
Total Posts : 205
| Posted 2/27/2005 2:34 AM (GMT -6) | | Hi!
These are difficult verses. A crucial issue is an ambiguity in the Greek; it has to do with how you punctuate the verses. There are two options:
Option 1: The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus' resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
Option 2: ... and the tombs broke open. After Jesus' resurrection, the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life; they came out of the tombs, and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
The Greek is ambiguous (modern Greek texts contain punctuation, but the original texts did not) and can be punctuated so as to have either meaning. On option 1, these saints were resurrected when Jesus died, but only went into Jerusalem three days later when he was resurrected. On option 2, the tombs broke open when Jesus died, but the saints weren't resurrected until after Jesus was resurrected.
Connected with this debate is the issue of whether these saints were just revivified (like Lazarus), or whether they were resurrected in a final, eternal sense. Option 1 must imply revivification; option 2 is logically consistent with either, but most people who hold to option 2 would regard the resurrection of these saints as being a final, eternal resurrection.
Here's why I think option 2 is correct:
(a) The resurrection of Jesus is often referred to as being parallel to the feast of firstfruits (e.g. 1 Cor. 15:23). At the feast of firstfruits, a representative sample of grain was offered to the Lord as a "proof" of the harvest to come. So I think that a sample of OT saints were resurrected with Christ as a "proof" of the harvest to come: the final resurrection of the righteous.
(b) If they were revivified, what became of them? We don't hear of OT saints wandering around and joining the early NT church! But in every other Biblical case of revivification, the person who was revived continued to live a normal life after he/she was raised from the dead, until they grew old and died.
(c) The phrase "appeared to many people" (verse 53) is a clue. This sounds like Jesus' post-resurrection appearances, where he could simply appear and disappear at will. But people who were revivified could not do that.
(d) Where did they go? Well there is a good explanation. In Acts 1:9, we are told that when Jesus ascended he was received into a "cloud", and we are also told in verse 11 that he would return in the same manner as he ascended. A cloud often represents the saints in the Bible. In addition, Jesus will return with the saints in the clouds. I believe that he ascended also with the saints in the clouds. In other words, these saints were taken up into the clouds with Jesus on his ascension, and hence were never seen on earth again.
(e) In other cases of revivification, the person who died had only just died fairly recently. But in this case, at least some of the dead had (presumably) been dead for a long time. This isn't conclusive proof, but does establish a pattern I think.
How's that?
P.S. For those interested in the technicalities of the Greek, for option 2 you simply remove the comma found in the UBS text after the word egerthesan at the end of verse 52, and instead insert a comma or full-stop after the word aneochthesan earlier in the verse. You also need to insert a full-stop or semicolon after the word autou in verse 53. Hence literally you get:
(continuing from verse 51) ... and the tombs were opened. And many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised and came out of the tombs after his resurrection. They entered the Holy City and appeared to many.
If you want to know where I first heard this theory, it was from Derek Prince many years ago in one of his books. I've since checked it out carefully and it adds up.Post Edited (Humphrey Bogart) : 2/27/2005 2:03:26 AM (GMT-6) | | Back to Top | | |
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