People frequently want evidence before they will believe something. The Apostle Paul provides some pretty compelling evidence concerning Christ in I Corinthians Chapter 15. He writes, in 55AD (approximately 20-25 years after Jesus death), that the resurrected Jesus appeared several times and once to more than 500 at one time as well as the apostles and a few others, and that many of these people are still alive. More than 500 is a significant number because in the historical context of the first century; 500-1000 people would have been the population of a good sized town such as Jesus’ home of Nazareth. Then over the next several verses Paul makes some startling statements that “ if Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is vain, your faith also is vain; if Christ has not been raised, your faith is worthless, and If we have hoped in Christ in this life only, we are of all men most to be pitied.” We know from history, that all the apostles, except John, died violent Martyr deaths for continuing to preach and teach the risen Jesus Christ, refusing to heed the demands of authorities to stop. They knew the penalty would be torture and death. Why did they do it? Were they all crazy, or had they seen something so compelling that they knew that in “Christ all will be made alive”? This is especially true of Paul, who once was Saul, a Jew who sent Christ followers to their death. How could such a man have possibly become a Christ follower and Leader/ Preacher in the early Church who would die a Martyr’s death? It is hard to understand, unless Paul really did see the risen Christ on the Damascus road.
Posted on: Thu, 25 Jul 2013 15:19:47 +0000