We explore the facts which are “rock bottom” which lead us beyond history into Christology proper, since they raise the meaning and significance of the “Jesus event”: 1) Jesus’ death on the cross and 2) the Easter kerygma. Learn about the origins of the Four Gospels. See the extra-biblical documents that record the execution of Jesus. Learn the pre-Pauline formula of 1 Corinthians 15:3b-5 and its ramifications. Read the “empty-tomb” narratives and discover their meaning.

1. Bible Alive: Jesus Christ
Class Three: The Starting Point for
Christology

2. The following presentation would be impossible without these
resources

3. And most of all…
By Father Roch A. Kereszty o. cist.
Thank you Father Roch!

4. Setting the Tone
• 1 Cor 2:9-10a
But, as it is written,
“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,
nor the heart of man conceived,
what God has prepared for those who love
him,quot;
God has revealed to us through the Spirit.

6. Setting the Tone
• 1 Jn 3:2
Beloved, we are God’s children now; it does
not yet appear what we shall be, but we
know that when he appears we shall be like
him, for we shall see him
as he is.

8. Setting the Tone
• God is an utter Nothingness,
Beyond the touch of Time and Place:
The more thou graspest after Him,
The more he fleeth thy embrace.
—Angelus Selesius

10. Let us Pray
Good Father
By your Word Jesus
Give us in the Spirit ears that hear and hearts that
wonder in humble awe
Shatter the idol of our intellects
And grant us eyes of faith
That we, as true mystics, might in your Love
Be Love
as being Sons and Daughters
For your Glory.
Amen.

11. Summarizing Last Class
• We learned that this theology of Christ is not
merely an intellectual construct but demands
the gift of faith.
• We defined Christology and saw its
importance; we saw the difference between
ascending and descending Christologies.
• We critiqued each quest for Jesus.

12. Summarizing Last Class
• We were reminded that extremes are bad.
• The Bible is all true, but with some facts.
• The nature of the New Testament Documents is more than
“just the facts,” but contain faith interpretations and
testimonies.
• We learned that, conforming to the reality of the
Incarnation, there are historical uncertainties.
• We learned about the Three Stages of Development of the
Gospels and the crucial distinctions between each stage.
• We learned from the earliest Traditions in the writings of
Paul which antedate Paul’s compositions.
• We learned that it would be unreasonable to systematically
doubt a priori all Gospel stories and Jesus Sayings as
inauthentic.

13. Various Criteria
• 1. Criterion of Double Dissimilarity
• E.g., Temptation Narratives
• 2. Criterion of Embarrassment
• E.g., Jn 1:46 (Galilean origin);the “failure” of Jesus;
cowardly followers; and the Parousia ignorance (Mk
13:32; Mt 24:36).
• 3. Criterion of the Personal Style of Jesus
• E.g., “Abba” and “Amen, amen, I say to you…”
• 4. Criterion of Multiple Attestation
• E.g., The Institution of the Eucharist (1 Cor 11:23-
26—Lk 22:17-20, Mk 14:22-25—Mt 26:26-29, and
John interprets the Eucharist in chapters 6 and 15)
• 5. Criterion of necessary explanation

14. “Rock Bottom” facts
• What two facts are the “rock bottom” foundation for a
theological history of Jesus?
• Answer from Kereszty:
1) Jesus’ death on the cross and
2) the Easter Kerygma of the disciples
These are the rock-bottom foundation for any theological
history of Jesus. These two facts mark the beginning of the
life of the Church. This two-fold starting point is historical.
These facts also lead beyond history into Christology
proper, since it raises the meaning and significance of the
‘Jesus event.’

15. What if no resurrection faith?
• Could some kind of “Jesus Religion” have begun
without “Easter Faith”?
• Answer from Kereszty: Perhaps.
• Maybe some kind of organized movement could have
been begun by the disciples, perhaps a ‘Jesus
Movement’ similar to the one begun by the disciples of
John the Baptist after their master had been killed.
• It is feasible to assume that perhaps this movement
could have even developed into a religion based on the
teaching of Jesus similar to original Buddhism.

16. How Great would have been this
possible ‘Movement?’
• Could this have developed into what Christianity has become?
• Answer from Kereszty: It is extremely difficult to conceive that
without belief in Jesus’ resurrection they would have been able to
establish a rapidly expanding worldwide community whose center
was not a doctrine, but the person of the crucified and risen
Jesus, who was believed to live AND act in that community.
• Kereszty claims that in fact there has never been a Christian
community without faith in the resurrection.
• Even accepting the ‘Q’ document as being real, you cannot deduce
from its existence that the Christian community that produced it
held no belief in the resurrection, due to its use of “exaltation
language” (sayings about the exaltation of the Son of Man)
which, at least for Paul in Philippians is complementary rather than
opposed to “resurrection language.”

17. Anchored in History
• The two-fold starting point (Jesus’ Death &
Easter Kerygma by the disciples) is SOLIDLY
anchored in history.
• Think about it. What is more certain about Jesus
than that 1) he was crucified and that 2) his
disciples believed and proclaimed him risen?
• As we discuss these two facts we are LED
BEYOND the limits of historical science into
THEOLOGY—into CHRISTOLOGY PROPER—since
the two facts of our discussion raises the
question of the meaning of the Jesus event.

18. What Almost All Accept
• What is the most widely accepted fact about
Jesus?
• Answer: The crucifixion of Jesus is the most
widely accepted fact about him.
• Jesus’ execution is attested to in extra-biblical
sources that contain information independent of
the New Testament documents.
• These include citations from Josephus, Lucian of
Samasota, Tacitus, and the Babylonian Talmud.
Let’s briefly examine each:

19. Babylonian Talmud:
• In its treatise on the Sanhedrin it speaks about
Yeshu, who practiced magic and led Israel into
apostasy, and had disciples, and: ‘On the Eve of
the Passover, Yeshu was hanged.”
• The Babylonian Talmud was written centuries
after Jesus was crucified (3rd century at the
earliest), yet scholars accept that it includes early
oral traditions dating from the time before the
Second Temple was destroyed in AD 70.

20. Lucian of Samosata
• Lucian of Samosata (AD 120-180?) was a
travelling lecturer and Sophist rhetorician.
• He writes about the death of cynic and one-
time Christian Peregrinus and says of
Christians that they are “worshipping that
crucified Sophist himself and living under his
laws.”

21. Tacitus
• Tacitus (AD 58-117) was a Roman senator and
historian.
• He wrote around 116 of the sect of the
“Chrestus” and their beginnings of a certain
“Chrestus” who “suffered the extreme penalty
during the reign of Tiberius (who reigned
between AD 14-37) at the hands of one of our
procurators, Pontius Pilatus…”

22. Josephus Flavius
• Josephus Flavius (AD 38-100?) records Jesus’
crucifixion.

23. Pretty Rock Solid
• All the Gospels and Pauline letters report the crucifixion of
Jesus. Even the most skeptical critic accepts their
testimony.
• For the Early church, the execution of Jesus as a common
criminal was the greatest scandal she had to face. There
never has been a greater scandal, a greater embarrassment
for the Church to overcome, than the crucifixion of Jesus.
She had to accept that Jesus was the Messiah in spite of his
complete failure.
• UNDERSTAND—There was NOTHING in Jewish Messianic
expectation that would have made the death of the
Messiah plausible in the divine plan. The Suffering Servant
passages in Deutero-Isaiah (see Is 42:1-7; 49:1-6; 50:4-9;
52:13-53:12) had NOT YET been applied to the Messiah.

24. Church Invention??
• Jesus’ condemnation by the Sanhedrin and the
Roman governor did not put the Church in a favorable
light among Jews or Gentiles.
• It is HIGHLY IMPLAUSABLE that the Church would have
invented something that would so hinder them in their
missionary efforts (criterion of embarrassment).
• As far as the involvement of Roman and Jewish
government getting involved, even if we can debate to
what degree how much either side contributed, most
historians agree that both sides were involved. This did
not put the Church in a favorable light to anyone on
earth.
• Yet the NT Traditions preserved this fact DESPITE her
embarrassment, because it was TRUE.

25. The Resurrection PREACHED
• What are the sources of the Kerygma of the
Resurrection?
• Answer from Kereszty: The earliest
formulations are found in Paul’s Letters. This is
commonly accepted. Thus it is Paul’s
theological interpretation of this kerygma
which is our focus.

26. Early Kerygma in Paul
• What in Paul is found the most complete
kerygma of the Resurrection?
• Answer from Kereszty:
It is found in 1 Cor 15:3-8.
• It is commonly thought that Paul wrote 1
Corinthians some 25 to 30 years AFTER the
death of Jesus.
• However, he COULD NOT HAVE written 1 Cor
15:3b-5.

27. Let’s examine 3b-5
• “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was
raised up on the third day in accordance with
the Scriptures, and that he appeared to
Kephas, then to the twelve.”
• Analysis & Explanation

28. Explanation
• IN CONTEXT: Paul refers to these verses he had himself
received and had handed on to the Corinthians as the
CORE of the kerygma, while he was with them in AD
50/51.
• Upon CLOSE EXAMINATION of verse 3b, 4, and 5 one
sees a CONCISE CHARACTER and RYTHMIC PATTERN.
This suggests that this passage was a STEREOTYPED
formula the Church had already created and used
BEFORE Paul adopted it as the condensation of his own
preaching.
• Therefore the formula HAD TO EXIST BEFORE AD
50, the time Paul visited Corinth and preached it there

29. What Does this Tell Us?
• With this we can know that—far from being a
secondary development in the Church—belief
in the saving efficacy of the death of Christ, his
Resurrection, and the tradition of his post-
Resurrection appearances go back the very
beginnings of the existence of the Church.

30. What about the CONTENT?
• The Content of 1 Cor 15:3b-5: the death of Jesus
is more than a mere fact. It is part of God’s plan
endowed with soteriological significance.
• Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures.
• Another words, the death of Jesus (now
theologically interpreted as “Christ”) fulfilled
God’s Plan as recorded in the Scriptures.
• This means that his death was neither accidental
or the condition for being raised to a new life. It is
a saving death. It is a death that saved us.

31. Look at verse 4 carefully.
• …that he was buried; that he was raised up on
the third day in accordance with the Scriptures…”
• What is being conveyed in its sharp contrast
with verse 3b?
• “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the
Scriptures…”
• The contrasting sequence signifies total reversal:
what happens in verse 4 totally reverses what
happens in verse 3.

32. Reversal
• So death and burial are reversed in verse 4.
• For Paul and contemporary MAINSTREAM Jewish
thought, the body is the concrete tangible form of a
person, RATHER than a disposable exterior, inferior
element to be cast off like clothing so that the soul
might be liberated to reach a state of bliss.
• In other words, to Paul, you did not have a body, rather
you ARE a body.
• This holistic anthropology brings to the New Testament
a very un-Greek, very earthy, Jewish HORROR of death.
• Therefore an EMPTY TOMB must be presupposed by
the ancient pre-Pauline formula of faith we find in
verse 4.

33. Ancient Jewish Eschatology
• A part of Judaism in Jesus’ time expected a bodily
Resurrection of the Dead, to take place
specifically at “the Last Day,” that is, at the dawn
of a new age.
• The Pre-Pauline Kerygma of 3b-5 applies this
well-known promise of the general eschatological
resurrection to Jesus: the New Age has dawned
on us because of this one individual, Jesus of
Nazareth, who rose from the dead, even though
the course of world history seems to go on
undisturbed.

34. Focusing on the Body
• Let’s focus on the bodily aspects of the
Resurrection.
• As far as the pre-Pauline Kerygma, so also for
Paul, the resurrection includes his
transformed, glorified body.

35. Phil 3:20-21
• But our commonwealth is in heaven, and from it
we await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, who will
change our lowly body to be like his glorious
body, by the power which enables him even to
subject all things to himself.
• Notice, this CANNOT be just a resuscitation that
Paul has in mind, as in the case of the accounts of
raising Lazarus and Jairus’ daughter.

36. 1 Cor 15:35-54
• But some one will ask, quot;How are the dead raised?
With what kind of body do they come?quot;
You foolish man! What you sow does not come to
life unless it dies.
And what you sow is not the body which is to
be, but a bare kernel, perhaps of wheat or of
some other grain.
But God gives it a body as he has chosen, and to
each kind of seed its own body…

37. 1 Cor 15:35-54 cont.
• ... For not all flesh is alike, but there is one kind for
men, another for animals, another for birds, and
another for fish.
There are celestial bodies and there are terrestrial
bodies; but the glory of the celestial is one, and the
glory of the terrestrial is another.
There is one glory of the sun, and another glory of the
moon, and another glory of the stars; for star differs
from star in glory.
So is it with the resurrection of the dead. What is sown
is perishable, what is raised is imperishable.

38. 1 Cor 15:35-54 cont.
• …It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is
sown in weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual
body. If there is a physical body, there is also a
spiritual body.
Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a
living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving
spirit.
But it is not the spiritual which is first but the
physical, and then the spiritual.
The first man was from the earth, a man of dust;
the second man is from heaven.

39. 1 Cor 15:35-54 cont.
• … As was the man of dust, so are those who are
of the dust; and as is the man of heaven, so are
those who are of heaven.
Just as we have borne the image of the man of
dust, we shall also bear the image of the man of
heaven.
I tell you this, brethren: flesh and blood cannot
inherit the kingdom of God, nor does the
perishable inherit the imperishable.

40. 1 Cor 15:35-54 cont.
• …Lo! I tell you a mystery. We shall not all
sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a
moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last
trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the
dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall
be changed.
For this perishable nature must put on the
imperishable, and this mortal nature must put on
immortality.
When the perishable puts on the
imperishable, and the mortal puts on
immortality, then shall come to pass the saying
that is written:
Death is swallowed up in victory.”

41. Explanation
• For what Paul says of the body of Christians
we can infer how he views Christ’s risen
body, to which ours will be conformed to at
the end of time. See Phil 3:21
… our lowly body to be like his glorious
body, by the power which enables him even to
subject all things to himself.

42. Risen Body is Spirit
• The risen body is spiritual (soma pneumatikon), filled
with glory and the power of God. Isn’t that what Paul
just said?
• What is sown is perishable, what is raised is
imperishable.
• It is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory. It is sown in
weakness, it is raised in power.
It is sown a physical body, it is raised soma
pneumatikon…
• This cannot mean a mere resuscitation or reanimation
to regular worldly life. This is an altogether new,
eschatological existence.

43. Wait a minute!
• Isn’t soma pneumatikon, “body-spirit”, a
contradiction in terms?
• Answer: Sounds like it is. Why?
• Spirit means “no body” or something
immaterial.
• Body means something of matter.
• What is going on here?

44. No Oxymoron
• The truth is that despite the paradoxical language
this is not an oxymoron. Like other such
paradoxes in found in the Hebrew scriptures, Paul
employs a mystical language.
• So “body-spirit” is a mystical way of describing
the indescribable, a reality that entirely
transcends this world.
• By speaking of a “spiritual body,” Paul is
attempting to describe the Risen Jesus as a reality
that entirely transcends our world.

45. Mystical Paradox Examples
• Gen 1:1—“In the beginning created God
hashamayim and the earth.”
• Hashamayim—the Hebrew word for “The
Heavens,” is broken up by a folk etymology into
the words esh (fire) and mayim (waters). So the
heavens are the paradoxical “fire-waters.”
• This is a way of expressing the inexpressible.
• Water and fire are chief Scriptural symbols for the
Spirit of God.

46. Mystical Paradox Examples
• Ezek 1:4—“A storm wind came out of the north, a huge fire
surrounded by radiance, and at the center of it, in the
center of the fire, a gleam as of chashmal”
• Chashmal—In Talmudic literature, we see Jewish
meditation on the vision of Ezekiel and the word chashmal.
It is explained via folk etymology as the combination of two
abbreviated words, namely chashah (to be silent) and
milah (speech)” (Chagigah 13b).
• Chashmal expresses the ineffable reality of God with the
paradox ical meaning of “silent speech”
• From our perspective, of course, “silent speech” is self-
contradictory, but mystically it expresses much, e.g., prayer
and the problem of evil.

47. What soma pneumatikon does
• Just as an earthly body manifests the person to the
world, so a glorified body (soma pneumatikon) manifests
God’s glory and allows us to link him to himself and
transform us into himself.
• Through this soma pneumatikon of Christ, we are linked to
Christ, and transformed into himself in a “more-than-
metaphorical” way; in fact, to Paul, we are really the Body
of Christ and members from his members and manifest his
suffering and his resurrection to the world.
• Read 1 Cor 6:15—Do you not know that your bodies are
members of Christ? Shall I therefore take the members of
Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!
• In fact, the identity with the risen body of Christ is SO REAL
for Paul, that the fornicating Christians “make of the
members of Christ a prostitute.”

48. For Paul “Risen Christ” is Jesus of Nazareth
• The Risen Christ for Paul is clearly identical with
Jesus of Nazareth.
• The resurrection does not change his personal
identity.
• But through the resurrection Jesus becomes
Lord, exalted above all creatures in heaven and
on earth and receives the Name Yahweh, so that
this man is now worshipped, obeyed, and called
upon in prayer, as Yahweh ALONE was in the Old
Testament.

49. According to What, Paul?
• This took place, according to Paul, and to
sources EARLIER than Paul, “according to the
Scriptures.”
• That is to say that it was foreordained by God
and foretold in the Scriptures.
• But where in “the Scriptures”?
• Look at 1 Cor 15:3b-5. Are there any specific
texts mentioned where this was foretold?
• No.

50. What does this mean?
• To Paul and the earlier kerygma, “the Scriptures”
were not specific proof texts but were
understood as ALL the Scriptures, in general. This
list of written works was undefined.
• So verse 4b gives only general indication that “the
Scriptures” do speak of the resurrection of Christ.
• Look at this carefully: this is the FIRST
FORMULATION that we have of what we will see
in the later texts of the New Testament: ALL of
the Old Testament Scriptures speak about the
mystery of Christ, not only certain specific verses.

51. Concluding Jesus’ Resurrection?
• How could Paul and his audience come to the
conclusion that Jesus was raised from the dead? Does
anyone in the NT claim to have witnessed the
resurrection?
• Paul’s Vision: Paul and the Christians know that Jesus
was raised because the Risen Christ appeared to a
group of people who serve as witnesses to his glorified
and risen existence.
• Look at 1 Cor 15:5-8—From this list (or possibly this
combination of two lists) we can infer something about
what Paul thought about the nature of these
appearances.

52. 1 Cor 15:5-8
…and that he appeared to Kephas,
then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to more than five hundred
brethren at one time, most of whom are still
alive, though some have fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James,
then to all the apostles.
Last of all, as to one untimely born, he
appeared also to me.

53. What is Paul Describing?
• Why can’t Paul be describing some kind of
religious vision or mystical experience?
• 1 Cor 15:8—Last of all, as to one untimely
born, he appeared also to me.
• Answer: Note that Paul links himself with a
list of others who had this experience.
• Paul’s experience IS that of Peter, the
Twelve, James, and all the apostles.

54. Not Something Private
• This clearly distinguishes this experience from
private mystical vision and revelations.
• This is a one-time event that happens to Paul,
happens at a SPECIFIC point in a sequence: that
being after the death of Jesus, and following the
other post-resurrection appearances.
• This means that Paul believes the resurrection to
be historical to the extent that it affected people
in history—it has an objective character.

55. Resurrection Appearances ‘Mere Facts’
Then?
• So that means that to Paul the resurrection appearances were
like any other event in human history?
• Nope.
• Although he specifies his encounter with the Risen Christ inside
an historical sequence, to Paul this event was NOT ordinary, not
comparable to an everyday human encounter.
• Think about it. In ordinary, everyday human encounters, once a
person is within seeing distance, we CANNOT avoid seeing her.
She is exposed to our sight whether or not she wants to be.
• It’s VERY different in the case of the Risen Christ appearing to
Paul and the others, for the initiative for showing himself comes
from Christ himself. Christ chose to reveal himself to Paul when
he least expected it.
• See Gal 1:12-17

56. See Gal 1:12-17
• For I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it
came through a revelation of Jesus Christ.
For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I
persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy
it;
and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age
among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the
traditions of my fathers.
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and
had called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh
and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I
returned to Damascus.

57. Compare with 1 Cor 9:1
• Gal 1:16—…was pleased to reveal his Son to
me…
• 1 Cor 9:1—Am I not free? Am I not an
apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are
not you my workmanship in the Lord?

58. Seeing & Being Revealed
• Seeing means that Paul recognizes that the Risen Christ
appeared to him IN THE WORLD; he could SEE him. The
Risen Jesus was EXPERIENCABLE through the order of
sense experience. To this extent, it was like any
ordinary experience.
• Revealing means that this encounter with the Risen
Christ was NOT an ordinary occurrence. Why could
Paul “see” the Risen Christ? Because God chose to
REVEAL him to Paul, that is, because God MANIFESTED
Christ to Paul. The Greek used to capture this reality of
“seeing” and experiencing “revelation” is also
employed in the Old Testament to convey Hebrew
terms in Gen 18:1, 26:2, 24; Ex 3:2

59. Old Testament REVEALING
• Gen 18:1—And the LORD appeared to him by the oaks of
Mamre, as he sat at the door of his tent in the heat of the
day.
• Gen 26:2—And the LORD appeared to him, and said, “Do
not go down to Egypt; dwell in the land of which I shall tell
you”
• Gen 26:24—And the LORD appeared to him the same night
and said, “I am the God of Abraham your father; fear
not, for I am with you and will bless you and multiply your
descendants for my servant Abraham’s sake.”
• Ex 3:2—And the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a
flame of fire out of the midst of a bush; and he looked, and
lo, the bush was burning, yet it was not consumed.

60. Theophanies
• In other words, the Resurrection Appearances
were theophanies, wherein the Divine
Reality, itself Invisible, becomes perceptible for a
short time to some people by God’s gracious
initiative.
• To Paul and the Kerygma before him, the ultimate
theophany is the Crucified who is Risen.
• The Divine Reality has become perceptible to
sense experience by God’s gracious initiative in
the crucified Jesus of Nazareth in his new risen
state.

61. Objective or Subjective?
• So are the appearances objective or subjective?
• Kereszty answers: The resurrection appearances we have
recorded in the New Testament transcend the usual
categories of subjective and objective.
• On the one hand, Paul is CONVINCED he did not CAUSE the
experience himself.
• It was not illusion. It was not hallucination.
• Therefore we may call it OBJECTIVE, because it was caused
by a reality other than the subject. We could even go so far
as to say, in some sense of the word, that the event was
historical. For certain parallel events happened also that
could be confirmed by the converging testimony of many
eyewitnesses. 1 Cor 15:6 is probably Paul’s addition. There
he implicitly invites any doubters to check what he is saying
with plus 500 eyewitnesses.

62. Phil 3:7-14
But whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ.
Indeed I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing
Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and
count them as refuse, in order that I may gain Christ
and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own, based on law, but
that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God that depends
on faith;
that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his
sufferings, becoming like him in his death,
that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
Not that I have already obtained this or am already perfect; but I press on to
make it my own, because Christ Jesus has made me his own.
Brethren, I do not consider that I have made it my own; but one thing I do,
forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead,
I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ
Jesus.

63. Again, Gal 1:13-17
• For you have heard of my former life in Judaism, how I
persecuted the church of God violently and tried to destroy
it;
and I advanced in Judaism beyond many of my own age
among my people, so extremely zealous was I for the
traditions of my fathers.
But when he who had set me apart before I was born, and
had called me through his grace,
was pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh
and blood,
nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles
before me, but I went away into Arabia; and again I
returned to Damascus.

64. Gal 2:15-21
• We ourselves, who are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners,
yet who know that a man is not justified by works of the law but
through faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ
Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of
the law, because by works of the law shall no one be justified.
But if, in our endeavor to be justified in Christ, we ourselves were
found to be sinners, is Christ then an agent of sin? Certainly not!
• But if I build up again those things which I tore down, then I prove
myself a transgressor.
For I through the law died to the law, that I might live to God.
I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but
Christ who lives IN me; and the life I now live in the flesh I live BY
FAITH IN the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.
I do not nullify the grace of God; for if justification were through the
law, then Christ died to no purpose.

65. Not JUST an Object!
• On the other hand, the risen Christ is NOT just some
OBJECT facing Paul.
• He was both ABOVE and WITHIN the
subject, transforming the subject.
• Ordinary human beings could exist alongside Paul, but
not ACTUALLY INSIDE him; but Christ was both INSIDE
and ABOVE Paul. He penetrated his inmost
being, shattered his resistance, caused him a true
metanoia, and Paul joined the Church and was
baptized.
• Paul had died to his previous self. He died to the
zealous Pharisee who had placed all his trust in ritual
observance to the Torah; Now that was all “rubbish,”
loss and not gain.

66. Not Coercion, Though
• Yet Christ does not FORCE himself on Paul, despite the power of the
encounter. Read Acts 9:1-9
But Saul, still breathing threats and murder against the disciples of the
Lord, went to the high priest and asked him for letters to the synagogues
at Damascus, so that if he found any belonging to the Way, men or
women, he might bring them bound to Jerusalem.
Now as he journeyed he approached Damascus, and suddenly a light
from heaven flashed about him.
And he fell to the ground and heard a voice saying to him, “Saul, Saul, why
do you persecute me?”
And he said, “Who are you, Lord?”
And he said, “I am Jesus, whom you are persecuting; but rise and enter
the city, and you will be told what you are to do.”
The men who were traveling with him stood speechless, hearing the voice
but seeing no one.
Saul arose from the ground; and when his eyes were opened, he could see
nothing; so they led him by the hand and brought him into Damascus.
And for three days he was without sight, and neither ate nor drank.

67. What Does this Mean?
• This is interpreted correctly as a revelation.
• Paul is thrown to the ground by blinding
light, but Paul does not immediately recognize
who it is.
• Paul must believe the speaking voice from
heaven, he must trust that in the One who
reveals, “I am Jesus, the one you are
persecuting.”

68. Let’s summarize:
 Belief in the resurrection derives from the beginning
of the Church itself, not as the product of later
“Christian consciousness.” There is no Christianity
without the proclamation of the resurrection.
 Belief in Christ’s saving value of death and
resurrection also appears at the beginning of the
Church, as does the understanding that it fulfills the
plan of God as laid out in the Sacred Scriptures of the
Jews.

69. Let’s summarize:
 The Church bases her faith in the resurrection of
Christ in the testimony of witnesses. She keeps the
lists of these witnesses as part of her kerygma.
 The Resurrection means an exaltation of the state of
the LORD. It is not a return to ordinary, historical
human life. Jesus risen means he shares all the
prerogatives of Yahweh.

70. Let’s summarize:
 The Risen Lord and Jesus of Nazareth are the same
person. Jesus rises through a soma pneumatikon, a
spiritualized body, through which he reveals his glory,
communicates with us, and joins us to himself.
 In Paul’s mind, the encounter with the Risen Christ,
which Acts locates geographically on the road to
Damascus, was both 1) an historical event and 2)
personal revelation that changed his WHOLE life and
constituted himself as an apostle of Jesus Christ to
the Gentiles.

71. The Resurrection Narrative in the
Gospels and Acts
• It is not believed that the appearance narratives
are theological constructs (theologoumena). The
appearance narratives preserve some original
data of the earliest traditions.
• The appearance narratives cannot be harmonized
in regard to chronology and geography.
• This shows that the writers did NOT intend to give
a sequentially ordered history of appearances.
• Each condensed or amplified the traditions
available according to his own person and the
needs of the audience.

72. Needs of Particular Communities
• “Matthew” says that one appearance of Jesus
took place to some women in Jerusalem and
one “official” appearance took place in
Galilee.
• The term “Official” is used in the sense that
only men were qualified to be public
witnesses of the resurrection as women’s
testimony was invalid in Jewish courts of the
time.

73. Needs of Particular Communities
• “Luke” locates ALL the appearences in Jerusalem
or in Emmaus, very close by.
• “John” also records all the appearances taking
place in Jerusalem, but an added appendix
(chapter 21) records another appearance in
Galilee.
• WARNING: Please, don’t try and chronologically
or geographically harmonize these events. Let us
rather see how these accounts
confirm, complement, or differ from the
resurrection kerygma and Paul’s Damascus
experience.

74. Sensed Appearances
 The Gospel accounts are composed by human
authors and communities convinced that the
encounters with the Risen Christ took place in the
physical order of reality.
 The Risen Lord can be physically seen, heard and
touched.
 Though somewhat addressed in Matthew, this is
REALLY illustrated in Luke and John, probably to
emphasize the REAL though spiritual body of Christ
AGAINST a Docetic tendency in the Church.

75. Present yet Transcendant
 These texts stress that while Jesus is present in this
world, he is no longer a part of this world.
 Consequently, sense experience alone is not enough
to recognize him.
 Appearances are both internal and external.
 The Emmaus episode, the Beloved Disciple, and the
other disciples can still doubt.
 Disciples need BOTH senses and incipient faith to
“see” the Risen Christ.

76. More than Reanimation
 The Gospel Traditions are clear: Jesus is not a re-
animated body returning to our world like Lazarus or
Jairus’ daughter.
 Jesus is no longer subject to the limitations of space
and time, matter and energy.
 He penetrates walls and locked doors, can appear
and vanish at will.
 This encounter is also unpredictable and does not
depend on the desire of the disciples.

77. One and the Same
 Yet the accounts MAKE CLEAR that the Risen
Christ, in spite of his Transcendent status, is the same
person as the crucified Jesus of Nazareth.
 Luke and John especially depict him as the same, his
body bears the marks of the nails and the lance.
 They recognize the Stranger as soon as he gestures in
a manner like Jesus from before the death, he calls
Mary Magdala by name, breaks bread with his
disciples, sends them out for a catch of fish.

78. Unpredictable
 The appearances are UNPREDICTABLE.
 Jesus appears at will, independent of the desires the
disciples have.
 They can hardly be convinced when he appears
among them.
 His appearance depends solely on his initiative. His
perceptible presence NEVER lasts long: only a few
words and gestures, and he vanishes.

79. What is the Purpose?
• The purpose of the appearances are two-fold:
– To convince the disciples of both the reality of the
resurrection and Christ’s new personal presence in
and among them. New intimacy, without
spacetime limitations.
– To send the disciples on a mission. The
appearances are seen as part of the divine act that
establishes the Church.

80. Gospels More BODILY in Emphasis
than Paul
• The Gospels emphasize more than Paul the bodily
character of the Risen Christ:
– Acts 9:1-9: Interprets Paul’s encounter by Apocalyptic
Imagery.
– Matthew takes the middle road between
eschatological splendor and the familiar human figure
of the risen Christ in Luke and John.
– The apocalyptic literary device and the presentation of
the Risen Christ as friend show both poles of the
mystery. The new eschatological world has dawned on
mankind in the familiar person of the crucified Jesus
of Nazareth.

81. Empty Tomb Narratives
• The empty tomb is not explicitly included in the
kerygma, but implied. They derive from a
different milieu and constitute an independent
tradition.
– All four accounts agree that certain women in the
entourage of Jesus found the tomb empty on the third
day after the crucifixion, which was the first day of the
Jewish week.
– The discovery of the tomb does not lead to faith by
itself, except in the Beloved disciple, whose deep love
for Jesus made him perceptive (Jn 20:8, cf. 21:4-7).