CHAPTER 5:
PETER, THE DISCIPLES,
AND THE FIVE HUNDRED
For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received: that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers 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. —1 Corinthians 15:3—8
The Gospels do not contain the story of Christ appearing to Peter (or “Cephas,” as Paul writes in the Aramaic). But it was included in the old Christian tradition passed on by Paul, which came out of the Jerusalem church. Moreover, Paul himself vouches for it. We know from Paul’s letter to the Galatians 1:18 that three years after his conversion on the Damascus Road, Paul spent about two weeks with Peter in Jerusalem. So Paul knew whether or not Peter claimed to have had such an experience. Moreover, the appearance to Peter is independently mentioned in another old Christian tradition found in Luke 24:34: “The Lord has risen indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” That Luke is passing on a prior tradition and not just composing freehand here is evident from the awkward way in which this saying is inserted into his story of the appearance to the Emmaus disciples. So we have multiple, independent, and extremely early sources for the fact of this appearance to Peter. Therefore, virtually all New Testament scholars agree that, however you might care to explain it, Peter did see a post-mortem appearance of Jesus.
The Disciples
The next appearance mentioned was to “the twelve,” undoubtedly the original group of twelve disciples who had been chosen by Jesus during his ministry—minus, of course, Judas, whose absence didn’t affect the formal title of the group. This is the best-attested resurrection appearance of Jesus. It is also a part of that very early tradition that Paul hands on. Moreover, Paul himself had personal contact with members of The Twelve. In addition we actually have two independent accounts of this appearance in Luke 24:36—42 and John 20:19—20. There can be little doubt that such an appearance occurred, for it is attested in the old Christian tradition, vouched for by Paul, and independently described by both Luke and John.
The Five Hundred
For whatever reason, the five hundred witnesses (and others he mentions beyond that) were not, apparently, part of the traditional formula he was using, but who were known to him nonetheless.
The number of people involved—five hundred, simultaneously—is noteworthy, and yet there is no mention whatsoever of this appearance anywhere else in the New Testament. One may be pardoned for being somewhat skeptical that so extraordinary an event, should it have occurred, could have gone unnoticed by the biblical authors, but Paul himself seems to have had personal contact with these individuals, since he knew that some had died in the meantime.
He notes this in his passing comment, “most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep.” Why does Paul add this remark? The great New Testament scholar of Cambridge University, C. H. Dodd, replies, “There can hardly be any purpose in mentioning the fact that the most of the 500 are still alive, unless Paul is saying, in effect, ‘The witnesses are there to be questioned.’“10 Paul would not have said this if the event had not occurred. He wouldn’t have challenged people to talk to the eyewitnesses if the event had never taken place and there were no eyewitnesses. But evidently there were witnesses to this event, and Paul knew that some of them had died in the interim. Therefore, the event must have taken place.
Perhaps this appearance is not related in the Gospels because it took place in Galilee. As one traces the various appearances narrated in the Gospels, it seems that they occurred first in Jerusalem, then in Galilee, and then back in Jerusalem again. An appearance to five hundred people would have to have occurred outdoors, perhaps on a hillside near a Galilean village.
Recall that it was in Galilee that thousands had flocked to hear Jesus teach. Since the Gospels focus on the appearances that occurred in Jerusalem rather than in Galilee, none of them narrates the story of the appearance to the five hundred. An intriguing possibility, however, is that the appearance to the five hundred was the appearance in Galilee predicted by the angel at the tomb and then described by Matthew (28.16—17).