(July 11, 2015 at 8:38 pm)Crossless1 Wrote: Paul doesn't seem to speak of a bodily resurrection, and he wrote well after the time when anyone producing a body would have been possible. The Gospel accounts that speak of an alleged bodily resurrection come much later. Who, exactly, would have been breaking his balls circa 31 CE to counter a claim of an empty tomb years -- decades -- before the claim gains currency?
Your Godman leaving the tomb is a later embellishment.
Rubbish.
Paul also wrote well within the time frame when hundreds of people who saw Jesus alive were still around. In fact, Paul even does a bit of a throw-down on this very point in his letter to the Corinthians;
1 Corinthians 5:3-8
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, 4 that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, 5 and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. 6 After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, 8 and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
Paul is saying, "Hey, if you don't believe me, ask them. They saw Him, too!"
And that bit in v. 3, "for what I received" - yeah, that's telling us that this is a proto-creed of the early Church which Paul memorized during his first visit to Jerusalem after his conversion (c. AD 35-36).
So, this means that Paul is claiming that Jesus was appearing to hundreds of people after his resurrection and using a memorized formula learned in Jerusalem less than five years after the actual resurrection.
Later embellishment, my ass.
