The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1895-04-06
THE LESSON STORY.

ILL l411k1hS0Ls ~ O1s u
Paul, in the freedom of the epistolary
style, comes now to speak to the Cor
inthian Christians of the resurrection.
Nothing preceding in his Letter, by log
icaI continuation of his thought, necessi-
tated the treatment of this subject. But
there had probably come to him special
request, as there was undoubtedly in the
unsettled faith of some of the Corinthian
Christians an exigent demand, for de-
cisive treatment of this great theme.
The atmosphere of the rich and luxuri-
Gus city must have been intensely material
istic. To idolize the senses is to naturally
become the dupe of their receptions.
There were also, we recall, skeptical phil
osophies held in Corinth. The Sadducees
among the Jews, and the Stoics and the
Epicureans among the pagans, agreed in
denying the continuance of personality
beyond the dissolution of the body. The
followers of the more spiritual Plato, in
their denial of material body to the dis
embodied spirit, and their possible con
lecture OF repeated earthly embodiments
of a spirit in both the animal and the hui
man form before its final emancipation,
contributed perplexity to the doctrine.
There was need of an unravelling of the
tangled problem.
1. Christ's Death and Resur-
rectiOn Central Facts of the Cos
pel,-vs. 3, a.
Paul's answer to the Corinthian query
was simply the application of the Gospel
which he had previously preached to them
This is the summary of the Gospel he had
commended. I delive,ed unto .you, h,
says, FIRST Of all, that aOhicA also 7 re
cei0ed, hoaV that Christ died FIR eur sins
according 10 the scriptures; and that he
aVas buried; and that he hath been raised
again aee0raine TO the scriptures. Tbcr>
were then, as seems to us, accredited
scriptures, which may have been the
sources of our present Gospels, testifyinc
to the main facts of Christ's ministry
That such writings were in exisie.ce is t
be inferred from Luke's introduction to his
Gospel duke I:I).
Paul preached to the Corinthians, as to
all the Gentiles, Christ crucihed and Chris,
raised. The resurrection of Christ was
the central fact of Pauls Gospel. 1t was
always at the front in all his assaults on
Laganism.
Christ's resurrection itself does not ap
pear to have been questioned among the
skeptical Corinthians. They denied a
general resurrection, but not the rising of
Christ from the sepulchre; they queried IS
to the possibility of the invisible spirit
being clothed upon with an adequate body.
but they did not qus stion that the Risen
Jesus was alive.
Paul m,rshals the evidence of this cs
sential fact in Christian faith.
2. Christ's Rc-appearance to
his Friends,-vs. 81.
He abbeared to Cebhas,. then to The
fztel7'e; then he appeared to a5o1e .jfye
hnnayed brethren, at oaee, Of q0h0m tie
greater part remain nntil nozO, bit some
are fallen ASLEEP. then he appeared to
lanes; then to all the apostles. Paul does
not adduce the entire list of witnesses of
the fact of Christ's temperance to his
friends. He mentions those who must
have been best known by reputation among
the Corinthian believers.
Following is a list of the appearances of
the Risen Christ to his friends, so far as
recorded in extant canonical writings
1. To Mary Magdalene Uohn ao:II-I7;
Mark 6:o) 2. To the women Matt 2S.
g. 10Y. 3. To Peter luke 24:34, Cor.
1853. 4. To the disciples on the way to
Emmaus duke e4:I3-3s; Mark I6 IL, 80.
s. To ten disciples and others, Thomas
being absent luke "a 36-4o; John 20
1928; Mark I6:I4. These first five APP
pearances were all on the day he rose from
the deadly 6. To the eleven apostles, the
incredulity of Thomas removed Uohn 20:
a6-ao). ?. To seven apostles at the Lake
of Galilee Uohn aI:I-s4) 8. To thu
eleven apostles on a mountain in Galilee,
which is generally regarded as being iden,
teal with the appearance to five hundred
at once Matt. %: 1910; Mark 10; 1918;
Cor. 1850. g. To James, the Lord S
brother Il Cor. I5:7). 10. Immediately
before the ascension luke "a 50, 81; Acts
1863.
The essential fact in all these New Tes