Jesus Remembered: Christianity in the Making, vol. 1

THE CLIMAX OF JESUS' MISSION §18.3
suspicion. That he was able to press the claim so emphatically 132 and that it was
accepted by the Jerusalem leadership 133 presumably indicates that the span of
appearances reached to nearer the time of Paul's conversion. 134 This deduction is
consistent with the numbers and personnel mentioned. For an appearance to
'more than five hundred' is most likely dated to a period when the new movement
had begun to win converts and adherents. 135 And 'all the apostles' probably
indicates a time when the movement was becoming more missionary-minded. 136
Where Luke and Paul agree is in signalling that the period of resurrection appearances
came to an end: after forty days, says Luke; 'last of all to me', says Paul. 137
The other striking tension introduced by the inclusion of the appearance to
Paul within the listed resurrection appearances is that, according to the Acts accounts,
the appearance was from heaven, 138 whereas all the other appearances
are recorded as appearances on terra firma. This adds a further dimension to the
questions raised by the accounts to which we shall have to return (below § 18.5c).
The compensation, if that is the appropriate word, is that with the appearance to
Paul we have the closest thing to a firsthand personal testimony to a resurrection
appearance. Not that we can attribute the Acts accounts without question to Paul
132. By including the appearance to himself with the same formula ('he appeared' —
öphthe) Paul implies that the appearance to himself was of the same order as that to those earlier
in the list; the question asked in 1 Cor. 9.1 ('Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?') assumes that
no responsible person would have replied negatively.
133. No other conclusion can be drawn from the albeit defensive Gal. 1.1-2.10.
134. Craig wishes to hold to Luke's timetable (no appearances after Pentecost), but he
does not answer the question of whether and why in that case a claim to a much later appearance
would have been accepted (Assessing 72-73 n. 31).
135. Cf. Grass, Ostergeschehen 101, 109-10; Fuller, Formation 36. Crossan cuts across
the obvious implication of 1 Cor. 15.5-8 by pushing the suggestion of 'a trajectory of revelatory
apparition moving the emphasis slowly but steadily from community to group to leader' (Historical
Jesus 397-98). Lüdemann, Resurrection 100-108, follows the well-worn line that the
appearance to the 500-plus is a variant tradition to Pentecost (Acts 2.1-13) (similarly Funk,
Acts of Jesus 455); but see already my Jesus and the Spirit 142-46.
136. Cf. again Fuller, Formation 40-42, and my Jesus and the Spirit 98, where it is
pointed out that 'the apostles', for Paul at least, was not simply another name for the twelve, but
included people like Andronicus and Junia (Rom. 16.7) and Barnabas (Gal. 2.9; 1 Cor. 9.5-6);
see further vol. 2. Probably irrelevant here, but worth noting nonetheless, is that Luke seems to
count Cleopas and his unnamed companion as apostles (Luke 24.10, 13).
137. The force of Paul's self-description as 'an abortion' is often missed. An 'abortion'
properly speaking is a premature birth. The implication is that Paul's conversion had to be
forced ahead of due time in order that he might be included within the circle of apostle-making
resurrection appearances before the circle closed (see my Jesus and the Spirit 101-102; Theology
of Paul 331 n. 87; and further below, vol. 2).
138. 'A light from heaven' (Acts 9.3; 22.6: light and voice presumably from the same
source; 26.13, 19: 'the heavenly vision').
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