(His By Grace;29885)
I thought I would ask anyone who has ever pondered this thought or heard anything about it to share the wealth of knowledge. Some friends and I were recently discussing the graves that burst open and the saints being resurrected. This is at the end of Matthew's gospel. Anyway, it reads in such a way as to be possible that these saints had no actual movement as far as going into Jerusalem to witness to the people until after the resurrection occurred. Yet, they were raised when the temple veil was torn in half at the crucifixion. One of my friends suggested that when they raised up, they stood in salute of King Jesus for His death and stayed in that position for the 3 days until freed to walk in newness of life- a resurrected spirit because of the resurrected Christ. Now this concept isn't stated, and it may be too much for a non-believer to even ponder, but I never paid attention to the timing of the verses. I know that punctuation was not a part of the original texts. Maybe that's the deal. I thought it was interesting!
“And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many” (Mt. 27:51-53).(The words in "bold" were added by a latter editor.)Matthew 27:52 and 53 have clearly been added by scribes. Manuscript 354 in Venice, Italy, omits theses verses. Though other documentation for this has yet not been found, it must be realized that the earliest manuscript, including this section of Matthew 27 dates from the fourth century AD. These verses must be an addition since they contradictory to other Scriptures which teach us that the dead are dead and will remain so until Christ returns. Until that time only Christ has been raised bodily from death to eternal life The resurrections of all those who have died will receive eternal life or their second and final death, are still future events for us today. Textual critics, as well as marginal notes in other old manuscripts have recognized these verses as later interpolations. The phrase "after his resurrection" in Matthew 27:53 demonstrates the passage is totally out of context, obviously, a scribal addition. If Christ was the first-fruits of them that slept, as 1 Corinthians 15:22-23 declares, how could His resurrection have been preceded by that of these saints?God bless you,Agape