1 Corinthians 15:5

5 and that He appeared to Cephas, then to the Twelve.

1 Corinthians 15:5 Meaning and Commentary

1 Corinthians 15:5

And that he was seen of Cephas
Or Simon Peter; for Cephas was a name given him by Christ, ( John 1:42 ) . This was not another Cephas, one of the seventy disciples, as Clemens suggests {g}, but the Apostle Peter himself, to whom it is certain the Lord appeared. Not that he was the first person by whom Christ was seen after his resurrection, for he first appeared to Mary Magdalene, ( Mark 16:9 ) but the testimony of the women the apostle omits, and it seems as if Peter was the first of the men that saw Christ when risen, see ( Luke 24:34 ) . Whether he was one of the disciples that went to Emmaus, to whom Christ joined himself, and entered into discourse with, is not certain; it should rather seem, that the appearance here referred to was when he was alone;

then of the twelve;
though there were then but eleven of them, Judas being gone from them, and having destroyed himself; and at the first appearance of Christ to them, there were but ten present, Thomas being absent; and yet because their original number, when first chosen and called, were twelve, they still went by the same name; see ( John 20:24 ) ( Genesis 42:13 ) . The appearance or appearances here referred to are those in ( John 20:19 John 20:26 ) . The Vulgate Latin reads the "eleven"; and so the Claromontane exemplar.

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FOOTNOTES:

F7 Apud Euseb. Eccl. Hist. l. 1. c. 12.

1 Corinthians 15:5 In-Context

3 For I passed on to you as most important what I also received: 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, then to the Twelve.

6 Then He appeared to over 500 brothers at one time, most of whom remain to the present, but some have fallen asleep.

7 Then He appeared to James, then to all the apostles.