cheenc03a.pdf

RESURRECTION- AND ASCENSION-NARRATIVES
Consequently, this belief of theirs doer not prove that sal\arioo for men. For Saul, thr Pharisee, could never
what they saw was ohjectirely icnl: it can equally well : get away from the thought that some kind of propitiahave
been merely an image begotten of their own tion had to be made for the sins of men, before God
mental condition. could bring in his grace. Perhaps the Christians had
Having now, we believe, shown in a general way the even already begun to quote in support of their view
~ossibilifv that thu th~ner relatcd concrrnine the risen Is. 53, which Paui in all orobabilitv har in his mind
3s, sitnation Jex~ may rrest upon subjective visions, when, in I Cor. 153, he says that he has received by
what rrcrt remains for us to inquire in tradition the doctrine that Christ, according to the
of Paul. whether such visions hare anv , mob- . Scrioturcr. . had been delivered as a . orooitlvtion . for
ability in view of the known situation of the disciples. our sms.
This question admits of an affirmative answer, very (i) Whether, however, all this, vhich in one respect
particulwly in thr case of Paul.
promlred blerredness, but in another threatelled him
twill ever remmn the hrting merit of Holsfen that he hm ! with divtne punishment as a persecutor of the Christians.
;
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was really true or not, turned for Paul upon the answer
= ; 0 ; !
p.n. ofco,lreruative theology in prsrence of the deniers to the question. whether in actuality Jesus was risen.
of fhc genuineness of rll ihs Pnuhne e IB~~FI, who find fh~ For, in addition to the doctrine of propitiation, Saul the
chilc~gc from I'hrri*cc to apostle oiIeiur zed from tha law too pharisee was jndirrolu~y wedded to the thought ,hat
sudden. I" energetic nature could only pars iron* the one
~xtce,mc to the other, and could not porrihly hold a med~rting
'every One that hangeth On a 'Iee' is accursed,
poixf~un.l
God hinlseli hnr unmistakably pronounced otherwire-
(a) Paul persecuted the Christians as blasphemers, rlz. that this proposition has no applicatioil to Jesus,
because they proclajme,j as the ~ ~ one who ~ by. ~ who i did ~ not die h the death of a criminal, but the death
judgnlent of God (nt. 2lZn, cp G~I. 31~) had beerr of a divine offering for sin. Such a divine declaration
marked as (6) ~f, in defending was i"vo1ved. according to the Christians, in the resurtheir
position, they quoted parsager of the OT which in rection of Jesus.
their view treated of the hlessiah, Paul could not gainsay (k) It will not be necessary to upon the deeply
this in n general way : all that he denied agitating effect which such dmibts must have produced
was the applicability of the parmger to one who had been in Paul's inmost soul : the vividness with which
crucified. (c) From their to the appearances of the livillg figure so often described to him by Chris-
Jesus, Paul certainly had come to know quite well the tians must, time and again, have stood before him.
form in which they would have it that they had seen otlly to be banished as often by the opposition of his
him. (d) Apart from this blasphemy of theirs intellect: until finally, only too easily, there came a
cannot but have recognised their honesty, seriournesr, ahen the image of fa~lcy refused any longer to
and blamelesrners of moral character. What if they yield to the effort of thought. All that need be ~ointed
s$ould be in the right? We may be certain that, when
he their llouses and haled them before the
judgment-rear, there were not wanting heart.rending
scenes. which in the care of a man not wholly hardened
not fail to raise ever anew the recurring qllention
whether it was really at the behest of God that he had
to show all this cruelty. ~e hir
yet the goad had entered his soul.
( ~ b
$ ~ ~ d ~ ~ ~ > ~ i c , " ~ ~
saw. (To the conrnry. see g jnd, c$ Neither do we
of the exprcrrion in Ga1.l xc, where Prul rpcaks of God a*
having revealed his son 'in mc' (Zv ir4, fa prove that Paul
regarded the occurrence at Damas~r ar one thar hd taten
place solely within himself. he words '1 have seen'(idpm.)
md 'rarscen'(;+Bn) m I Cor.9 115anre decisive againrt chis
for by tliam the apostle mean5 to say that he has really
(although not in earthly but in hrivenly corporeality) the risen
J,SUS, app.arinp to him .b rrrrz. yet far ar G ~ I . L , ~ ~
IS concerned, neither ir if probaliic ihrt 'foreverl'(dnordi+~~)
thought which had hitherto remained apart, mat if dcnates a rubrequenl inward illumination oi Paul, since 'bur
the 1 wh?.',,(s, SO.and :rfr=ighfw:).' (TjBiy the, !'ma
,he christianr mere right in their
whlch followed immedrately upon that of 'the Jews' rellzlon
Crucified One really was the hressiah, through whom it (.IouSacr+or) (IxjX). 'In me'(ru ilroi), m spae ~ith*
was God's will to bring salvation to the
encc of 'toreveal' (dino~a*dly=t) ru the event on rhe road to
insisting on the fulfilment of the entire law?
Drmrrcur, may mean 'wichin mx,'in ro iar as thc n pealance
I,, that I
produced effectsupon thespirityyl life of thehporlle; %"t it can
case the persecution of the Christians w.u indeed a enrl~y =Iro .apon me.-r.r.. hychaging the perrecuror
crime ; but Paul, md with him all mankind, was lnro a believe. (not ho\ve"er, 'through the auccerr oi my mu. .
nevertheless delivered from the of soul caused iio"aw 1aboorr;wh:ch did not occur till later).
by daily transgression of the law; mercy, no longer The situation of the eariiest disciples very readily
n-rnfh, was what he might expect from God. (h).4"d
suggests the same explanation of the factj. (a) The
indeed. tliis being so. it could have been throogh 36, Of earliest mental struggle betreen despair and
the death of Jesus that God had willed to procure
hope-the disaster involved in the
disciples, death of Jesus, and the hope they still
1 Iiolrtcn ZWT 1867, pp. 223.284: Z~niEs,ong derrvuius
. riis ~etrss, I-& (1868); rfleiderer, PGWL~~~~,;~,,~,
187j, (9, 1 somehow "lung to, that the kingdom of God might still
1840. &I. on the other ide: B ~ sf. KK, ~ ,86