BobRyan said:
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Many people raised from the dead in OT and during Christ's ministry before the cross.
That doesn't mean they had immortal bodies, though. They all died again.
And that includes Moses in Matt 17
Acts 26:
23 that the Christ was to suffer, and that by reason of His resurrection from the dead He would be the first to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.” NASB 1995
26:23 εἰ παθητὸς ὁ Χριστός εἰ πρῶτος ἐξ ἀναστάσεως νεκρῶν φῶς μέλλει καταγγέλλειν τῷ τε λαῷ καὶ τοῖς ἔθνεσιν
First resurrected person "to proclaim light both to the Jewish people and to the Gentiles.”
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YLT:> that the Christ is to suffer, whether first by a rising from the dead, he is about to proclaim light to the people and to the nations.'
There is every indication that Moses and Elijah were standing "in glory" with Christ - in Matt 17 before the cross even happened.
Every indication? Where are you getting that from? There is no indication at all that they had immortal bodies. It certainly doesn't say that. Jesus made it so that they could be seen by Peter, James and John but that doesn't mean they had to have immortal bodies for that to be the case. Why does John say that he sees the souls of dead believers in heaven in Rev 6:9-11 and Rev 20 if they have bodies?
If some people, besides Jesus, already have immortal bodies, then tell me how you interpret these passages:
1 Corinthians 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so
in Christ shall all be made alive. 23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ's at his coming.
Don't "they that are Christ's" include OT saints? Of course they do. So, why do you have them being bodily resurrected before Christ's second coming, which contradicts what Paul taught?
1 Corinthians 15:50
50 Now this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; neither doth corruption inherit incorruption. 51 Behold, I shew you a mystery;
We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed, 52 In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and t
he dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed. 53 For this corruptible must put on incorruption, and this mortal must put on immortality. 54 So when this corruptible shall have put on incorruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death is swallowed up in victory.
Paul indicates here that all believers, including the resurrected dead in Christ, will be changed at the last trumpet, which has not yet occurred. Yet, you have some already being changed long ago. Again, why are you contradicting what Paul taught?
If Christ wasn't the first to rise from the dead with an immortal body, then that would lessen the significance of His resurrection. It would mean that Lazarus or someone else already conquered death before He did. Jesus is the only one with an immortal body.
Paul clearly taught that Christ's resurrection was the first and that there is an order to them. The first in what sense then? You try to explain away Acts 26:23. Will you do that with 1 Cor 15:20-23 as well since Paul indicated there that His resurrection was the first? In what sense was it the first then? We know it wasn't literally the first resurrection since others, like Lazarus, had been resurrected previously. So, His resurrection was clearly the first unto bodily immortality.
