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Jesus appeared to Cephas, then to the TWELVE

tonychanyt

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After Jesus' ascension, Acts 1:

26 Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
1 Corinthians 15:

Wait a minute. Judas died. There were only eleven.

Paul might not have been perfectly accurate here. By "twelve", he meant "eleven". Alternatively, Matthias could have been there with the eleven before he was chosen to replace Judas.

6 Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. 7 Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. 8 Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me.
Pulpit offered another possible explanation:

"the twelve" is here the designation of an office, and great ancient writers are always indifferent to mere pragmatic accuracy in trifles which involve nothing.
 

awstar

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I'm a little tardy in responding to this, but I was listening to Acts 1 being read this morning and realized the sequence of events were such: Christ was betrayed, died, buried, rose again, ascended, sent the Holy Ghost - the Father's gift - and then Peter, quoting the words of David realized that to fulfill prophesy, Judas needed to be replaced.



When Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians that Jesus had appeared to "the Twelve", he was well aware of Matthias taking Judas' position, and that Matthias was very likely there when Christ appeared to the eleven, since one of the requirements for taking Judas' place, Matthias had to have been "with them" and "a witness of Jesus resurrection". And in fact, after his promotion he must have been actually referred to as one of "the Twelve"

Your "alternate" explanation is the correct one. Paul continues to be perfectly accurate.
 
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