Matthew 27:53

Jonahdog

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.
 

Truster

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.

We* have all the proof necessary to accept and trust the scriptures.

We* The regenerate.
 

Zeke

Well-known member
Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.

Its a symbol for what takes place in the temple of man from lower base thinking to a higher state of conscience awareness, the clues are there to find like the place of Christ death on the cross takes place on a hill meaning skull, his pointing to the human body being the kingdom, Jacob seeing God through the penial gland, yada yada etc....literal is a diversion for endless debates about faith and hope in the clouds of history and future.

Bill Donahue connects the brain with the medical terms hidden in the dark sayings of scripture, yet you Atheist want to play in the literal play ground with the Theist who think serpents talk and fish swallow men when it is all Esoteric teachings, Alvin Boyd Kuhn shows that lost interpretation to be only rational way to actually understand the meanings of these Ancient stories plagiarized by Rome, and perverted into the literal fruit that has rotted on the vine.
 

Jonahdog

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Its a symbol for what takes place in the temple of man from lower base thinking to a higher state of conscience awareness, the clues are there to find like the place of Christ death on the cross takes place on a hill meaning skull, his pointing to the human body being the kingdom, Jacob seeing God through the penial gland, yada yada etc....literal is a diversion for endless debates about faith and hope in the clouds of history and future.

Bill Donahue connects the brain with the medical terms hidden in the dark sayings of scripture, yet you Atheist want to play in the literal play ground with the Theist who think serpents talk and fish swallow men when it is all Esoteric teachings, Alvin Boyd Kuhn shows that lost interpretation to be only rational way to actually understand the meanings of these Ancient stories plagiarized by Rome, and perverted into the literal fruit that as rotted on the vine.

How do I know this verse is not to be taken literally? It is in the midst of the description of what Christians believe to be a literal occurrence.
 

Jonahdog

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It just so happens that Matthew was a witness to the events.

That does not answer my question. Are there any extra Biblical accounts of this extraordinary occurrence?

I also think that most Biblical scholars do not believe the writer of Matthew was an eye witness or one of the 12. I think the general thought is that the writer is unknown.
 

Jonahdog

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That does not answer my question. Are there any extra Biblical accounts of this extraordinary occurrence?

I also think that most Biblical scholars do not believe the writer of Matthew was an eye witness or one of the 12. I think the general thought is that the writer is unknown.

I take it no one has any extra Biblical evidence of the extraordinary claim made in Matthew 27:53.
 

SonOfCaleb

Active member
The dead didn't rise in Matthew 27:53. They were simply thrown out of their tombs because of the Earthquake that was caused when Jesus died which Witnesses of the event reported as they went back into the City of Jerusalem.
Firstly for corpses to be thrown out of tombs by an Earthquake is not usual. The Greek writer Aelius Aristides reported this in the 2nd Century. And it has also happened in Colombia in 1967 where the practice of internment via Mausoleum or Tomb is more commonplace than burial.

Also note the preceding verse 52 says "..and many bodies" were 'raised' up. Thus Matthew is evidently referring to their corpses. He doesn't mention them coming to life. Even if you assume they did come to life it stands to reason that an event of that magnitude would be recorded elsewhere in the scriptures or other gospels. But it is not.

Lastly the Greek verb e·geiʹro, means to "raise up". It does not always refer to a resurrection. It can, among other things, also mean to “"lift out" from a pit or to "get up" from the ground.
 

Truster

New member
That does not answer my question. Are there any extra Biblical accounts of this extraordinary occurrence?

I also think that most Biblical scholars do not believe the writer of Matthew was an eye witness or one of the 12. I think the general thought is that the writer is unknown.

Matthew was one of the Apostles and an eye witness.
 
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Mocking You

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Also note the preceding verse 52 says "..and many bodies" were 'raised' up. Thus Matthew is evidently referring to their corpses. He doesn't mention them coming to life.

He doesn't?

Matthew 27:53 NIV
They came out of the tombs after Jesus’ resurrection and went into the holy city and appeared to many people.
 

Jonahdog

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The dead didn't rise in Matthew 27:53. They were simply thrown out of their tombs because of the Earthquake that was caused when Jesus died which Witnesses of the event reported as they went back into the City of Jerusalem.
Firstly for corpses to be thrown out of tombs by an Earthquake is not usual. The Greek writer Aelius Aristides reported this in the 2nd Century. And it has also happened in Colombia in 1967 where the practice of internment via Mausoleum or Tomb is more commonplace than burial.

Also note the preceding verse 52 says "..and many bodies" were 'raised' up. Thus Matthew is evidently referring to their corpses. He doesn't mention them coming to life. Even if you assume they did come to life it stands to reason that an event of that magnitude would be recorded elsewhere in the scriptures or other gospels. But it is not.

Lastly the Greek verb e·geiʹro, means to "raise up". It does not always refer to a resurrection. It can, among other things, also mean to “"lift out" from a pit or to "get up" from the ground.

The King James version : "51 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;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

That suggests more than just having corpses shaken out of the ground by an earth quake. In fact it suggests that they came out of the ground not on Jesus' death but after the resurrection and went into Jerusalem and appeared to others. Yet no where else is this strange experience noted.
One would think that a number of people who had been entombed showing up would make the populace take notice. Note it states "many bodies...appeared to many."
 

daqq

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The King James version : "51 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;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many."

That suggests more than just having corpses shaken out of the ground by an earth quake. In fact it suggests that they came out of the ground not on Jesus' death but after the resurrection and went into Jerusalem and appeared to others. Yet no where else is this strange experience noted.
One would think that a number of people who had been entombed showing up would make the populace take notice. Note it states "many bodies...appeared to many."

There is some tricky wording, (imo) in this passage. Bodies is plural but words like soma, (body) may have been used sometimes in a plural sense while pertaining to the many parts of the whole, (body). Most literalists, (meaning physical naturalists) will surely disagree with what I say here but this is how I read it:

Matthew 27:51-53
51. 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:
52. And the graves were opened; and a great body of the holy ones which slept arose:
53. And came out of the graves with [meta] the raising up of him, and went into the holy city, [Yerushalaim of above] and many [of them] were having been exhibited [made manifest in the Scripture, such as Hezekiah who was promised that he was healed and would go up into the House of YHWH in the Third Day, 2 Kings 20:5].


Another common misconception, (imo) promulgated by the physical naturalists comes into focus in the common understanding of the statement in Jude concerning Michael disputing with the Adversary over the body, (soma) of Moses. The "body of Moses" concerns not the physical body of Moses himself, (though the location of his burial was clearly hidden intentionally) but rather concerns all of the Tanach body of the holy ones and faithful.

Tanach "Body of the Saints" ~ "Body of Moses" (folded into Messiah - Matthew 27:51-53)
Brit Chadashah "Body of the Saints" ~ "Body of Messiah" :)
 

CherubRam

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.

According to scriptures that account is a falsehood. It pays to study the bible.

2 Thessalonians 2:2
not to become easily unsettled or alarmed by the teaching allegedly from us—whether by a prophecy or by word of mouth or by letter—asserting that the day of the Lord has already come.
 

patrick jane

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.
Matthew 27:51-54 KJV - [FONT=&quot]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;[/FONT][FONT=&quot]52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]54 Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

Well, how many people do you think were IN the holy city? There was an earthquake and "many" bodies of the saints arose. How many is "many"? And appeared unto many, again how many? Apparently there WERE "contemporary" witnesses.[/FONT]
 

oatmeal

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.

The context is very revealing when read for what it says

Matthew 27:51-53

51 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;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

According to VP Wierwille, verses 52-53 must be additions to the text

I agree, reading those verses for what they say reveals the absurdity of what is said.

Evidently, the many bodies that arose after the veil was rent and the earthquake occurred arose but did not actually come out of the graves until three days later?

What nonsense! There is sufficient reason to delete those verses
 

Robert Pate

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Is there any evidence other than the Bible of tombs opening and the dead rising upon Christ's death? One would think such an extraordinary occurrence would have caught the eye of some contemporary witness.

More than that took place.

The veil covering the "Holy of Holies" was torn from the top to the bottom.

There was an earth quake.

Rocks were split in half.

The sky turned black.

Tombs were opened and many bodies of the saints arose and went into Jerusalem.

This was all recorded by Matthew so that we would know that something great had taken place when Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world.
 

patrick jane

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The context is very revealing when read for what it says

Matthew 27:51-53

51 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;

52 And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose,

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

According to VP Wierwille, verses 52-53 must be additions to the text

I agree, reading those verses for what they say reveals the absurdity of what is said.

Evidently, the many bodies that arose after the veil was rent and the earthquake occurred arose but did not actually come out of the graves until three days later?

What nonsense! There is sufficient reason to delete those verses
Blasphemy. It's no wonder you can't comprehend the Trinity.
 

daqq

Well-known member
In the New Testament "the holy city" refers not to Jerusalem of below but to Jerusalem of above. Jerusalem of below is referred to as Sodom and Hagar-Egypt in the allegory, (Gal 4:24-26, Rev 11:8).
 
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