Secret Alias wrote: ↑Wed Oct 10, 2018 2:55 pm
Yeah but so what. The particular version of Paul's letters that were preserved were carefully calibrated (and edited) to support certain orthodox ideas over their heretical opponents. You can hear the layering of edits and different 'takes' throughout chapter 15. Sorry this proves nothing other than what the orthodox wanted Paul to say c. 175 CE.
I wouldn't mind seeing an example of something you consider to be an orthodox "take" in 1 Cor. 15. Just curious.
While I do think there may be some interpolations in 1 Cor. 15, I can think of an example (besides the ones I've cited above regarding spiritual resurrection) of how 1 Cor. 15 does
not reflect an orthodox take (even if we remove anything considered to be an interpolation) when Paul says in verses 3-7:
For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James ...
But Luke 24:9 and 33-36 say that there were only
eleven disciples (after Judas had died) and that Jesus appeared to them after he had appeared to Simon (Peter?) and Cleopas (if Cleopas is not Simon):
When they came back from the tomb, they told all these things to the Eleven and to all the others.
They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying, “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread.
While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them, “Peace be with you.”
Acts 1:26 also says that there were only "eleven" after Judas died:
Then they cast lots, and the lot fell to Matthias; so he was added to the eleven apostles.
And Mt. 28:16-17 says that Jesus first appeared to "the eleven" (without first appearing to Cephas only, as per Paul):
Then the eleven disciples went to Galilee, to the mountain where Jesus had told them to go. When they saw him, they worshiped him; but some doubted.
In Paul there is no concept of "the Eleven," only of "the Twelve." Nor is there any appearance in the rest of the NT to anyone with the name James who was not part of "the Twelve," only in Paul. So what Paul says is not always in agreement with orthodox Christianity, and I think that is also the case regarding the idea of a spiritual resurrection.