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St. Paul 's Confession Essay

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St. Paul’s confession also does not explicitly state that the tomb was empty, but it is clearly presumed. St. Paul’s presumption, according to some scholars, is rooted not only in his encounter with Jesus but also with St. Peter’s Resurrection sermon at Pentecost when he paraphrases Psalm 16 and says, “... my flesh will dwell in hope. For you will not abandon my soul to Hades, nor let your Holy One see corruption. You have made known to me the ways of life (Acts 2:26-28).” This reference by St. Peter to Psalm 16 is considered by scholars to be a primitive form of the Resurrection proclamation. It was held in high authority in the early Church because of its connection with St. Peter. The reference that St. Peter makes about Jesus’ body not seeing corruption was understood by the early Christians to be “virtually a definition of resurrection.” The third part of the Pauline confession deals with the assertion that Jesus was “raised on the third day,” which is quite interesting because there is no direct scriptural testimony for this claim. The reference to “the third day” actually refers to the first time that any of Jesus’ disciples see him after his crucifixion. The first two witnesses to see the risen Lord, according to the Scriptures, are “Mary Magdalene and the other Mary (Mt 28:1).” Their encounter with the resurrected Jesus leads the entire Christian community to move their celebration of the Sabbath from Saturday to the first day of the week which then becomes

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