Was Paul the Last One to See Christ?

August 19, 2011 (David Cloud, Fundamental Baptist Information Service, P.O. Box 610368, Port Huron, MI 48061, 866-295-4143, fbns@wayoflife.org; for instructions about subscribing and unsubscribing or changing addresses, see the information paragraph at the end of the article) -

Was Paul the last one to see the resurrected Christ? In “Heaven Is For Real: A Dangerous Book for an Apostate Age” (August 18, 2011) I stated the following:

“The book is contrary to the testimony of the Apostle Paul, who said that he was the last to see the resurrected Christ (1 Cor. 15:8). This experience is described in the book of Acts and there is no further mention of Christ appearing to anyone.”

This statement is not accurate, and I appreciate those who wrote to challenge me on this.

In 1 Corinthians 15 Paul was not saying that he was the last one ever to see the resurrected Christ, he was saying, rather that he had seen Christ after the other apostles had seen Him. Seeing the resurrected Christ was a sign of apostleship (Acts 1:22; 1 Corinthians 9:1; 15:7). The last apostle to see Christ was John on the island of Patmos as described in Revelation 1.

We are publishing a corrected edition of the “Heaven Is For Real” critique today.


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