THE TESTIMONY OF EYE-WITNESSES: a list of them is given in 1st Corinthians 15. In various circumstances, at various places, in both large and small groups they saw Him, spoke to Him, and were even invited to touch Him. He appeared in the early morning by a lake, on a mountainside in broad daylight, in the evening behind closed doors, and walking along a road conversing with the travelers.
THE IMPORTANCE OF CHRIST’S RESURRECTION: Greeks did not believe in the resurrection of the dead. There were three views in Corinth: (1) Epicureans: the philosophy of matter only; materialism; no existence after death. (2) Stoics: at death, the soul goes back to Deity, so no personality after death. (3) Platonism: the soul is immortal but has no bodily resurrection. In regards to our salvation: Christianity is validated upon the fact of the resurrection of Christ. The power that catapulted Christianity onto the stage of world history, was the resurrection of Christ [Acts 1:22]. The purpose for which the early Christian community came into being, was to bear witness to the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The prime function of the Christian community is to witness to the fact of the resurrection of our Lord Jesus. The transforming power of the Gospel is not the ethical teachings of Jesus, but the resurrection of Jesus and all the implications that go along with that fact.