Saints coming alive

[tonsofquestions]

I can’t find my Bible right now, and I want to post this quick, but somewhere in one of the Gospels it mentions that at the moment of Jesus’ death several saints came back to life and entered the city and a bunch of people saw them. Does the Church believe this actually happened, or that it was a metaphor?

 

[masterjedi747]

I can’t find my Bible right now, and I want to post this quick, but somewhere in one of the Gospels it mentions that at the moment of Jesus’ death several saints came back to life and entered the city and a bunch of people saw them. Does the Church believe this actually happened, or that it was a metaphor?

I don’t think it was a metaphor (I don’t know what that would mean), but I’m not sure exactly what we’re to take from that… and I don’t know what the Church (or Church Fathers) have to say about it, if anything. My instinct, though, is that a whole ton of people probably were given visions of holy men/women in Jerusalem who were about to be granted entrance into heaven.

But I seriously doubt that anyone actually came back to this life out their graves (especially even before Christ had been resurrected)… and also, that would just really stink. “Hey, guess what guys? Heaven is finally open now, but instead of letting you in, I think I’m just going to send you back to earth, OK?”

 

[ez3714]

Yeah, Matthew 27. I’m new enough at this that I don’t know of a good Catholic Bible commentary.

 

[tonsofquestions]

I ask this because it seems extremely strange to me that we would not have any secular historian report in this. It seems like it was a big deal. Also, it specifically says that their bodies were raised, which makes it unlikely that it’s talking about visions.

 

[Eucharisted]

I think it actually occured. And like all biblical events, all we gotta do is wait for the archeological or historical evidence to be dug up. If it hasn’t already.

 

[masterjedi747]

I ask this because it seems extremely strange to me that we would not have any secular historian report in this. It seems like it was a big deal.

I really haven’t done enough research, so I could be wrong, but I seem to recall that Josephus actually did report something along these lines, or at least that many people in Jerusalem were claiming to have seen such things.

Also, it specifically says that their bodies were raised, which makes it unlikely that it’s talking about visions.

I’d still like someone to check the actual Greek, and perhaps find out what the Church Fathers might have had to say on the question… the straightforward interpretation just doesn’t quite add up in my mind, but maybe I’m wrong.

Maybe it’s also possible that their bodies were raised, and they were simply soon after taken up into Heaven…

 

[tonsofquestions]

I’d still like someone to check the actual Greek, and perhaps find out what the Church Fathers might have had to say on the question… the straightforward interpretation just doesn’t quite add up in my mind, but maybe I’m wrong.

Does anyone know what the name of the Church’s Greek version would be, so I could find one online?

 

[anEvilAtheist]

Does anyone know what the name of the Church’s Greek version would be, so I could find one online?

According to Jimmy Akin: “The differences between Catholic and Protestant Bibles in the original languages are essentially confined to the Old Testament. There is not a dispute over the Greek text of the New Testament between the two groups.” (jimmyakin.org/2004/03/the_greek_new_t.html)

So maybe you don’t need a Catholic-specific version. One thing you might want to try is Scripture4all (scripture4all.org/). It lets you see the Greek words and their literal translations and also lets you search the Bible for other usages of the same word. I haven’t used it much, but from what I’ve seen so far it seems pretty impressive.

 

[tonsofquestions]

So maybe you don’t need a Catholic-specific version. One thing you might want to try is Scripture4all (scripture4all.org/). It lets you see the Greek words and their literal translations and also lets you search the Bible for other usages of the same word. I haven’t used it much, but from what I’ve seen so far it seems pretty impressive.

That was a great suggestion, I looked at the site and I can see it being very useful.

As to the original Greek, I found that the word used was is translated bodies( I tried to cut and paste the Greek onto here, it didn’t work), but it definitely says, “And the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints which slept arose, And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.” It definetely seems the Bible is implying that their bodies arose, their graves were opened, and they came out of the graves. My question stands then, if these dead saints rose and waltzed right into Jerusalem and appeared to many, you would think we would have an account of it other than one mention in Matthew. Also, I looked at Josephus, he doesn’t seem to say anything about this, but I haven’t looked at everything yet.

 

[wasmit]

I’m pretty sure that Jopsephus does not mention this [saint-ressurection] story.

 

[tonsofquestions]

I’m pretty sure that Jopsephus does not mention this [saint-ressurection] story.

Which confirms my suspicions. If this monumental event really happened, why did it not get recorded by any Roman historian?