The Word of God. Matthew 27:50-54.

Matthew 27:50-54

Jesus, when he had cried again with a loud voice, yielded up the ghost. And, behold, the veil of the temple was rent in twain from the top to the bottom; and the earth did quake, and the rocks rent; 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. Now when the centurion, and they that were with him, watching Jesus, saw the earthquake, and those things that were done, they feared greatly, saying, Truly this was the Son of God.

According to Houston Baptist professor Craig Evans, Matthew 27:51b–53 is not inspired, not canonical, does not belong in the Bible. He believes it is a “tradition” without “any claim to authenticity.” He speaks of it as a legend, an embellishment, and a scribal gloss.

“The story of the opening of the tombs and the emergence of dead saints may represent an early scribal supplement, probably inspired by Matt 28:2 and perhaps also by the aforementioned Ezek 37:7-14, Dan 12:2, and Zech 14:4-5 (cf. Did. 16:7), as well as Christian belief that the resurrection of Jesus was but the ‘first fruits’ of those who ‘sleep’ (cf. 1 Cor. 15:20). Indeed, it has been suggested that vv. 52-53 constitute a fulfillment of sorts of Jesus’ promise in Matt 16:18 in that he will build his church and ‘the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.’ That is, by raising the saints at the moment of death, the gates of Hades have been breached.”

“The peculiar vv. 52-53 are not cited and evidently not alluded to in the writings of the church fathers prior to the Council of Nicaea in 325 A.D. The quotation in the longer form of one of the letters of Ignatius is almost certainly a later interpolation. Moreover, the suggestion that the Akhmîm Gospel fragment (assumed by most to be the Gospel of Peter) alludes to Matt 27:52 (cf. Gos. Peter 41: ‘Have preached to them that sleep?’) is not convincing. Peter alludes to Christ’s preaching to the saints when he descended into hell. Indeed, the story of the raised saints in Matthew, perhaps inspired by the tradition of Christ’s harrowing of hell (cf. Acts of Pilate 20–26), is probably no earlier than late second century.”

“That this story is probably a post-Matthean gloss is also suggested by the chronological awkwardness created by vv. 52-53.” Craig A. Evans, Matthew (New Cambridge Bible Commentary) New York, NY: Cambridge University Press, 2012, p. 466

Evans lists a few reasons he believes this. 

“1) This might be a desperate attempt to offer an answer to Jesus’ promise in Matthew 16:18 when he said, ‘I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades will not overpower it.’ 2) Not cited explicitly or implicitly by any church father till after the Council of Nicea in 325 A.D. 3) Its sequential awkwardness as how can Jesus be the first fruits if they are already raised? 4)The position that the Akhmîm Gospel fragment, which Evans dates in the second century, might allude to Matthew when it says in the gospel of Peter 41 ‘have preached to them that sleep’ is a stretch so that information for the gospel of Peter did not come from Matthew but from somewhere else.” As summarized in Craig Evans, Robert Stewart, and Matthew 27:52-53

Evans’s idea exhibits the stretch of “The Academy” to find something wrong with the Bible. Not content with variants he can find, Evans finds one that does not exist. Notice that his argument is that Matthew 27:51b–53 was never part of the original inspired text. This assertion is extraordinarily exotic – because there are no extant texts of Matthew that do not have that statement. Craig Evans has trouble believing that passage, so Matthew must not have written it!

Contra Evans, Joseph Benson writes,

“Thus, as the rending the veil of the temple intimated that the entrance into the most holy place, the type of heaven, was now laid open to all nations, so the resurrection of a number of saints from the dead demonstrated that the power of death and the grave was broken; that the sting was taken from death, and the victory wrested from the grave; and if they ascended with him too, it was thus shown that the Lord’s conquest over the enemies of mankind was complete, and not only an earnest given of a general resurrection of the dead, but of the kingdom of heaven being opened to all believers.” [Bold emphasis mine]

Believing in the power and truthfulness of God, there is no reason to reject this passage as odd, spurious, or impossible. Jesus rose. Jesus rose from the dead. Of what greater power need we speak!

Notice as follows:

• Verse 50 – The voluntary, substitutionary death of Christ, which he laid down and no man took from him. John 10:17-18
• Verse 51 – The rending of the veil of the temple (Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45; Hebrews 6:19-20) and the rending of the earth.
• Verse 52a – The rending of the earth opened graves.
• Verses 52b-53a – The saints came bodily out of those graves after the resurrection of Jesus Christ. It was bodily, not “spiritual” or imaginary. They were dead, asleep, in their graves (cf. Psalm 13:3; John 11:11-13).[i] Though not necessarily required by the statement, it is possible that these had only recently died. If so, they would have been well known and recognized when they went to Jerusalem.[ii]
• Verse 53b – The raised saints went into the “holy city” (Jerusalem, Matthew 4:5) and, as a witness of our Lord’s victory over death, “appeared unto many.” The witness was “unto many” not a few. Jesus is not just the victor over death for himself, but also for the saints that sleep.
• Verse 54 – A centurion and the soldiers with him saw the crucifixion, the earthquake, the victorious death of Jesus Christ, therefore feared God and recognized his deity. His divine power demonstrated him to be the divine person he said he was.

“…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.” The brevity, simplicity, and normalcy of this entry testifies of its veracity, separating it from myths and legends.

May we look to the Bible for truth. Let us not be of the spirit of those who reject what they cannot by nature receive. May we receive God’s word as truth.

Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God. Which things also we speak, not in the words which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with spiritual. But the natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. 1 Corinthians 2:12-14

[See also ΜΕΤΑ ΤΗΝ ΕΓΕΡΣΙΝ ΑΥΤΟΥ: A Scribal Interpolation in Matthew 27:53?]

---

[i] The death of saints is often called sleep. Daniel 12:2; 1 Corinthians 15:18; 1 Thessalonians 4:15.
[ii] Isaiah 26:19 Thy dead men shall live, together with my dead body shall they arise.