s_. To seven disciples by the sea of Galilee--John
xxi. 1-24.

To a company of disciples in. Galilee--Matt, xxviii. 16-20; [Mark xvi.
15-18]; I. Cor. xv. 6.

The appearance to James--I. Cor. xv. 7.

To the disciples in Jerusalem, followed by the ascension--Mark xvi. 19,
20; Luke xxiv. 44-53; Acts i. 1-12; I. Cor. xv. 7.

IX

The Resurrection

209. Christianity as a historic religious movement starts from the
resurrection of Jesus from the dead. This is very clear in the preaching
and writings of Paul. The first distinctively Christian feature in his
address at Athens is his statement that God had designated Jesus to be
the judge of men by having "raised him from the dead" (Acts xvii. 31), and
for him the resurrection was the demonstration of the divinity of Christ
(Rom. i. 4), and the confirmation of the Christian hope (I. Cor. xv.).
With him the prime qualification for an apostle was that he should have
seen the risen Lord (I. Cor. ix. 1). The early preaching as recorded in
Acts shows the same feature, for after repeated testimony to the fact that
God had raised up Jesus, Peter summed up his address with the declaration,
"Let all the house of Israel therefore know assuredly, that God hath made
him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified" (Acts ii. 36). In
fact the buoyancy of hope and confidence of faith which gave to the
despised followers of the Nazarene their strength resulted directly from
the experiences of the days which followed the deep gloom that settled
over the disciples when Jesus died.

210. It can but seem strange to us that after Jesus had so often foretold
his death and the resurrection which should follow it, his disciples were
thrown into despair by the cross. Joseph of Arimathea and Nicodemus when
they embalmed his body may not have known of these teachings which Jesus
gave to the nearer circle of his followers, but it is difficult to believe
that the women who prepared their spices to anoint his body (Mark xvi. 1)
had heard nothing of these predictions, and it is certain that the
apostles who received with incredulity the first news of the resurrection
were the men whom Jesus had sought to prepare for this glorious victory.
The disciples do not seem to have finished "questioning among themselves
what the rising again from the dead should mean" (Mark ix. 10, compare
Luke xviii. 34) until Jesus himself explained it by his return to them
after his crucifixio