When did those who saw him bear witness?
1 Corinthians 15:3–7 is a short creed that Paul passes on as something he ‘received’. Christ died, was buried, was raised on the third day, and appeared to Cephas and the Twelve, to more than five hundred brothers, and to James.
Paul wrote this letter about AD 53–55, but many scholars hold that the creed itself took shape within a few years of the execution. Three years after his conversion, Paul met Peter and James in person in Jerusalem (Galatians 1:18–19).
Mark, the earliest Gospel, is generally dated about AD 65–75, and John about 90–100. More than 5,800 Greek manuscripts of the New Testament survive today.
ObjectionWeren’t all those records written by believers?
Yes. That is why historians ask how early a record is, whether there are several independent witnesses, and whether it includes things that tell against its own authors. The passage in 1 Corinthians 15 is often named as a prime example of a text that meets these tests.