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Question
#1:
The
questioner wrote, “I was sharing the Word of God online
when a skeptic posed me this question which really bothered me
for a long time now.
"Luke
24:33-36 say that the 2 disciples from Emmaus found the ELEVEN
[apostles] gathered together and then the Lord appeared to them
[Mark 16:12-14]
but John 20:19-24 negates this by saying that Thomas was absent
at that time, so there were not 11 apostles there but 10 only.
Why did Luke say there were 11?"
“How
to reconcile these verses?”
Luke
24:31-36,
“And
their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of
their sight. And they said one to another, Did not our heart
burn within us, while he talked with us by the way, and while he
opened to us the scriptures? And they rose up the same hour,
and returned to Jerusalem, and found
the eleven gathered together,
and them that were with them, Saying, The Lord is risen indeed,
and hath appeared to Simon. And they told what things were
done
in the way, and how he was known of them in breaking of bread.
And as they thus spake, Jesus himself stood in the midst of them,
and saith unto them, Peace
be
unto
you.”
Compare:
Mark
16:12-14a,
“After
that he appeared in another form unto two of them, as they
walked, and went into the country.And they went and told it
unto the residue: neither believed they them. Afterward he
appeared unto
the eleven as
they sat at meat, ...”
Compare
John 20:19-24,
“Then
the same day at evening, being the first day
of the week, when the doors were shut where the disciples were
assembled for fear of the Jews, came Jesus and stood in the
midst, and saith unto them, Peace
be
unto
you.
And when he had so said, he shewed unto them his
hands and his side. Then
were the disciples glad,
when they saw the Lord. Then said Jesus to them again, Peace
be
unto
you: as
my
Father
hath sent me, even so send I you.
And when he had said this, he breathed on them,
and saith unto them, Receive
ye the Holy Ghost:
Whose
soever sins ye remit, they are remitted unto them;
and
whose
soever
sins
ye
retain, they are retained.
But
Thomas, one of the twelve,
called
Didymus, was
not
with them when Jesus came.”
Answer...
There's
a comment by Wayne Jackson
in
the Christian
Courier
which is applicable here: “It
must be remembered that a genuine contradiction exists only when
there is absolutely no way to effect a harmony between passages
that appear to be in conflict. ... words may be employed in
different senses in various contexts.”
There
are at least two possible solutions to this alleged problem:
1.
First solution. We cannot be certain that these
accounts refer to the same occasion.
“We
cannot determine whether this is the same appearance as John
20:19,” by Alfred Plummer (usually prejudiced against the
Bible) in “St. Luke,” The
International Critical Commentary,
[quoted by Wayne Jackson in Christian
Courier].
a.
The Fourfold Gospel by McGarvey separates the
timing of the two texts:
8-4.
THIRD AND FOURTH
appearances of Jesus.
(Sunday afternoon.) Mark 16:12, 13; Luke 24:13-35; 1
Corinthians 15:5.
8-5.
FIFTH appearance
of Jesus. (Jerusalem. Sunday evening.) Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43;
John 20:19-25.”
b.
“A.T. Robertson in his HARMONY OF THE GOSPELS
divides these appearances. He places Luke 24:33-35 and 1
Corinthians 15:5 together. [So they rose up that very hour and
returned to Jerusalem, and found the eleven and those who were
with them gathered together, saying, “The Lord is risen
indeed, and has appeared to Simon!” And they told about the
things that had happened on the road, and how He was known to
them in the breaking of bread. (Luke 24:33-35 NKJV). . . and that
He was seen by Cephas (1 Corinthians 15:5 NKJV).
Robertson
then includes Mark 16:14; Luke 24:36-43; and John 20:19-25 as a
different event. “ Finally,
He includes John 20:26-31 and 1 Corinthians 15:5b as occurring
the following Sunday night.”
2.
The other possible solution. The language is not
mathematically counting but rather is an appellation.
“The
numeral 'twelve' was used of the apostles in a sense that merely
signifies the apostolic group”even when a 'literal' twelve
[persons] was not intended.” [quoted from Wayne Jackson's
referenced article.] This would especially be true since the
definite article was used, i.e., “the twelve.”
Mark
3:14, “And He appointed
twelve, so that they would be with Him and that He {could} send
them out to preach” (here
“twelve” is used without
the definite article and refers to
an appointed number. - GW).
However,
“ the twelve”
(and hence “the
eleven”) is a collective term,
equivalent to "the Sanhedrin," "The House of
Representatives," not necessarily implying that eleven or
twelve persons were present. “The Congress” is an
appellation and applies to the body regardless of how many are
present.
COMMENTARIES
ON 1 CORINTHIANS 15:5
1
Corinthians 15:5,, “and
that He [Jesus] appeared to Cephas, then to the
twelve.”
Since Judas had killed himself, THERE WERE N0T TWELVE AT THIS
TIME. So this is an appellation*, not a numeral count.
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* Dictionary
(online):"appellation"
1. a name or title.
2. the action
of giving a name to a person or thing.
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1.
By the twelve, “This was their standing appellation; but
their full number was not then present.” (John Wesley's
Notes).
2.
“Of those twelve picked and chosen apostles, who were
commonly called twelve, though Judas was put out of the number.”
(1599 Geneva Bible Notes).
3.
“The apostles, still called "the twelve," though
Judas was not one of them. It was common to call the apostles
"the twelve." Jesus appeared to the apostles at one
time in the absence of Thomas, (John 20:19,24) (Albert Barnes'
NT Commentary).
4.
“Instead of dwdeka, twelve, endeka, eleven,
is the reading of D*EFG, Syriac in the margin, some of the
Slavonic, Armenian, Vulgate, Itala, and several of the fathers;
and this reading is supported by Mark 16:14. Perhaps the term
twelve is used here merely to point out the society of the
apostles, who, though at this time they were only eleven, were
still called the twelve, because this was their original number,
and a number which was afterward filled up. “ (Adam
Clarke)
5.
'The round number for "the Eleven" (Luke 24:33,36).
"The Twelve" was their ordinary appellation, even when
their number was not full. However, very possibly Matthias was
present (Acts 1:22 ,23 ). Some of the oldest manuscripts and
versions read, "the Eleven": but the best on the whole,
"the Twelve."' (Jameison-Fausset-Brown
Commentary)
6.
'To the twelve (tois dodeka). “The
technical name. Only ten were present, for Judas was dead
and Thomas was absent (John 20:24 )”' (Robertson's NT
Word Pictures).
Mark
16 :14: “Afterward he appeared unto the eleven as they
sat at meat”
Finally,
then, “Unto the eleven” like the above appears
to be a reference to a group and not to a specified number.
The
expression “twelve apostles” is used symbolically in
the book of Revelation although
Matthias has taken Judas' place and Paul has been added to make a
total of thirteen apostles in count.
Metonomy.
Similar to the appellation or “naming” is the figure
of speech commonly called metonymy; i.e., “the part for the
whole” or “the whole for the part”. This figure
of speech for a collective group would explain why the name "the twelve" or
"the eleven" is used as an appellation.
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