📖WEB · 1 Corinthians 15:6
What does 1 Corinthians 15:6 mean?
"Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep."
— 1 Corinthians 15:6 (World English Bible)
Surrounding context
For I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,
that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures,
and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve.
Then he appeared to over five hundred brothers at once, most of whom remain until now, but some have also fallen asleep.
Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles,
and last of all, as to the child born at the wrong time, he appeared to me also.
For I am the least of the apostles, who is not worthy to be called an apostle, because I persecuted the assembly of God.
Explanation
1 Corinthians 15:6 comes in the middle of Paul's list of resurrection appearances of Jesus after his death. In plain language, the verse says that at one particular moment, the risen Christ appeared simultaneously to a crowd of more than five hundred believers, and that when Paul wrote this letter, most of those eyewitnesses were still alive, though some had since died. It functions almost like a legal or historical citation — Paul is pointing to a large, identifiable group of witnesses whose testimony could still be checked by anyone who doubted the claim.
The context is important. Paul wrote 1 Corinthians to the church in Corinth, a congregation he had founded, in response to reports of division, confusion, and false teaching within the community. Chapter 15 addresses a specific problem: some in Corinth were denying that there would be a future bodily resurrection of the dead. Paul's strategy is to root the certainty of the future resurrection of believers in the historical fact of Christ's own resurrection. Verses 3-8 form a short, structured summary of early Christian tradition — likely a creed or formula Paul had received and was passing on — listing appearances to Peter, to the Twelve, to the five hundred, to James, to all the apostles, and finally to Paul himself. This is widely regarded as one of the earliest pieces of Christian tradition in the New Testament, since Paul says he "received" it, meaning it predates his writing by years, reaching back close to the events themselves.
Theologically, the verse serves an evidentiary purpose. Paul
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