Matthew 27:53

Mat 27:53. Ἐξελθόντες, having come out) i.e. the saints whose bodies had been resuscitated, in stately procession.—μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν Αὐτοῦ, after His resurrection) This clause refers to the verb ἠγέρθη, were raised, to which the verbal noun ἔγερσις (the act of being raised), which does not occur elsewhere in the New Testament, is fitted in this passage; and yet this same clause is placed between the egress of the saints from the tombs, and their ingress into the city. This intermingling of the words admirably corresponds with the facts. Immediately on our Lord’s death, the veil was rent in twain, the earth shook, the rocks were rent; and St Matthew has woven together the other circumstances with these prodigies. From which we are able to gather that there was one continual earthquake from the death to the resurrection of our Lord, which first aroused the living (Mat 27:54), and afterwards the dead. There cannot be assigned any noticeable interval between the resurrection of the bodies of the saints, and their coming forth from the tomb. The first who rose from the dead to die no more was Christ; he had however companions. After His resurrection, that of the saints also took place; but it is recorded that their egress from the tombs, and their ingress into the Holy City, occurred after His resurrection; because those many persons, to whom the saints appeared, knew the time of their ingress and appearance, but had not seen their actual resurrection. The silence of St Paul, in 1Co 15:23, does not prove, as Artemonius has inferred, ad Init. Ev. Joh. p. 571, that the bodies of the saints came forth from the tombs without their souls, and that their souls afterwards ascended to heaven without their bodies.—ἐνεφανίσθησαν, appeared) singly to individuals, or several at once, to more than one. An instance of real apparition.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat_27:53 Μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ] is to be taken in an active sense (Psa_139:2; Plat. Tim. p. 70 C; comp. ἐξέγερσις, Polyb. ix. 15. 4; ἀνέγερσις, Plut. Mor. p. 156 B), yet not as though αὐτοῦ were a genitive of the subject (postquam eos Jesus in vitam restituerat, Fritzsche, which would be to make the addition of αὐτοῦ something like superfluous), but a genitive of the object, in which case it is unnecessary to say who it was that raised up Christ. The words are not to be connected with ἐξελθόντες (de Wette, following the majority of the earlier expositors), which would involve the absurd idea that those here referred to had been lying in their graves alive awaiting the coming of the third day; but, as Heinsius, with εἰσῆλθον. After life was restored they left their graves, but only after the resurrection of Jesus did they enter the holy city. Up till then they had kept themselves concealed. And this is by no means difficult to understand; for it was only after the resurrection of Jesus that their appearing could be of service in the way of bearing testimony in favour of Him in whose death the power of Hades was supposed to have been vanquished, and hence it was only then that their rising found its appropriate explanation.

ἁγίαν πόλιν] is in keeping with the solemnity of the entire narrative; comp. Mat_4:5.

Meyer — Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament — English translation by Peter Christie, edited by Frederick Crombie (T&T Clark, 1880) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Mat 27:53 . μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ , after the raising (active) of Jesus (by God), i.e. , after Christ’s own resurrection: not after the raising (of them) by Him, as if αὐτοῦ were genitive subjective. So Fritzsche, who, however, brackets the phrase as a doubtful reading. ἔγερσιν occurs here only in N. T.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Verse 53. And came out of the graves after his resurrection] Not BEFORE, as some have thought, for Christ was himself the FIRST FRUITS of them who slept, 1Co 15:20. The graves were opened at his death, by the earthquake, and the bodies came out at his resurrection.

And appeared unto many.] Thus establishing the truth of our Lord's resurrection in particular, and of the resurrection of the body in general, by many witnesses. Quesnel's reflections on these passages may be very useful.

"1. The veil being rent shows that his death is to put an end to the figurative worship, and to establish the true religion.

2. The earthquake, that this dispensation of the Gospel is to make known through the earth the judgments of God against sin and sinners.

3. The rocks being rent declare that the sacrifice of Christ is to make way for the grace of repentance.

4. The graves being opened, that it is to destroy the death of sin, and confer the life grace on sinners.

5. The rising of the bodies of the saints shows that this death of Christ is to merit, and his Gospel publish, the eternal happiness of body and soul for all that believe in his name."

It is difficult to account for the transaction mentioned Mt 27:52-53. Some have thought that these two verses have been introduced into the text of Matthew from the gospel of the Nazarenes; others think that the simple meaning is this: - by the earthquake several bodies that had been buried were thrown up and exposed to view, and continued above ground till after Christ's resurrection, and were seen by many persons in the city. Why the graves should be opened on Friday, and the bodies not be raised to life till the following Sunday, is difficult to be conceived. The place is extremely obscure.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Now, when the centurion,.... That was over the band of soldiers, that mocked Christ in Pilate's hall, and who was particularly over the guard of soldiers, set about the cross of Christ:

and they that were with him, watching Jesus: the soldiers that were with him, who were set to watch the cross of Christ, lest he should come down, or any should take him down from thence,

See Gill on Mat 27:36.

Saw the earthquake, and those things that were done; as besides that, the darkening of the sun, the rending of the rocks, and particularly heard with what a loud voice Christ spoke, and then at once expired:

they feared greatly; not with a true godly fear, but with a fear of punishment; lest divine vengeance should light on them, for their concern in this matter:

saying, truly this was the Son of God; which they concluded, not from any mediatorial performances, which they were utter strangers to, but from effects of divine power; and which to them showed him to be a divine person, what he said he was, and the Jews charged him with blasphemy, on account of, and condemned him for, as these soldiers might have seen and heard.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

53 And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.

Ver. 53. And appeared unto many] Not to converse again, as heretofore, with men, but to accompany Christ, that raised them, into heaven; and to be as so many visible demonstrations of Christ’s quickening power, whereby he shall also raise our vile bodies, and conform them to his glorious body, the standard, Php 3:21.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

And came out of the graves after his resurrection - The narrative of Matthew does not determine whether they came to life before Jesus rose, and remained in the tombs, or came to life after he died. The latter is probably the correct opinion. There is nothing said of the reason why they were raised. It is not improbable to suppose that it was, amid the other wonders attending the death of Jesus, to convince the Jews that he was the Messiah. Perhaps some who had been his open friends were raised up now as an attestation that he in whom they had believed was the Christ. What became of them after they had entered into the city whether they again died or ascended to heaven, is not revealed, and conjecture is vain.

The holy city - Jerusalem, called holy because the temple was there, because it was devoted to God, and because it was the place of religious solemnities.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

53. After his resurrection — It must be specially noted that these saints appeared only after the resurrection of Christ. The fact that not the slightest allusion is made in any other part of the New Testament to this resurrection, has induced many commentators to think that there is something mythical in these two verses. But let it be remarked that the appearance of these saints to many occurred in the midst of the passover, when thousands if not millions were present from various parts of the world; and that the persons to whom they may have appeared were soon dispersed to their various abodes, so as to leave a much less permanent and public account of the transaction than would otherwise have been the case. Hence it is not strange that Matthew alone notices the fact; and that, too, only to show the immediate effects of Christ’s death and resurrection. Holy city — Jerusalem, so called not from its present wicked character, but from the holy recollections of prophets and holy men in its history. See note on Mat_4:5. Hence we think that those who were raised from the dead were saints of the olden times, to whom indeed it was a holy city. Appeared unto many — Matthew narrated these facts in Jerusalem, the very city where they are supposed to have taken place; and there were probably those who were able to attest them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Came out of (exelyontev) the graves after his resurrection. The masculine participle, not agreeing with "bodies" (swmata), denotes the personality of the bodies of the saints, that these arose perfect in soul and body. They could not rise before Christ rose. "Christ the firstfruits, afterwards they that are Christ"s." Ewald and others have understood "after his resurrection" to mean "after he raised them from the dead." But the language is against such an interpretation, and there can be no reasonable doubt that the words refer to Christ"s own resurrection. If it be contended that the word used, egersiv , is active in sense, we may reply that, granting this, it merely emphasizes Christ"s voluntary action in raising himself. As was said above, St. Matthew anticipates the regular sequence of events in order to complete at one view his accounts of the portents that attended the death and resurrection of Christ. The holy city. Jerusalem, as in Mat_4:5. The guilty Jerusalem is still the holy city, as retaining the temple, with its services, the ministry, the Scriptures. Some would understand the heavenly Jerusalem, into which these spiritual bodies entered; but the context is wholly against such an exposition. Appeared unto many. They were permitted to show themselves openly in their well known forms to pious relations and friends, as witnesses and proofs of the resurrection. If they had already gone to heaven, they could not have thus appeared. It may he right to add that many of the Fathers and modern commentators hold that these resuscitated saints were those to whom Christ preached (1Pe_3:19) when he descended into hell, and that they accompanied him into glory when he ascended into heaven.

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

53. ἐκ τῶν μνημείων. There were doubtless other tombs besides Joseph’s near Golgotha.

ἔγερσιν, late in this sense.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

53.] The first clause, as following on an earthquake which splits the rocks, is by the modern Commentators received as genuine, and thrown into the same probability as the earthquake itself: but the following ones meet with no mercy at their hands. Gin mythisch apokryphischer Unsass is Meyer’s description of them—and as he cannot find any critical ground for this, the Greek Editor of Matthew has the blame of having added them. I believe on the contrary that these latter clauses contain the occasion of the former ones. The whole transaction was supernatural and symbolic: no other interpretation of it will satisfy even ordinary common sense. Was the earthquake a mere coincidence! This not even those assert, who deny all symbolism in the matter. Was it a mere sign of divine wrath at what was done—a mere prodigy, like those at the death of Cæsar? Surely no Christian believer can think this. Then what was it? What but the opening of the tombs—the symbolic declaration ‘mors janua vitæ,’—that the death which had happened had broken the bands of death for ever? These following clauses (which have no mythical nor apocryphal character—ἐνεφανίσθησαν πολλοῖς, and no more, is not the way of any but authentic history: see the Gospel of Nicodemus, ch. xvii. ff. in Jones’s Canon of the N.T. vol. ii. p. 255) require only this explanation to be fully understood. The graves were opened at the moment of the death of the Lord; but inasmuch as He is the first-fruits from the dead—the Resurrection and the Life—the bodies of the saints in them did not arise till He rose, and having appeared to many after his resurrection,—possibly during the forty days,—went up with Him into his glory. (Cf. on this Corn.-a-Lap., h. l.: who maintains that this was so, for five reasons: 1) “quia hoc decebat Christum, ut fructum mortis et resurrectionis suæ statim ostenderet in beata hac Sanctorum resurrectione: 2) quia animæ horum jam erant beatæ, ac proinde par erat eas non uniri corporibus nisi gloriosis et immortalibus: 3) quia exigua fuisset earum felicitas, ac longe major miseria, quod mox rursum deberent mori: 4) quia congruebat, ut hi Sancti Christum resurgentem et scandentem in cœlum, ejusque triumphum sua resurrectione decorarent: 5) quia convenit ut Christus in cœlo habeat Beatos quorum aspectu et collocutione externa se pascat humanitas, ne alioqui solitaria sit, expersque humanæ consolationis.” On this side, he claims (in Matt. Comm. series, vol. iii. p. 928; but wrongly, for Origen gives the whole a spiritual sense, more suo), Jerome, Bede, Thos. Aquinas, Anselm, (Strom. vi. 47, p. 764 .), Euseb. (Dem. Evang. iv. 12, vol. iv. p. 284), (Hær. lxxv. p. 911), al. On the other side are Thl., Euthym., (Ep. 164 (99) ad Evod. 3 (2) vol. ii.), al. Augustine is moved chiefly by the fact that David’s body appears from Act 2:29, Act 2:34, to have been still in his tomb after the Ascension.) Moses and Elias, who were before in glory, were not from the dead, properly speaking: see note on ch. 17:1.

The explanation (Fritzsche) of μετὰ τὴν ἔγερσιν αὐτοῦ as ‘after He had raised them,’ is simply ridiculous. The words belong to the whole sentence, not merely to εἰσῆλθον.

ἠγέρθησαν is the result—not the immediate accompaniment, of the opening of the tombs. It is to prevent this being supposed, that the qualification μετ. τ. ἔ. αὐ. is added.

Henry Alford, The Greek Testament (1849–1861) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.