What does it mean when Paul writes, We have been raised up with Christ? (Col 3:1) Did Paul ever explicitly write that a dead human reassembled his decomposing corpse, remove the lid off his coffin, and exit a dirt grave? Nope. The Gospel stories are myth embellishing spiritual concepts expounded by Paul in his epistles.
@El Cid
I wanted to demonstrate from scripture what I claimed above. I did a brief search of Paul’s epistles for the word “resurrection” and came up with the small list below. Please note that no where does Paul describe a decomposing human reassembling his body and walking, climbing, crawling, or teleporting out of an earthen grave. Instead, resurrection is always interpreted from scripture and associated either with a moral consciousness arising in humans or a bodily resurrection of Christ as a culmination of the “third day” (1 cor 15:4) which according to the Dead Sea Scrolls is not solar days. The ”days” of creation signify something entirely different, specifically, incarnations of YHWH-Elohim on earth throughout human history, sometimes referred to as angels, prophets, or kings. At the time of Paul’s writing five of the days had already come, one was, presumably, in Paul, and one more day yet remained.
“they are also seven kings, five of whom have fallen, one is, the other has not yet come, and when he does come he must remain only a little while.” (Rev 17:10)
Everyone takes the “three days” literally as solar days but Paul is describing heavenly events, angelic movements on earth, the plan of God unfolding in the universe. It cannot be seen with the human eyes but perceived by the mind alone via wisdom, right reason, or spiritual insight.
But set the meaning of the “three days” aside. I only mentioned it to demonstrate that Paul was describing three incarnations of YHWH-Elohim that must take place BEFORE the new beginning of heaven and earth per the Dead Sea Scrolls.
As I set out to do in this post, here is the list of resurrection verses. Again, please note how no human crawls, walks, flies, or teleports out of a human grave. It is always tied to the allegorizing of Hebrew scripture, frequently, with the mythical Adam or primal Man. This too is not referring to any human but the universal Son of God also found in prechristian literature, and again, subsequently suppressed by orthodoxy.
Resurrection per Paul
By spiritual insight: “according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, (Romans 1:4)
By simile: “if we have been united with him in a death like his, we shall certainly be united with him in a resurrection like his.” (Romans 6:5)
By allegorizing scripture: “Christ died for our sins in accordance with the Scriptures,” (1 cor 15:3). IOW, as allegorized from scripture..
By allegorizing scripture: “For as by a [Primal] man came death, by a [Last] man has come also the resurrection of the dead. For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ shall all be made alive.” (1 cor 15:22)
By allegorizing scripture: “But someone will ask, “How are the dead raised? With what kind of body do they come?” (1 cor 15:35)…If there is a natural body, there is also a spiritual body. Thus it is written, “The first man Adam became a living being”; the last Adam became a life-giving spirit. (V. 15:44)
By simile: “that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,” (Phillippians 3:10)
Please note, no eyewitness account of a decomposing human climbing or teleporting out of an earthen tomb. The resurrection according to Paul is always by interpretation or simile or spiritual insight of a meaning found in scripture. The only time he mentions witnesses in 1 corinthians 15 is using the word for mental perception or spiritual insight of Christ in association with an abortion (15:8) as if the witnesses perceived Christ’s cosmic body expelled lifeless from heaven into matter as part of the cosmogenic processes, also found in early christian literature, and yet again, subsequently suppressed by orthodoxy.
Over and over, the meaning of resurrection by Paul has been suppressed by orthodoxy in preference for a literal, historical interpretation of the Gospel myths. We were all fooled but no longer. The Dead Sea Scrolls and Ng Hammadi are a paradigm shift in understanding what resurrection actually means. Resurrection begins with a moral consciousness rising in humanity from a lifeless universe (the “abortion”) and culminates in a new heaven and earth on or after the last “day” of Jesus. At the time of Paul’s writing one “day” remained.