Matthew 27:51-54: Behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from the top to the bottom. The earth quaked and the rocks were split. The tombs were opened, and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; and coming forth out of the tombs after his resurrection, they entered into the holy city and appeared to many. Now the centurion, and those who were with him watching Jesus, when they saw the earthquake, and the things that were done, feared exceedingly, saying, "Truly this was the Son of God." -- World English Bible.
We know that the Old Testament consecrated ones (saints) were not raised to live forever in the first century, for we do not see them walking around on the earth today. We know that Jesus was the first to be raised from death to life, never to die again. (Colossians 1:18; Revelation 1:5) Hebrews 11 tells us that the Old Testament faithful "all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them and embraced them from afar, and having confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth." (Hebrews 11:13) And the record continues: "These all, having had testimony given to them through their faith, didn't receive the promise, God having provided some better thing concerning us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect." (Hebrews 11:39,40) Paul tells us that the dead in Christ will be raised first (a future event) in 1 Thessalonians 4:16, at the blowing of the last trumpet. Thus, if the Old Testament saints were brought back to life in the first century, it would have been only a temporary raising, not the promised resurrection of life (the first resurrection), nor even the "resurrection of judgment" (John 5:28,29), for both of these resurrections belong to the coming "last day", the "day" appointed for the judging of the world. -- John 6:39,40,44,54; 11:27; 12:47,48; Acts 17:31; Revelation 20:6,12,13.
At the very most we can assume that it was an awakening similar to that which Lazarus experienced, and the daughter of Jairus, and the son of the widow of Nain, to die again, later on. If the saints were raised never to die again on the day that Jesus died, then they would have been raised to everlasting before Jesus himself had been so raised. We may be sure that the Old Testament saints were so raised at that time because the express declaration of Paul that Jesus is "the firstborn from the dead; that in all things he might have the preeminence" (Colossians 1:18; see also Revelation 1:5); thus, Jesus was the first one lifted out of death to eternal life. Additionally, if the Old Testament saints were raised back to life, we should certainly believe that David would have been one of them. However, later, Peter stated of David, "Brothers, I may tell you freely of the patriarch David, that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day." (Acts 2:29, World English) Nevertheless, within the assumption proposed, the persons mentioned could have been no more than merely aroused from the slumber of death temporarily, and for some purpose of which we have no knowledge.
However, there are some Bible Students, noting variations in the manuscripts on Matthew 27:51,52, have voiced reasons for doubting the genuineness of parts of these verses as they appear in the King James Version and most popular translations. Paul S. L. Johnson claims that the last two clauses of Matthew 27:51 and the whole of Matthew 27:52,53, and part of Matthew 27:54, are all interpolations, as proved by the Biblical numerics. He sets out in detail his reasons for not accepting these as genuine in his book, A Miscellany, pages 358-365. Thus Johnson gives his "Improved Version" of these verses, putting in italics and brackets the words believed to be interpolations:
(51) And, lo, the vail of the temple was rent into two [parts]: [and the earth was shaken, and the rocks were rent, (52) and the the graves were opened, and many bodies of the saints that have slept were raised: (53) and after coming forth out of the tombs, they entered into the the holy city and appeared to many] (54) but the centurion and those with him guarding Jesus, after the seeing [the earthquake and] the things that happened, were greatly affrighted, saying, Truly this was God's Son.
Taking out the parts believed to be interpolations, this would read:
(51) And, lo, the vail of the temple was rent into two [parts]: (52) (53) (54) but the centurion and those with him guarding Jesus, after the seeing the things that happened, were greatly affrighted, saying, Truly this was God's Son.
According to Johnson's calculations, the latter reading retains the heptadic structure of the Greek perfectly. But if the questioned parts are added, the heptadic structure is destroyed. One would need to do a study of the claims for the heptadic structure of scripture in order fully understand this.
Nevertheless, it could also be that our translators have not given close scrutiny to what the text says, and what it does not say, and have thus translated it to support some supposed assumption.
Here are the verses reproduced from the Westcott & Hort Interlinear:
Matthew 27:51
kai idou to katapetasma tou naou
AND LOOK! THE CURTAIN OF THE DIVINE HABITATION
2532 2400 3588 2665 3588 3485
eschisthee ap anwthen hews katw eis duo kai hee
WAS SPLIT FROM ABOVE TILL BELOW INTO TWO, AND THE
4977 0575 0509 2193_5 2736 1519 1417 2532 3588
gee eseisthee kai hai petrai eschistheesan
EARTH WAS SHAKEN, AND THE ROCK MASSES WERE SPLIT,
1093 4579 2532 3588 4073 4977
Matthew 27:52
kai ta mneemeia anewchtheesan kai polla swmata
AND THE MEMORIAL TOMBS WERE OPENED AND MANY BODIES
2532 3588 3419 0455 2532 4183 4983
twn kekoimeemenwn hagiwn eegertheesan
OF THE HAVING FALLEN ASLEEP HOLY (ONES) WERE RAISED UP,
3588 2837 0039 1453
Matthew 27:53
kai exelthontes ek twn mneemeiwn meta
AND [THEY] HAVING GONE FORTH OUT OF THE MEMORIAL TOMBS AFTER
2532 1831 1537 3588 3419 3326
teen egersin autou eiseelthon eis teen hagian
THE BEING RAISED UP OF HIM THEY ENTERED INTO THE HOLY
3588 1454 0846_3 1525 1519 3588 0039
polin kai enephanistheesan pollois
CITY AND THEY WERE MADE APPARENT TO MANY.
4172 2532 1718 4183
Notice that verse 52 is the only verse that mentions the raising of the bodies from the tombs. Verse 53 does not say that those raised from the tombs entered the holy city, but that there were some who went from the tombs after "his being raised up." The sentence structure is very strange, for it changes from plural to singular and back to plural (which is one of the reasons some have thought that an interpolation occurred, or that some errors may have occurred in the earlier copying of the verses). If we assume that it is genuine as it reads, we would have to assume the singular -- the being raised up of him -- is referring to the raising of Jesus, and not of the saints. Therefore, it would mean that, after Jesus was raised, the ones being spoken of went forth from amongst the tombs into the cities.
The general assumption, however, seems to be that once the dead "saints" were raised by means of the earthquake, that their dead bodies, having been made alive, went into the city and was seen by many. However, please note, as already discussed, that those who went from amongst the tombs did so after Jesus' resurrection, not when Jesus died. Thus, while verse 52 would be speaking of the day of Jesus' death, verse 53 would be speaking of some time after Jesus' resurrection. Thus, if the "saints" were raised to life on the day that Jesus died, the question could be asked: Why they did they linger in the tombs for three days?
Thus, I believe, that if the verses were genuinely written by Matthew, that verse 53 is not speaking of the dead bodies of the saints entering into the city, but rather that were some people dwelling amongst the tombs, who witnessed the event of the dead bodies being raised out of the tombs because of the earthquake, who, after Jesus' resurrection, went into the city. While I am not a promoter of the New World Translation, I believe that in this instance the translation is more attuned to these details:
And look! the curtain of the sanctuary was rent in two, from top to bottom, and the earth quaked, and the rock-masses were split. And the memorial tombs were opened and many bodies of the holy ones that had fallen asleep were raised up, (and persons, coming out from from among the memorial tombs after his being raised up, entered into the holy city,) and they became visible to many people.
Some may argue that the phrase in verse 53, "and having gone forth out of the memorial tombs after the being raised up of him" refers to the saints being raised by Jesus. If so, this would mean that the saints were raised by Jesus while Jesus was dead, and was himself in need of being raised from the dead. Believing as I do, that Jesus was indeed dead, not alive while dead, and that Jesus had entered the realm of death, wherein there is "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom" (Ecclesiastes 9:10), Jesus could not have performed the work of raising anyone from the dead while he in the Bible hell (sheol/hades). Thus we read in Hebrews that Jesus, "in the days of his flesh, having offered up prayers and petitions with strong crying and tears to him who was able to save him from death, and having been heard for his godly fear." (Hebrews 5:7) Jesus knew before he died, that his future life, his future salvation from death, was in the hands of his God and Father. Thus, it was the God and Father of Jesus who raised Jesus -- not from life -- but from the dead. -- Acts 4:10; 5:30; 10:40; 13:30; Romans 7:4; 10:9; Galatians 1:1; Colossians 2:12; 1 Peter 1:21.
Another explanation offered by some is that the expression, "bodies of the saints [consecrated ones]", is a reference to some of Jesus' disciples who were watching these events from the area of the tombs, perhaps hiding themselves amongst the caves that contained the sepulchers. Having waited for so long, the theory is that these had gone asleep; thus when the earthquake occurred at Jesus' death, they were awakened and came out of the tombs. Seeing what had happened they went back into Jerusalem and told others what had taken place. They would have verse 53 to read like this: "And came out of the tombs area after their Awakening, and went into the Holy City and disclosed [told what they saw] to many." This could be, but from the actually wording in the Greek, I highly doubt this scenario.
Of course, if Matthew never wrote these verses, and if they were added later, it is possible that parts of the verses were added by different copyists. This could be the reason why the Sinaitic manuscript does not have the phrase: "And the tombs were opened," and it does not have the the word "entered". If the intent of the addition was to add a miracle of the dead arising to life, it could also account for the strange wording.
Also against the idea that the Old Testament saints were raised to life and that these saints went into the city and manifested themselves there to many is that such an event would surely have been noted in records, not only in the Bible, but by Jewish or Romans leaders of that time. Surely such an event would have caused such a stir amongst the Jews that such a disturbance would have also been noted by Matthew, or if the Jewish leaders had sought to cover up such an event (as they did in the case of Jesus' resurrection -- Matthew 28:12-15), surely Matthew would have noted that also.
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