Paul’s Paradigm

For I handed down to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures,  1 Corinthians 15:3  NASB

According to the Scriptures – Paul has a problem, or at least we think he does if we read this verse from a Christian perspective.  Why?  Because, as Adam Clarke clearly notes, there aren’t any Scriptures that speak about the Messiah’s sacrificial death.

It is not said any where in the Scriptures, in express terms, that Christ should rise on the third day; but it is fully implied in his types, as in the case of Jonah, who came out of the belly of the fish on the third day; but particularly in the case of Isaac, who was a very expressive type of Christ; for, as his being brought to the Mount Moriah, bound and laid on the wood, in order to be sacrificed, pointed out the death of Christ; so his being brought alive on the third day from the mount was a figure of Christ’s resurrection.[1]

In other words, unless we read the Bible as allegory, we can’t find anything matching Paul’s claim.

Clarke isn’t the only Christian commentator to notice this.

Coffman Commentary

The double appeal to the Scriptures (1 Corinthians 15:3,4) in so brief a statement is deliberate and important.”[7] The magnificent prophecies of the Old Testament which so accurately foretold the death of the Son of God are so important that they deserved and received mention even ahead of the apostolic testimony about to be cited. As to what Scriptures were meant,  Psalms 16:10;  Isaiah 53:10; Hosea 6:2;  Jonah 2:10 (see  Matthew 12:40),  Zechariah 12:10,13:7 are among them, besides all of the typical things such as the sin offering and the Passover sacrifices.

Living By Faith Commentary

Because the Old Testament has information about sin as well as Jesus’ work and death, Paul was able to teach people about these things by using the Scriptures.

John Calvin

Now there are many passages of Scripture in which Christ’s death and resurrection are predicted, but nowhere more plainly (14) than in Isaiah 53:10, in Daniel 9:26, and in Psalms 22:0

Chuck Smith

The gospel that Paul preached, he preached the gospel that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures. The scriptures that he would have to be referring to would be the Old Testament scriptures, because the New Testament was not yet written. So where in the Old Testament does it speak of the death of Jesus Christ? Many places. Psalm 22 , a description of death by crucifixion. Isaiah 52 , beginning with verse 1 Corinthians 15:12 and chapter 53. That He was buried and rose again according to the scriptures on the third day…now this presents a little more difficult problem. Where in the scriptures does it speak about Jesus rising again the third day?

Matthew Henry

By Old-Testament predictions. He died for our sins, according to the scriptures; he was buried, and rose from the dead, according to the scriptures, according to the scripture-prophecies, and scripture-types. Such prophecies as Psalms 16:10; Isaiah 53:4-6; Daniel 9:26; Daniel 9:27; Hosea 6:2. Such scripture-types as Jonah (Matthew 12:4), as Isaac, who is expressly said by the apostle to have been received from the dead in a figure, Hebrews 11:9. Note, It is a great confirmation of our faith of the gospel to see how it corresponds with ancient types and prophecies.[2]

Was Paul wrong?  Did Paul draw conclusions based on the same ambiguous verses these men cite?  Was Paul’s thinking purely allegorical or analogical?  The answers might surprise you.

You see, Paul is a rabbi and his thinking is rabbinic, not Christian.  So, when he says, “according to the Scriptures,” he doesn’t mean “according to the Tanakh.”  That’s how Christians read this verse, as if Paul is referring only to the written Hebrew Bible.  But what if Paul is referring to the written Torah (the Tanakh) and the oral Torah (what later becomes the Talmud)?  Paul’s own testimony suggests he considered the traditions of the oral Torah as binding at the written Torah.  The question then becomes: Do we find evidence for a substitutionary atonement in the Talmud?

Jintae Kim writes:

(1) there is a certain level of continuity among the Old Testament, the Second Temple writings and rabbinic literature in their concept of vicarious atonement; and (2) there is an analogical connection between the concept of vicarious atonement in certain writings in rabbinic Judaism and that of the New Testament writings. However, rabbinic Judaism still has a particularistic focus.[3]

Kim concludes:

the concept was widespread among the rabbis, both temporally and geographically. . . by at least the first half of the second century AD, the concept of vicarious atonement was expressed in the traditions (m. Neg. 2.1; Mek., Nezikin 10.151-81) ascribed to R. Ishmael (d. 135), who was one of the chief spokesmen among the sages of Jabneh.[4]

However, he notes that “the rabbinic traditions did not envision the Messiah’s death as the atoning sacrifice.”[5] They treat the sacrifice or death of an innocent Jew as atonement for others, unlike the apostolic authors who see the Messiah in this role.  In addition, the rabbinic literature views this atoning act only with regard to Israel.  Of course, if we read Paul as an apocalyptic, non-Trinitarian Messianic, perhaps that gap between the rabbis and Paul isn’t quite so wide.

Perhaps the Christian interpretation of Paul’s statement suffers from a restricted view of the inspired word of God.  The Greek term, graphas, usually means “what is written,” and therefore understood by Christian exegetes as the written Hebrew Bible.  But the rabbinic view could be applied to anything God delivered to the people, and in that case, the oral Torah, although not written, would be included in the meaning of “decree,” or “what is prescribed.”  At any rate, we must consider Paul’s Jewish, rabbinic perspective when we examine “according to the graphas.”

Topical Index:  Scriptures, graphas, Talmud, atonement, 1 Corinthians 15:3

[1] https://www.studylight.org/commentary/1-corinthians/15-3.html

[2] All citations found online at Studylight.org

[3] Jintae Kim, “THE CONCEPT OF ATONEMENT IN EARLY RABBINIC THOUGHT AND THE NEW TESTAMENT WRITINGS”, JGRChJ 2 (2001–2005) 117-145

[4] Ibid.

[5] Ibid.