Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of Matthew 27:53
And came out of the graves after his resurrection, and went into the holy city, and appeared unto many.
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.
Fuente: Albert Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
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.
Fuente: Adam Clarke’s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible
And came out of the graves after his resurrection,…. The resurrection of Christ; for he rose as the first fruits, as the first begotten of the dead, and the firstborn from the dead; for he was the first that was raised to an immortal life; for though others were raised before him, by himself, and in the times of the prophets, yet to a mortal life; but these saints came forth to the resurrection of life, and therefore it was necessary that Christ the first fruits, should rise first. The Arabic version indeed reads, “after their own resurrection”; and the Ethiopic version, “after they were raised”; both wrong, and scarcely sense:
and went into the holy city; the city of Jerusalem, which though now a very wicked city, was so called, because of the temple, and the worship of God, and his residence in it: the burying places of the Jews were without the city a, and therefore these risen saints, are said to go into it:
and appeared unto many; of their friends and acquaintance, who had personally known them, and conversed with them in their lifetime. These saints, I apprehend, continued on earth until our Lord’s ascension, and then joining the retinue of angels, went triumphantly with him to heaven, as trophies of his victory over sin, Satan, death, and the grave.
a Vid. Gloss. in T. Bab. Kiddushin, fol. 80. 2. & Maimon. Hilch. Shemitta veyobel, c. 13. sect. 3.
Fuente: John Gill’s Exposition of the Entire Bible
53. And went into the holy city. When Matthew bestows on Jerusalem the honorable designation of the holy city, he does not intend to applaud the character of its inhabitants, for we know that it was at that time full of all pollution and wickedness, so that it was rather a den of robbers, (Jer 7:11.) But as it had been chosen by God, its holiness, which was founded on God’s adoption, could not be effaced by any corruptions of men, till its rejection was openly declared. Or, to express it more briefly, on the part of man it was profane, and on the part of God it was holy, till the destruction or pollution of the temple, which happened not long after the crucifixion of Christ.
Fuente: Calvin’s Complete Commentary
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.
Fuente: Whedon’s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments
Mat 27:53 ] is to be taken in an active sense (Psa 139:2 ; Plat. Tim . p. 70 C; comp. , Polyb. ix. 15. 4; , Plut. Mor . p. 156 B), yet not as though were a genitive of the subject (“postquam eos Jesus in vitam restituerat,” Fritzsche, which would be to make the addition of 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 (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 . 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.
] is in keeping with the solemnity of the entire narrative; comp. Mat 4:5 .
Fuente: Heinrich August Wilhelm Meyer’s New Testament Commentary
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, Phi 3:21 .
Fuente: John Trapp’s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)
Mat 27:53 . , 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 were genitive subjective. So Fritzsche, who, however, brackets the phrase as a doubtful reading. occurs here only in N. T.
Fuente: The Expositors Greek Testament by Robertson
out of. Greek. ek.
after. Gr. meta. App-104.
resurrection = arising He rose: they were raised.
the holy city. See note on Mat 4:5.
appeared: privately. Greek. emphanizo. See App-106.
Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics
Mat 27:53. , having come out) i.e. the saints whose bodies had been resuscitated, in stately procession.- , after His resurrection) This clause refers to the verb , were raised, to which the verbal noun (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 Lords 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.-, appeared) singly to individuals, or several at once, to more than one. An instance of real apparition.
Fuente: Gnomon of the New Testament
holy: Mat 4:5, Neh 11:1, Isa 48:2, Dan 9:24, Rev 11:2, Rev 21:2, Rev 22:19
Reciprocal: 2Ki 13:21 – touched Neh 11:18 – the holy Psa 17:15 – I awake Act 26:23 – the first
Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge
7:53
One thing that is often overlooked in referring to this event, and that is that it was after his resur rection. that the saints arose. That was in order to make Christ the first one to come from the dead to die no more (Act 13:34; Act 26:23). Also, it was necessary for it to occur this close to the resurrection of Jesus in order that he could be the first “among many brethren” (Rom 8:29). The holy city means Jerusalem because it was the capital of the Jewish nation in its religious system.
Fuente: Combined Bible Commentary
Verse 53
The holy city; Jerusalem.