Paul's Encounter with Risen Jesus
An apostle is one sent by God and Jesus (from the Greek apostolos: to send.) The apostles with James, which was the leadership group during the time of Paul, had to be distinguished from the original Twelve, otherwise Paul could not claim to be an apostle himself.

In 1 Corinthians, "Paul links the Jerusalem apostles to his own type of belief in a divine Christ, both in 15:11..."

"Whether, then, it was I or they, this is what we preach, and this is what you believed."
     - 1 Corinthians 15: 11

"...and by the traditions (15:5-7) that they had had visions of the same Christ as Paul's. If Paul's Christ is entirely scripturally based and heaven-bound, to what did the 'appearances' to Peter and Company relate?"
     - Tom Simms (CrossTalk)

"Paul is very interested in equating his own experience of the risen Jesus with that of all others before him. Hence he always uses that same expression, appeared to or was revealed to (the latter is a literal and better translation of the Greek expression ophthe), in all instances. There can be no doubt that Paul's own experience involved trance..."
     - John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (1994)

Paul's encounter with Jesus reportedly occurred while Paul was on the road to Damascus to hunt out Hellenistic followers of Jesus. (The event is described by Luke, the reputed author of Acts.)

"About noon, O king, as I was on the road, I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, blazing around me and my companions. We all fell to the ground, and I heard a voice saying to me in Aramaic, [or Hebrew] 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me? It is hard for you to kick against the goads.."
     - Acts 26:13-14

"...Acts tells us that during his blindness Paul was dazzled by a heavenly light, heard Jesus speaking, and had a vision of him so intense that in his own writings Paul could refer to it only obliquely:"
     - Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence

"I must go on boasting. Although there is nothing to be gained, I will go on to visions and revelations from the Lord. I know a man in Christ who fourteen years ago was caught up to the third heaven. Whether it was in the body or out of the body I do not know - God knows. And I know that this man - whether in the body or apart from the body I do not know, but God knows - was caught up to paradise. He heard inexpressible things, things that man is not permitted to tell."
     - 2 Corinthians 12:1-4

The Third heaven was the site of the Paradise of Eden which Enoch purportedly visited on a heavenly journey.

"A place such as has never been known for the goodliness of its appearance. And I saw all the trees of beautiful colours and their fruits ripe and fragrant, and all kinds of food which they produced, springing up with delightful fragrance. And in the midst (there is) the tree of life, in that place, on which God rests, when He comes into Paradise. And this tree cannot be described for its excellence and sweet odor. And it is beautiful more than any created thing."
     - 2 Enoch 8:1-4

In Paul's account, "there is a strong hint here of a hypnotic 'trip' to the kingdom of God, not least in the three days of blindness, reminiscent of the similar period the secret gospel's rich young man spent in the tomb."
     - Ian Wilson, Jesus, The Evidence

"Paul gives the best evidence for the existence of ecstatic journeys to heaven in first-century Judaism, with his reports in 2 Corinthians 12. His inability to decide whether the voyage took place in the body or out of the body is firm evidence of a mystical ascent and shows that the voyage has not been interiorized as a journey into the self, which later becomes common in Kabbalah. Furthermore, since the rabbis proscribed the discussion of these topics except singly, to mature disciples, and only if they had experienced it on their own (mbyn md'tw, m.Hag 2:1), the rabbinic stories interpreting the Merkabah experience often take place during travels through the wilderness from city to city when such doctrines could easily be discussed in private. This is precisely the scene that Luke picks for Paul's conversion. Paul also reveals much about the mystical religion of transformation as it was experienced in the first century C.E. D. Capes ['Paul's Use of Old Testament Yahweh-Texts and Its Implications for Paul's Christology" - doctoral diss.] has demonstrated that Paul understands kyrios to refer to the Hebrew name of God and that he applies this title to Christ. Paul himself designates Christ as the image of the Lord in a few places (2Cor 4:4; Col 1:15 [if it is Pauline]), and he mentions the morphe of God in Philippians 2:6. More often he talks of transforming believers into the image of his son in various ways (Rom 8:29; 2Cor 3:18; Phil 3:21; and lCor 15:49; see also Col 3:9)...These passages are critical to comprehending what Paul's experience of conversion was. They must be seen in closer detail to understand the relationship to Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism, from which they derive their most complete significance for Paul."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 313

The Glory of the Lord
The concept of the Glory of the Lord is rooted in Mesopotamian tradition where divinities and royalty eminated a numinous splendor. Paul describes beholding the Glory of the Lord as in a mirror:

"And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect [or 'contemplate'] the Lord's glory [ten doxan kyriou], are being transformed into his likeness [ten auten eikona] with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit."
     - 2 Corinthians 3:18

"The use of the mirror here is also a magico-mystical theme, which can be traced to the word 'yn occurring in Ezekiel 1. Although it is sometimes translated otherwise, 'yn probably refers to a mirror even there, and possibly refers to some unexplained technique for achieving ecstasy. The mystic bowls of the magical papyri and talmudic times were filled with water and oil to reflect light and stimulate trance. The magical papyri describe spells which use a small bowl that serves as the medium for the appearance of a god for divination: e.g., Papyri Graecae Magicae 4.154-285 (Betz, pp. 40-43), PDM 14.1-92, 295-308, 395-427, 528-53, 627-35, 805-40, 841-50, 851-55 (Betz, pp. 195-200, 213, 218-19, 225-26, 229, 236-39). The participant concentrates on the reflection in the water's surface, often with oil added to the mixture, sometimes with the light of a lamp nearby. Lamps and charms are also used to produce divinations, presumably because they can stimulate trance under the proper conditions. The Reuyoth Yehezkel, for instance, mentions that Ezekiel's mystical vision was stimulated by looking into the waters of the River Chebar. It seems to me that Philo appropriates the mystic imagery of the mirror to discuss the allegorical exposition of scripture; see The Contemplative Life 78....Paul's opponents then look into the mirror and see only the text. But because Paul and those truly in Christ actually behold the Glory of the Lord, they have a clearer vision on the truth."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 322

Whether or not a mirror was actually used by early Christians to induce trance states, it remained a potent allegorical symbol. For example in a contemporary Jewish text, the Holy Spirit was considered to be the mirror image of God.

"For she is a reflection of eternal light, a spotless mirror of the working of God, and an image of his goodness."
     - Wisdom of Solomon 7:26 (ca. 50 C.E.)

Beholding the glory of the Lord in a mirror is also a theme of one of the earliest known Christian hymns.

"Behold, the Lord is our mirror. Open your eyes and see them in Him.
And learn the manner of your face, then declare praises to His Spirit.
And wipe the paint from your face, and love His holiness and put it on.
Then you will be unblemished at all times with Him.
Hallelujah."
     - Odes of Solomon13 (1st century CE)

"...Paul's term, 'the glory of the Lord' must be taken both as a reference to Christ and as a technical term for the kabod (kbwd), the human form of God appearing in biblical visions. In 2 Corinthians 3:18, Paul says that Christians behold the Glory of the Lord (te doxan kyriou) as in a mirror and are transformed into his image (ten auten eikona).
"Although Paul may be using language taken from his opponents, he characterizes his apostolate as proclaiming that the face of Christ is the glory of God. It is very difficult not to read this passage in terms of Paul's description of the ascension of 'the man to the third heaven and conclude that Paul's mystical visions also involved his identification of Jesus as the 'image' and 'glory of God,' as the human figure in heaven, and thereafter as Christ, son, and savior. For Paul, as for the earliest Jewish mystics, to be privileged enough to see the kabod or Glory (doxa) of God is a prologue to transformation into his image (eikon). Paul does not say that all Christians have made the journey literally but compares the experience of knowing Christ to being allowed into the intimate presence of the Lord.
"The result of the journey is to identify Christ as the 'Glory of God'. When Paul says that he preaches that Jesus is Lord and that God 'has let this light shine out of darkness into our hearts to give the light of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ (2Cor 4:6), he seems clearly to be describing his own conversion and ministry, just as he described it in Galatians 1, and just as he is explaining the experience to new converts for the purpose of furthering conversion."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 315

"Your attitude should be the same as that of Christ Jesus: Who, being in very nature [or 'in the form of'] God, did not consider equality with God something to be grasped, but made himself nothing, taking the very nature [or 'form'] of a servant, being made in human likeness. And being found in appearance as a man, he humbled himself and became obedient to death-- even death on a cross! Therefore God exalted him to the highest place and gave him the name that is above every name, that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, in heaven and on earth and under the earth, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father."
     - Philippians 2:5-11

"This passage has several hymnic features which lead scholars to believe that Paul is quoting a fragment of primitive liturgy or referring to a liturgical setting. Thus Philippians 2 may easily be the earliest writing in the Pauline corpus as well as the earliest christology in the New Testament. It is not surprising that it is the most exalted christology."
"Because of this obedience, God exalted him and bestowed on him the 'name which is above every name' (Phil 2:9). For a Jew this phrase can only mean that Jesus received the divine name, the Tetragrammaton YHWH, understood as the Greek name kyrios, or Lord."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 316

"For in his [the Lord of Spirit's] name they are saved..."
     - 1 Enoch 48:7

"Sharing in the divine name is a frequent idea of the early Jewish apocalypticism, in which the principal angelic mediator of God is or carries the name Yahweh, as Exodus 23 describes the angel of Yahweh. Indeed the implication of the Greek term morphe ('form') is that Christ has the form of a divine body identical with the kibod, the Glory, and equivalent also with the eikon; for humanity is made after the eikon of God and thus has the divine morphe (or in Hebrew: demut)."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 316

Luke's Handling of Paul's Experience
"The appearance of the risen Christ to Paul, mentioned in 1 Corinthians 15, was not narrated anywhere in his apostles by Paul himself. Paul talked of his conversion, but he never mentioned the road to Damascus, the bright light, or the heavenly voice. Those details were supplied to us by Luke some thirty years after Paul's death, giving Paul no opportunity to comment on their accuracy. When one reads this account in the Book of Acts (9:1 ff), it is fair to say that, at least in the mind of Luke, the appearance to Paul was a vision from heaven and not a physical objective happening. Even those who were traveling with Paul did not see what Paul saw."
     - John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels, p. 281

"The men traveling with Saul stood there speechless; they heard the sound but did not see anyone."
     - Acts 9:7

"The appearances for Luke are confined to a narrowly defined circle of 'apostles' - those who were companions of Jesus during his lifetime (that excludes Paul) - and are terminated by the ascension, which occurred either on Easter (according to the gospel) or forty days later (according to Acts). This means, among other things, that when Luke wrote Acts some thirty years after Paul's letters, he did not regard Paul's Damascus road experience as a bona fide resurrection appearance."
     - Robert Funk (Editor), Jesus Seminar, The Acts of Jesus: The Search for the Authentic Deeds of Jesus, p. 455

"...God raised him from the dead on the third day and caused him to be seen. He was not seen by all the people, but by witnesses whom God had already chosen--by us who ate and drank with him after he rose from the dead."
     - Acts 10:40-41

(2) Resurrection of Believers

"Do you show your wonders to the dead? Do those who are dead rise up and praise you? Is your love declared in the grave, your faithfulness in Destruction [Hebrew Abaddon]? Are your wonders known in the place of darkness, or your righteous deeds in the land of oblivion?"
     - Psalm 88:10-12

The Waiting
"Suffering was something all believers experienced - an unavoidable part of the believer's lot - an aspect of experience as Christians which his converts shared with Paul: Rom. 5:3 ('we'); 8:17f ('we'); 2 Cor. 1:16 ('you endure the same sufferings that we suffer'); 8:2; Phil. 1:29f ('the same conflict which you saw and now hear to be mine'); 1 Thess. 1:6 ('imitators of us and of the Lord'); 2:14 ('Imitators of the churches of God in Judea: for you suffered the same things'); 3:3f ('our lot') 2 Thess. 1:4ff.48."
     - J. D. G. Dunn, Jesus and the Spirit (1975), p. 322

"I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the fellowship of sharing in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death..."
     - Philippians 3:10

"Thus, the persecution and suffering of the believers is a sign that the transformation process has begun; it is the way to come to be in Christ. Paul is convinced that being united with Christ's crucifixion means not immediate glorification but suffering for the believers in this interim period. The glorification follows upon the final consummation. The connection between suffering and resurrection has been clear in Jewish martyrology; indeed, the connection between death and rebirth was even a prominent part of the mystery religions as well. But the particular way in which Paul makes these connections is explicitly Christian."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 320

"The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God. We know that the whole creation has been groaning as in the pains of childbirth right up to the present time. Not only so, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan inwardly as we wait eagerly for our adoption as sons, the redemption of our bodies."
     - Romans 8:19-23

"While Paul thought wrote that we are in the final age and probably believed in an intermediate state between now and the final resurrection, the general resurrection always concerned what will happen, at the end (1Th 4:13-18), and so was distinct from any interim in which believers would 'leave the body and go home to the Lord' (2Cor 5:8) for the time being."
     - Ryan Renn (private correspondence)

"We are of good courage, and we would rather be away from the body and at home with the Lord."
     - 2 Corinthians 5:8

"For Paul, though, the interim was not perfect--one had to be 'courageous' (v.8), for leaving 'home in the body' (v.6) required courage, if you were a Jew. One does not wish to be unclothed (dead/unembodied), but further clothed (v.4)." [See below.]
"Paul's view still finds acceptance in much of modern Christianity: one dies, and his soul goes to be with the Lord in Heaven until the second coming (ITh 4:14-16), where the souls of the departed are reunited with their new, immortal bodies, and those who are alive at that time will be changed without death."
     - Ryan Renn (private correspondence)

"And in him [the Elect One] dwells...the spirit of those who have fallen asleep in righteousness."
     - 1 Enoch 49:3

"Listen, I tell you a mystery: We will not all sleep, but we will all be changed--in a flash, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, the dead will be raised imperishable, and we will be changed."
     - 1 Corinthians 15:51-52

"Paul's view of the immortality of believers is parallel to his description of the raised Christ in heaven and depends on it. The believer is to share in Christ's immortality at the last trumpet, just as Paul himself experienced transformation by Christ. It appears that Paul considers himself special in that to him has been revealed the whole process of salvation. Others have not had his visions, so his visions give him special powers to speak of the meaning of Christian life. But the process has started within the Christian community, continuing there, whether those who have acknowledged Christ recognize it or not. Although Jesus' humanity is mentioned here and in Romans 5, where a similar theme is voiced, it is not the human life that is the point of the exegesis. Here, it is his resurrection and metamorphosis into the true man that power the analogy. Christ is the man from heaven. His power on earth is the Spirit."
     - Alan F. Segal, "The Risen Christ and the Angelic Mediator Figures in Light of Qumran" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 319

Raised in Glory [ doxa]
According to Paul, "in baptism he died, his body was taken over by the spirit of Jesus, and he and his body were raised by this spirit to a new life, a long battle in which the spirit would finally subjugate and remake the body (2Cor 4-5; Rom 6-8)."
     - Morton Smith, "Two Ascended to Heaven - Jesus and the Author of 4Q491" in Jesus and the Dead Sea Scrolls (James H. Charlesworth, Ed. - 1992), p. 293

"But our citizenship is in heaven; and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ. He will change [ metaschmatoei] our lowly body [ swma] to conform with his glorified [ doxa] body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself."
     - Phillipians 3:20-21

"For the Lord himself, with a word of command, with the voice of an archangel and with the trumpet of God, will come down from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air."
     - I Thessalonians 4:13-18

"...It seems that this passage is easiest interpreted if there is reference to an eschatological resurrection of the body. The dead will first rise [ anapdaw], and then we shall meet the Lord in the air with them....I Thessalonians is perhaps the earliest epistle (ca. 50-51) and is a strong sign that the resurrection body was not somehow 'firmed up' over time."
     - Ryan Renn, "Paul and the Resurrection, Outside ICor 15"

Compare the passage with the purely spiritual (visionary) expectations of another oppressed people.

"The clouds will be our arms, they'll go into your minds, you will see visions, we will elevate ourselves from this world to another, from there we will see Tunkashila the great dance spirit. He will show us our dead brothers and sisters."
     - Lacota Medicine man, the Sioux Crow Dog

Clothed with Immortality

"Praise the LORD, O my soul. O LORD my God, you are very great; you are clothed with splendor and majesty. He wraps himself in light as with a garment; he stretches out the heavens like a tent..."
     - Psalm 104:1-2

In Mesopotamia, the word for divine splendor, melammu, also could mean a supernatural garment. In Jewish tradition, the robes of the High Priest of Israel were often called "the Garments of Glory." Such sacred garments became symbols of a special relationship with Yahweh.

"I delight greatly in the LORD; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels."
     - Deutero-Isaiah 61:10 (5th C. BCE)

(This passage was written during the period of the Babylonian captivity when the Jewish exiles were strongly influenced by Mesopotamian religious beliefs (see Zoroastrian Precedents.)
The great honor of being clothed in the raiment of the glory of Yahweh himself was purportedly accorded the prophet Enoch during a journey to heaven.

"And it came to pass after this that my spirit was translated
And it ascended into the heavens:
And I saw the holy sons of God.
They were stepping on flames of fire:
Their garments were white [and their raiment],
And their faces shone like snow."
     - 1 Enoch 71:1 (c. late 1st century BCE to late 1st century CE)

"And the Lord said to Michael: 'Go and take from Enoch his earthly robe, and anoint him with My holy oil, and clothe him with the raiment of My glory.' And so Michael did as the Lord spake to him. He [stripped me of my clothes and] anointed me and clothed me, and the appearance of that oil was more than a great light, and its anointing was like excellent dew; and its fragrance like myrrh, shining like a ray of the sun. And I gazed upon myself, and I was like one of His glorious ones. And there was no difference, and fear and trembling departed from me."
     - 2 Enoch 22:8-10 (c. late 1st century CE)

According to some of the Dead Sea Scrolls, at the End Time "there are hints of a more fundamental transformation, sometimes called 'the Renewal' having the characteristics of the day of judgement, accompanied by bodily resurrection as in Daniel. Sinners will be plunged into eternal torment but the righteous will be rewarded with 'healing, great peace, long life and fruitfulness... eternal life without end, a crown of glory and a garment of majesty in unending light'."
     - Chris King, "The Apocalyptic Tradition"

"And the righteous and elect shall have risen from the earth,
And ceased to be of downcast countenance.
And they shall have been clothed with garments of glory,
And these shall be the garments of life from the Lord of Spirits;
And your garments shall not grow old,
Nor your glory pass away before the Lord of Spirits."
     - 1 Enoch 62:15-16

Paul uses the same imagery in describing what would happen after the Parousia.

"For while we are in this tent, we groan and are burdened, because we do not wish to be unclothed but to be clothed with [ependuoaoqai] our heavenly dwelling, so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life."
     - 2 Corinthians 5:4

"Paul was referring to 'flesh and blood' as it is, which has not yet 'put on' its new nature. E.g., the parallel in 1Cor 15:50: 'flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God//nor can corruption inherit incorruption.' Then four verses later, corruption clothes itself with incorruption, mortality clothes itself with immortality [cf. that rare verb in 2Cor 5:4 which connotes pulling one garment over another]."
     - Ryan Renn (private correspondence)

Parallel imagery can be found in the Apocrypha.

"These are they who have put off mortal clothing and have put on the immortal..."
     - 4 Ezra 2:45a (2nd c. C.E. Christian Greek addition)

Amongst the NT Apocrypha, the Gospel of Philip clearly refers to bodily resurrection.

"It is necessary to rise in this flesh, since everything exists in it. In this world, those who put on garments are better than the garments. In the Kingdom of Heaven, the garments are better than those that put them on."
     - Gospel of Philip (2nd - 3rd c. C.E.)

The notion of putting on garments of immortality is also expressed in The Dialogue of the Savior, written around 150 C.E.

"Judas said, 'Look, the archons are above us; so, then, it is they who will rule over us!'
The Lord [Jesus] said, 'It is you who will rule over them. But when you remove envy from you, then you will clothe yourselves with light and enter the bridal suite.'
Judas said, 'How our garments be brought to us?'
The Lord said, 'there are some who will bring (them) to you, and others who will receive [them], for it is they [who will give] you your garments. For who [will] be able to reach that place [which is th]e reward? But the garments of life were given to such people because the know the way by which they will go. Indeed, for me too it is a burden to reach it.'"
"Judas said to Matthew, 'We wish to understand what kind of garments we are to be clothed with when we come forth from the corruption of the [fle]sh.'
The Lord said, 'The archons and the administrators have garments that are given (only) for a while and that are impermanent. [But] you, as children of truth, are not to clothe yourselves with these garments that are impermanent. Rather, I say to you that you will be blessed when you strip yourselves."
     - The Dialogue of the Savior 19:5-12; 34:1-4

The Dialogue of the Savior echoes imagery from early Christian hymns.

"And I rejected the folly cast upon the earth, and stripped it off and cast it from me. And the Lord renewed me with His garment, and possessed me by His light."
     - Odes of Solomon 9:10-11 (1st century CE)

The theme of stripping also appears in the Gospel of Thomas, presumably with the same allegorical intent.

"His disciples said, 'When will you appear to us, and when will we see you?'
Jesus said, 'When you strip without being ashamed, and you take your clothes and put them under your feet like little children and trample the, then [you] will see the son of the living one and you will not be afraid.'"
     - Thomas 37

In Sefer Yetsirah (C. 200 C.E.?), "the ecstatic ascent to the throne is not the only element of that mysticism; it also embraces various other techniques which are much more closely connected with magical practices. One of these, for example, is the 'putting on, or clothing, of the name,' a highly ceremonious rite in which the magician impregnates himself, as it were, with the great name of God' - i. e. performs a symbolic act by clothing himself in a garment into whose texture the name has been woven."
     - Gershom G. Scholem, Major Trends in Jewish Mysticism (1941/1961) pp. 77-78

A Spirit or "Spirit-Directed" Body?
"It is 'clear enough', says Bishop Carnley, that in verses 3-8 [1 Corinthians 15] Paul understands Jesus' resurrection as 'a truly representative sample of the resurrection of all believers', to which he makes reference in this later verse. In the same context (verse 43) he writes of the dead being raised 'in glory'; and at Philippians 3:21 he argues directly from the resurrection body of believers: Christ 'will change our lowly body to be like his glorious body'."
     - G.A. Wells, A Resurrection Debate, p. 34-35

A visionary account of being raised "in glory" appears in the Dead Sea Scrolls - 4Q491 fragment 11 attributed to the Teacher of Righteousness. (Click here for the complete text.)

"This should adequately explain why Paul referred to Jesus' as 'the firstfruits of those that have fallen asleep' [1 Corinthians 15:20]...Paul is fitting the resurrection of Jesus into a Pharisaic view of the resurrection. The considerations listed above, though, should serve as a restraint on the view that the latter view brought about the former."
     - Ryan Renn (private correspondence)

Paul's resurrection theology is prefigured in Daniel 12:3 which states that the resurrected righteous leaders would "shine like the brightness of the heavens....like the stars" since angels were associated with stars. (Click here for details.) The belief also be found in the writings of the Teacher of Righteousness in the Dead Sea Scrolls.

"There are also heavenly bodies and there are earthly bodies; but the splendor of the heavenly bodies is one kind, and the splendor of the earthly bodies is another. The sun has one kind of splendor, the moon another and the stars another; and star differs from star in splendor.
So will it be with the resurrection of the dead. The body that is sown is perishable, it is raised imperishable; it is sown in dishonor, it is raised in glory; it is sown in weakness, it is raised in power; it is sown a natural [ yucikon] body, it is raised a spiritual [ pneumatikon] body."
     - 1 Corinthians 15:40-44

The concept of a "spiritual body", however, seems to be somewhat of an oxymoron and a better interpretation for pneumatikoV ('spiritual') may be 'spirit-directed' - as is implicit in the passage below:

"Brothers, even if a person is caught in some transgression, you who are spiritual [ pneumatikoi] should correct that one in a gentle spirit, looking to yourself, so that you also may not be tempted."
     - Galatians 6:1

"New Testament commentators agree that pneumatikoV means 'spiritual' in the sense of orientation, not substance (cf. 1Cor 2:15; 10:4). The transformation of the earthly body to a soma pneumatikon accordingly does not rescue it from materiality, but from mortality."
     - William Lane Craig, Wilkins and Moreland (eds). Jesus Under Fire: Modern Scholarship Reinvents the Historical Jesus. Zondervan, p. 157 (1995)

Note that the root of pneumatikoV is pneuma meaning "movement of air" - wind or breath.
pneumatikoV as 'spirit-directed' also goes to the core of the early Christian experience - being possessed by the Holy Spirit. (See the Convocation at Pentecost.)

The same imagery in Daniel 12:3 also appears in apocryphal literature of the same period as Paul. The passage below describes what will happen to the resurrected:

"...When it is shown to them how their face is to shine like the sun, and how they are to be made like the light of the stars, being incorruptible from then on."
     - 4 Ezra 7:97 (1st c. CE Jewish Apocalypse)

(3) Mystical and Gnostic Resurrection Beliefs

Parallels with the Mysteries
Paul appears to have been caught between two competing theologies - the belief of Jewish sectarians that the righteous would be "at home" with the Lord until the day their bodies would be resuscitated on earth - and the belief of a resurrection body in heaven.

"The true source of ideas of merging of human personality with the divine is in Hellenistic mystery religion, mysticism and philosophy. In Orphism, in particular, the aim of the initiate is to achieve divine status by merging with the divinity of Dionysus. In Gnosticism, itself much influenced by mystery religion, the achievement of gnosis brings with it a supernatural status higher than that of the angels associated with the Demiurge."
     - Hyam Maccoby, Paul and Hellenism, p. 83

"I am parched with thirst, and perishing.
But drink of me, the everflowing spring on the right,
     (where) there is a fair cypress.
Who are you? Where are you from?
I am a child of Earth and of starry Heaven,
     but my race is of Heaven (alone)."
     - Orphic Lamella from Thessaly

"This culminating statement conforms to the Orphic belief in the dual nature of a person. A person is composed of Titanic flesh (earth) and the divine nature of Dionysos (heaven), but it is the Dionysian soul that brings true life."
     - Marvin W.Meyer (Editor), The Ancient Mysteries - A Sourcebook (1987) p. 101

Paul was born at Tarsus, an important trade city and sea-port on the eastern Mediterranean coast of present-day Turkey. Tarsus was also a major center for the worship of Mithras liturgy which had replaced the mysteries of Dionysos and Orpheus. As the path to salvation, all three religions preached the violent death of the divine figure who was then "born again for rebirth of that life-giving birth" (Mithra Liturgy).
While Paul's analogy of being "clothed with our heavenly dwelling" (2Cor 5:4) resonates with the "garment of majesty" mentioned in Enochian literature, there is a parallel in Mithraism as well. Each of the seven grades of Mithraism had a distinctive mask or dress that the adepts put on. Advancing through the grades served as a metaphor for the passage of the soul through the planets to the fixed stars in heaven. Just as Paul made a visionary journey to the third heaven (2 Corinthians 12:1-4) so too did the followers of Mithra enter trance states so that they would beome spirit possessed. It is questionable what effect Mithraism could have had on Paul since the literary record suggests that the cult did not gain prominence until after Paul's death. It is far more likely that Paul's resurrection theology drew inspiration from sectarian Judean sources. (Shamanistic imagery and travels to the seven heavens can be found in the apocryphal Book of Enoch.)

Spirit Possession
"Spirit possession is first and foremost an experience of a certain dissociative type so that a person feels himself to be not himself. This experience is then explained within various cultures in various ways, usually as an empowering presence of some sort. Question then will be 'of what sort?' Standard Judaic answer is 'spirit of God.' Christian answer came to be 'spirit of Christ' which leaves open some question of whether this is synonymous to the'spirit of God' or not. Paul, in Romans 8, uses 'the spirit of Christ' and 'the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead' synonymously."
     - Stevan Davies (Divine Mediators)

"You, however, are controlled not by the sinful nature but by the Spirit, if the Spirit of God lives in you. And if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to Christ. But if Christ is in you, your body is dead because of sin, yet your spirit is alive because of righteousness. And if the Spirit of him who raised Jesus from the dead is living in you, he who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through his Spirit, who lives in you."
     - Romans 8:9-11

"Question could arise as to whether one was possessed by the 'personal entity' the spirit of Jesus Christ and so one would be transformed thereby into Jesus Christ and so one could come in his name saying 'I am he.' Paul even says Gal 2:20 'no longer I live but Christ lives in me.' It does seem central to Paul's thinking that those who have received (aka been possessed by) the spirit of Christ are conformed somehow to Him whose spirit they received (and so it is a 'personal entity') while at the same time this is the spirit of God."
     - Stevan Davies (Divine Mediators)

Deification
The belief that good Christians are the image of Christ and therefore become a Christ/son of God can be found in both gnostic and early church literature.

"It is appropriate that those who do have it [the image of resurrection] not only acquire the name of the father and the Son and the Holy Sprit, but that they have acquired it on their own. If one does not acquire the name for himself, the name ('Christian') will also be taken from him. But one receives them in the aromatic unction of the power of the cross. This power the apostles called 'the right and the left.' For this person is no longer a Christian but a Christ."
     - Gospel of Philip 67:17-30

"It is time then for us to affirm that only the God-fearing man is rich and of sound mind and well born, and therefore the image, together with the likeness, of God; and to say and believe that when he has been made by Christ Jesus 'just and holy with understanding,' he also become in the same degree already like to God. So the prophet openly reveals this gracious favor when he says, 'I said, ye are gods, and ye are all sons of the Most High'."
     - Clement of Alexandria (c. 150 - 215), Exhortation to the Greeks (Protreptikos Pros Hellenas), 12:122

"Many scholars see the core of Alexandrian theology as Deification or the grace of renewal. By deification the Alexandrians mean the renewal of human nature as a whole, to attain sharing in the characteristics of our Lord Jesus Christ in place of the corrupt human nature, or as the apostles state that the believer may enjoy 'the partaking in the divine nature' (2 Peter 1:4), or the new man in the image of His Creator (Col. 3:10)."
     - "The Characteristics of Alexandrian Theology"

"Do not lie to each other, since you have taken off your old self with its practices and have put on the new self, which is being renewed in knowledge in the image of its Creator. "
     - Colossians 3:9-10

"The Word of God became man just that you may learn from a Man how it may be that man should become god."
     - Clement of Alexandria, The Educator (Paidagogos)

A Crucifixion Ritual?
"Paul may have experienced the inner crucifixion ritual himself as he consistently dwells on his own 'death in Christ': I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.' (Galatians 2:20) The piercing of the hands and feet are a mark that the initiate had undergone this 'mystical death' of the old mortal self, only to be renewed as an unlimited divine being."
     - The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

"But God forbid that I should glory except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the cosmos is crucified unto me, and I unto the cosmos... for I bear in my body the marks of the Lord Jesus."
      - Galatians 6:14,17

"These 'marks' (Greek: brands) may refer to what has been termed the stigmata, imprints on the hands and feet (either seen or unseen) showing that the initiate has passed through the 'mystical crucifixion.'"
     - The Christian Conspiracy: The Orthodox Suppression of Original Christianity

Political Implications

"Those who say they will die first and then rise are in error, they must receive the resurrection while they live."
     - Gospel of Philip

"Those who name themselves bishop and deacon and act as if they had received their authority from God are in reality waterless canals. Although they do not understand mystery they boast that the mystery of truth belongs to them alone. They have misinterpreted that apostle's teaching and have set up an imitation church in place of the true Christian brotherhood."
     - Apolcalyse of Peter

"Recognizing the political implications of the doctrine of the resurrection does not account for its extraordinary impact on religious experiences of Christians...but in terms of the social order...the orthodox teaching on the resurrection had a different effect. It legitimized a hierarchy of persons through whose authority all others must approach God. Gnostic teaching was subversive of this order, it claimed to offer to every initiate a means of direct access to God of which the priests and bishops themselves might be ignorant."
     - Elaine Pagaels, The Gnostic Gospels

Divine Journeys

(1) Descent into Hades

According to Acts, Peter was the first to preach the gospel of the resurrection, at the Day of Pentecost seven weeks after crucifixion:

"This man was handed over to you by God's set purpose and foreknowledge; and you, with the help of wicked men [or of those not having the law (that is, Gentiles)], put him to death by nailing him to the cross. But God raised him from the dead, freeing him from the agony of death, because it was impossible for death to keep its hold on him."
     - Acts 2:23-24

The phrase "agony of death" invokes images of Gehenna, where souls were tortured to be cleansed of sin and made fit for the afterlife. Luke [the reputed author of Acts] related the suffering of a rich man in Hades (and the only other instance in the Bible where the state of death is associated specifically with "agony".)

"The descent into hell was a subject of central importance for Jewish Christianity.".
     - Jean Daniélou, A History of Early Christian Doctrine Before the Council of Nicaea3 vols. (1964-77)

"...Gnostic Christians...were teaching a Christology and notion of Jesus' sonship quite unacceptable to the orthodox tradition. They argued that the Son of God entered Jesus at baptism and left him before he died on the cross, as in the depiction of Jesus' death in the apocryphal Gospel of Peter:"
     - Randal Helms, Gospel Fictions (1988) p. 41

"It was in Sheol, Hades, or Hell, that the souls of holy and righteous, persecuted and martyred Jews awaited their final and promised deliverance. And it was there that Jesus descended in burial to deliver those that slept , as they were called, in triumphant resurrection and communal acension.
"In Gospel of Peter 10:39-42 Jesus leaves his tomb in triumphant resurrection ascension and behind him, presumably in a huge cruciform procession, comes the holy ones."
     - John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

"Now in the night in which the Lord's day dawned, when the soldiers, two by two in every watch, were keeping guard, there rang out a loud voice in heaven, and they saw the heavens opened and two men come down from there in a great brightness and draw night to the sepulcher. That stone which had been laid against the entrance to the sepulcher started of itself to roll and give way to the side, and the sepulcher was opened, and both the young men entered in.
When now the soldiers saw this, they awakened the centurion and the elders - for they also were there to assist at the watch. And whilst they were relating what they had seen, they saw again three men come out from the sepulcher, and two of them sustaining the other and a cross following them, and the heads of the two reaching to heaven, but that of him who was led of them by the hand overpassing the heavens. And they heard a voice out of the heavens crying, 'Thou has preached to them that sleep,' and from the cross there was heard the answer, 'Yes.'"
"When those who were of the centurion's company saw this, they hastened by night to Pilate, abandoning the sepulcher which they were guarding, and reported everything they had seen, being full of disquietude and saying, 'In truth he was the Son of God'."
     - Gospel of Peter 9:2-10:5, 11:3
     (Shepherd of Hermes Similitudes; Ignatius, To the Magnesians 9:2; 1 Peter 3:19-20; 1 Peter 4:6)

According to the Gospel of Mark, however, "the centurion, far from confessing Jesus because of having seen the resurrection...now does so when he saw that he thus breathed his last" while still on the cross.
     - John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

"And when the centurion, who stood there in front of Jesus, heard his cry and [some manuscripts do not have 'heard his cry and'] saw how he died, he said, 'Surely this man was the Son [or a son] of God!'"
     - Mark 15:39

(2) Ascent into Heaven

"Not only mythical deities but also actual historical heroes, such as Apollonius, Augustus, and Peregrinus, were believed to have died and risen. Their ascent into heaven was seen by eye-witnesses and they appeared to mourning friends to encourage them. Enoch and Elijah were reportedly taken up to be with God (Genesis 5:24; 2 Kings 2:11-12)..."
     - A.J. Mattill, The Seven Mighty Blows to Traditional Beliefs

"As they [Elijah and his son Elisha] were walking along and talking together, suddenly a chariot of fire and horses of fire appeared and separated the two of them, and Elijah went up to heaven in a whirlwind. Elisha saw this and cried out, 'My father! My father! The chariots and horsemen of Israel!' And Elisha saw him no more. Then he took hold of his own clothes and tore them apart."
     - 2 Kings 2:11-12

The image of ascending the throne-chariot of God is central to shamanistic Merkavah visions.

Elisha, Elijah's disciple, picked up Elijah's cloak and struck the waters of the Jordan river. As it had done for Elijah earlier, "once more the miracle of the Red Sea occurred. The waters parted and Elisha walked back on dry land. He had Elijah's power, perhaps a double portion. He next met the larger group of fifty prophets, who confirmed that the power of Elijah 'now rests upon Elisha' (2 Kings 2:15). This group of prophets then looked for Elijah but did not find him."
     - John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels, p. 317

"You will look for me, but you will not find me; and where I am, you cannot come."
     - John 7:34

"The Bible also spoke of a Son of Man borne on clouds into the presence of God to receive a kingdom that would endure forever (Daniel 7:13-14); and was it not said by God of the king in Psalms (110), 'Sit thou at my right hand, until I make thine enemies thy footstool'?"
     - Hugh J. Schonfield, After the Cross

"The first person to use and develop the Cross Gospel was, in my judgment on the extant texts, the evangelist Mark himself." But he made basic changes. "No salvific miracle seen here below would save Jesus before, during, or after death. Only at the parousia would the resurrectional victory become visible, according to Mark 13:26 and 14:62."
     - John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

"At that time men will see the Son of Man coming in clouds with great power and glory."
     - Mark 13:26

"And you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven."
     - Mark 14:62b

"And that was true not only for the crucified Jesus but also for his persecuted followers. Salvation was not from but through death, not in the here below but in the imminent hereafter. It was not salvific miracle but exemplary death that counted. Mark had, therefore, to negate completely both the visible resurrection and the subsequent Roman confession from the Cross Gospel. He did it by retrojecting both back into preceding sections in his Gospel. Jesus' resurrection-ascension accompanied by two heavenly beings was rewritten as his transfiguration accompanied by Elijah and Moses in Mark 9:2-8."
     - John Dominic Crossan, The Historical Jesus, The Life of a Mediterranean Peasant (1991)

The Gospel of Mark (16:19) mentions that Jesus ascended to Heaven in front of his disciples. It should be noted, however, that the most reliable early manuscripts and other ancient witnesses do not have Mark 16:9-20. (See the section on Pseudo Mark.)

"After the Lord Jesus had spoken to them, he was taken up into heaven and he sat at the right hand of God. Then the disciples went out and preached everywhere, and the Lord worked with them and confirmed his word by the signs that accompanied it."
     - Pseudo Mark 16:19-20

"Matthew portrayed Jesus as the already ascended Lord of heaven and earth, invested with divine authority when he appeared to the disciples on the Galilean mountain top (Matt. 25:16 ff.) Yet Matthew told no story of an ascension....Luke, on the other hand, said that only the resurrected, but not yet ascended, Lord appeared to the disciples. When this Lord finally ascended, Luke said that action took place some forty days later, and with that ascension all resurrection appearances ceased (Luke 24, Acts 1)."
     - John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels, p. 282

The last lines in Luke's gospel expand on Mark's account of Jesus "taken up into heaven".

"'I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.' When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God."
     - Luke 24:49-53

Being "clothed with power from on high" refers to being resurrected. Luke then has the disciples rejoicing in the Temple in Jerusalem - an institution which Jesus symbolically sought to destroy, and whose chief priests supposedly had engineered Jesus' death. In contrast, the Gospel of Matthew concludes after Jesus' appearance to the eleven disciples in Galilee and the Gospel of John concludes after Jesus appearance by the Sea of Galilee. Neither Matthew nor John mentions Jesus' heavenly ascent.

"At the very end of the gospel the Risen Jesus dispenses the Spirit to the disciples (Luke 24:49). The same point is made at Acts 2:33: it is through the exalted Jesus that the Spirit is given to the community. Later in Acts there are so many references to the Spirit that it has very properly been suggested that Luke's second volume would be better entitled 'The Acts of the Holy Spirit'."
     - Graham N. Stanton, The Gospels and Jesus, The Oxford Bible Series (1989), paperback, p. 92

Luke elaborates on his description of Jesus' ascent in Acts:

"..He was taken up before their very eyes, and a cloud hid him from their sight. They were looking intently up into the sky as he was going, when suddenly two men dressed in white stood beside them.
'Men of Galilee,' they said, 'why do you stand here looking into the sky? This same Jesus, who has been taken from you into heaven, will come back in the same way you have seen him go into heaven.'"
     - 1 Acts 9-11

"John said that the resurrected but not yet ascended Lord appeared only to Magdalene. When this Lord appeared to the disciples at the evening of that first Easter, he was the already ascended Lord who breathed on them, enabling them to receive the Holy Spirit."
     - John Shelby Spong, Liberating the Gospels, p. 283

"On the evening of that first day of the week, when the disciples were together, with the doors locked for fear of the Jews, Jesus came and stood among them and said, 'Peace be with you!' After he said this, he showed them his hands and side. The disciples were overjoyed when they saw the Lord. Again Jesus said, 'Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, I am sending you.' And with that he breathed on them and said, 'Receive the Holy Spirit. If you forgive anyone his sins, they are forgiven; if you do not forgive them, they are not forgiven.'"
     - John 20:19-23