I Corinthians xv. 46 (' ...that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures') is part of a crucial witness to the Christian resurrection tradition since it is the earliest detailed statement about that event (mid-5os), and since analysis of the terminology suggests that the formulation is pre-Pauline even if not certainly from the Palestinian community. 1 But what precisely was the source of the phrase 'on the third day'? Was it derived from historical tradition about the resurrection or from exegesis of the Jewish Scriptures? Should the passage be paraphrased: 'Jesus rose from the dead in fulfilment of the Scriptures, and-as we remember-this occurred on the third day'? 2 Or, alternatively, should it be paraphrased: 'The Scriptures taught us that Jesus would be raised from the dead, and they taught us also that this would occur on the third day'? 3 If one begins with the assumption that the reference to the 'third day' was derived from memory of the event then there is a curious gap in the traditional account in the Gospels. For that tradition does not say when the resurrection itself took place. It affirms (a) that on Easter Sunday the tomb was discovered to be empty, and (b) that subsequently, on the same day, Jesus appeared to certain of the women or disciples. (Mark omits this second item unless one accepts xvi. 9 ff. as original.) For the present purpose it does not matter whether these two affirmations originated on Easter Sunday or at some later date. Neither of them can be turned directly into the statement

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