Acts 1:3 To whom also he showed himself alive after his passion by many infallible proofs
This is the import of the Greek word tekmeerion. The proofs were such as these:
NOTE: Acts 1:3 - The proofs were infallible, (tekmeria) - plain indications, both that he was alive (he walked and talked with them, he ate and drank with them) and that it was he himself, and not another; for he showed them again and again the marks of the wounds in his hands, and feet, and side, which was the utmost proof the thing was capable of or required.
Be careful of the “versions” distortions of “many infallible proofs” of the King James Bible (not a “version”)!
ILLUS.:
NASV, NASB, NIV: “many convincing proofs” - a person can be convinced of a lie, even in a court of law
ASV, RSV, DARBY: “many proofs” - whoa, evolution offers “many proofs” but it is all an outright lie
Good News: “beyond doubt” – you can have something proved to you “beyond doubt” as lawyers do
NASU: “convincing proofs” – any good magician can convince you that what you see is real
TLB: “proved to them” – “scientists” proved for centuries that the earth was flat!
ESV: “by many proofs” - very subtle, but I can “prove” things appear or disappear using slight of hand or “magic”
NOTE: There are thousands upon thousands of “science” books in the Library of Congress and libraries around the world which are outdated and no longer considered “scientific”!!!! But let’s try all of the following together:
1. Appearing to several different persons at different times.
2. His eating and drinking with them.
3. His meeting them in Galilee according to his own appointment.
4. His subjecting his body to be touched and handled by them.
5. His instructing them in the nature and doctrines of his kingdom.
6. His appearing to upwards of five hundred persons at once, 1 Cor 15:6.
7. Continuing these public manifestations of himself for forty days.
(1) Because it was to them unexpected. They had manifestly not believed that he would rise again, John 20:25; Luke 24:19-24. There was, therefore, no delusion resulting from any expectation of seeing him, or from a design to impose on people.
(2) It was impossible that they could have been deceived in relation to one with whom they had been familiar for more than three years. No people in the possession of reason could be made to believe that they really saw, talked with, and ate with, a friend whom they had known so long and familiarly, unless it was real.
(3) There were enough of them to avoid the possibility of deception. Though it might be pretended that one man could be imposed on, yet it could not be that an imposition could be practiced for forty days on eleven men, who were all at first incredulous.
(4) He was with them sufficient time to give evidence of his personal identity. It might be pretended, if they had seen him but once, that they were deceived. But they saw him often, and for the space of more than a month.
(5) They saw him in various places and at times in which there could be no deception. If they had pretended that twilight in the morning when he rose, it might have been said that they were deluded by something that was merely the result of imagination. It might have been said that, expecting to see him rise, their hopes, in their agitated state of their minds, deceived them, and that they only fancied that they saw him. But it is not pretended by the sacred writers that they saw him rise. An impostor "would have affirmed this, and would not have omitted it." But the sacred writers affirmed that they saw him after he was risen; when they were free from agitation; when they could judge coolly; in Jerusalem; in their own company when at worship; when journeying to Emmaus; when in Galilee; when he went with them to Mount Olivet; and when he ascended to heaven: and how could they have been deceived in this?
(6) He appeared to them as he had always done, as a friend, companion, and benefactor; he ate with them, performed a miracle before them, was engaged in the same work as he was before he suffered, renewed the same promise of the Holy Spirit, and gave them his commands respecting the work which he had died to establish, and the work which he required them to do-carrying out the same purposes and plans which he had before he died. In all these circumstances it was impossible that they should be deceived.