In the book Scripting Jesus, L. Michael White compares the accounts of the death and resurrection of Jesus within the gospels to other New Testament writings. He focuses on 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 as an example of the part oral tradition played in the writing of the gospels.

The use of the phrase “in accordance with the scriptures” twice in 1 Corinthians 15:3-7 is particularly interesting. The phrase serves as a clue that the passage derives from oral tradition, as Paul notes that he was not there to witness the event. He uses this story to add to his depiction of the life of Jesus, but makes a point to let the reader understand the context of his writings.

This passage, and the phrase specifically, show that ancient Jewish scriptures were relied on heavily as resources when writing the New Testament. It is made clear that the writing of the gospels were through the lens of the Hebrew Bible, Jewish scriptures, and other orally relayed accounts of the life of Jesus.

The 1 Corinthians account of the resurrection of Jesus contains details that the gospels do not. This is most likely a factor of oral tradition, as the validity of an account of any event fades with time. 1 Corinthians 15: 6 states “Then he appeared to more than five hundred brothers and sisters at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have died. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles.” The gospels, however, do not tell of this physical appearance of the resurrected Jesus. The filtering out of this detail is an excellent example of the effects of oral tradition. There was likely not enough evidence to support the claim of these physical appearances, or the gospel writers simply did not deem the detail necessary to the story.

I think tradition was especially important to the gospel writers because it adds consistency to the story of Jesus. One might imagine hearing stories of the “son of God”, (much less witnessing them) would be overwhelming. The gospels work to make sense of the birth, life, death and resurrection of Jesus, with varying stories to use as resources. Tradition likely became very important to Christians because of the desire to present the most factual version of an old, complicated, and seemingly far-fetched story.