Epistolary Zombies

     Romans 1:4 says that through the power of the Holy Spirit,  Jesus was declared (or appointed) to be the Son of God by the resurrection from the dead.
     Thomas Schreiner pointed out in his commentary on Romans that in the original language it actually reads that Jesus was declared to be the Son of God by the "resurrection of dead persons". Dead persons? Plural? That was very curious to me. I began wondering about the possibility that Paul could have meant something other than Jesus' resurrection after three days being the declaration to people that Jesus was God's Son.
     I began wondering about Matthew 27:50-54 which takes place immediately following Jesus' death.

⁵⁰ And Jesus cried out again with a loud voice, and yielded up His spirit. 
⁵¹ Then, behold, the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom; and the earth quaked, and the rocks were split, ⁵² and the graves were opened; and many bodies of the saints who had fallen asleep were raised; ⁵³ and coming out of the graves after His resurrection, they went into the holy city and appeared to many. 
⁵⁴ So when the centurion and those with him, who were guarding Jesus, saw the earthquake and the things that had happened, they feared greatly, saying, “Truly this was the Son of God!” 



     Is it possible that Paul was saying that the Holy Spirit declared Jesus to be the Son of God to the world by resurrecting many dead people immediately following His crucifixion? I think it is possible that Paul had that even t on his mind as he penned the paragraph of Romans.  In the 20 years or so between the cross and the epistle to the Romans it is possible, even probable that the response of the centurion to the earthquake and graves opening had become common knowledge to followers of Jesus. If that were the case, those listening to the letter may have thought immediately of the scene we have recorded in Matthew 27.
     I have heard very few sermons in my life on the undead roaming Jerusalem following the passion. I often have had to remind myself that it is really in the bible and that it really did happen. If that scenario took place during my lifetime with attestation of multitudes of witnesses - I bet it wouldn't be so hard to jar my memory.