Matthew 28:13
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The context
Matthew's resurrection narrative includes a detail the other Gospels lack: guards posted at the tomb. When the tomb is found empty, they report to the chief priests, who pay them to circulate a different story. Verse 13 is the story itself, and verse 15 notes that it was still being told when the Gospel was written.
What it establishes
It establishes that the author knew of a rival explanation for the empty tomb and answered it directly. The claim that the disciples stole the body is therefore attested as a live counter-account, not as a later invention.
What it does not establish
It does not independently corroborate the guards. The detail appears only in Matthew, and the verse reports the bribe in order to refute the story rather than to document it. A reader cannot verify the payment from this text alone.
Short note, first pass, October 2026. Corrections welcome.
Cited in these answers
Part of Scripture, Opened — the exegetical layer behind every citation on this site. Scripture quotations are from the ESV.