The Greek eita marks the next step in a sequence. In the resurrection passage of 1 Corinthians 15:5-8, Paul uses eita to trace the post-resurrection appearances: 'he appeared to Cephas, and then (eita) to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers and sisters at the same time.' Mark uses eita in his sequence of parables (Mark 4:17, 28) and healing accounts. In 1 Timothy 2:13, eita anchors the creation order argument.
Paul's use of eita in 1 Corinthians 15 is carefully ordered โ a sequence of resurrection witnesses building to an irrefutable cumulative case. He then (eita) to the Twelve, then (epeita) to five hundred, then to James, then to all the apostles, last of all to Paul himself. The sequential logic answers skeptics: too many credible witnesses, too spread across time. The resurrection is not a single claim but a chain of eita โ then, then, then, then, and finally. No single link can be dismissed without challenging the entire sequence.