Most Christians have a great deal of respect for the apostle Paul. And for this reason, I quote many of his teachings in my books. But I also feel a responsibility to share what historians and biblical scholars know about Paul.
Students of the Bible have long known that many of Paul’s writings contradict the teachings of Jesus. For example: our Lord taught a gospel (which means “good news”) about the Kingdom of God; while Paul taught a gospel about grace. Then in John 10:27, Jesus said “My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.” But in I Corinthians 4:16, I Corinthians 11:1, and Philippians 3:17, Paul declares that he is the person Christians should follow. Paul also appointed preachers to rule over and teach God’s people, even though Jesus explicitly forbid this practice (see Matthew 20:25-27 – NASB is a more accurate translation). And there are several other areas of Christian doctrine where Paul disagreed with Jesus.
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Most historians agree that Paul died in AD 64. So everything authored by Paul had to be written before this date. And assuming that God gave Paul the amazing assignment of canceling out the gospel of the Kingdom of God and replacing it with a new gospel of grace, we would expect that God would have preserved all of Paul’s writings for the New Testament Church. Yet not a single one of Paul’s original letters has ever been found.
The earliest known copies of Paul’s writings are found in what is known as Papyrus 46. And biblical scholars tell us this document was written between 180 to 220 CE, which is at least 116 years after Paul’s death. So what happened to all of Paul’s writings? And where are the numerous copies that were produced during this 116 year period?
But there is a far more important question: How is it that copies of Paul’s writings suddenly became available, 116 years after he wrote them?
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It turns out that around 120 CE (60 years before Papyrus 46 was created), a Gnostic Christian named Marcion published what he claimed were “all of Paul’s writings.” Gnostics like Marcion believed in two gods: a “good” god who is trying to save people and bring them to his world (heaven) – and a “bad” god who created our earth and all the evil within it. Obviously, Gnosticism is very different from the religion of Jesus Christ. But during the early years of Christianity this religion spread rapidly, and it presented a major competition to the Catholic Church.
Marcion’s family became quite wealthy by building ocean vessels. And Marcion used his wealth to spread his Gnostic beliefs. History records how Marcion traveled to Rome during the early 2nd Century, where he gave what he claimed to be “all of Paul’s writings” to the Catholic Church – along with a very large donation of money. How did Marcion obtain all of Paul’s writings, 60 years after Paul’s death? No one knows.
There is no historical record of why Marcion gave these writings to the Catholic Church. His religious beliefs were most definitely not Catholic. And some biblical scholars have suggested that Marcion may have been trying to corrupt Catholicism with false doctrine. But the Catholics didn’t see things that way. They were literally ecstatic about receiving Paul’s writings, and they immediately set about to add them to their Bible.
Why were the Catholics so interested in Paul? Probably because he promoted the doctrine of “pastoral authority,” which is the concept that God places certain people in authority over Christ’s Church. And thanks to Marcion, the Catholics now had what they quickly labeled as “Scripture” to back up the authority of their pope, cardinals, bishops and priests. While the fact that Jesus prohibited this doctrine was conveniently swept under the rug.
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History indicates that until Marcion traveled to Rome and gave Paul’s letters to the Catholics, Paul was completely unknown to Christianity. And not a single one of Paul’s letters dated earlier than Marcion’s copies has ever been discovered.
But this sparsity of Paul’s writings seems unreasonable. We now posses copies of letters Paul wrote to nine churches and three individuals located in multiple geographical areas. And Paul asked some the recipients to copy his writings and send them along to churches in still other areas. So why have all of these letters (along with the many copies of them) simply vanished?
Then there’s the issue of distances. Marcion lived in Sinope, Turkey – which is over 1,400 miles from Jerusalem. While Paul’s journeys to Gentile churches never came closer than 400 miles from Sinope. So how did a non-Christian ship builder, living such great distances from the places Paul visited and wrote to (in the days of foot and horse travel), come to have the only surviving copies of Paul’s writings?
No one has provided a reasonable answer to this question.
A few biblical scholars have argued that since Acts and II Peter reference Paul, the authors of these books had copies of Paul’s writings. But if this were true, then why have these copies of Paul’s letters also disappeared? And we still have to ask how Paul’s writings managed to reach a ship builder who lived 1,400 miles from Jerusalem.
Also note that many biblical scholars consider Acts and II Peter fraudulent writings produced by the Catholic Church – writings that may have been created to lend credibility to a fictitious Paul. While the rest of the Bible – along with world history – is completely silent about the existence of a thirteenth apostle.
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If you go to the Internet and search for the words “doctrines Jesus verses Paul,” you will find several web sites that list over twenty contradictions between the teachings of Paul and those of Jesus. The chief of these is the definition of the gospel: As previously mentioned, Jesus taught the gospel of the Kingdom of God; while Paul taught an entirely different gospel about grace – something Jesus never mentioned. In fact, within the four gospels, Jesus is never even said to have spoken the word “grace.”
Then there are the previously mentioned problems with the origins of Paul’s letters. The archaeological record is quite clear: not a single copy of Paul’s original writings has been discovered or even mentioned in historical writings – until 120 years after Paul supposedly died. Instead, all historical evidence indicates Paul’s letters were supplied by Marcion: a non-Christian Gnostic who lived at least 400 miles from the paths traveled by Paul.
These problems, along with the ones listed below, have caused several prominent biblical scholars to conclude that Paul did not exist – while other scholars have concluded the 13th apostle was solely the invention of Marcion:
There is no mention of Paul in any apostolic writing biblical scholars consider authentic;
Paul’s doctrines and teachings are radically differently from those of Jesus – and they often contradict what our Lord taught;
The Book of Acts states that Paul was arrested and imprisoned in Rome. But Roman records make no mention of this event;
The early Christian author Tertullian wrote that Paul was “The second apostle of Marcion and the apostle of the heretics.”
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The primary objective of my books is to share teachings of Jesus that are not commonly heard in churches. And when the teachings of Paul agree with Jesus, I try to include what he wrote.
But all the historical evidence suggests that Paul never even existed. And I do not believe the writings attributed to Paul can save us. Christians must remember that salvation is the product of a personal relationship with Jesus Christ – a relationship where one learns and carefully follows all of His teachings.
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“Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle Transformed Christianity” (James D. Tabor)
“The Fabricated Paul. Early Christianity In The Twilight” (Hermann Detering)
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Author
D. A. Taylor
PUBLISHED BY
D. A. Taylor
Copyright 2021 by D. A. Taylor
ISBN 9781370585786
Prepared on 01/09/22 at 09:45:12 PM
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