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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Paul as the beloved disciple
  • Date: Sun, 07 Jan 2001 04:53:58 -0600


> Michael MacDonell wrote:
>
>> Bornkamm (Paul, p. 15) argues pretty effectively
>> that there are strong reasons to question whether,
>> contrary to Acts, Paul
>> was a persecutor of the early church...

>>
>> "... a church which in fact still observed the Law
>> and so was not in the
>> slightest exposed to the crucial charge of hostility
>> toward it. Luke's picture is also clearly
>> contradicted by the apostle's [Paul's] remark in
>> Gal 1:22, that he was personally unknown to the
>> churches in Judaea. . .This is absolutely
>> inconceivable in the
>> case of a man who in Jerusalem had previously taken
>> the prominent part in persecuting Christians
>> ascribed to him by Luke (Acts 22:4 ff).

Loren Rossen replied:
> Paul simply mentions in Gal. 1:22 that he was unknown
> ?by sight? in Judea. After being away for three years,
> this isn?t so strange. As a former Peace Corps
> volunteer, who saw ex-volunteers come and go in a host
> country, re-visiting years later, etc, I can say there
> is nothing ?inconceivable? about what you object to
> here.

I too was struck by the failure of logic behind such a strong assertion for
the implications of Gal. 1:22. Whether Paul did or did not persecute in
Judea or as told by Luke, this would not be proven or disproved by reference
to Gal. 1:22.

Loren wrote:
a)> The measure of law-observance by the earliest
> Christians is unclear, but they must have been
> unorthodox in some way, since Paul targetted them with
> such zeal (elsewhere, if not Judea, though I think
> both are likely).
b)> Phil Esler ("Galatians") suggests
> that the offensive practice was indescriminate
> eucharist fellowship, whereby Jews and uncircumcised
> Gentiles shared bread and wine from the same vessels.
> This naturally ran the risk of idolatry, as Gentiles
> might taint the wine (i.e. transform it into pagan
> libation wine).

Concerning point a, I would not use orthodox here to describe it, but there
is something disputable from the perspective of some groups in power, of
which Paul was one representative of one of these groups. On point b, I
disagree that this was the issue in Antioch, about which Esler is arguing
(if it was, then the solution to the problem in Antioch was not to get
circumcised [i.e., become proselytes], but to use separate bowls, or develop
some other such practical solution). Rather, the issue seems to me to have
been implied in Gal. 5:11, and had to do with the way in which gentiles were
given standing within these (Jewish) groups: apart from proselyte conversion
they were being accorded standing reserved for proselytes in the other
Jewish groups, in Judea and elsewhere, for that matter, as far as our
evidence indicates.

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
816-478-3369







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