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  • From: "Rick Frommich" <eugor3 AT hotmail.com>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Paul on John the Baptist.
  • Date: Mon, 06 May 2002 08:22:41 +0000





From: rfellows AT intergate.ca
Reply-To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
Subject: [corpus-paul] Re: Paul on John the Baptist.
Date: Sun, 05 May 2002 23:55:44 -0500

Rick wrote:

<<I am familiar with the passage you cited. Tell me, do you think the book of
Acts accurately recounts the actions and words of Paul?

I seems to me that the material in Acts stands in direct conflict with what
Paul has to say about himself in Galatians.>>

The data in Galatians has only marginal relevance to the question of the reliability of Acts 18:24-19:4. Galatians refers to events that are distant in both time and space from those of the Acts passage. It is quite possible for Acts to be considerably more accurate in the Aegean passages than in the earlier chapters. Not only is Acts 18:24-19:4 more recent, but it concerns communities through which the author the "We" passages is rather likely to have passed, and it concerns a period when he was certainly active. In any case, much of the data in Galatians is, in my view, hopelessly ambiguous, and we should be very cautious about using it to test the accuracy of Acts.

The data in 1 Cor, 2 Cor, and Rom is more relevant to Acts 18:24-19:4. What do these tell us?

From 1 Cor 3:6 etc. we know that Apollos taught in Corinth after Paul. From 2 Cor 1:19 we deduce that he had not been a member of Paul's original missionary group to Corinth. All this fits well with Acts 18:27 where we read that Apollos taught in Corinth and became acquainted with the believers there. From 1 Cor 16:12 we see that Apollos may well have been based in Ephesus, and this also fits the Acts data. 1 Cor and Acts also agree that Apollos and Paul had independent ministries.

It should also be noted that Acts has good information about Paul's associates throughout the Aegean periods. Luke knows about Prisca and Aquila, and that they had been in Corinth before 1 Corinthians was written (see 1 Cor 16:19), and that they moved to Ephesus. Also, the information that they were from Rome fits well with their later return there (Rom 16:3).

He also knows that Silas-Silvanus and Timothy were with Paul during his first visit to Achaia (2 Cor 1:19).

He knows that Timothy went from Ephesus to Macedonia (Acts 19:22), which corresponds well with our deduction from 1 Cor that Timothy had taken the land route to Corinth. He also knows that Timothy was accompanied by one other brother (Acts 19:22), and this is confirmed by 2 Cor 12:18.

He knows that Crispus-Sosthenes was from Corinth and was baptized during Paul's first visit to Achaia (1 Cor 1:14).

He knows about Aristarchus (Philemon 24), and Sopater-Sosipater (Rom 16:21). He probably also knows about Erastus (Acts 19:22, Rom 16:2), Jason (Acts 17:6-7, Rom 16:21), and Gaius (Rom 16:23; Acts 18:7 and/or Acts 20:4).

All this suggests that Acts probably gives us good information on Apollos. Paul therefore probably knew of John the Baptist through Apollos. I imagine that he knew of John also through his contacts with Palestine in the 30s, because from Josephus we know that people had strong memories of John at that time (Ant 18:5).

Richard Fellows.

Rrrepsonse.
If you are arguing that Paul knew about the Baptist based on 18:24-19:4 you may not have seen my subsequent posts. I agree that Paul knew about the Baptist. On the other hand if you are arguing that Acts accurately reflects the early years of Paul as a folower of The Way, or the view of Paul on the law and circumcision I disagree completely. As for the actions of Apollos as recorded in Acts I don’t think that is at issue here.

thank you for responding,

Rick Richmond.

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