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corpus-paul - Re: Prison in Ephesus?

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  • From: "David Inglis" <david AT colonialcommerce.com>
  • To: corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu
  • Subject: Re: Prison in Ephesus?
  • Date: Tue, 4 Jun 2002 18:17:24 -0400


Steve Black wrote:
> Dave Inglis wrote...
> >[...]Many people have noted the similarities between
> >Colossians and Ephesians, and have suggested that one is a partial copy of
> >the other (which actually very strongly suggests that at least one of
> >these letters is from Paul, since it is unlikely that someone else would
> >copy from a forgery).
>
> How would someone back then know that it was a forgery?

Your point is well taken. I'm assuming that both letters were written
early enough that someone who knew what Paul wrote would have been able to
denounce any forgeries. As far as I'm aware there is no evidence that
either letter was written late enough for this knowledge to have been lost
(Because Marcion included both letters it's reasonable to think that both
letters were in existence and believed to be by Paul by about 120-130 AD
at the latest.

> Both were obviously intended to persuade(/deceive?) readers that Paul
> was the author.

It's not obvious to me, and I haven't found anyone who can come up with
(IMHO) sufficiently strong internal evidence to overturn the very strong
external evidence (e.g. Marcion, Muratorian Canon, P46, numerous fathers)
that both letters are in fact authentic. I'm sure that I'm in the
minority regarding this position, but I really do believe that there is a
very strong presumption of authenticity that has not yet been overturned.

Dave Inglis
david AT colonialcommerce.com
3538 O'Connor Drive
Lafayette, CA, USA




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