Paul Without Acts

Discuss the world of the Greeks, Romans, Babylonians, and Egyptians.
Post Reply
User avatar
Jax
Posts: 1443
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 6:10 am

Paul Without Acts

Post by Jax »

I have chosen to start this thread here in Classical Texts and History as I wish to deconstruct the letters of Paul, namely Romans, 1&2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians and 1 Thessalonians, to see if they properly belong in the 1st century BCE.

Paul writes about and to, places in the areas of Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor as well as Illyricum.

While not impossible that a Jewish man from the Levant would and or could travel to these places in the 1st century as part of a missionary expedition, it seems less likely to me than having his presence explained by his having been part of the civil wars of Rome there from the mid to late 1st century BCE. Further, two of the places that he writes to (Thessalonica and Philippi) are centered around the area of Philippi where the battle between the forces of Cassius and Brutus against the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian took place during the Liberator's war of 43-42 BCE.
Philippi would become a Roman military veteran settlement colony after this war as will Troas, being settled by veterans of Augustus, as Corinth and Sinope were under Julius Caesar not much earlier.

Paul does not write to Damascus, Jerusalem, Syria or Cilicia (that we know of) and only mentions them in his letters as places that he has been in the past.

Paul does write to people in the city of Rome but it is clear that he has never been there. Also in that letter he states his intention of first taking monies collected from Greece and Macedonia to Jerusalem and then visiting them on his way to Spain as he hopes that they will assist him in this endeavor.
It is interesting to note that Spain will be the last place that needs to be pacified by Augustus at the end of the Roman civil wars of the late Republic as well as having quite a few settlement colonies of Julius and Augustus Caesar there.

Paul being in Illyricum in the 1st century seems problematic but as there were major military bases there in the 1st century BCE leading up to Julius Caesar's planned invasion of Parthia before his assassination by the Liberators, Cassius and Brutus, It seems more likely that after the Philippi battle that the losers would be marched there to sort everyone out. Pure speculation of course but possible.

It should also be noted that the cities that he mentions that were not veteran colonies (Athens, Ephesus and Antioch) were areas that had major concentrations of Roman military in the 1st century BCE. Especially under Mark Antony.
I always found it odd that cities like Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella are never mentioned even though they are much more important cities than towns like Philippi and Troas. But then there were no troop concentrations in Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella in the 1st century BCE.
He never mentioned Tarsus either, which would seem odd if he were from there, but not so odd when one realizes that it also had no troops stationed there. The same holds true with other major centers like Mytilene, Cyzicus, Nicea, and Nicomedia which were all bigger and more important than Thessalonica except that they held no troop concentrations while Thessalonica was the main port for overland Roman troop movement at that time.

So that Laddies and Germs is the kernel of my thesis. :D

I contend that Paul is up in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor as a militant in at least the battle of Philippi and is attached to the Liberator's army, probably as an axillary, possibly recruited in Syria or Cilicia and afterwards (being a non Roman on the losing side and not part of a regular army) found himself stranded in Greece or Macedonia with no way to finance his way back home.

I further contend that he had a background in a sectarian messiah cult, probably centered around Damascus and Jerusalem, that he used to create his own version to earn a living where he now found himself.

I will close with this...
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
500 men would be the size of a normal Roman military axillary unit. ;)
User avatar
Ben C. Smith
Posts: 8994
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:18 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Good post.

Can you outline which of those cities, if any, with a military presence in the first century BC would have lacked one in the (middle of the) first century AD? In other words, if the connection between most of these cities is a military one, does that mean that it also has to be a combatant one? Does there have to be a war going on, or can it simply be one soldier going to the people he knows best, his "fellow soldiers" (taken literally)?
ΤΙ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ
User avatar
Jax
Posts: 1443
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 6:10 am

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Jax »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:47 pm Good post.

Can you outline which of those cities, if any, with a military presence in the first century BC would have lacked one in the (middle of the) first century AD? In other words, if the connection between most of these cities is a military one, does that mean that it also has to be a combatant one? Does there have to be a war going on, or can it simply be one soldier going to the people he knows best, his "fellow soldiers" (taken literally)?
If I understand your question, I think that the only city that was invested with a heavy military presence, of the ones that I mention, in the 1st century was Syria.

I'll have to look it up but I think that is correct. Augustus really cut down on the military in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor after Actium and ramp'd things up in Spain, the Danube and Rhine areas with Germany, and the eastern areas with Parthia.

Aside from the revolt in Illyricun and the massacre at Teutoburg, for the most part, things were pretty quiet from Augustus to Nero.
User avatar
Jax
Posts: 1443
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 6:10 am

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Jax »

Sorry. I didn't address the second half of your question.

If Paul is a soldier in the mid 1st century, where did he fight?
User avatar
Ben C. Smith
Posts: 8994
Joined: Wed Apr 08, 2015 2:18 pm
Location: USA
Contact:

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Ben C. Smith »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:00 pmSorry. I didn't address the second half of your question.

If Paul is a soldier in the mid 1st century, where did he fight?
He would not be fighting at all. He would simply be a part of the standing army, or (better yet) a veteran with some disposable income. (That is what I was wondering about whether a war was needed to move Paul around from place to place.)

Paul's plans to go to Rome and to Spain come across as self determination, do they not? If he is being moved around with his legion, how is he able to plan his next journey(s) if he is fighting a war?
Last edited by Ben C. Smith on Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:02 pm, edited 1 time in total.
ΤΙ ΕΣΤΙΝ ΑΛΗΘΕΙΑ
Bernard Muller
Posts: 3964
Joined: Tue Oct 15, 2013 6:02 pm
Contact:

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Bernard Muller »

Phm 1:2 "and Apphia the sister, and Archippus our fellow-soldier, and the assembly in your house:"
Archippus is the "fellow-soldier" of not only Paul, but of others too. That would make more sense if Archippus was a preacher on behalf of Paul's people.

Phl 2:25 "And I thought it necessary Epaphroditus -- my brother, and fellow-workman, and fellow-soldier, and your apostle and servant to my need -- to send unto you,"
Here Epaphroditus is a fellow-workman, fellow-soldier, apostle to the Philippians and servant to Paul's need. How could he be all that at the same time, except if "fellow-soldier" means Christian missionary? Furthermore, that Epaphroditus seems to have a lot of free time.

Cordially, Bernard
Last edited by Bernard Muller on Sun Feb 11, 2018 10:15 am, edited 1 time in total.
I believe freedom of expression should not be curtailed
User avatar
MrMacSon
Posts: 8798
Joined: Sat Oct 05, 2013 3:45 pm

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by MrMacSon »

Jax wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:28 pm
Paul writes about and to, places in the areas of Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor as well as Illyricum.

While not impossible that a Jewish man from the Levant would and or could travel to these places in the 1st century1 as part of a missionary expedition, it seems less likely to me than having his presence explained by his having been part of the civil wars of 'Rome'2 there from the mid to late 1st century BCE.
1. I presume you are referring to the unlikelihood of a Jewish man from the Levant travelling to these places in the 1st century AD/CE.

2. I presume you are referring to the Roman Empire



Further, two of the places that he writes to (Thessalonica and Philippi) are centered around the area of Philippi where the battle between the forces of Cassius and Brutus against the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian took place during the Liberator's war of 43-42 BCE.

Philippi would become a Roman military veteran settlement colony after this war as will Troas, being settled by veterans of Augustus, as Corinth and Sinope were under Julius Caesar not much earlier.

Paul does not write to Damascus, Jerusalem, Syria or Cilicia (that we know of), and only mentions them in his letters as places that he has been in the past.

Paul does write to people in the city of Rome, but it is clear that he has never been there. Also in that letter he states his intention of first taking monies collected from Greece and Macedonia to Jerusalem, and then visiting them on his way to Spain as he hopes that they will assist him in this endeavor.

It is interesting to note that Spain will be the last place that needs to be pacified by Augustus at the end of the Roman civil wars of the late Republic, as well as having quite a few settlement colonies of Julius and Augustus Caesar there.

Paul being in Illyricum in the 1st century seems problematic, but, as there were major military bases there in the 1st century BCE leading up to Julius Caesar's planned invasion of Parthia before his assassination by the Liberators, Cassius and Brutus, It seems more likely that after the Philippi battle that the losers would be marched there to sort everyone out. Pure speculation of course but possible.

It should also be noted that the cities that he mentions that were not veteran colonies (Athens, Ephesus and Antioch) were areas that had major concentrations of Roman military in the 1st century BCE. Especially under Mark Antony.

I always found it odd that cities like Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella are never mentioned even though they are much more important cities than towns like Philippi and Troas. But then there were no troop concentrations in Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella in the 1st century BCE.

He never mentioned Tarsus either, which would seem odd if he were from there, but not so odd when one realizes that it also had no troops stationed there. The same holds true with other major centers like Mytilene, Cyzicus, Nicea, and Nicomedia, which were all bigger and more important than Thessalonica, except that they held no troop concentrations, while Thessalonica was the main port for overland Roman troop movement at that time.

So that Laddies and Germs is the kernel of my thesis. :D

I contend that Paul is up in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor as a militant in at least the battle of Philippi, and is attached to the Liberator's army, probably as an axillary, possibly recruited in Syria or Cilicia and afterwards (being a non Roman on the losing side and not part of a regular army) found himself stranded in Greece or Macedonia with no way to finance his way back home.

I further contend that he had a background in a sectarian messiah cult, probably centered around Damascus and Jerusalem, that he used to create his own version to earn a living where he now found himself.

What [other] writer or historian of antiquity would have recorded these military events? and grouped them together?

I'm wondering if someone might have borrowed the situations in these places and written a theological narrative based on them(?)



I will close with this...
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
500 men would be the size of a normal Roman military axillary unit. ;)
Through several centuries?
User avatar
DCHindley
Posts: 3411
Joined: Mon Oct 07, 2013 9:53 am
Location: Ohio, USA

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by DCHindley »

Jax wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 5:12 pm
Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 3:47 pm Good post.

Can you outline which of those cities, if any, with a military presence in the first century BC would have lacked one in the (middle of the) first century AD? In other words, if the connection between most of these cities is a military one, does that mean that it also has to be a combatant one? Does there have to be a war going on, or can it simply be one soldier going to the people he knows best, his "fellow soldiers" (taken literally)?
If I understand your question, I think that the only city that was invested with a heavy military presence, of the ones that I mention, in the 1st century was Syria.

I'll have to look it up but I think that is correct. Augustus really cut down on the military in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor after Actium and ramp'd things up in Spain, the Danube and Rhine areas with Germany, and the eastern areas with Parthia.

Aside from the revolt in Illyricun and the massacre at Teutoburg, for the most part, things were pretty quiet from Augustus to Nero.
Hi Lane,

You've probably heard of Emil Schürer's A History of the Jewish People in the Time of Jesus Christ. The English translation of the original 2nd German edition was published as 5 volumes between 1885 & 1910. There was a revision of the ET, based on the 3rd German edition, edited by Vermes, Miller, et al, as 4 volumes between 1973 & 1987. I always considered it rather good, and am surprised that it has never been reprinted in its entirety as either a hardback or even as paperbacks.

Well, volume 2 of the revised ET has sections devoted to overviews of most places of town size or larger in the area of Syria and Palestine, giving background histories and some interesting facts about them (and not "hokey" ones like in many bible commentaries). I think you would profit from finding copies of the revised ET at a local regional or college/university library and review it carefully. The problem is that it will probably be a "reference" copy that cannot be checked out. I have it, so if there are specific sections you want to look at at your leisure, let me know and I'll scan copies to send to you ("For research purposes only!" I say, stepping back a pace and holding up my hands in alarm).

The ETs based on the 2nd German edition are available online at www.archive.org if you hunt for them.*
CONTENTS OF DIVISION II. VOL. I.

22. THE STATE OF CULTURE IN GENERAL, .... 1
I. Mixture of Population, Language, .... 1
II. Diffusion of Hellenic Culture, . . . . .11
1. Hellenism in the Non-Jewish Regions, . . .11
2. Hellenism in the Jewish Region, . . . .29
III. Position of Judaism with respect to Heathenism, . . 51

23. CONSTITUTION. SANHEDRIM. HIGH PRIEST, . . .57
SECTIONS
I. The Hellenistic Towns, ..... 57
Raphia, 66. Gaza, 68. Anthedon, 72. Ascalon, 74.
Azotus, 76. Jamnia, 78. Joppa, 79. Apollonia, 83.
Straton's Tower Caesarea, 84. Dora, 87. Ptolemais,
90. Damascus, 96. Hippus, 98. Gadara, 100. Abila,
104. Raphana, 106. Kanata, 106. Kanatha, 108.
Scythopolis, 110. Pella, 113. Dium, 115. Gerasa,
116. Philadelphia, llr. Sebaste = Samaria, 123.
Gaba, 127. Esbon (Hesbon), 128. Antipatris, 130.
Phasaelis, 131. Caesarea Panias, 132. Julias = Bethsaida,
135. Sepphoris, 136. Julias = Livias, 141.
Tiberias, 143.

II. The strictly Jewish Territory, . . . . .149
CONTENTS OF DIVISION I. VOL. II
APPENDICES

I, History of Chalcis, Iturea, and Abilene, . . 325

II. History of the Nabatean Kings, .... 345
You'll have to go elsewhere for regions of Asia Minor and Greece. I'd recommend the following very detailed and FREE! resource:

(Smith, Wm) Dictionary of the Bible (4 volumes, sometime around 1870), all available for download at www.archive.org.

DCH

*
By far one of the most important set of volumes in my library is Emil Schürer's History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus Christ (175 B.C. - A.D. 135), Revised edition, T & T Clark, Edinburgh, 1973-1987.

This edition of the English translation was based on the three volume 3rd German edition, entitled Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im zeitalter Jesu Christi. (2nd & 3rd vol 1898; 1st vol 1901); a "4th" German edition, identical to the 3rd, was published in 1909, plus an Index to the whole in 1911).

Volume I (ISBN 0 567 02242 0): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes & Fergus Millar, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1973, Jewish History.

Volume II (ISBN 0 567 02243 9): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Matthew Black, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1979, Jewish Culture, Political & Social Institutions, Messianism.

Volume III.1 (ISBN 0 567 02244 7): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Martin Goodman, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1986, Jewish-Gentile relationships in the Diaspora, Jewish literature in Hebrew, Aramaic & Greek.

Volume III.2 (ISBN 0 567 09373 5): A New English Edition, revised and edited by Geza Vermes, Fergus Millar, Martin Goodman, Literary Editor Pamela Vermes, Organizing Editor Matthew Black, 1987, Jewish literature such as Apocrypha & Pseudepigrapha (including some that may by Christian revisions of originally Jewish works), Philo, and finally a complete index of all volumes.

The previous English translation, published in five volumes as A History of the Jewish People in the time of Jesus Christ (1885-1891), was based on the 2 volume 2nd revised German edition, which like the 3rd German edition, was entitled Geschichte des Jüdischen Volkes im zeitalter Jesu Christi, published between 1885-1891 (ISBN 10 for the whole set is 1-56563-049-1, ISBN 13 is 978-1-56563-049-9). This set is still in print, and incredibly cheap to buy in hardcopy if you don't like to work from scans downloaded from the Internet, but outdated in many ways.

Volume 2 of the 2nd revised German edition was published as the "2nd Division" in three volumes (1885), while Volume 1 of the German 2nd revised edition was published in two volumes as the "1st Division" (1890). An index to the 5 volume set was published in 1891.

First Division: Political History of Palestine from BC 175 to AD 135.
Vol 1, 1890.
Vol 2, 1890

Second Division: The Internal Condition of Palestine, and the Jewish people, in the Time of Jesus Christ.
Vol 1, 1885
Vol 2, 1885
Vol 3, 1885

Index to all five volumes, 1891

This 2nd German edition was, in turn, was an expansion of Schürer's original one volume German handbook entitled Lehrbuch der neutestamentlichen Zeitgeschichte, which means "Manual of the History of New Testament Times," in 1874 (J C Heinrichs, i-vii, 698 pages).
User avatar
Jax
Posts: 1443
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 6:10 am

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Jax »

Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:00 pm
Ben C. Smith wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 6:00 pmSorry. I didn't address the second half of your question.

If Paul is a soldier in the mid 1st century, where did he fight?
He would not be fighting at all. He would simply be a part of the standing army, or (better yet) a veteran with some disposable income. (That is what I was wondering about whether a war was needed to move Paul around from place to place.)

Paul's plans to go to Rome and to Spain come across as self determination, do they not? If he is being moved around with his legion, how is he able to plan his next journey(s) if he is fighting a war?
Personally I feel that Paul is out of the game militarily after the Liberator's war as he was probably fighting as a mercenary on the side of Cassius and Brutus and would therefore have no troop to be attached to after Octavian and Antony disbanded the Liberator's forces.
Roman soldiers would have been absorbed into the armies of Octavian and Antony or perhaps retired with other veterans in the area. Auxiliary troops would have been told to return home after swearing an oath to Rome, but guys like Paul, if he were a mercenary, would probably be shown the camp gate and told not to be found loitering. After swearing an oath to Rome of course.

His letters to the Philippians seem to indicate that he is hard up and relying on them for assistance. This would be consistent with someone getting back on his feet after finding themselves stranded somewhere.

Let's look at what might be the case if Paul were part of Romes (or anyones) military in the 1st century.

After Actium in 31 BCE Augustus trimmed the military significantly and retired a lot of veterans. The focus of Rome then shifted from Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor to the northern borders with the Germanic tribes and out east with the border with Parthia. From Actium on, things in the Roman Empire proper were pretty quiet. Especially in Greece and Asia Minor were Paul is writing to. There is the revolt in Illyricum from 6-9 CE that might fit the bill but to the best of my knowledge that was fought with Roman troops only. Paul being Jewish would have been unlikely to have been part of it.
Also, being Jewish, Paul is unlikely to have been stationed on the Rhine and Danube borders. And he makes no mention of this possibility at any rate.

This leaves the Levant and eastern border with Parthia as the only real options for Paul as a military man of Jewish decent in the 1st century. Which begs the question of why he is writing to people in Greece and Macedonia. He does mention being in Syria and Antioch in his letters so it is possible that he is part of the Roman army there, but again, he is corresponding with people in Greece and Macedonia not Syria, Asia Minor, and the Levant.

There is simply no real compelling reason for Paul to be in Greece and Macedonia (especially Philippi) in the mid 1st century, nothing was going on there then, but plenty of reasons for him being there in the mid to late 1st century BCE.
User avatar
Jax
Posts: 1443
Joined: Sun Aug 06, 2017 6:10 am

Re: Paul Without Acts

Post by Jax »

MrMacSon wrote: Sun Feb 11, 2018 2:08 am
Jax wrote: Sat Feb 10, 2018 1:28 pm
Paul writes about and to, places in the areas of Greece, Macedonia, Asia Minor as well as Illyricum.

While not impossible that a Jewish man from the Levant would and or could travel to these places in the 1st century1 as part of a missionary expedition, it seems less likely to me than having his presence explained by his having been part of the civil wars of 'Rome'2 there from the mid to late 1st century BCE.
1. I presume you are referring to the unlikelihood of a Jewish man from the Levant travelling to these places in the 1st century AD/CE.

2. I presume you are referring to the Roman Empire



Further, two of the places that he writes to (Thessalonica and Philippi) are centered around the area of Philippi where the battle between the forces of Cassius and Brutus against the armies of Mark Anthony and Octavian took place during the Liberator's war of 43-42 BCE.

Philippi would become a Roman military veteran settlement colony after this war as will Troas, being settled by veterans of Augustus, as Corinth and Sinope were under Julius Caesar not much earlier.

Paul does not write to Damascus, Jerusalem, Syria or Cilicia (that we know of), and only mentions them in his letters as places that he has been in the past.

Paul does write to people in the city of Rome, but it is clear that he has never been there. Also in that letter he states his intention of first taking monies collected from Greece and Macedonia to Jerusalem, and then visiting them on his way to Spain as he hopes that they will assist him in this endeavor.

It is interesting to note that Spain will be the last place that needs to be pacified by Augustus at the end of the Roman civil wars of the late Republic, as well as having quite a few settlement colonies of Julius and Augustus Caesar there.

Paul being in Illyricum in the 1st century seems problematic, but, as there were major military bases there in the 1st century BCE leading up to Julius Caesar's planned invasion of Parthia before his assassination by the Liberators, Cassius and Brutus, It seems more likely that after the Philippi battle that the losers would be marched there to sort everyone out. Pure speculation of course but possible.

It should also be noted that the cities that he mentions that were not veteran colonies (Athens, Ephesus and Antioch) were areas that had major concentrations of Roman military in the 1st century BCE. Especially under Mark Antony.

I always found it odd that cities like Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella are never mentioned even though they are much more important cities than towns like Philippi and Troas. But then there were no troop concentrations in Smyrna, Pergamon and Pella in the 1st century BCE.

He never mentioned Tarsus either, which would seem odd if he were from there, but not so odd when one realizes that it also had no troops stationed there. The same holds true with other major centers like Mytilene, Cyzicus, Nicea, and Nicomedia, which were all bigger and more important than Thessalonica, except that they held no troop concentrations, while Thessalonica was the main port for overland Roman troop movement at that time.

So that Laddies and Germs is the kernel of my thesis. :D

I contend that Paul is up in Greece, Macedonia, and Asia Minor as a militant in at least the battle of Philippi, and is attached to the Liberator's army, probably as an axillary, possibly recruited in Syria or Cilicia and afterwards (being a non Roman on the losing side and not part of a regular army) found himself stranded in Greece or Macedonia with no way to finance his way back home.

I further contend that he had a background in a sectarian messiah cult, probably centered around Damascus and Jerusalem, that he used to create his own version to earn a living where he now found himself.

What [other] writer or historian of antiquity would have recorded these military events? and grouped them together?

I'm wondering if someone might have borrowed the situations in these places and written a theological narrative based on them(?)



I will close with this...
Now, brothers, I want to remind you of the gospel I preached to you, which you received and on which you have taken your stand. By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.

For what I received I passed on to you as of first importance: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, and then to the Twelve. After that, he appeared to more than five hundred of the brothers at the same time, most of whom are still living, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles, and last of all he appeared to me also, as to one abnormally born.
500 men would be the size of a normal Roman military axillary unit. ;)
Through several centuries?
1. I presume you are referring to the unlikelihood of a Jewish man from the Levant travelling to these places in the 1st century AD/CE.
Correct. Not impossible mind you, just less likely IMO.
2. I presume you are referring to the Roman Empire
Late Roman Republic actually.
What [other] writer or historian of antiquity would have recorded these military events? and grouped them together?
I'm not sure that I understand your question.
Through several centuries?
I am sure that I do not understand this question.
Post Reply