The Super Apostles of Corinth

[robert j]

Part One

Christians under every rock and behind every bush? A question that plagues the standard story found in Acts about other missionaries and assemblies of the Christ in Gentile territory in Paul’s day is this --- where is the evidence?

A different scenario emerges if one appropriately discounts the fictional stories in the Acts of the Apostles developed by the second-century proto-orthodox to support their authority and their brand of the faith.

The evidence for mid first-century assembles of the Christ in Rome is weak and questionable. The addresses to Rome in the first chapter of the letter Romans --- as well as chapters 15 and 16 --- are not found in some ancient manuscripts and early attestations. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=2000

There is no convincing evidence in the letter to the Galatians that the troublemakers were outsiders, or that they were even believers in the Christ. The internal evidence is entirely consistent with a local problem --- with Jewish acquaintances of Paul’s congregation that weren't overly concerned about Paul's salvific figure found in the Jewish scriptures by means of allegorical midrash, but objected to the claims by Paul's congregation that they could be full participants with the people of Israel without the benefit of circumcision.

And how about Apollos of Alexandria? The tag-line 'of Alexandria', is nothing more than fiction by the author of Acts (along with added story-lines). In Paul’s letter to the Corinthians, Apollos is nothing more than one of Paul’s co-workers. In the same vein, there is no evidence in Paul’s authentic letters that Cephas had ever visited any of his congregations. Paul admits --- that more than 14 years after he began his mission --- the Jerusalem group was still just working among those of Israel. (Gal 2:7-9).

No, in my opinion, Paul was much more of a pioneer than generally believed

Now I want to take aim at another group. The so-called “super apostles” of Corinth.

robert j,

[robert j]

Part Two

Paul responds to the threat to his authority from the “super apostles” --- missionaries the congregation liked better than Paul --- in a letter now found in 2 Corinthians. The received letter we now call 2 Corinthians is widely recognized as a composite of more than one correspondence. I believe Paul’s very last extant letter to Corinth is his response to this threat and is found in 2 Corinthians 2:14 through 6:13 and chapters 10 through 13. See --- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=829 in two parts.

Apparently the default position is that Paul’s competitors in 2 Corinthians, the “super apostles”, were Jewish Christians. After all, Paul says as much, doesn’t he? Well, no he doesn't except with mis-translations (the NIV and KJV are better than most here) ---

“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? So am I. Are they servants of Christ? I'm talking as if out of my mind. I am better in labors more abundant, imprisonments more frequent, in wounds above measure, in deaths oft.” (2 Cor ” (2 Cor 11:22-23).

I have no doubt they were Jewish --- Paul’s response is clear testimony to that. But in response to his own rhetorical question "Are they servants of Christ?", all Paul wrote was "that's crazy talk."

I believe Paul just made an assumption about the Christ in the teachings of the super apostles. Paul heard about the visit of these missionaries from Titus when Titus returned from his second visit to the congregation. A visit that was apparently not pleasant and likely didn’t last long (2 Cor 12:16-18 and elsewhere). Paul heard about the competitors’ teachings third-hand from Titus, and likely after a long journey by Titus when details could be forgotten.

Paul admits his sketchy knowledge, and really wasn’t sure about the teachings of the competitors about Christ,

“Indeed, if one coming proclaims another Jesus whom we did not proclaim, or you receive a different spirit which you did not receive, or a different gospel which you did not accept, you are enduring it well.” (2 Cor 11:4).

Paul really didn’t know much about what the competitors said about Christ, but he must have heard a lot from Titus about their mystical exegesis on Moses.

Sure, the competitors must have worked Paul's Christ into their act, but that would have been no problem for these guys --- they were pros.

In his excellent book that provides a comprehensive treatment of the subject, “The Opponents of Paul in Second Corinthians”, Georgi Dieter comes oh-so-close to what I believe to be the best solution,

“Through their self-designations, the opponents of Paul revealed not only that they were missionaries but also in whose footsteps they planned to tread: in those of the Jewish missionaries, who had held and were holding their own in the missionary competition of the Hellenistic world.” (Dieter, 1986, p. 164).

I believe Dieter goes off the tracks as he goes on to say they were “Jesus-missionaries”. In my opinion, the most valuable part of Dieter’s book is the second chapter titled, “Missionary Activity in New Testament Times”, mostly devoted to Jewish missionary activity in the Diaspora.

I think open-minded investigators must at least consider the possibility that Paul’s competitors were professional Jewish missionaries traveling the circuit of Diaspora synagogues, giving presentations for a few night’s lodging and some coins --- the more dazzling their presentations, the more coins they gathered. This could also account for their letters of recommendations from satisfied Jewish congregations.

These guys didn’t just show up at the doorstep during a meeting of the Corinthian congregation one evening. They must have been invited. Likely they met a prosperous looking member or two of Paul’s congregation in a public plaza, or café, or met through a Jewish acquaintance. It wouldn’t take more than a few minutes of discussion for such opportunistic pros to garner an invitation and to learn all they needed about Paul’s version of the Christ spirit. Such successful traveling evangelists would be skilled at reading people, at perceiving what was important to their target audience, and at delivering a presentation that would dazzle. With a few hours of preparation, these polished performers could easily work the Christ spirit into their standard presentation on the mysteries of Moses.

Dieter discusses at length the mystical exegesis on Moses by Jewish apologists ranging from Philo to Josephus. Here’s one example from Philo, a passage that would certainly have appealed to the arrogant and pneumatic-minded Corinthians,

“ ... and if the prophet was truly called the friend of God, then it follows that he would naturally partake of God himself and of all his possessions as far as he had need; for God possesses everything and is in need of nothing; but the good man has nothing which is properly his own, no, not even himself, but he has a share granted to him of the treasures of God as far as he is able to partake of them. And this is natural enough; for he is a citizen of the world; on which account he is not spoken of as to be enrolled as a citizen of any particular city in the habitable world, since he very appropriately has for his inheritance not a portion of a district, but the whole world. What more shall I say? Has he not also enjoyed an even greater communion with the Father and Creator of the universe, being thought unworthy of being called by the same appellation? For he also was called the god and king of the whole nation, and he is said to have entered into the darkness where God was; that is to say, into the invisible, and shapeless, and incorporeal world, the essence, which is the model of all existing things, where he beheld things invisible to mortal nature ... he established himself as a most beautiful and Godlike work, to be a model for all those who were inclined to imitate him." (Philo, On the Life of Moses, 1.156-158)

Such a presentation by the competitors could certainly account for Paul’s perceived need to relate his tale of the man he knew that was taken up to the third heaven and heard things that it is not allowed for man to speak. (2 Cor 12:2-4). And such a mystical presentation on Moses would explain Paul’s perceived need to rebut the significance of Moses (2 Cor chapters 3 through 5). In these chapters Paul devotes a lot of verbiage to convince the Corinthians of the superiority of the light and glory of his Christ spirit over the “glory” of Moses that, according to Paul, is “being abolished”. (2 Cor 3:7-14).

robert J.

[Leucius Charinus]

And how about Apollos of Alexandria? This is nothing more than fiction by the author of Acts.

Codex Bezae has "Apollonius". Apollonius of Tyana is generally regarded as an historical person, in which case the author of Acts may have found room for Apollonius in his fiction story.

[robert j]

If written again, I would revise my statement to read --- "And how about Apollos of Alexandria? Adding the tag-line 'of Alexandria' to a figure associated with Paul, along with the added story lines, are nothing more than fiction by the author of Acts."

robert j.

[robert j]

Did Paul actually acknowledge that the super-apostles were servants of Christ in 2 Corinthians 11:23? Or for that matter anywhere in the letter?

The default position that the super-apostles were Jewish Christians may not be justified based on Paul’s own words.

By way of background, most readers recognize that Paul was being sarcastic with his terminology --- that Paul would not actually grant that his opponents were (ὑπερλίαν) “better”, “beyond him”, “more beneficial” apostles. Paul heard about these competitors from Titus when Titus returned from a visit to Corinth. I suspect the Corinthians told Titus they liked these new evangelists better than Paul, what they offered exceeded what Paul offered. In his written response, IMO, Paul was being snarky, he was throwing the characterization used by the Corinthian congregation back in their faces, saying sarcastically (in 2 Cor 11:5 and 12:11), 'these so-called super apostles'.

Now back to 2 Cor 11:22-23, here using the International Standard Version --- this translation clearly has Paul recognizing the super-apostles as servants of Christ ---

“Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelis? So am I. Are they among Abraham's descendants? So am I. Are they the Messiah's servants? I am insane to talk like this, but I am a far better one! I have been involved in far greater efforts, far more imprisonments, countless beatings, and have faced death more than once.” (2 Cor 11:22-23).

In contrast, here’s the translation of verse 23 from the King James --- here the opponents are not clearly recognized as servants of Christ at all ---

“Are they ministers of Christ? (I speak as a fool) I am more; in labours more abundant, in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft.” (2 Cor 11:-23)

IMO, the KJV better represents the Greek here (except for some punctuation). In verse 22, Paul specifically acknowledges the competitors as Hebrews, Israelites, and seed of Abraham with a clear “So am I” after each of the three questions. But in verse 23, after the question, “Are they servants of Christ?”, Paul could only offer the emphatic, odd, and noncommittal “that’s crazy talk”. Then Paul goes on to claim that he is (ὑπὲρ) “better”, “above”, “surpasses” [the super-apostles] in his more abundant imprisonments, beatings, and near-deaths.

I think Paul nailed it when expressing his suspicions --- that the super-apostles only added mention of the Christ to their standard presentation for the benefit of the Corinthians ---

“For such men are false apostles, deceitful workers, disguising themselves as apostles of Christ.” (2 Cor 11:13).

In the OP in part 2, I presented arguments characterizing the super-apostles as talented and opportunistic Jewish evangelists working the Diaspora circuit --- men who incorporated what they heard about Paul’s Christ into their standard mystical exegesis on Moses for the benefit of Paul’s Corinthian congregation.

robert j.


Greek for 2 Cor 11:22-23 (Nestle GNT, 1904) ---

Ἑβραῖοί εἰσιν; κἀγώ. Ἰσραηλεῖταί εἰσιν; κἀγώ. σπέρμα Ἀβραάμ εἰσιν; κἀγώ. διάκονοι Χριστοῦ εἰσιν; παραφρονῶν λαλῶ, ὑπὲρ ἐγώ· ἐν κόποις περισσοτέρως, ἐν φυλακαῖς περισσοτέρως, ἐν πληγαῖς ὑπερβαλλόντως, ἐν θανάτοις πολλάκις.