Even for ancient Christians the silence of Paul about the earthly Jesus was a REAL PROBLEM

Discussion about the New Testament, apocrypha, gnostics, church fathers, Christian origins, historical Jesus or otherwise, etc.
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Giuseppe
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Even for ancient Christians the silence of Paul about the earthly Jesus was a REAL PROBLEM

Post by Giuseppe »


But Paul, looking only to the goodness of Christ, did them no harm, but loved them exceedingly, so that he made the oracles of the Lord sweet to them in the teaching both of the birth and the resurrection of the Beloved; and he gave them an account, word for word, of the great things of Christ, how He had been revealed to him.

https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0816.htm

Another translation gives "deeds" in the place of "things".

Here, of course, the Acts of Paul state a fact that cannot be found in the Pauline Epistles, which cointan scant information about the work of the earthly Jesus.

(Markus Vinzent, Resetting the Origins of Christianity, p. 252)
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MrMacSon
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Re: Even for ancient Christians the silence of Paul about the earthly Jesus was a REAL PROBLEM

Post by MrMacSon »



As Paul was going up to Iconium after the flight from Antioch, his fellow-travellers were Demas and Ermogenes, full of hypocrisy; and they were importunate with Paul, as if they loved him. But Paul, looking only to the goodness of Christ, did them no harm, but loved them exceedingly, so that he made the oracles of the Lord sweet to them in the teaching both of the birth and the resurrection of the Beloved; and he gave them an account, word for word, of the great things of Christ, how He had been revealed to him.

And a certain man, by name Onesiphorus, hearing that Paul had come to Iconium, went out to meet him with his children Silas and Zeno, and his wife Lectra, in order that he might entertain him: for Titus had informed him what Paul was like in appearance: for he had not seen him [Paul] in the flesh, but only in the spirit. And he went along the road to Lystra, and stood waiting for him, and kept looking at the passers by according to the description of Titus. And he saw Paul coming, a man small in size, bald-headed, bandy-legged, well-built, with eyebrows meeting, rather long-nosed, full of grace. For sometimes he seemed like a man, and sometimes he had the countenance of an angel. And Paul, seeing Onesiphorus, smiled; and Onesiphorus said: 'Hail, O servant of the blessed God!' And he said: "Grace be with you and your house." And Demas and Ermogenes were jealous, and showed greater hypocrisy; so that Demas said: 'Are not we of the blessed God, that you have not thus saluted us?' And Onesiphorus said: 'I do not see in you the fruit of righteousness; but if such you be, come you also into my house and rest yourselves.'


https://www.newadvent.org/fathers/0816.htm
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Leucius Charinus
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Re: Even for ancient Christians the silence of Paul about the earthly Jesus was a REAL PROBLEM

Post by Leucius Charinus »

The Acts of Paul uses Aesop's Fable of the lion and the mouse to compare Paul to the mouse. Paul is wandering around the wilderness and comes across a talking lion which Paul baptizes. At the end of these Acts, when Paul is thrown to the lions in the coliseum guess what? Out springs the baptized lion and SAVES Paul's life !!! One good turn deserves another !!!

Does anyone know the genre of the "Life of Brian"? The Acts of Paul is an ancient form of satire. These stories were terribly embarrassing for the orthodox canonical crew. The "Testimonium Tertullianum" was how they fixed that problem.
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