Pierson on the two Pauls
Posted: Wed Sep 22, 2021 2:12 pm
Allard Pierson (1831-96) is reckoned among the founders of the Dutch radical school. In 1886 he published a book with the philologist Samuel Naber called Verisimilia: Lacertam Conditionem Novi Testamenti, of which I have translated a few bits for my own amusement. My confidence in the translation extends to perhaps 90%, so please make allowances. I left one passage untranslated that I could not comprehend.
From the Preface
From the chapter on Galatians
From the Preface
However highly we esteem what we owe to past interpreters of the New Testament, nonetheless we do boldly assert that it contains many things, not only in the other books but also in those epistles that are received under the name of the Apostle Paul, which lie hidden in the darkest obscurity. The Sacred Scroll, which we read and reread on account of the exceptional greatness of its subject matter, will never give the soul a pleasure unsullied by the tincture of some particular sorrow. How many things do we encounter in it again and again, which are dark and wholly unintelligible (2 Peter 3:16)!
From the chapter on Galatians
1. He denies that there are two Gospels, and writes of the Gospel that he impugns that it is no other than his own.
2. He curses others with great severity; deinde sicuti benevole monentes et suadentes solent, iterat, quod semel dixisse omnino satis erat.
3. He has no desire to be pleasing to other men, but the disciples will judge whether or not his ministry may be followed.
4. From his mother's womb he was set apart and called through the grace of God, and until well into his adulthood he excelled in Judaism and persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
5. He speaks of Jesus as of an image or leaven, which lay hidden a long time in his breast, and again speaks of Jesus as of a mortal man whose brother he knew.
6. No one who practices circumcision belongs to Christ, and he patiently accompanied Titus into a situation that risked his being circumcised; even extends the hand of fellowship to those who can demand circumcision.
7. Through revelation he receives the true Gospel, and likewise a revelation sends him to Jerusalem to inquire whether he has received the true Gospel.
8. He has labored in vain if his disciples follow the same men that he had sought out to discern whether he might have labored in vain.
9. He calls false brethren those who had come to spy upon his freedom; then offers the hand of fellowship to those who would not tolerate his most precious freedom unless he made concessions on this side and that.
10. He did not hinder those of great repute from sitting in judgment of him, nor did he care who they were, although the only matter on which they could pass judgment lay in the actions of his previous life.
...
Thus we hear these two Pauls, of whom one is severe and divinely inspired, while the other is mild and pleasing and deferential to another church's authority.
2. He curses others with great severity; deinde sicuti benevole monentes et suadentes solent, iterat, quod semel dixisse omnino satis erat.
3. He has no desire to be pleasing to other men, but the disciples will judge whether or not his ministry may be followed.
4. From his mother's womb he was set apart and called through the grace of God, and until well into his adulthood he excelled in Judaism and persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
5. He speaks of Jesus as of an image or leaven, which lay hidden a long time in his breast, and again speaks of Jesus as of a mortal man whose brother he knew.
6. No one who practices circumcision belongs to Christ, and he patiently accompanied Titus into a situation that risked his being circumcised; even extends the hand of fellowship to those who can demand circumcision.
7. Through revelation he receives the true Gospel, and likewise a revelation sends him to Jerusalem to inquire whether he has received the true Gospel.
8. He has labored in vain if his disciples follow the same men that he had sought out to discern whether he might have labored in vain.
9. He calls false brethren those who had come to spy upon his freedom; then offers the hand of fellowship to those who would not tolerate his most precious freedom unless he made concessions on this side and that.
10. He did not hinder those of great repute from sitting in judgment of him, nor did he care who they were, although the only matter on which they could pass judgment lay in the actions of his previous life.
...
Thus we hear these two Pauls, of whom one is severe and divinely inspired, while the other is mild and pleasing and deferential to another church's authority.