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The Mystery of Paul's Ignorance1
Louis W. Cable
Paul's writing is no better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told.
Thomas Paine2
Let us consider the question of Paul's ignorance, perhaps the most perplexing problem confronting the defenders of the historical Jesus. The Apostle Paul, often referred to as the founder of Christianity, seems to have been totally unaware of any details of Jesus' life and teachings as they are presented in the New Testament gospels. Nowhere does Paul equate his hero, Jesus Christ, with a virgin born miracle worker from Nazareth recently put to death in Judea. Certainly it is not unreasonable to expect that somewhere among his extensive writings he would have betrayed some knowledge of the circumstances surrounding these most important events had they actually occurred.
Paul's dates are not definitely known, but he must have lived from somewhere around 53 to around 674. Although these dates may not be exact, the traditional dates of Jesus’ ministry (27-30) fall well within them. When Jesus was supposed to have been active in his ministry, Paul was a grown man in his early to mid twenties living and working in Jerusalem. He was a Jew, a member of the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11:1). He claims to have studied under the famous rabbinical teacher, Gamaliel, and to have been closely associated with the political and religious leaders of that day (Acts 22:3-5). During that time Jerusalem was a city of approximately 120,000 population5, not significantly large. He surely must have heard of Jesus, the miracle worker. In Matthew 4:24 we learn that Jesus' fame as a healer had spread "throughout all of Syria." How could he have missed Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which, according to Matthew 21:1-10, attracted great multitudes6. How could he not have heard about Jesus’ cleansing of the temple which incurred the wrath of the chief priest (Matthew 21:12-16)? As an enforcer of the law, how could Paul not have known of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas Iscariot, the trial, and/or the crucifixion with its attendant anomalies such as darkness at noon and earthquakes? Why didn't he mention the resurrection of the saints (Matthew 27:52-53) or the amputation by Peter of the right ear of Malchus, the chief priest's slave (John 18:10,) and its miraculous reattachment by Jesus (Luke 22:51)? Surely Paul would have encountered Jesus sometime during those years so crucial to what was later to become the Christian religion. In Luke 24:18 Cleopas, one of the two travelers the resurrected Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus, says that everybody in Jerusalem knew about Jesus. Yet, not a single reference to these important, even astounding, events appears anywhere in the authentic Pauline epistles. As far as the record goes, the only encounter Paul ever had with Jesus was that famous incident which allegedly occurred on the road to Damascus.
The Book of Acts records three separate accounts of Paul’s conversion to Christianity. None of these accounts agrees fully with the other two. For example, in Acts 9:7 Paul says that the men with him "heard the voice." But in Acts 22:9 he says they "did not hear the voice." The other contradiction lies in the manner in which Paul claims to have received his instructions. According to the first two accounts, Jesus didn't say very much. He directed Paul to go into the city where he would be told what he must do (Acts 9:6 and 22:10). However, in his defense before King Agrippa (Acts 26:12-18) Paul tells a different story. Here he says that Jesus instructed him in great detail right there on the spot. So, did Paul (or the writer of Acts of the Apostles) deliberately lie?
Paul tells in II Cor. 11:32-33 how he made a daring escape from the agents of King Aretas who were out to arrest him. This establishes a reliable extra-biblical time line because Aretas, King of the Nabataeans, is a historical person known to have died in the year 407. Therefore, Paul’s conversion and the beginning of his career as an evangelist had to have taken place sometime in the late 30s, less than ten years after the alleged crucifixion. He should have been personally acquainted with many people who had had direct contact with Jesus. For example, he went to Jerusalem where he spent fifteen days with Cephas (Peter) (Galatians 1:18), whom Jesus had personally selected to be his earthly successor (Matthew 16:18-19). Surely they discussed the life of Jesus, and his teachings.
Those Pauline epistles considered to be genuine were written between 50 and 60. They predate the gospels and are among the earliest extant Christian writings. For that reason one would expect them to contain a wealth of details about Jesus' life and teachings, details confirming the gospel accounts. But this is far from the case. Concerning the alleged virgin birth Paul never mentions Mary. He says only that, Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4). The time, place and circumstances of Jesus’ alleged miraculous conception and birth, recorded in such great detail in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, are never mentioned. Paul says not one word about Joseph, Jesus’ surrogate father who figures so prominently in the birth narratives. Also, Paul apparently never heard of John the Baptist who not only baptized Jesus, but who is said to have been instrumental in the fulfillment of certain Old Testament prophecies allegedly confirming Jesus as the long awaited messiah.
In Romans 1:3 Paul tells us without proof that Jesus was in fact a direct descendant of King David. Paul's writings predate the gospels of Matthew and Luke by some twenty five to thirty years. He was a contemporary of Jesus yet he obviously never heard of the virgin birth touted as one of Christianity's most important miracles. The only conclusion we are left with is that the virgin birth of Jesus is a fantasy concoction of the writers of Matthew and Luke inserted in their gospels probably for the purpose of converting Pagans.
In Matthew 23 Jesus bitterly denounces the scribes and the Pharisees, accusing them of being nothing more than a bunch of lying hypocrites out to get him. Apparently Paul was unaware of this because when testifying before the chief priest and the Council he proudly proclaims, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6).
First Corinthians 15:45 begins with the familiar words, "So it is written" and goes on to say, "the first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Here Paul claims to quote scripture that is nonexistent. There is no mention anywhere else in the Bible of a second Adam. This second Adam, according to Paul, is none other than Jesus, a spirit who, according to 1 Cor. 15:47, came directly from heaven. This Pauline passage contradicts the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke as well as Gelatins 4:4.
In Philippians 3:10-11 Paul declares with great emotion, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Yet when he returns to Jerusalem it is merely to visit Peter, as mentioned above. He never expresses the slightest desire to see Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace, Nazareth, his home town, the sites of his preaching, the upper room where he is supposed to have held the fabled Last Supper, nor Calvary where the ultimate sacrifice was allegedly made. Most astonishing of all, however, is that there is not one hint of a pilgrimage to the tomb in which the resurrection, the center piece of Paul’s theology, is supposed to have taken place.
Paul makes no references to Jesus' ethical and moral teachings in situations where it would have been in his best interest to have done so8. He, in fact, contradicts some of them. For example, Paul held that gentile Christians need not obey Jewish law to be saved (Gal. 3:8-9 and 5:6). Evidently he was unaware that this was a direct contradiction of the teachings of Jesus on this matter (Matthew 5:17-19). Furthermore when Paul does make such ethical pronouncements as "Bless those who persecute you" (Romans 12:14), he does not cite the authority of Jesus (Matthew 5:10-12). We can only conclude that he never heard of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ prescription for Christian living.
First Corinthians 13 (NRSV) has been dubbed, "Paul's Hymn to Love." Throughout this short chapter he does indeed wax eloquent over that important emotion. The chapter concludes with Paul summing it all up as follows, "And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." Why at this point in his pontification didn't Paul cite the many love pronouncements of Jesus particularly John 13:34? Here Jesus issues the well known new commandment, "That you love one another." Was Paul unaware of it?
When Paul, in Romans 8:26, says "we do not know how to pray as we should," does this mean he was unaware that Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer to his disciples (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2)? Did Paul not know of Jesus’ prayer against temptation (Mark 14:35-36 and parallels) or the famous farewell prayer (John 17:1-16)? In 2 Cor. 12:12 Paul states, "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you . . . by signs and wonders and miracles." Surely Paul would have cited Jesus' miracles at this point, had he been aware of them. We can only surmise that Paul had no knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus as they are presented in the gospels. Considering his temporal proximity to these events this makes absolutely no sense.
Paul’s brief rendition of the resurrection appears in I Corinthians 15:3-8: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. This bare list stands as the earliest extant reference to a resurrection tradition. But there are big problems. First, Paul refers to scripture that is non-existent. No one has yet been able to locate it. Second, "the twelve" apparently refers to the apostles and has to include Judas Iscariot. Here again Paul, a contemporary of Jesus, shows no awareness of Judas and the important events surrounding his alleged treachery and death. Third, who were the "more than five hundred"? They are never identified nor are there any eyewitness reports from any of them, and there is no mention of them anywhere in the gospels. So what it comes down to is that it’s Paul’s word and his alone.
G. A. Wells10 points out that Paul is not alone in his silence concerning the alleged earthly life of Jesus as it is portrayed in the gospels. Also silent in regard to this question are all of the earliest extant Christian writings as well as the extant writings of all first century Jewish historians. References to the biography of Jesus as depicted in the gospels does begin to not appear in Christian writings until the beginning of the first century after the gospels had become current. It becomes obvious therefore that it was the gospels themselves that provided the source for these writings. (See Are the Gospels True? on this web site.)
The first paragraph of this essay ends with a question - Why? Why was the Apostle Paul ignorant of the life of Jesus as it is presented in the gospels? Well, the answer is obvious. The gospels are fiction, and Jesus’ "life" had not been invented when Paul lived and wrote.
For more information on Paul see The Pauline Epistles and Would You Buy a Used Car From St. Paul? on this website.
_____________________________________________________
1 Compiled by Louis W. Cable.
2 The Age of Reason.
3 All dates are common era (CE) unless otherwise indicated.
4 Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, under Biographical Entries.
5 Encyclopedia Judaica - population and area of Jerusalem during the time of Pontius Pilate (26-36).
6 In the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia "multitude" is defined as a number too great to count.
7 Brownrigg, Ronald - Who’s Who in the New Testament - Holt, Rinehart and Wenston, 1971 - page 34.
8 Wells, G. A., 1999. The Jesus Myth, page 69.
9 Mack, Burton L., Who Wrote the New Testament? pgs. 206 - 207.
10 Wells, G. A. , Can We Trust the New Testament?, Open Court, 2004, pages 50-51.
http://home.inu.net/skeptic/paulsig.html
Louis W. Cable
Paul's writing is no better than the jargon of a conjurer who picks up phrases he does not understand to confound the credulous people who come to have their fortune told.
Thomas Paine2
Let us consider the question of Paul's ignorance, perhaps the most perplexing problem confronting the defenders of the historical Jesus. The Apostle Paul, often referred to as the founder of Christianity, seems to have been totally unaware of any details of Jesus' life and teachings as they are presented in the New Testament gospels. Nowhere does Paul equate his hero, Jesus Christ, with a virgin born miracle worker from Nazareth recently put to death in Judea. Certainly it is not unreasonable to expect that somewhere among his extensive writings he would have betrayed some knowledge of the circumstances surrounding these most important events had they actually occurred.
Paul's dates are not definitely known, but he must have lived from somewhere around 53 to around 674. Although these dates may not be exact, the traditional dates of Jesus’ ministry (27-30) fall well within them. When Jesus was supposed to have been active in his ministry, Paul was a grown man in his early to mid twenties living and working in Jerusalem. He was a Jew, a member of the tribe of Benjamin (Romans 11:1). He claims to have studied under the famous rabbinical teacher, Gamaliel, and to have been closely associated with the political and religious leaders of that day (Acts 22:3-5). During that time Jerusalem was a city of approximately 120,000 population5, not significantly large. He surely must have heard of Jesus, the miracle worker. In Matthew 4:24 we learn that Jesus' fame as a healer had spread "throughout all of Syria." How could he have missed Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem which, according to Matthew 21:1-10, attracted great multitudes6. How could he not have heard about Jesus’ cleansing of the temple which incurred the wrath of the chief priest (Matthew 21:12-16)? As an enforcer of the law, how could Paul not have known of Jesus’ betrayal by Judas Iscariot, the trial, and/or the crucifixion with its attendant anomalies such as darkness at noon and earthquakes? Why didn't he mention the resurrection of the saints (Matthew 27:52-53) or the amputation by Peter of the right ear of Malchus, the chief priest's slave (John 18:10,) and its miraculous reattachment by Jesus (Luke 22:51)? Surely Paul would have encountered Jesus sometime during those years so crucial to what was later to become the Christian religion. In Luke 24:18 Cleopas, one of the two travelers the resurrected Jesus encountered on the road to Emmaus, says that everybody in Jerusalem knew about Jesus. Yet, not a single reference to these important, even astounding, events appears anywhere in the authentic Pauline epistles. As far as the record goes, the only encounter Paul ever had with Jesus was that famous incident which allegedly occurred on the road to Damascus.
The Book of Acts records three separate accounts of Paul’s conversion to Christianity. None of these accounts agrees fully with the other two. For example, in Acts 9:7 Paul says that the men with him "heard the voice." But in Acts 22:9 he says they "did not hear the voice." The other contradiction lies in the manner in which Paul claims to have received his instructions. According to the first two accounts, Jesus didn't say very much. He directed Paul to go into the city where he would be told what he must do (Acts 9:6 and 22:10). However, in his defense before King Agrippa (Acts 26:12-18) Paul tells a different story. Here he says that Jesus instructed him in great detail right there on the spot. So, did Paul (or the writer of Acts of the Apostles) deliberately lie?
Paul tells in II Cor. 11:32-33 how he made a daring escape from the agents of King Aretas who were out to arrest him. This establishes a reliable extra-biblical time line because Aretas, King of the Nabataeans, is a historical person known to have died in the year 407. Therefore, Paul’s conversion and the beginning of his career as an evangelist had to have taken place sometime in the late 30s, less than ten years after the alleged crucifixion. He should have been personally acquainted with many people who had had direct contact with Jesus. For example, he went to Jerusalem where he spent fifteen days with Cephas (Peter) (Galatians 1:18), whom Jesus had personally selected to be his earthly successor (Matthew 16:18-19). Surely they discussed the life of Jesus, and his teachings.
Those Pauline epistles considered to be genuine were written between 50 and 60. They predate the gospels and are among the earliest extant Christian writings. For that reason one would expect them to contain a wealth of details about Jesus' life and teachings, details confirming the gospel accounts. But this is far from the case. Concerning the alleged virgin birth Paul never mentions Mary. He says only that, Jesus was born of a woman, born under the law (Galatians 4:4). The time, place and circumstances of Jesus’ alleged miraculous conception and birth, recorded in such great detail in the gospels of Matthew and Luke, are never mentioned. Paul says not one word about Joseph, Jesus’ surrogate father who figures so prominently in the birth narratives. Also, Paul apparently never heard of John the Baptist who not only baptized Jesus, but who is said to have been instrumental in the fulfillment of certain Old Testament prophecies allegedly confirming Jesus as the long awaited messiah.
In Romans 1:3 Paul tells us without proof that Jesus was in fact a direct descendant of King David. Paul's writings predate the gospels of Matthew and Luke by some twenty five to thirty years. He was a contemporary of Jesus yet he obviously never heard of the virgin birth touted as one of Christianity's most important miracles. The only conclusion we are left with is that the virgin birth of Jesus is a fantasy concoction of the writers of Matthew and Luke inserted in their gospels probably for the purpose of converting Pagans.
In Matthew 23 Jesus bitterly denounces the scribes and the Pharisees, accusing them of being nothing more than a bunch of lying hypocrites out to get him. Apparently Paul was unaware of this because when testifying before the chief priest and the Council he proudly proclaims, "Brethren, I am a Pharisee, the son of a Pharisee" (Acts 23:6).
First Corinthians 15:45 begins with the familiar words, "So it is written" and goes on to say, "the first man, Adam, was made a living soul; the last Adam was made a quickening spirit." Here Paul claims to quote scripture that is nonexistent. There is no mention anywhere else in the Bible of a second Adam. This second Adam, according to Paul, is none other than Jesus, a spirit who, according to 1 Cor. 15:47, came directly from heaven. This Pauline passage contradicts the birth narratives of Matthew and Luke as well as Gelatins 4:4.
In Philippians 3:10-11 Paul declares with great emotion, "That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; if by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead." Yet when he returns to Jerusalem it is merely to visit Peter, as mentioned above. He never expresses the slightest desire to see Bethlehem, Jesus’ birthplace, Nazareth, his home town, the sites of his preaching, the upper room where he is supposed to have held the fabled Last Supper, nor Calvary where the ultimate sacrifice was allegedly made. Most astonishing of all, however, is that there is not one hint of a pilgrimage to the tomb in which the resurrection, the center piece of Paul’s theology, is supposed to have taken place.
Paul makes no references to Jesus' ethical and moral teachings in situations where it would have been in his best interest to have done so8. He, in fact, contradicts some of them. For example, Paul held that gentile Christians need not obey Jewish law to be saved (Gal. 3:8-9 and 5:6). Evidently he was unaware that this was a direct contradiction of the teachings of Jesus on this matter (Matthew 5:17-19). Furthermore when Paul does make such ethical pronouncements as "Bless those who persecute you" (Romans 12:14), he does not cite the authority of Jesus (Matthew 5:10-12). We can only conclude that he never heard of the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus’ prescription for Christian living.
First Corinthians 13 (NRSV) has been dubbed, "Paul's Hymn to Love." Throughout this short chapter he does indeed wax eloquent over that important emotion. The chapter concludes with Paul summing it all up as follows, "And now faith, hope and love abide, these three; and the greatest of these is love." Why at this point in his pontification didn't Paul cite the many love pronouncements of Jesus particularly John 13:34? Here Jesus issues the well known new commandment, "That you love one another." Was Paul unaware of it?
When Paul, in Romans 8:26, says "we do not know how to pray as we should," does this mean he was unaware that Jesus taught the Lord’s prayer to his disciples (Matthew 6:9, Luke 11:2)? Did Paul not know of Jesus’ prayer against temptation (Mark 14:35-36 and parallels) or the famous farewell prayer (John 17:1-16)? In 2 Cor. 12:12 Paul states, "The signs of a true apostle were performed among you . . . by signs and wonders and miracles." Surely Paul would have cited Jesus' miracles at this point, had he been aware of them. We can only surmise that Paul had no knowledge of the life and teachings of Jesus as they are presented in the gospels. Considering his temporal proximity to these events this makes absolutely no sense.
Paul’s brief rendition of the resurrection appears in I Corinthians 15:3-8: For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, and that he appeared to Cephas, then to the twelve. Then he appeared to more than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive, though some have fallen asleep. Then he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. Last of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. This bare list stands as the earliest extant reference to a resurrection tradition. But there are big problems. First, Paul refers to scripture that is non-existent. No one has yet been able to locate it. Second, "the twelve" apparently refers to the apostles and has to include Judas Iscariot. Here again Paul, a contemporary of Jesus, shows no awareness of Judas and the important events surrounding his alleged treachery and death. Third, who were the "more than five hundred"? They are never identified nor are there any eyewitness reports from any of them, and there is no mention of them anywhere in the gospels. So what it comes down to is that it’s Paul’s word and his alone.
G. A. Wells10 points out that Paul is not alone in his silence concerning the alleged earthly life of Jesus as it is portrayed in the gospels. Also silent in regard to this question are all of the earliest extant Christian writings as well as the extant writings of all first century Jewish historians. References to the biography of Jesus as depicted in the gospels does begin to not appear in Christian writings until the beginning of the first century after the gospels had become current. It becomes obvious therefore that it was the gospels themselves that provided the source for these writings. (See Are the Gospels True? on this web site.)
The first paragraph of this essay ends with a question - Why? Why was the Apostle Paul ignorant of the life of Jesus as it is presented in the gospels? Well, the answer is obvious. The gospels are fiction, and Jesus’ "life" had not been invented when Paul lived and wrote.
For more information on Paul see The Pauline Epistles and Would You Buy a Used Car From St. Paul? on this website.
_____________________________________________________
1 Compiled by Louis W. Cable.
2 The Age of Reason.
3 All dates are common era (CE) unless otherwise indicated.
4 Webster’s II New Riverside University Dictionary, under Biographical Entries.
5 Encyclopedia Judaica - population and area of Jerusalem during the time of Pontius Pilate (26-36).
6 In the International Standard Bible Encyclopedia "multitude" is defined as a number too great to count.
7 Brownrigg, Ronald - Who’s Who in the New Testament - Holt, Rinehart and Wenston, 1971 - page 34.
8 Wells, G. A., 1999. The Jesus Myth, page 69.
9 Mack, Burton L., Who Wrote the New Testament? pgs. 206 - 207.
10 Wells, G. A. , Can We Trust the New Testament?, Open Court, 2004, pages 50-51.
http://home.inu.net/skeptic/paulsig.html
