Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

…we know that there is no such thing as an idol in the world, and that there is no God but one . For even if there are so-called gods whether in heaven or on earth, as indeed there are many gods and many lords, yet for us there is but one God, the Father , from whom are all things and we exist for ...

There appears to be a reference to one of the Twelve being delivered into the hands of Belial in 4:2-3, and unless the Ascension (or this part f it) is independent of the NT gospels, my guess is that this is an allusion to Judas. ... Beliar the great ruler, the king of this world, will descend, who...

The question that needs to be addressed is why Paul would refer to Satan as a god ? He has no problem elsewhere refering to angels, demons, idols, thrones, archons, etc. He also refers precisely to “so-called gods” in 1 Cor 8, and in 2 Thessalonians 2, in contrast with the one God. Indeed, it is ha...

Although I admire the elegance of your explanation for why Justin would not mention Judas's betrayal, are you certain that his outright lying that none of the original twelve apostles betrayed Jesus... @ABuddhist, Neil and Paul the Uncertain, I don't think Justin was hiding anything about Judas. Ju...

On a related note: About a year ago, I asked Ehrman on his blog if he agrees with me that it is exegetically possible that Paul DID consult with "flesh and blood" when he visited James in his status as the Lord's "flesh-and-blood" brother. He agreed that this is possibly what Pa...

Thanks arnoldo. "13 Mark's Gospel: A Performed Play in Rome, by Danila Oder" sounds very interesting. More information on her theory on this website: http://www.thetwogospelsofmark.com/ A revolutionary new proposal for the origin of the Gospel of Mark assumes Jesus mythicism. In The Two Go...

Reading Justin alone I don't think we would have any idea that there were Pauline letters. Not to sidetrack you, but your statement makes me wonder if there is any evidence that Justin knew any of the NT letters. If not (and I haven't seen anything that suggests it yet), I suppose it could mean tha...

@GakuseiDon I agree that 2 Cor. 4:4 could be taken as such, but if "god of this world" is a reference to Satan, then it is at home with proto-orthodox beliefs. But it seems that the proto-orthodox had to largely make due with what was in front them as best they could. Yes, of course. Firs...

But, we have to also consider the possibility, as stated earlier, that "Gnosticiszing" passages are Marcionite interpolations into the letters. But are there in fact such passages in Paul? I agree that 2 Cor. 4:4 could be taken as such, but if "god of this world" is a reference ...

The notes on Hebrews on Peter Kirby's Early Christian Writings may be helpful: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/hebrews.html Attridge states on the dating of Hebrews (The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 3, p. 97): Within the broad range of the years 60-95 C.E., various conjectures have been made ab...