Paul Made It ALL Up?

[robert j]

Skepticism of Paul abounds. Many see Paul’s letters as the result of multiple authors, with candidates often including Simon Magus, Marcion, Marcionites, Gnostics, and proto-orthodox editors. Some see the letters as the work of a Herodian lackey, or a wayward Essene, or even Flavian jokesters.

There is another possibility --- one not often discussed, but one I have often thought about. It’s not currently my favored solution for the handful of Paul’s letters that are addressed to his congregations and generally considered to be authentic. But I believe it’s a solution that needs to be on the table.

Did Paul fabricate the whole story --- A heavenly savior derived from the scriptures, Cephas, James, the Judean assemblies in Christ, and his meetings/interactions with all these? Were his stories related to these individuals and groups just invented to provide a basis --- that is, traditions --- for his entrepreneurial missions? Was it all a scam?

Perhaps it was just an elaborate ruse --- Paul created a back-story, then made up additional details as he went along to address questions and challenges from his congregations. Certainly even apostles need to eat, but collection efforts seem to occupy a significantly large portion of Paul’s letters. See --- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=857

Paul could not have known that his letters would be preserved and circulated. Paul would’ve had little to fear of his inventions being challenged --- he could simply accuse the challengers of being false teachers or under the influence of Satan. In addition, his congregations consisted of Gentiles, far away from Jerusalem.

Sure, the war provides a convenient excuse, but it still seems odd that no clear evidence from early Judean believers of Christ survived. Nothing from the Judean assembles in Christ (Gal 1:22), the leadership group in Jerusalem (Gal 2:2), the twelve (1 Cor 15:5), the 500 brothers (1 Cor 15:6), nor all the apostles (1 Cor 15:7). Any such material would have been saved, treasured, and copied --- one would think --- by leaders of an emerging church.

All the author of gMark needed to create his tale was the Septuagint, Paul’s letters, and a good imagination.

By many twists of fate, is the entire Christian faith just the result of one man’s clever scam --- like a small snowball gaining size and momentum as it rolled downhill until it became an avalanche?

[Charles Wilson]

Which leaves the question - "Who made up Paul"?

[Bernard Muller]

to robert j,

Did Paul fabricate the whole story --- A heavenly savior derived from the scriptures, Cephas, James, the Judean assemblies in Christ, and his meetings/interactions with all these? Were his stories related to these individuals and groups just invented to provide a basis --- that is, traditions --- for his entrepreneurial missions? Was it all a scam?

Hardly so. If a Jewish Christian from Corinth, for example, would go in pilgrimage to Jerusalem (and a large number of Diaspora Jews were doing that) he would have the opportunity to meet Cephas & James and inquire about Paul's meetings/interactions with them.
If any of these were not existing or true, that would have destroyed Paul.
Furthermore, Paul implied in 1 Corinthians 1-4 Cephas went to Corinth.

the twelve (1 Cor 15:5), the 500 brothers (1 Cor 15:6), nor all the apostles (1 Cor 15:7)

1 Corinthians 15:3-11 is an interpolation: http://historical-jesus.info/9.html

Cordially, Bernard

[robert j]

Bernard,

There is no evidence in 1 Corinthians that Cephas had ever visited the congregation in Corinth --- only that Paul had told them about Cephas.

And there is no evidence in Paul’s letters of Jewish Christians in Corinth to substantiate the tale in the mostly fictional Acts. That is, other than the “super apostles” of 2 Corinthians. I have made a case that the super apostles were Jewish missionaries working in the Diaspora, and not missionaries of Christ --- although I recognize that few are likely to agree with my interpretation. See here --- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=785 (part two)

I don’t believe the evidence supports that 1 Corinthians 15:3-11 is an interpolation. I have previously debated with you and others on that topic. I’m not interested in plowing that ground again at this time, so we’ll just have to disagree on that.

[toejam]

It could be that Paul was a master charlatan like L. Ron Hubbard or Joseph Smith. Not the most probable hypothesis though. Indeed, I'd put it pretty low in the mix.

[steve43]

Just the fact that the hypothesis is so improbable makes it almost certain to be true. That's the hallmark of a successful conspiracy.

[andrewbos]

...

[MrMacSon]

Michael Hoffman summarized Hermann Detering's 1995 'The Fabricated Paul: Early Christianity in the Twilight'

"On page 50, Detering summarizes AD Loman's proposal in 1881 -

"Christianity in its origin was nothing else than a Jewish-Messianic movement [with Peter as its central character] ... the figure of Jesus had never existed, but represented a symbolization and personification of thoughts that could only make full headway in the second century.

"A Gnostic-Messianic community [with 'Paul' as its literary representative] later appeared alongside the Jewish-Christian messianic community.

"In the period between 70 and 135 CE the two groups opposed one another with bitter animosity.

"Only in the middle of the second century did they achieve a reconciliation, in which the gnostic community had Paul as its representative, and the Jewish-Christian community had Peter. The result of this process of reconciliation was the formation of the Roman Catholic Church. ...

... the letters of Paul are all inauthentic and represent the product of the newly-believing, gnostic-messianic community."

AD Loman
Quaestiones Paulinae. Prolegomena(?) 1881(?) Necessity of a revision of the foundations of our knowledge of the original Paulinism
............ ... Theologische Zeitschrift [Theological Magazine].
In 1882. Quaestiones Paulinae. Research into the authenticity of the letter to the Galatians, 1 st chapter, The external evidence, ib.
In 1882. Quaestiones Paulinae. Continued. The external evidence etc.. ib.
In 1882. Quaestiones Paulinae. Defense and clarification, ib.
In 1883. Quaestiones Paulinae. Second and final sequel of the first chapter, ib.

ie. Paul is a literary character.

[Blood]

I've never read a convincing explanation why the seven should be considered authentic. Instead we get apologetics, and a total disregard of how fatal the fake Pauline letters are to the legitimacy of the NT.

The very concept of "authenticity" is extremely dubious when discussing Biblical texts.

[Bernard Muller]

to robert j,

There is no evidence in 1 Corinthians that Cephas had ever visited the congregation in Corinth --- only that Paul had told them about Cephas.

Cephas got his own followers in Corinth. The best way to explain it is that he went there. The same for Apollos, except that it is confirmed in 'Acts'. The same for Paul, which is confirmed by Paul own letters and 'Acts'. Cephas getting followers in Corinth through some middle man (certainly not Paul) is ludicrous.

And there is no evidence in Paul’s letters of Jewish Christians in Corinth to substantiate the tale in the mostly fictional Acts. That is, other than the “super apostles” of 2 Corinthians. I have made a case that the super apostles were Jewish missionaries working in the Diaspora, and not missionaries of Christ --- although I recognize that few are likely to agree with my interpretation. See here --- viewtopic.php?f=3&t=785 (part two)

Actually, I fully agree with you on that one.

Cordially, Bernard