Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] The quest for the historical sorting through our sources.
[00:00:06] Part two written by Doctor James Tabor, read by Ken Teutch.
[00:00:13] Here we have part two of James Tabor's explanation of how and what we can know about the life and letters of Paul in anticipation of the upcoming conference designed for folks like you, non scholars interested in what lifelong experts in the study of the New Testament say about it, James will be one of the ten presenters at the conference. If you haven't already, check it out www.barturman.com new insights into the New Testament Conference 2024 the Book of acts provides the following independent biographical information not found in the seven genuine letters.
[00:01:00] Paul's hebrew name was Saul and he was born in Tarsus, a city in the roman province of Cilicia in southern Asia Minor or present day Turkey. Acts 911 and 3011 and 252-13-9223 he came from a family of Pharisees and was educated in Jerusalem under the most famous rabbi of the time, Gamaliel. He also had a sister and a nephew that lived in Jerusalem in the sixties AD. Acts 22 three and 20 316. He was born a roman citizen, which means his father also was a roman citizen. Acts 1637 22 27 and 28 and 23 27.
[00:01:47] He had some official status as a witness consenting to the death of Stephen, the first member of the Jesus movement executed after Jesus. Acts 754 eight one. He received an official commission from the high priest in Jerusalem to travel to Damascus in Syria to arrest, imprison, and even have executed any members of the Jesus movement who had fled the city under persecution. It was on the road to Damascus that he had his dramatic heavenly vision of Jesus, who commissioned him as the apostle to the Gentiles. Acts 9119 22 311 20 612 18 he worked by trade as a tent maker, though the greek word used probably refers to a leather worker. Acts 18 three so what should we make of this material from the book of Acts that Pauls hebrew name was Saul? We have no reason to doubt Izez or that he was from Tarsus in Cilicia, though he never mentions this in his letters. Paul says he is of the tribe of Benjamin and Saul. The first king of Israel was also a benjaminite, so one could see why a jewish family would choose this name for a favored son.
[00:03:07] Since Paul reports that he regularly did manual labor to support himself, and jewish sons were normally taught some trade to supplement their studies, it is possible he was trained as leather worker. There is an early rabbinic saying that he who does not teach his son a trade teaches him banditry.
[00:03:27] Whether Paul was born in Tarsus 1 may doubt since Jerome, the fourth century christian writer, knew a different tradition. He says that Pauls parents were from Gixhala in Galilee, a jewish town about 25 miles north of Nazareth, and that Paul was born there. According to Jerome, when revolts broke out throughout Galilee following the death of Herod the Great in four bc, Paul and his parents were rounded up and sent to Tarsus in Cilicia as part of a massive exile of the jewish population by the Romans to rid the area of further potential trouble. Since Jerome certainly knew Paul's claim, according to the Book of Acts, to have been born in Tarsus, it is very unlikely he would have contradicted that source without good evidence.
[00:04:16] Jeromes account also provides us with the only indication we have as to Pauls approximate age. Like Jesus, he would have had to have been born before four BC, though how many years earlier we cannot say. This fits rather nicely with Pauls statements in one of his last letters to a Christian named Philemon, written around ad 60, where he refers to himself as an old man, a word that implies someone who is in his sixties. Jerome's account casts serious doubt on the claim in acts that Paul was born a roman citizen. We have to question whether a native galilean family exiled from Gixhala as a result of anti roman uprisings in the area would have had roman citizenship. We know that Gixhala was a hotbed of revolutionary activity, and John of Gixhala was one of the most prominent leaders in the first judean revolt against Rome, ad 66 to 70. Paul also says that he was beaten three times with rods.
[00:05:26] This is a punishment administered by the Romans and was forbidden to one who had citizenship. The earliest document we have from Paul is his letter, first Thessalonians. It is intensely apocalyptic, with its entire orientation. On preparing his group for the imminent arrival of Jesus in the clouds of heaven, first Thessalonians 110, 219, 313, 413, 18. Five, one, five and 23. One might imagine Paul the former Pharisee, with no apocalyptic orientation whatsoever. But it is entirely possible, if Jerome is correct, about his parents being exiled from Galilee to pacify the area, that Pauls apocalyptic orientation was one he derived from his family and upbringing. Luke acts tends to mute any emphasis on an imminent arrival of the end, and he characteristically tones down the apocalyptic themes of mark. His main narrative source for his gospel acts is quite keen on emphasizing Paul's friendly relations with roman officials as well as the protection they regularly offered Paul from his jewish enemies. So, claiming that Paul was a roman citizen and putting his birth in a roman senatorial province like Cilicia, serves the author's purposes.
[00:06:51] Acts claim that Paul grew up in Jerusalem and was a personal student of the famous rabbi Gamaliel is also highly suspect. The Book of Acts has an earlier scene when the apostles Peter and John are arrested by the jewish authorities who are threatening to have them killed, in which Gamaliel stands up in the Sanhedrin court and speaks in their behalf, recommending their release. Acts 533 39. The story is surely fictitious and is part of the author's attempt to indicate to his roman audience that reasonable minded jews, like noble roman officials, did not condemn the christians. It is likely that the author of acts, in making Paul an honored student of Gamaliel the most revered pharisee of the day, is wanting to further advance this perspective. Throughout his account, he constantly characterizes the jewish enemies of Paul as irrational and rabid, in contrast to those good jews who are calm, reasonable, and respond favorably to Pauldin. Acts 1340, 518, 1220 312 whether Paul lived in Jerusalem before his visionary encounter with Christ could be questioned in acts it is a given, but Paul never indicates in any of his letters that Jerusalem was his home as a young man. He does mention twice a connection with Damascus, the capital of the roman province of Syria two corinthians 1132 Galatians 117.
[00:08:25] Whether he was in Damascus, which is 150 miles northwest of Jerusalem, in pursuit of Jesus followers or for other reasons, we have no sure way of knowing. The account in acts of Pauls conversion, repeated three times, that has Paul sent as an authorized delegate of the high priest in Jerusalem to arrest christians in Damascus, has so colored our assumptions about Paul that it is hard to focus on what we find in his letters. Paul's connection to Jerusalem, or the lack thereof, has much to do with the oft discussed question of whether Paul would have ever seen or heard Jesus, or could he have been a witness to Jesus crucifixion in ad 30, since he never mentions seeing Jesus in any of his letters, and one would expect that had he been an eyewitness to the events of that Passover week, he surely would have drawn upon such a vivid experience. This argues against the idea that he was a Jerusalem resident at the time.
[00:09:28] Likewise, Pauls high placed connections to the jewish priestly class in Jerusalem we can neither confirm nor deny. All he tells us is that he zealously persecuted the church of God and tried to destroy it.
[00:09:44] Some translations have used the english word violently, but this is misleading and serves to reinforce the account in acts that Paul was delivering people over to execution. The greek word Paul uses, hyperbole, means excessively or zealously. We take Pauls word that he identified himself as a pharisee, but there is nothing in his letters to indicate the kind of prominent connections that the author of acts gives him outside the New Testament.
[00:10:15] Our earliest physical description of Paul comes from a late second century christian writing, the acts of Paul and Thecla. It is a wildly embellished and legendary account of Paul's travels, his wondrously miraculous feats, and his formidable influence in persuading others to believe in Christ. The story centers on the beautiful and wealthy virgin Thecla, a girl so thoroughly mesmerized by Paul's preaching that she broke off her engagement to follow Paul and experience many adventures. As Paul is first introduced, one of his disciples sees him coming down the road, and he saw Paul coming, a man, small of stature, with a bald head and crooked legs, in a good state of body, with eyebrows meeting and nose somewhat hooked, full of friendliness. For now he appeared like a man, and now he had the face of an angel.
[00:11:09] We have no reason to believe this account is based on any historical recollection, since the acts of Paul as a whole shows no trace of earlier sources or historical reference points. The somewhat unflattering portrait most likely stemmed from allusions in Paul's letters to his bodily presence being unimpressive and the subject of scorn, whereas his followers received him as an angel, two Corinthians 1010, Galatians 413 and 14.
[00:11:40] It might come as a surprise, but outside our New Testament records we have very little additional historical information about Paul other than the valuable tradition that Jerome preserves for us that he was born in the Galilee. The early christian writers of the second century, usually referred to as the apostolic fathers, mention his name less than a dozen times, holding him up as an example of heroic faith. But nothing of historical interest is related by any of them. For example, Ignatius, the early second century bishop of Antioch, writes, for neither I nor anyone like me can keep pace with the wisdom of the blessed and glorious Paul, who, when he was among you in the presence of the men of that time, accurately and reliably taught the word concerning the truth. Some of the second and third century christian writers know the tradition that both Peter and Paul ended up in Rome and were martyred during the reign of the emperor Nero. Paul was beheaded, and Peter was crucified. The apocryphal acts of Peter, an extravagantly legendary account dating to the third or fourth century AD explains that Peter insisted on being crucified upside down so as to show his unworthiness to die in the same manner as Jesus. Ironically, it seems that we moderns, using our tools of critical historical research, are in a better position than the christians of the second and third centuries to recover a more authentic Paul.
