The Acts of Paul (and 3 Corinthians) Overview

THE ACTS OF PAUL

• Date: 150-200

• Claimed Author: some elder in Asia who resigned after claiming that, because of Thecla, women could preach and baptize.

• Provence: Asia Minor

• References: Origen, Hippolytus, Eusebius, Jerome, the Gelasian Decree, the Sticometry of Nicephorus, the Catalogue of the Sixty Canonical Books, Tertullian? Clement of Alexandria? Pseudo-Cyprian?

• The Acts of Paul and Thecla, 3 Corinthians, and The Martyrdom of Paul were all originally different texts

• This book is translated and very much changed and adapted (omitting, for example, Thecla baptizing herself and adding sections where she sees visions) into Ethiopic sometime between 400-700

THE ACTS OF PAUL AND THECLA

pgs. 364-388 & https://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/actspaul.html

3:1-4. Paul travels to Iconium with Demas and Hermogenes. Demas and Hermogenes are hypocrites who like to flatter Paul, but Paul only shows them love and shares the gospel and everything Jesus revealed to him with them. Some Onesiphorus also comes to find Paul, following the description Titus gave of him: “a man small in size, bald-headed, bandy-legged, of noble-mien, with eyebrows meeting, rather hook-nosed, full of grace.” Onesiphorus greets Paul, and Paul greets him, but Demas and Hermogenes ask why he didn’t greet them also, because they are “of the blessed God”. Onesiphorus says he didn’t “see…the fruit of righteousness” in them, but that they can come to his house and refresh themselves. This is the earliest description we have of what Paul looked like. This also explains the origins of how Onesiphorus found Paul (2 Timothy 1:16-18 says he often refreshed Paul and wasn’t ashamed of his chains) as well as Demas (2 Timothy 4:10 says he abandoned Paul for his love of the world) and Hermogenes (2 Timothy 2:15 says Hermogenes deserted him).

3:5-6. They go to Onesiphorus’ house and bow knees, break bread, and there is “the word of God about abstinence and the resurrection”. He then recites some beatitudes that emphasize devotion to Jesus and sexual purity and virginity. This demonstrates the high view and emphasis early Christians put on celibacy.

3:7-9. There is a virgin named Thecla who was betrothed to some man named Thamyris. She stayed at some window 3 days and 3 nights without eating food or drinking water, listening to what Paul taught on virginity and seeing women and virgins going in to see him. She wants to hear God’s word from him. Since she stays at her window, Thamyris asks her mother where she is and if she’s supposed to marry her. Her mother tells him about how she stays at the window, staring at Paul, and how he will overturn the whole city and Thecla.

3:10-14. Thamyris and Thecla’s mother ask her why she sits at her window just watching Paul. Thamyris sees Demas and Hermogenes arguing outside of Paul’s house and goes up to say he’ll pay them if they tell him why Paul leads people astray in persuading them not to marry. They say they don’t know who he is, but only that he teaches that there is no resurrection unless one is chaste and doesn’t “pollute the flesh”. They eat, and Thamyris explains himself, asking what he should do. They tell him to tell the governor and have Paul destroyed so that they can teach him about how the resurrection already took place in their children. This explains how some taught about the resurrection already having taken place (2 Timothy 2:18).

3:15-17. Thamyris gets up early in the morning to have officers take Paul before Governor Castellius. A crowd gathers, shouting for him to be taken away for leading their wives astray. He asks Paul what he did and what he teaches, and Paul explains how he teaches God saving people “from corruption and uncleanness and from all pleasure, and from death, that they may sin no more.” The governor has him put in prison until he can hear him better later.

3:18-20. Thecla goes at night, pays the guards her bracelets and silver mirror to see Paul, and hears him talk of God’s deeds. She kisses his bonds. Thamyris searches for her, hears and finds her by the gatekeepers, and then tells the people and the governor. The governor has both Paul and Thecla brought before him and asks why she won’t marry Thamyris. She just looks at Paul, but her mother cries out that she and all the virgins who were led astray ought to be burned at the theater.

3:21-22. The governor has Paul scourged and sent out of the city, and Thecla is sent to the theater so they can burn her. Thecla searches for Paul and sees the Lord appearing as if Paul taken up into heaven. Thecla goes naked to stand on gathered wood and straw to be burned after making the sign of the cross. However, God sends a cloud to rain over the fire and protect her and hail others so that some are injured or die.

3:23-25. Paul goes to fast and pray with Onesiphorus and his family. The children say they’re hungry, so Paul tells them to sell his cloak and buy bread, but the children run into Thecla and lead her back to Paul, who was praying for her safety. They all rejoice and eat 5 loaves of bread, veggies, and water. Thecla says she will cut her hair and follow him, but Paul says she is beautiful and some worse temptation might come upon her, and she might “become mad after men”. Thecla asks for baptism, and Paul tells her to be patient. Paul’s cloak is sold to provide for 5 loaves of bread, just like the 5 loaves of bread that Jesus multiplied to provide for 5,000. Paul, Onesiphorus’ family, and Thecla all eat bread, veggies, and water, showing their asceticism. In contrast to other New Testament apocrypha, Paul doesn’t baptize Thecla right away, but tells her to be patient and wait.

3:26-32. Paul, Onesiphorus, and Thecla go away to Antioch, where Alexander embraces Thecla. Thecla cries out, tears his cloak, and pulls off his crown. Although Alexander loved her, he is ashamed and has the governor throw her to wild beasts. She is tied to some lioness, but it only licks her feet. Then, some rich Queen Tryphaena, whose daughter had recently died and told her to receive Thecla so she could pray for her, asks for prayer. Thecla prays that God receives her daughter into eternity. She holds onto Thecla to save her as the governor tries to take her away. This Alexander very well might be the same as the one who did Paul a lot of harm in 2 Timothy 4:14. Thecla prays for a dead woman to be given eternal life.

3:33-35. Thecla is stripped and thrown into the arena. A lioness comes up to her to lie at her feet. It then defends her from a bear and dies defending her from another lion. There is a pit full of water with seals in it that are supposed to devour her. She jumps in, saying, “In the name of Jesus Christ I baptize myself on my last day”; lightning flashes and kills the seals, and a cloud of fire goes around her to protect her from the beasts and from being seen naked. They then let forth angry bulls to destroy her, but the fire around her destroys her ropes and sets her free. Thecla (a woman) not only baptizes, but baptizes herself and doesn’t use the Trinitarian formula. She is also freed from the attack of the beasts and unbound in the fire like both Daniel in the Lions’ Den and Azariah and his two friends.

3:36-39. Throughout, people were crying at Thecla, almost dying. The Queen faints after seeing everything, and Alexander finally pleads with the governor to end it so that Ceaser isn’t angry and doesn’t destroy the city because of the Queen. The governor brings Thecla up, questions her—to which she says God delivered her—and has her clothed. He declares her released, and the women shout with so much joy that the city shakes. The Queen then receives her and declares she believes in resurrection. Thecla teaches her for 8 days.

3:40- 41. Thecla dresses as a man and goes to Myra to see Paul preaching. They go to Hermes’ house, and Thecla tells him everything. She then goes off to Iconium, to Onesiphorus’ house. Hermes is one of the many people Paul greets in Romans 16:14.

3:42-44. She sees that her fiancé is dead and tells her mother that she is still alive. She then goes to Seleucia and preaches (Some manuscripts: She dies after teaching there for some time.) (Two different manuscript traditions (one, G, more expanded and longer than the other): She lives in Seleucia, preaching for 72 years while living on only herbs and water. Some man tries to corrupt her, thinking she serves Artemis and can heal people because of her virtue. God opens a rock so that she enters it. She goes to Rome and finds Paul dead. She dies there peacefully and is buried near Paul). Paul is explained as having died in Rome and not having made it to Spain as he had wanted.

4. Paul goes to teach in Myra. Some father has dropsy and falls at Paul’s feet to plead that he heal him. The father dies, and Paul heals him, but the father has an older son who decides to try to kill Paul for healing his father because he wanted to take his inheritance. There is a younger son, Dion, who ends up falling down and dying. Paul raises up Dion. Paul has a vision one night where the Angel of the Lord tells him that he is going to be in danger, but that the Father will protect him. Then, the older son, Hermippus, comes with his sword drawn to kill Paul. Paul prays and has his hand turn backwards with the sword, so it goes back into his sheath. Hermippus is then blinded and weeps and repents. Paul sees him being penitent and prays so that he is healed.

5. Paul goes from Myra to Sidon and does ministry there (this section is very fragmentary, and it is hard to tell what is happening with all the broken pieces). He then goes off on a ship to Tyre.

7. (Like the last section, this one is also fragmentary and somewhat difficult to piece together.) Paul preaches against idolatry and about Jesus as the only God in Ephesus. The people are angry and decide to throw him to the beasts. Since it is Pentecost, the Christians don’t mourn or kneel, but rejoice and pray standing. A lion comes near where Paul is in prison as he waits to be thrown to the beasts. Paul and everyone around him are frightened (the ending of this section is a lost part of the fragment). Paul is thrown into the arena the next day. A lion comes to him, and Paul recognizes it. He asks the lion if it was the one he had baptized, and it says he was. Some man tries to have archers and other animals come and kill Paul, but God sends down hail from the clear sky to hurt and kill many of them while protecting Paul. Paul left the stadium to go to Macedonia, and the lion went to the mountains and didn’t speak anymore. This story gives us insight into early Christian liturgical practices of not kneeling or mourning during the season of Pentecost. This story explains Paul’s reference to “fighting lions” in 1 Corinthians 15:32. Similar to Daniel, lions are peaceful with Paul and even talk to him—in fact, Paul even baptized the lion!

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3 CORINTHIANS

• Date: 100-200

• Original Language: Greek

• This contains a letter from the Corinthians to Paul and Paul’s response to them

Reference (pp. 379-382 & https://pages.uoregon.edu/sshoemak/321/texts/3_corinthians.htm)

8. The Corinthians are worried that Paul is going to die before his time because some Simon and Cleobius came to tell them that only the spirit resurrects and not the body. After all, “the body of man is not created by God, and God did not create the world and does not know the world, nor has Jesus Christ been crucified but only in appearance, and he was not born of Mary nor of the seed of David.” The background for 1 Corinthians and their whole issue with “spirituals” and the resurrection is explained as coming from Gnostic teachers.

A.I.1. The Corinthian elders are worried and send a letter to Paul about the situation, asking that he examine it.

A.II.1. Paul reads the letter in prison in Philippi and is very sad. He exclaims that he would have rather died and gone to be with the Lord than to hear such sorrowful words. Then he writes his correspondence. Paul uses wording from his Epistle to the Philippians to show his remorse at hearing about the heresy coming from Corinth. - Incongruency: This letter to the Corinthians is made out to be written from prison.

B.III.1. Paul responds to the Corinthians, affirming that the Father created human bodies, Jesus was truly incarnate and did suffer (as he heard and was passed down to him by the apostles), and that those who deny the resurrection not only believe in the serpent, but also won’t have a resurrection. Paul then uses 3 images to talk about the resurrection: 1. a seed dying and a body growing from it; 2. Jonah was saved from “the deepest hell” in the whale’s belly after 3 days and nights; 3. A corpse came back to life after falling on Elisha’s bones. Paul then says those who receive the “rule” which came from the prophets and gospels will have eternal life, while those who deny it will burn in fire. - Connection: Paul refers to a letter he had earlier written to the Corinthians about sexual immorality in 1 Corinthians 5:9. He also mentions having written a letter that caused him much sorrow in 2 Corinthians 2:4; 7:8 (perhaps this is that letter—see the note above). - Connection: Paul uses similar language here as he did in 1 Corinthians 15 in his apologetic of the resurrection. - Connection: Paul accuses those who deny the resurrection of believing the serpent, who lied to Adam, since it told him he would become like ‘elohim’ (a spiritual being) if he ate from the forbidden fruit. Jonah’s time in the stomach of the sea monster is referred to as “hell” and is shown to be a type of resurrection. Paul speaks about a “rule” and refers to the apostles telling him about the virgin birth and death of Jesus, most likely to show how orthodoxy has been passed down from the apostles to the church through time.

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Paul resurrects a lady named Fronina. Philippi proclaims the God that gave life to Paul’s daughter (this section follows a gap and is very fragmentary: the translation reads “God…who has given life to the daughter…of Paul” so that the daughter may be someone else’s). Paul might have had a daughter?

9. Paul arrives at Corinth from Philippi and goes to the house of Epiphanius. Everyone rejoices, and Paul stays 40 days teaching on perseverance. Paul then says he must go to Rome, and everyone’s distressed. Cleobius and Myrta encourage them, and then Paul leaves.

10. Paul is on a ship towards Rome. Paul is asleep at the bottom of the ship when Jesus appears to him, sorrowful, and says that he is going to be crucified again. He then tells him to go to Rome and encourage them to abide in the Father’s calling. Paul then gets up and walks on the sea (this section is very fragmentary, and it is hard to tell what is happening with all the broken pieces) to go to Rome. He then goes to a house church to teach a summary of the Old Testament and the gospel. It is a wonder why Jesus says he will be crucified again—perhaps it is an expression? It is hard to tell because of how fragmentary that section of the story is. Paul is also like Jesus walking on the sea.

11:1. Luke and Titus see Paul in Rome, and they rejoice. They rent a barn, and Paul preaches in it. Many from the emperor’s house come to hear Paul preach. A cupbearer comes to listen but can’t get near Paul because of the crowd, so he sits on a high window. Satan, however, is jealous and makes him fall down and die. Word speedily goes out to Nero about what happened. Paul has the boy brought up, raises him from the dead, and sends him back in perfect health.

11:2. Nero is sad when he hears that Patroclus is dead, but then he sees Patroclus alive. He asks who revived him and Patroclus says “Christ Jesus, the king of the ages.” Nero asks if he destroys all kingdoms, and he answers, “Yes, he destroys all kingdoms under heaven, and he alone shall remain in all eternity, and there will be no kingdom which escapes him.” Nero asks if he fights for him, and Patroclus says he does. Two other chief men who Nero loves also say they fight for him. Nero then tortures them and throws them into prison, and issues an edict that all Christians and “soldiers of Christ” should be executed.

11:3. Paul is brought before Nero. Nero asks why he came into Rome secretly to get soldiers, and Paul answers that they get soldiers in all territories from anyone who wants to fight for Jesus. He then offers him to serve Jesus since riches don’t save and the world will be destroyed. Nero then has all the prisoners burned and sends Paul to be beheaded. However, Paul also preaches the gospel to the prefect and centurion. Many Christians are executed without trial until the Romans tell Nero that he is destroying the strength of Rome, so he stops.

11:4-5. Paul is taken to be beheaded, but he tells the prefect and centurion that if they kill him, he’ll rise again and appear to them since “I shall not be  dead but alive to my king, Christ Jesus, who shall come to judge the earth.” The prefect and centurion ask how he can serve this king to the point of not fearing death. Paul then says God is going to judge the earth with fire and that God doesn’t fight as they do but judges the lawless. Those who believe in him will live forever. The executioners ask him to help them, and they will release him, but Paul says that he won’t desert Christ. They ask how he will live after being beheaded. Paul tells them to go to his grave and find Luke and Titus praying—he says they can give them “the seal in the Lord”. Paul then turns to the east,  talks with the fathers in Hebrew, and then puts his head down. When the executioner cuts off his head, milk comes out, and everyone is astonished and tells Ceaser.

6. Nero is amazed when he hears about milk coming out when Paul was beheaded. Later, the philosophers and centurion are with Nero, and Paul appears at the ninth hour. Paul tells him he is alive in God and that he will be punished for all the righteousness that he punished. Then, Nero has officials whom he had imprisoned released.

7. The prefect and centurion go to Paul’s grave and see Luke and Titus praying with Paul. Luke and Titus run away, but they tell them that they saw Paul praying with them and wanted to be sealed. They are sealed.