On the Origin of Christian Scripture by David Trobisch;

Author:David Trobisch; [David Trobisch]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781506486154
Publisher: National Book Network
Published: 2023-08-15T00:00:00+00:00

Ten Letters of Paul

Opening and Conclusion

Gospel according to John, 1 John, and Revelation of John show that the historical publisher favors the opening and conclusion of a book for editorial comments when he speaks with the voice of Theophilus. The beginning of Gospel according to Luke and the end of Letter to Romans also contain elaborate unmarked interpolations. Therefore, the introduction to the Fourteen-Letters-of-Paul volume and its conclusion are typical places for the historical publisher to consider interpolations to the traditional text.

In the very first sentence of Letter to Romans, Paul endorses “the gospel of God” and the “prophets in the holy scriptures,” which to a later audience reads like an endorsement of the Four-Gospel volume and the authority of Jewish Scriptures.19 More specifically, literary Paul defines the content of the “gospel of God” as a proclamation that Jesus was related to “David according to the flesh” and that “according to the spirit” Jesus was “Son of God,” which is demonstrated in his “resurrection from the dead.”20

The Marcionite Gospel lacks an explanation of where Jesus came from at the beginning and where he went at the end of the book, which does not satisfy Paul’s definition of the “gospel of God.” Mark’s gospel book also lacked an explanation of how Jesus of Nazareth could possibly be related to the house of David, and it offered not a single appearance of the resurrected Christ. Gospel according to Luke, however, perfectly fulfills the requirements of Paul’s definition: Luke presented Jesus as the fulfillment of prophetic promises; he explained how Jesus was related to King David; he reported two appearances of the resurrected Christ in Jerusalem before the gospel book concluded.21 Paul’s definition of his apostleship as “to bring about the obedience of faith among all the nations” reflects Luke’s storyline in his book about the apostles, which follows Paul from Antioch in Syria through Asia Minor to Europe.22

The connections between the beginning of Letter to Romans to the Four-Gospel volume, the link to the storyline of Acts of Apostles, and the canonical editors’ concept of promoting Jewish Scriptures as promises that are fulfilled in Jesus, so clearly represent the canonical editors’ agenda that one must suspect a rather heavy-handed interpolation to the Marcionite Edition. It would explain the convoluted sentence structure of the untypically long opening. Unfortunately, the wording of this passage in the Marcionite Edition is not attested.23

The Fourteen-Letters-of-Paul volume concludes with the Letter to Philemon. In this letter, Paul asks Philemon to take back a slave, Onesimus, who had run away. Paul writes a legally binding promissory note with his own hand that he “will repay” Philemon all damages that the loss of his slave may have caused.24 Again, Theophilus signals that he had access to the autograph. And even for the most casual readers, the characters mentioned at the end of the letter link the Fourteen-Letters-of-Paul volume to Theophilus’s editorial narrative.

Epaphras, my fellow prisoner in Christ Jesus, sends greetings to you, and so do Mark, Aristarchus, Demas, and Luke, my fellow workers.

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