Bible. New Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Christianity -- Origin; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
have had no other place, to receive his visitor in, than the town jail,
or some one other of those strong places, into which visitors do not
always find it more easy to gain entrance, than inmates to get out.
These tongues then--Paul's tongue, his companions' tongues--this
assemblage of tongues, all so strongly urged to let themselves loose--by
what could they have been stopped? If, by anything, by a correspondent
cluster of miracles--nothing less.
That, from Jerusalem, about the time in question, Paul went to
Damascus,--and that it was with some such letters in his
possession,--seems, as will be seen presently, altogether
probable;--also, that when there, he acted in the way his historian
speaks of, betraying the confidence reposed in him by the constituted
authorities, and joining with those whom he had solicited and received a
commission to destroy;--that these were among the circumstances of his
alleged conversion, seems probable enough:--though he, with all the need
he had of miracles, if any were to be had, gives not--in what he
himself, writing to his Galatian converts, says of his conversion--any
of the slightest hint of them.
As to his conversion--meaning his _outward_ conversion, which was all
that was necessary to the production of the effect so notoriously
produced by him--to _that_, it will be seen, no miracle was necessary:
nothing but what belonged to the ordinary course of things. As to
companions on the journey--whether he had any or not; and if he had any,
whether they were attendants on his orders, or acquaintances of his not
under his orders; or mere strangers into whose company accident threw
him--all this we must satisfy ourselves, as well as we can, under the
ignorance of.
That, for giving effect, by his means, to the sort of commission he went
entrusted with, the power of local authorities was trusted to, is a
supposition altogether natural. For bringing to Jerusalem "bound, for to
be punished (Acts ix. 2. xxii. 4), all the Christians that could be
found in Damascus, both men and women," if the Damascus rulers were
favourable to the persecuting design, no large force from Jerusalem
could be needful. Even a small one would be superfluous: and, by a
force, great or small, sent from the one set of constituted authorities,
a slight would be shown to the other.
SECTION 9.
IN PAUL'S EPISTLE TO HIS GALATIANS,--BY HIS SILENCE, ACTS' ACCOUNTS OF
HIS CONVERSION ARE VIRTUALLY CONTRADICTED.
Of Paul's _outward_ conversion--conversion from the character of an
authorized persecutor of the religion of Jesus, to that of a preacher of
a religion preached in the name of Jesus--such, as we have seen, is the
account given in the Acts; given by the author of the Acts, and by him
alone. For, what ought never to be out of mind, if instead of two
different accounts--declared by him as having been, on different
occasions, delivered by Paul--he had given two hundred, still they
would have been his:--not Paul's, but his.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account