Having put that caveat, the historical critic has simply to consider the question of the historicity of Jesus in relation to the Paulines from both points of view, asking what evidence they can be supposed to yield either on the view of the genuineness of some or on that of the spuriousness of all. And the outcome is that on neither view do they tell of a historical Jesus. If "the four" are genuine, Paul, declared to be so near the influence of the "personality" of Jesus, not only shows no trace of impression from it but expressly puts aside the question. In the Epistle to the Galatians he declares that he had not learned his gospel from the other apostles but received it by special revelation, actually avoiding intercourse with the other apostles apart from Peter--a proposition certainly savouring strongly of post-Pauline dialectic, as does the text (2 Cor. v, 16): "Even though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now we know [him so] no more." Instead then of the Paulines, on the view of their genuineness, confirming the conception of a remarkable personality which had profoundly impressed those who came in contact with it, they radically and unmanageably conflict with that conception. So far Van Manen is justified. If on the other hand we accept the strongly supported thesis that they are all pseudepigraphic, the historicity of the gospels is in no way accredited. We reach the view that early in the second century, when such early gospels as the Matthew and Mark of Papias may be supposed to have been current, even the devotees who wrote in Paul's name took no interest in the human personality of Jesus, but were concerned simply about the religious significance of his death. The passages in First Corinthians (xi, 23 sq.; xv, 3 sq.) which deal with the Supper and the Resurrection expressly repudiate knowledge of the gospels; the first claiming to have "received of the Lord" the facts retailed, and the second, after a similar formula, proffering data not given in any gospel. And both passages have been demonstrably interpolated, even if we do not pronounce them, as we are entitled to do, interpolations as wholes. The first breaks the continuity of an exhortation as to the proper way of eating the Lord's Supper; the second is introduced (xv, 1) with a strange profession to "make known unto you the gospel which I preached unto you." And even the second passage, with its mention of "the twelve," excludes knowledge of the story of Judas; while the first, at the point at which our revisers translate "was betrayed," really says only "delivered up" (paredidoto), which may or may not imply betrayal.