The Origin of Paul's ReligionMachen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Religion
The Origin of Paul's Religion
Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Bible. Epistles of Paul -- Theology; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
Chronology opposes no absolutely insuperable objection to the
identification. The apparent objection is as follows. The famine
visit of Acts xi. 30; xii. 25 took place at about the same time
as the events narrated in Acts xii, since the narrative of those
events is interposed between the mention of the coming of Barnabas
and Paul to Jerusalem (Acts xi. 30) and that of their return to
Antioch (Acts xii. 25). But the events of Acts xii include the
death of Herod Agrippa I, which certainly occurred in 44 A.D. The
famine visit, therefore, apparently occurred at about 44 A.D. But
the visit of Gal. ii. 1-10 took place fourteen years (Gal. ii. 1)
after the first visit, which in turn took place three years (Gal. i.
18) after the conversion. Therefore the visit of Gal. ii. 1-10 took
place seventeen (3 + 14) years after the conversion. But if that
visit be identified with the famine visit and the famine visit took
place in 44 A.D., the conversion must have taken place seventeen
years before 44 A.D. or in 27 A.D., which of course is impossible
since the crucifixion of Jesus did not occur till several years
after that time. At first sight, therefore, it looks as though
the identification of Gal. ii. 1-10 with the famine visit were
impossible.
Closer examination, however, shows that the chronological data all
allow a certain amount of leeway. In the first place, it is by no
means clear that the famine visit took place at exactly the time
of the death of Herod Agrippa I in 44 A.D. The author of Acts has
been carrying on two threads of narrative, one dealing with Antioch
and the other dealing with Jerusalem. In Acts xi. 19-30 he has
carried the Antioch narrative on to a point beyond that reached in
the Jerusalem narrative. Now, when the two narratives are brought
together by the visit of Barnabas and Paul to Jerusalem, the author
pauses in order to bring the Jerusalem narrative up to date; he
tells what has been happening at Jerusalem during the period in
which the reader's attention has been diverted to Antioch. The
events of Acts xii may therefore have taken place some time before
the famine visit of Acts xi. 30; xii. 25; the famine visit may have
taken place some time after 44 A.D. Information in Josephus with
regard to the famine,[42] combined with the order of the narrative
in Acts, permits the placing of the famine visit as late as 46 A.D.
In the second place, it is by no means certain that the visit of
Gal. ii. 1-10 took place seventeen years after the conversion. The
ancients sometimes used an inclusive method of reckoning time, in
accordance with which "three years" might mean only one full year
with parts of two other years; January, 1923, would thus be "three
years" after December, 1921. According to this method of reckoning,
the "fourteen years" of Gal. ii. 1 would become only thirteen; and
the "three years" of Gal. i. 18 would become only two years; the
visit of Gal. ii. 1-10 would thus be only fifteen (13 + 2) instead
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