Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ

Ferdinand Christian Baur, Peter C. Hodgson, Robert F. Brown

• Publisher: Cascade Books
• Year: 2021
• Print ISBN: 9781725246058, 9781725246294
• eBook ISBN: 9781725249479
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Baur's Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ was the major study of Paul published in the nineteenth century, and it is one of the greatest works of all time on Paul. It lays the basis for modern Pauline scholarship. The first part, "The Life and Activity of the Apostle Paul, " consists of a thoroughgoing deconstruction of the account of Paul found in the Acts of the Apostles. While the author of Acts passed on historical traditions about Paul, he greatly embellished them with stories about the miraculous feats of the apostles, and constructed the entire account to show fictitious parallels between the apostles Peter and Paul. The second part, "The Epistles of the Apostle Paul, " is divided into three main sections: the authentic epistles of Paul (Galatians, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Romans), the deutero-Pauline epistles (Ephesians, Colossians, Philippians, Thessalonians, Philemon), and the Pastoral Epistles (1 and 2 Timothy, Titus). In the first two parts Baur's historical-critical skills are at their finest. The third part, "The Apostle's Theological Framework, " draws the elements of Pauline theology into a magnificent synthesis, where the influence of Hegel and Schleiermacher is evident. The earlier English translation is no longer adequate. Our new translation presents a very readable text with critical annotations and translations of all the scriptural passages quoted in Greek. Baur on Paul truly becomes available in English for the first time.

Part One

The Life and Activity of the Apostle Paul

1

The Jerusalem Community
before the Apostle’s Conversion

The conversion of the Apostle Paul to Christianity is such an important event in the history of the just emerging community that it can be properly understood only by taking into account the condition in which the community found itself during the short period of its existence. But the only thing about which we can be certain during this earliest period is what is so closely connected with the name of the Apostle Paul, and to which he himself bears witness (Gal 1:13, 23; 1 Cor 15:9), that he became a Christian and apostle only after being a persecutor of the Christian community. The Jerusalem community had been persecuted from the beginning. Persecutions are also spoken of in the Acts of the Apostles, but historical criticism must insist on its right to doubt, or refuse to accept, the way they are portrayed here.

After its beginning the still weak Christian community had constituted itself (in the way we all know and into which we will not further inquire), first inwardly by the power of the Spirit imparted to it as the principle of a new, animating consciousness,1 and then outwardly, after the rapid increase of its membership, by the initial structures of its common life (Acts 1–2). The Jewish rulers took a series of measures against the apostles, because Peter and John had miraculously healed a man lame from birth while on their way to the temple (Acts 3:1–10). The description of this first persecution of the apostles (Acts 3–5) has the same idealizing tendency as we see depicted in the original formation of the early community. The evident intention in the portrayal as a whole, as well as in its individual features, makes it impossible to think of this as a natural sequence of historical events. The intention, in a word, is that the apostles should appear in their full glory. From the beginning it is all about their exaltation, no matter what takes place and the attendant circumstances. Their glorification serves to show how grand and noble they are, and their excellence comes across even more clearly when those who oppose them are shamed and humiliated. This effect is intensified when their adversaries are confounded and humbled, by disgracing themselves with all the means at their command and in the most public manner. Everything about Acts here is designed to this end.

As soon as the apostles were arrested because of this miracle and the speech Peter made afterwards, the authorities arranged to treat the affair with all due importance and great formality (Acts 4). Early the next morning (for there was no time left for such proceedings on the evening of the day before, chap. 4:3), all the members of the Sanhedrin gathered, the elders and scribes, the high priests Annas and Caiaphas (who are known from the account of Jesus’ condemnation), and all those who belonged to their party. No one of any importance could be absent. Even those members of the Sanhedrin who, for various reasons, were not then present in Jerusalem had to be called back in all haste to the capital2 in order to participate in the proceedings. And what resulted from this? Nothing other than the whole assembled Sanhedrin being told by the two apostles under examination that the cause of the judicial proceeding against them was a good deed done for a suffering man; that the worker of this miracle was Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom they had repudiated and crucified, and that this healing of a lame man gave irrefutable proof that the very name of Jesus is alone salvific. In order to further emphasize the effect this must have had on the Sanhedrin, our attention is drawn to how much they had misjudged the apostles. It had taken them to be uneducated persons of low rank, as being the same ones who had demonstrated their weakness and timidity at the condemnation of Jesus. But now the Sanhedrin could only wonder at how fearlessly and courageously they behaved (Acts 4:13). To their amazement, the members of the Sanhedrin now perceived the apostles in a very different way,3 even though their appearance in the temple attracted so much attention that it must already have shown the kind of men they were dealing with. That the Sanhedrin members had failed to see this was advantageous for the apostles brought before them.

But even more difficulties faced the Sanhedrin. What made them appear completely defeated and disarmed had to be the presence of the lame man who had been healed and so incontestably proved the truth of the apostles’ assertions. The narrative does not state how this man came to be present at the trial, and only says that “when they saw the man who had been cured standing beside them, they had nothing to say in opposition” (4:14). Interpreters [of this text] have no explanation for this certainly remarkable circumstance. Had he, as one might suppose, been summoned by the Sanhedrin itself? Or, since the author remarks earlier (3:11) that he never left the side of the two apostles after the miraculous cure, had he followed them to prison and from prison to the court? In either case, if the members of the Sanhedrin became so rattled merely by the presence of this man (which they must surely have permitted) that they had nothing at all to say against the defendants as regards the main issue of the proceedings, something they had to have prepared for, then they showed a lack of forethought unprecedented in such a court. In fact the members of the Sanhedrin did not know what they wanted. The points they ought to have thought of beforehand they now considered for the first time; what had been plainly seen by all Jerusalem now first struck those who had been blind to it. If this miracle was such a public one (4:16), they could not have been ignorant of it; they must surely have already been clear about it and decided how they were to counter the assertion of the apostles. The only unsurprising thing is that, given how such obtuse and weak-minded judges as these members of the Sanhedrin are made to appear throughout the whole narrative, the proceedings could end in no other way. And yet we do wonder how the writer could have thought that he had accounted for the failure of the whole process, to the discredit of the Sanhedrin, by remarking that nothing was done for fear of the people (4:21). If the people were so much to be feared, one would never have dared to seize the apostles during their discourse to the gathering of people amazed by the miracle; nor to carry them off to prison (4:3). All such matters could be disregarded only by viewing the apostles as more glorified when the deeds of their enemies turned to shame and humiliation.

This, however, is only the first part of what one might call the dramatic action, which does not develop in a straight line, yet continues in the same direction. A second part follows (Acts 5:12ff.), which follows the same pattern as the first part but with the important difference that everything in it is on a larger scale. This appears in the fact that not merely one but a great many miracles are performed, not only on one suffering man but on sick and suffering people of all kinds; and the attention of the enemies is again directed to the apostles because people are flocking to them, not only from Jerusalem but also from neighboring towns. In the first instance it was the two Apostles Peter and John who were seized, thrown into prison, and brought before the Sanhedrin; but now all the apostles are arrested (5:17–18).4 The first time the enemies had seized Peter and John, detaining them in prison over night and producing them the next morning before the Sanhedrin. But this time the imprisoned apostles were freed in the night by an angel of the Lord, who led them out of the prison and commanded them to speak before the people in the temple. When the Sanhedrin gathered the next morning in full and solemn assembly, and had the apostles brought before them by their officers, they were astonished by the news that the prison had been found most carefully locked and the guard standing before the door, but that on opening the prison no one was found in it (5:23). Perplexed by this situation, the Sanhedrin received information that the imprisoned men were in the temple speaking to the people. The apostles were persuaded to appear again before the Sanhedrin. (They could not have been forced to appear, because then the people might have stoned the temple-keeper and his servants.) But when the apostles repeated their previous declaration, that one must obey God rather than human beings, and that God the Father had raised the crucified Jesus from the dead, the same scene was repeated. The members of the Sanhedrin were enraged, and it seemed that the apostles would suffer the most serious consequences. However, the actual result once again stood in striking contrast to the plans and arrangements made by their enemies. The apostles were given the lesser punishment [of flogging] and were dismissed with the futile admonition [to cease their preaching]. That only enhanced their self-confidence. “When they heard this, they entered the temple at daybreak and went on with their teaching” (5:21).

How can anyone see this as anything other than an enhanced and exaggerated replay of the previous scene in this narrative, a re...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Editor’s Foreword
• Zeller’s Foreword to the Second Edition
• Baur’s Preface to the First Edition
• Baur’s Introduction
• Part One: The Life and Activity of the Apostle Paul
• The Jerusalem Community before the Apostle’s Conversion
• Stephen the Precursor of the Apostle Paul
• The Conversion of the Apostle Paul
• The Apostle Paul’s First Missionary Journey
• Transactions between the Apostle Paul and the Earlier Apostles in Jerusalem
• The Second Missionary Journey of the Apostle
• The Apostle Paul in Athens, Corinth, Ephesus; His Journey to Jerusalem through Miletus
• The Apostle’s Arrest in Jerusalem
• The Apostle Paul in Rome; His Imprisonment and Martyrdom
• Part Two: The Epistles of the Apostle Paul
• Introduction
• The First Class of Pauline Epistles
• The Epistle to the Galatians
• The Two Epistles to the Corinthians
• The Epistle to the Romans
• The Second Class of Pauline Epistles
• The Epistles to the Ephesians and Colossians
• The Epistle to the Philippians
• Supplement
• The Epistle to Philemon
• The Two Epistles to the Thessalonians
• The Third Class of Pauline Epistles
• The Pastoral Epistles
• General Remarks about the Deutero-Pauline Epistles
• Part Three: The Apostle Paul’s Theological Framework
• Introduction
• Note by Eduard Zeller
• The Principle of Christian Consciousness
• The Doctrine of Justification
• The Doctrine of Justification
• Christ as the Principle of the Community He Founded
• Christianity’s Relation to Judaism and to Paganism
• Christianity as a New Principle of World-Historical Development
• Faith, Love, and Hope, as the Three Elements of Christian Consciousness
• A Separate Discussion of a Few Related Dogmatic Issues
• A Few of the Apostle’s Individual Characteristics
• Appendix
• 1. The Literature of the Peter-Legend
• 2. Comparison of the Pauline Doctrine of Justification with That of James
• 3. The Two Epistles to the Thessalonians