PAUL'S APOSTLE AND TESTAMENT

Paul's Apostle and Testament

Paul's Apostle and Testament

Paul's Apostleship

From the very beginning there were wrong ideas that threatened the "orthodox" teaching of the apostles and their successors. Initially there were various leadership structures side by side: In Jerusalem the apostles were in control, followed by James and other elders (Acts 21:18); in his letters to the Corinthians Paul mentions no leaders at all, and the same is true of 1 John; in Philippians 1:1 Paul refers to "overseers and deacons," and in 1 Timothy he gives criteria for such officials.

Jerusalem, Caesarea, Rome

In these final chapters, nothing is said about physical suffering; in fact, the reader has the impression that Paul is safe and quite comfortable in prison. He appears to have a high social status, which is not easy to square with his occupation as a lowly tentmaker (18:3). His speeches in self-defense turn into opportunities for unhindered proclamation of the gospel, and the Romans who hear him all agree that he is innocent.

At the end of his "third missionary journey," Paul does not return to Antioch. He knows he has to travel to Jerusalem and face major problems there (20:22-24). "The brothers" listen to his enthusiastic reports (21:17), but the leadership ("James and the elders") coldly tell him that many Jewish Christians do not believe that his mission has been faithful to the Jewish law. Paul is asked to prove himself at considerable financial cost, and he does indeed humiliate himself in order to be to the Jews as a Jew (1 Corinthians 9:20). All goes well until non-Christian Jews from Asia wrongly assume he has taken a non-Jew into a restricted part of the temple. Much as Stephen, whom he helped to kill, had, he now finds himself faced with a bloodthirsty Jerusalem mob. Unlike many times before, on this occasion Paul does not manage to escape his Jewish foes, whose "Away with him" (21:36) resembles the cries against Jesus (Luke 23:18, 20).

In Paul's own version of his conversion story (chapter 22; chapter 9 is in the third person) the emphasis is on the objective, visual aspects of the event. In 21:40 and 22:2 Luke calls the language spoken by Paul Hebrew, but it is probable he means Aramaic, which was the common language of the Middle East from 539 BCEtill 630 CE. As a Jew Paul spoke and wrote Greek but also Aramaic (cf. Philippians 3:5).

After rescuing him, the Roman officer does not know what to do with Paul: The Jews want him dead, but he appears to be innocent (22:30; note the similarity with Pilate's position vis-à-vis Jesus). Moreover, as a citizen by birth, Paul is higher in status than the officer, who had bought his citizenship (22:26-29). The officer takes Paul to the Sanhedrin not to be tried but to understand the accusation leveled against him; however, the behavior of the Sanhedrin is no better than that of the mob in the temple. Paul's failure to recognize the high priest (23:5) might be due ...