Apostle of Doom

How Paul came to own the New Testament

How Paul came to own the New Testament. Thirteen of the twenty-seven books bear Paul's name, and the canon was settled by churches that followed him. The letters themselves do not agree.

By Mohd Elfie Nieshaem Juferi

If Christian theology was shaped for a popular audience, how did Paul’s writings come to dominate the New Testament over the gospels that record the direct teaching of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam (ʿalayhi al-salām, peace be upon him)? Why are most of the books of the New Testament letters of Paul and so few the records of the disciples?

The language of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam

Any assessment of Paul’s dominance in the New Testament has to reckon with the language and culture of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam himself. Historical and linguistic study shows that the main language he used in his life and preaching was Aramaic, the language of Palestine at the time. The Gospel of Mark preserves several of his phrases in Aramaic even though the whole text is in Greek: “Talitha cumi,”8 “Ephphatha”9 and “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”10

That shows the original Injīl was very probably delivered in Aramaic, and what we have inherited in Greek is a rendering or a secondary narrative. Some scholars hold that the Gospel of Matthew once existed in Aramaic before it was lost to time. The dominance of Greek in the New Testament text should therefore be read as a reframing of the original revelation in a foreign cultural and linguistic setting.11

The gospels that were set aside

In the time of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam he had many followers who wrote down his sermons and teachings after his departure. Foremost among them were the twelve apostles named in the New Testament. From the records of these followers come the writings collected under the name “gospel,” each named for its writer: the Gospel of Marcion, the Gospel of the Egyptians, the Gospel of Eve, the Gospel of Judas, the Gospel of Nicodemus, the Gospel of Thomas, the Gospel of Matthias, the Gospel of the Twelve, the Gospel of Truth, the Gospel of Mary, the Gospel of Andrew, the Gospel of Philip, and others.12

These gospels are said to contain the teaching of Satan and to contradict the teaching of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam. In truth they are the gospels closest to the original Injīl, never yet infiltrated by the teachings of Paul.

The gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke and John are the ones that teach the false doctrines. Luke, who is said to have written the Gospel of Luke, was Paul’s personal physician.13 In writing his “gospel” he brought in Paul’s teachings of his own accord.

The proof is in Acts, also written by the author of Luke, where the inclination to exalt Paul is unmistakable.14 Luke all but makes a cult of Paul in his writing.

Paul wrote first

In the chronology of composition, Paul’s letters are among the earliest written documents in the New Testament. Letters such as 1 Thessalonians and Galatians are believed to have been written in the 50s CE, a decade or two after the departure of ʿĪsā ibn Maryam.

The Synoptic Gospels (Mark, Matthew and Luke) were written later, between about 65 and 90 CE, and the Gospel of John around 95 to 100 CE. Historically, then, Paul’s teaching came before the written gospels and very probably shaped the theology they contain.15

So it is no surprise that of the 27 books of the New Testament, 14 are said to be Paul’s.16 Only seven of them are widely accepted by scholars as authentic writings of Paul.17 The other letters in the New Testament are the work of Paul’s followers and supporters.18

Letters that contradict themselves

The dominance reaches beyond the number of texts or the order of writing into the content and the doctrine. Paul’s letters show internal contradictions that cannot be ignored, between the doctrine of one letter and another, and sometimes within the same letter. If a man claims to deliver the revelation of God, the consistency of his teaching is the sine qua non of the claim.

On justification, Paul writes in Romans 3:28 that a person is justified by faith without the works of the law, yet in Romans 2:6 he states that God will render to every man according to his deeds.

28Therefore we conclude that a man is justified by faith without the deeds of the law.1

6Who will render to every man according to his deeds:2

That creates a theological tension between faith and works, and leaves open whether the law still applies. On another matter he states in 1 Corinthians 6:11 that Christians have been sanctified and justified, but in Romans 7:19–24 he admits that he goes on struggling with a sin he cannot leave.

19For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do. 20Now if I do that I would not, it is no more I that do it, but sin that dwelleth in me. 21I find then a law, that, when I would do good, evil is present with me. 22For I delight in the law of God after the inward man: 23But I see another law in my members, warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members. 24O wretched man that I am! who shall deliver me from the body of this death?3

On the law, Paul insists that believers are no longer under it19 and that Christ is the end of the law.20 Yet in Romans 3:31 and 7:12 he says the law is good and must be upheld.

31Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.4

12Wherefore the law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good.5

The contradiction shows a basic uncertainty about the place of law in religious life.

The sharpest contradictions concern women. In 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 he states plainly that women must keep silent in the assembly and may say nothing.

In 1 Corinthians 11:5 he permits women to prophesy and pray openly, provided they cover their heads. That is a basic inconsistency about the public role of women in the Christian assembly.

34Let your women keep silence in the churches: for it is not permitted unto them to speak; but they are commanded to be under obedience, as also saith the law. 35And if they will learn any thing, let them ask their husbands at home: for it is a shame for women to speak in the church.6

5But every woman that prayeth or prophesieth with her head uncovered dishonoureth her head: for that is even all one as if she were shaven.7

In Galatians 3:28 Paul declares that there is “neither male nor female” in Christ, as if endorsing absolute equality. In Ephesians 5:22–24, which represents Pauline theology even if its authorship is doubted, wives are ordered to submit to their husbands because the husband is the “head” of the wife. That contradicts the principle of spiritual equality he set out in Galatians.

More confusing still, Paul praises women such as Phoebe as a διάκονος (diákonos, minister of the church)21 and calls Junia “of note among the apostles,”22 but in 1 Timothy 2:12 he forbids women to teach or hold authority over men. Once again, actual practice conflicts with the doctrinal rule he wants to enforce.

These contradictions are more than editorial slips or matters of style. What we have inherited as “holy epistles” is, read in toto, a set of mutually contradictory letters from the pen of a man tossed between personal inspiration and the desire to master the message of tawḥīd (توحيد, “the oneness of God”) brought by the prophets.

  1. Romans 3:28 (KJV). ↩
  2. Romans 2:6 (KJV). ↩
  3. Romans 7:19–24 (KJV). ↩
  4. Romans 3:31 (KJV). ↩
  5. Romans 7:12 (KJV). ↩
  6. 1 Corinthians 14:34–35 (KJV). ↩
  7. 1 Corinthians 11:5 (KJV). ↩
  8. Mark 5:41, טַלִיתָא קוּמִי (ṭalītā qūmī): “Damsel, arise.” ↩
  9. Mark 7:34, אֶפְתַּח (ʾeptaḥ): “Be opened.” ↩
  10. Mark 15:34, אֵלִי אֵלִי לָמָה עֲזַבְתָּנִי (ʾēlī ʾēlī lāmā ʿazavtānī): “My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken me?” ↩
  11. See Bruce M. Metzger, The Early Versions of the New Testament: Their Origin, Transmission, and Limitations (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1977), pp. 103–105. ↩
  12. Most of these texts were found in the Nag Hammadi collection of manuscripts in Egypt in 1945. ↩
  13. Colossians 4:14. ↩
  14. Acts 13:9; 16:10–17; 20:5–21:18. ↩
  15. See Bruce M. Metzger, The New Testament: Its Background, Growth, and Content (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2003), pp. 98–99. ↩
  16. The texts Paul wrote are better called “epistles,” since they were communications addressed to particular congregations in their religious context. ↩
  17. Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians and Philemon. See Bart D. Ehrman, Forged: Writing in the Name of God: Why the Bible’s Authors Are Not Who We Think They Are (HarperOne, 2011); Raymond E. Brown, An Introduction to the New Testament (Anchor Bible Reference Library, 1997); E. P. Sanders, Paul: The Apostle’s Life, Letters, and Thought (Fortress Press, 2015). ↩
  18. The other letters meant are Hebrews, 2 Peter, 2 John, 3 John, James, Jude and Revelation (ibid.). ↩
  19. Romans 6:14. ↩
  20. Romans 10:4. ↩
  21. Romans 16:1–2. ↩
  22. Romans 16:7. ↩

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