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The Cutting Room Floor : Edition 1
The Cutting Room Floor is a space for Pastor Linda to share sermon ideas and information that didn’t make the cut. While this content was unused in her Sunday sermon, she believes it is still valuable and worth sharing. We hope you enjoy The Cutting Room Floor!
Shared by: Rev. Linda Knieriemen
Over the past 200 years or so, by means of linguistic, historical, syntactical research, mainstream religious scholars have concluded that seven of the thirteen letters that are attributed to Paul are “Authentic Paul”: I and 2 Corinthians, Romans, I Thessalonians, Philippians, Philemon, Galatians. Marcus Borg and John Crossan call these “Radical Paul”. These are the oldest written documents about what was to become Christianity.
Similarly, scholars have determined by comparing language, historical setting that three letters, sometimes called “the pastoral epistles” are not authored by Paul: I and II Timothy and Titus. Some researchers call these “Pseudo-Paul” or “Reactionary Paul”.
This leaves Ephesians, Colossians and II Thessalonians “disputed” or in Borg/Crossan’s language, “Conservative Paul”. While it appears that they are written at a later time than the seven genuine letters, the possibility exists, but is not likely, that the Apostle Paul wrote these letters. If he did, their contents represent a significant departure from both the style and theology in his earlier writings.
In addition to these 3 “Pauls”, we also have the book of Acts, written by the same author as the Gospel of Luke. Acts primarily records Paul’s activities—his conversion, his journeys, his arrests, his imprisonment. There is disagreement about the consistency between the letters of Paul and Luke’s reports in Acts. This should not alarm us. They were written at different times and for different purposes. The contents of each can inform our understanding of Jesus, the formation of the early church, and the principles necessary for faith.
For the Fall in the Paul series, I will be preaching primarily from Acts and the seven genuine “Authentic Paul” letters. My choice to do so does not dismiss the importance of the remaining letters, rather it represents my desire to present the most consistent and accurate picture of the historical Paul that I am able to. There’s also only so much that can be done in 11 weeks!
Thank you for reading the Cutting Room Floor!