Acts of Paul

The Acts of Paul is one of the major works and earliest pseudepigraphal series from the New Testament apocrypha also known as Apocryphal Acts. This work is part of a body of literature either about or purporting to be written by Paul the Apostle, including letters, narratives, prayers, and apocalypses. An approximate date given to the Acts of Paul is 100-160 AD. The Acts of Paul were first mentioned by Tertullian, who deemed the work to be heretical. He mentioned that the writings "wrongly go under Paul's name" and was "augmenting Paul's fame from his own store". Eusebius wrote that, unlike other writings which were classified as antilegomena in some instances, the Acts of Paul were always classified among the disputed. The Acts of Paul may have been considered orthodox by Hippolytus of Rome but were eventually regarded as heretical when the Manichaeans started using the texts. The author of the Acts of Paul is unknown, but probably came from a Christian community in Asia Minor that revered Paul. The work does not use the canonical Acts of the Apostles as a source; instead it relies on oral traditions of Paul's missionary work. The text is primarily known from Greek manuscripts. The discovery of a Coptic language version of the text demonstrated that the text was composed of:

The Acts of Paul and Thecla
The Third Epistle to the Corinthians
The Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Paul

All of these constituent parts were often considered worth treating as separate texts and frequently appeared independently, leading to speculation that the Acts of Paul may have been compiling disparate stories into one work, although other parts scholars believe to be original to the Acts of Paul. Besides the three main sections mentioned above, the remainder of the Acts of Paul exist only in fragments from the 3rd and 5th centuries:

The Healing of Hermocrates from Dropsy
The Strife of the Ephesian Beasts

The texts are a coherent whole and are generally thought to have been written by one author using oral traditions, rather than basing it on any of the other apocrypha or the orthodox canon. The main emphasis of the text is on chastity and anti-Gnosticism. According to Tertullian, the author was a priest in Asia Minor. Tertullian mentions that after the priest wrote the work adding his own ideas to Paul's fame, the priest was "convicted" and "was removed from his office".

The Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Paul tells the story of Paul's last days in Rome. Upon learning that Paul had resurrected a young man who had died after falling from a parapet, Nero became fearful that the Roman Empire might be overthrown by the Christians. This was the event that precipitated the Neronian persecution of Christians in general, as well as the specific order to behead Paul. According to this work, when Paul was beheaded, milk — rather than blood — spurted from his neck.

Richard J. Bauckham argues that the author of the Acts of Paul drew directly from 2 Timothy in addition to 1 and 2 Corinthians to write a sequel to the Acts of the Apostles based on their understanding of Paul’s final years.

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