Jesus' Words Only

Secret History of Post-Paul Church Pt 3: 207 AD Tertullian's “Against Apostleship of Paul”

Jul 22, 2022

Video Description

Tertullian was confronting heretics (Marcion) who were citing Paul to prove salvation by mere belief without obedience. Tertullian said it was troubling that such reliance was being put upon one (Paul) of whom there is not the slightest proof in the four Gospels or Acts that Jesus ever called him (Paul) as an apostle. Yes, Jesus called Paul a witness (martus in Greek). But Jesus never once called Paul an apostle (apostolos in Greek.

Tertullian in Book 1 sets up his grand finale argument in Book 5 that there cannot be a 13th apostle by making clear how impossible it is for Paul’s claim to be an apostle of Jesus Christ could ever be true.

“But why was it that he chose twelve apostles, and not some other numbers? ...For of this number, I find figurative hints up and down the Creator's dispensation in the twelve springs of Elfin; in the twelve gems of Aaron's priestly vestments; and in the twelve stones appointed by Joshua to be taken out of the Jordan, and set up the ark of the covenant. Now, the same number of apostles was thus portended.”

Crossan and Reed make the point that Luke’s story of how Matthias replaced Judas excludes the possibility of a thirteenth apostle such as Paul. They write:

“Luke insists in Acts 1 that, after Jesus’ resurrection, there were still, always, and only ‘the twelve apostles.’...For Luke, Paul is simply not an apostle. Without Matthias’ explicit selection, one might have imagined that Luke’s Paul was at least implicitly Judas’ replacement as the twelfth apostle. With it, Luke implies that Paul was not an apostle and could never be one....[H]e could never be the one thing Paul always insisted that he was, namely, an apostle sent by God through a revelation of the risen Lord. (Id., at 29.)

This verse in Revelation 21:14 follows the mention of the twelve gates of the New Jerusalem. Each gate has a name of the twelve tribes of Israel on it. Revelation 21:14 then says:

“The city was built on twelve foundation stones. On each of the stones was written the name of one of the Lamb’s twelve apostles.” (Rev. 21:14 CEV.)

In Against Marcion, Bk. 5, ch. 1 we read:

“I desire to hear from Marcion the origin of Paul the apostle. I am a sort of new disciple, having had instruction from no other teacher. For the moment my only belief is that nothing ought to be believed without good reason, and that is believed without good reason which is believed without knowledge of its origin: and I must with the best of reasons approach this inquiry with uneasiness when I find one affirmed to be an apostle, of whom in the list of the apostles in the gospel I find no trace. So when I am told that he [i.e., Paul] was subsequently promoted by our Lord, by now at rest in heaven, I find some lack of foresight in the fact that Christ did not know beforehand that he would have need of him, but after setting in order the office of apostleship and sending them out upon their duties, considered it necessary, on an impulse and not by deliberation, to add another, by compulsion so to speak and not by design [i.e., on the Road to Damascus].”

So then, shipmaster out of Pontus [i.e., Marcion], supposing you have never accepted into your craft any smuggled or illicit merchandise, have never appropriated or adulterated any cargo, and in the things of God are even more careful and trustworthy, will you please tell us under what bill of lading you accepted Paul as apostle, who had stamped him with that mark of distinction, who commended him to you, and who put him in your charge? Only so may you with confidence disembark him [i.e., Paul]: only so can he avoid being proved to belong to him who has put in evidence all the documents that attest his apostleship.”

He [i.e., Paul] himself, says Marcion, claims to be an apostle, and that not from men nor through any man, but through Jesus Christ. Clearly any man can make claims for himself: but his claim is confirmed by another person’s attestation. One person writes the document, another signs it, a third attests the signature, and a fourth enters it in the records. No man is for himself both claimant and witness. Besides this, you have found it written that many will come and say, I am Christ. If there is one that makes a false claim to be Christ, much more can there be one who professes that he is an apostle of Christ.... [L]et the apostle, belong to your other god:.....”

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