Jesus' Words Only

Secret History of Post-Paul Church Pt 5: Was Tertullian Tripped up by a Septuagint Mistranslation?

Jul 22, 2022

Video Description

Tertullian exposed flaws in Paul -- his lack of proof of apostleship, and indirectly the contradiction of Jesus and Paul on Sabbath in Against Marcion in 207 AD.

Tertullian at the end of Against Marcion said that he would stand by Paul on the basis of the Benjamite wolf prophecy in Genesis 49:7.

This prophecy in the Brenton Septuagint -- the English translation of the Greek Septuagint from 247 BC reads:

Benjamin, as a ravening wolf, shall eat still in the morning, and at evening he gives food. (Gen. 49:27 Septuagint - Benton).

But the word "food" is a mistranslation. Here is the JPS and correct translation:

"Benjamin is a wolf that ravens; In the morning he devoureth the prey, And at even he divides the spoil[s].'"

Spoils are "goods stolen or taken forcibly from a person or place." (Google definitions).

In the final book, Book 5, Tertullian mentions, but then says he does not want to comment about it, that Paul in Col. 2:16 abolished the Sabbath: "We do not now treat of the Law, further than (to remark) that the apostle here teaches clearly how it [the Sabbath] has been abolished, even by passing from shadow to substance - that is, from figurative types to reality, which is Christ.” (Tertullian, Against Marcion, Bk 5, ch. 19.)

Col. 2:16 reads: “Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days:“ (Col. 2:16 KJV.)

Tertullian says Paul had the right to abolish Sabbath in Bk 1, ch. 20. Then later to rebut Marcion's claim Jesus abolished Sabbath, Tertullian said Jesus did no such thing, with proofs that all Jesus said is good works -- a healing of a hand, or eating corn in a field when hungry -- do not violate Sabbath. See Against Marcion bk. 4, ch. 12. Tertullian is emphatic: "". Thus Christ did not at all rescind the Sabbath."

This and other contradictions between Jesus and Paul are inadverntly disclosed as Tertullian rebuts Marcion. In the end, there was such a clash that Tertullian had to explain why he still holds onto Paul, immediately after saying "let the apostle [Paul] belong to your other god.""

This is how he explained why he holds onto Paul despite all the contradictions:

""…. let the apostle [Paul], belong to your other god; yet you have no proof of it except from the Creator's archives. Even Genesis long ago promised Paul to me. Among those figures and prophetical blessings over his sons, when Jacob had got to Benjamin he said [Gen. 49:27], ‘Benjamin is a ravening wolf: until morning he will still devour, and in the evening will distribute food. He foresaw that Paul would arise of the tribe of Benjamin, a ravening wolf devouring until the morning, that is, one who in his early life would harass the Lord’s flock as a persecutor of the churches, and then at evening would distribute food, that is, in declining age would feed Christ's sheep as the doctor of the gentiles.” (Book 5, Ch. 1.)

This explanation primarily relies upon the Benjamite Wolf translation of the Septuagint. But had he known it was a negative prophecy about Paul, world history would have been different. Tertullian was the most influential voice of Christianity of era with several dozen well-written books on Christian doctrine and issues.

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