I have a strange hobby. I really get into Biblical textual criticism. Is that weird? Maybe so…
Today I was listening to a podcast discussion about whether there was evidence for the resurrection of Jesus. I was finding the whole discussion moderately absurd because it seemed to be based on the idea that the Gospel accounts were somehow historical, something I find no evidence for. It brought to mind the shocking discovery I made a few years ago that the letters of Paul are actually older than Mark-Matthew-Luke and John. In fact, the earliest New Testament text is 1st Thessalonians. I had heard from various commentators that Paul’s writings contained no obvious evidence that Paul had ever considered Jesus to have even been a historical person. Don’t forget, BTW, that according to the Bible Paul never met Jesus and didn’t start evangelizing until a decade or so after he supposedly died. So, I thought to myself “1st Thessalonian’s is a short book, I should go give it a quick read”.
I brought it up in my web browser and started reading… Yo, it’s Paul and boys, we’re happy to see ya, thanks for all the good work, you’re doing great, etc, just a normal letter. Then all of a sudden, bam! Chapter 2 verses 14-16:
2:14For you, brothers, became imitators of the assemblies of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus; for you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, even as they did from the Jews; 2:15who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and drove us out, and didn’t please God, and are contrary to all men; 2:16forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always. But wrath has come on them to the uttermost.
Then back into the warm fuzzies. These verses immediately hit me as wrong. First, it clearly indicates a familiarity with Jesus as a historical person killed by the Jews. Second, it is extremely antisemitic considering that the alleged author, Paul, was a Jew himself. Third, at the end of verse 16 they seem to refer to some sort of big calamity that had befallen the Jews which would seem to indicate a familiarity with the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 CE (about 20-30 years after this would have been written). Fourth, there was just the tone of it. It seemed like the author had switched into a different voice completely. It just stuck out like a sore thumb from the surrounding text.
So, I did a quick Google on “1st Thessalonians 2:14-16 interpolation” and bingo, I was not the only one to draw that conclusion. Looks like my gut reaction to reading the text has been the subject of multiple critical theses and that among serious Bible scholars (read: non-fundamentalists) this passage is generally held to be extremely suspect for the very reasons it seemed suspect to me. Yes, it appears to be referring to the destruction of Jerusalem, yes that would guarantee this is an interpolation, yes the text is textually and semantically different from the surrounding text, no, Paul doesn’t generally refer to Jesus as an historical person. So, the text and history argue against the verses. What about manuscripts? They don’t help. The earliest known manuscript (papyrus P46) of 1st Thessalonians dates to about 200 CE, about 150 years after the original letter and 130 years after the downfall of Jerusalem, giving only about a century and a half or so for somebody to insert that phrase.
Anyhow, that was fun for me. Just thought I’d share… Back to looking for any reliable mention in Paul’s books that he was aware that Jesus actually existed on earth and was killed and resurrected…
More From Ryan Sutter
