RE: Paul's Beliefs
July 27, 2012 at 11:42 pm
(This post was last modified: July 27, 2012 at 11:48 pm by Justtristo.)
I agree with Hermann Detering and Robert M Price that Paul of Tarsus was no other than Simon Magus. The character of Paul in the New Testament is a later orthodox version of Simon Magus.
Josephus in Book 20, Chapter 7 of the Antiquities of the Jews mentions a Jewish magician by the name of Simon, who was associated with King Agrippa II, his sister Drusilla and the Roman procurator Felix. That would be no other than Simon Magus. In some versions of Josephus this Simon is nicknamed Atomos (Greek for small), while Paul is a Latin name meaning small as well. In the book of Acts Paul is portrayed to be friends with the same people this Simon Josephus mentions. Also the Jewish-Christian pseudo clementines asserted that Paul and Simon Magus were the same person, not to mention associating with the same sort of people Paul is mentioned associating with in the epistles attributed to him and preaching the same "salvation through faith alone" message you encounter in these epistles.
Now Simon Magus seems to have preached form of Gnosticism which was anti-Torah and stressed salvation through faith alone. That sort message is preached a lot in the "Pauline" epistles. This Simon Magus could also be the ' Spouter of Lies' portrayed in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
Josephus in Book 20, Chapter 7 of the Antiquities of the Jews mentions a Jewish magician by the name of Simon, who was associated with King Agrippa II, his sister Drusilla and the Roman procurator Felix. That would be no other than Simon Magus. In some versions of Josephus this Simon is nicknamed Atomos (Greek for small), while Paul is a Latin name meaning small as well. In the book of Acts Paul is portrayed to be friends with the same people this Simon Josephus mentions. Also the Jewish-Christian pseudo clementines asserted that Paul and Simon Magus were the same person, not to mention associating with the same sort of people Paul is mentioned associating with in the epistles attributed to him and preaching the same "salvation through faith alone" message you encounter in these epistles.
Now Simon Magus seems to have preached form of Gnosticism which was anti-Torah and stressed salvation through faith alone. That sort message is preached a lot in the "Pauline" epistles. This Simon Magus could also be the ' Spouter of Lies' portrayed in the Dead Sea Scrolls.
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