Josephus, Pilate and Paul: It’s Just a Matter of Time (Part 6)

[1] For recent studies on Paul from this perspective, see Donald Harman Akenson, Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus (Oxford University
Press, 2002); Gerd Lüdemann, Paul: The Founder of Christianity (Prometheus Books, 2002); and James D. Tabor, Paul and Jesus: How the Apostle
Transformed Christianity (Simon & Schuster, 2013).
[2] For the variety of ‘Judaisms’ in the 1st century, see Shaye Cohen, From the Maccabees to the Mishnah (3rd ed.; Westminster John Knox Press, 2014)
Also, Donald Harman Akenson, Saint Saul: A Skeleton Key to the Historical Jesus, Oxford, 2002.
[3] See the discussion further on regarding Suetonius’ mention of the figure Chrestus in Rome in 49 AD, and the discussion of Tacitus on Pontius Pilate.
[4] Richard I. Pervo, Dating Acts: Between the Evangelists and the Apologists (Polebridge Press, 2006).
[5] Douglas A. Campbell, Framing Paul: An Epistolary Biography (Eerdmans, 2014).
[6] Tacitus (ca. 56–117), as well as later historians such as Plutarch, Suetonius and Cassius Dio, also related events during this time, but only Josephus
devotes so much detail to Judea/Syria and the surrounding regions.
[7] Harold W. Attridge, The Interpretation of Biblical History in the Antiquitates Judicae of Flavius Josephus (Scholars Press: Missoula, Montana, 1976), p.
181.
[8] Ant. 20.11.2 (265), Unless otherwise noted, all quotations from Josephus’ Antiquities and Wars come from the Whiston translation.
[9] See Mary Ann Tolbert’s Sowing the Gospel (Fortress Press, 1989) for a discussion of the well-known and effectively utilized techniques of rhetoric found
in the Gospel of Mark.
[10] Goulder, Paul v. Peter; Thomas L. Brodie, The Birthing of the New Testament: The Intertextual Development of the New Testament Writings (Sheffield
Phoenix Press, 2006). Dennis R. MacDonald’s 2-volume New Testament and Greek Literature: The Gospels and Homer: Imitations of Greek Epic in Mark and
Luke-Acts (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014) and Luke and Vergil: Imitations of Classical Greek Literature (Rowman & Littlefield, 2014).
[11] F. C. Baur, Paul the Apostle of Jesus Christ. His Life and Works, His Epistles and Teachings (2 vols; Hendrickson, 2003 [1845]); Jason D. BeDuhn, The
First New Testament: Marcion’s Scriptural Canon (Polebridge Press, 2013); Campbell, Framing Paul (2014); John Knox, Chapters in a Life of Paul (Mercer
University Press, 1987 [1950]); Gerd Luedemann, Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles: Studies in Chronology (Fortress Press, 1984); David Trobisch, Paul’s Letter
Collection: Tracing the Origins (Quiet Waters Publications, 2001) and The First New Testament (Oxford University Press 2011 [2000]); Joseph B. Tyson,
Marcion and Luke-Acts: A Defining Struggle (University of South Carolina Press, 2006).
[12] David L. Eastman, “Paul: An Outline of His Life”, in Mark Harding and Alanna Nobbs (eds), All Things to all Cultures: Paul among Jews, Greeks and
Romans (Eerdmans, 2013), p. 52.
[13] See Campbell, Framing Paul, pp. 220–9.
[14] As Robert Price put it to me, “It may be that the threat of Caligula prompted some at the time to nominate him as the Son of Perdition just like
Antiochus Epiphanes earlier, but when the danger passed, he had left his stamp on the Antichrist legend. It needn’t have been front-page news when 2
Thessalonians mentioned it” (personal communication). Campbell admits that placing it in 40 AD is “a rather more tentative judgment” (p. 229).
[15] He also rehabilitates Ephesians and Colossians. Most recently the Westar scholars rejected these three letters. See Arthur J. Dewey, Roy W. Hoover,
Lane McGaughy and Daniel D. Schmidt, The Authentic Letters of Paul (Polebridge Press, 2010).
[16] Ancient sources counted years inclusively, so when Paul gives a figure of 3 years, the actual amount of time could be anywhere between 2 and 3.
[17] See previous footnote.
[18] Curiously, John the Baptist figures in the story: he strongly condemned the divorce and remarriage, and Josephus says this led to his execution.
[19] Earliest extreme: 23 AD: Commission – 26 AD: 1st Jerusalem visit (3 years later) – 40 AD: 2 Thess. written, 2nd Jerusalem visit (14 years after 1st).
Latest extreme: 38 AD: Commission – 40 AD: 1st Jerusalem visit (just over 2 years later), 2 Thess. written – 53 or 54 AD: 2nd Jerusalem visit (13–14 years
after 1st).
[20] See Earl Doherty’s excellent analysis of all the alleged references to the gospels’ “Jesus of Nazareth” in the early Christian epistles: The Sound of
Silence: http://www.jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/soundofsilence.html
[21] Mason (2001), pp. xx–xi.
[22] Mason (2001), p. xlviii.
[23] Mason (2001), pp. xlvii–xlviii.
[24] Life 76 (430). All references to Josephus’ Life come from Mason’s translation.
[25] Mason (2001), p. xxix.
[26] Mason (2001), p. xx.
[27] Life 50 (260), 58 (302).
[28] Mason (2001), p. xxix.
[29] Life 26 (129), 27 (132), 28 (140).
[30] Eisler (1931), pp. 29, 187, 196, 184, 25.
[31] Eisler (1931), pp. 24, 26, 27, 28, 29.
[32] Reading Josephus, I’m continually reminded of the studies of the authoritarian personality by Bob Altemeyer, University of Manitoba, or the more
recent ideas of David Dunning and Justin Kruger of Cornell University: the “Dunning-Kruger effect” which is is a cognitive bias wherein relatively unskilled
individuals suffer from illusory superiority, mistakenly assessing their ability to be much higher than is accurate. Dunning and Kruger attributed this bias to
a metacognitive inability of the unskilled to recognize their own ineptitude and evaluate their own ability accurately. In other words, "If you're
incompetent, you can’t know you’re incompetent.… [T]he skills you need to produce a right answer are exactly the skills you need to recognize what a
right answer is." (“Dunning–Kruger Effect”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect)
[33] “Duping delight” is a neologism coined by Paul Ekman in his book Telling Lies (1992) to describe the tendency of some criminal offenders when they
manage to get away with a crime or a lie – it gives them pleasure. It is apparently a common feature of the psychopath.
[34] Spelled Banus in another manuscript, probably a play on words of the Latin balneum (bath) or the Greek balaneus (bath-man). See Steve Mason, Life
of Josephus: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2001), p. 18.
[35] Life 2 (9–12).
[36] Philo, Hypoth. 11.3.
[37] Philo, Hypoth. 11.4.
[38] Wars 2.8.7 (137–8).
[39] Life 3 (14–6).
[40] Life 72 (402–4).
[41] Mason (2001), p. xxv.
[42] Eisler (1931), pp. 186–7. Unless otherwise noted, all emphasis in quoted sources are mine.
[43] David F. Graf, “Aretas”, Anchor Bible Dictionary, Vol. I (), p. 375.
[44] Ant. 16.9.4 (294–9).
[45] Ant. 17.10.9 (287).
[46] Ant. 18.5.1 (109–25).
[47] Douglas A. Campbell, “An Anchor for Pauline Chronology: Paul’s Flight from ‘The Ethnarch of King Aretas’ (2 Corinthians 11:32–33),” Journal for Biblical
Literature Vol. 121, No. 2 (Summer, 2002), pp. 297–8.
[48] Ross Burns, Damascus: A History (Routledge, 2005), p. 44.
[49] Pliny, NH 5.74; Ptolemy, Georg. 5.14.
[50] Mason, Life, p. 139, n. 1399.
[51] Wars 1.4.8 (103); 1.5.3 (115); 1.6.2 (127); 1.12.1 (236); 1.18.4–5; 1.20.3–4 (362); from Eleazar’s speech at Masada in 7.8.7 (368).
[52] Wars 1.21.11 (422–3).
[53] Wars 1.20.3 (396).
[54] Wars 2.6.3 (96).
[55] Wars 1.8.5 (168); 2.6.3 (95); Ant. 18.4.6 (106).
[56] Wars 2.11.5 (215); Ant. 19.5.1 (274).
[57] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 287.
[58] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 299, n. 45
[59] Tacitus, Ann. 6.27.
[60] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 290.
[61] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 282.
[62] Strabo 17.1.13.
[63] Ant. 14.7.2 (117).
[64] Philo, Flacc. 74.
[65] OGI 616.2; Lucian, Macrobii 17 (“Asander, who, after being ethnarch, was proclaimed king of Bosporus by the divine Augustus …”); Philo, Quis rer. div.
her. 56 (“leader of a nation”).
[66] Rainer Riesner, Paul’s Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology (Eerdmans, 1997), p. 86.
[67] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 296.
[68] Robert Eisler, The Messiah Jesus and John the Baptist (Dial Press, 1931), pp. 288–94, argues that John’s death occurred in 35 AD.
[69] Ant. 18.4.6 (106–8).
[70] Ant. 18.5.4 (136).
[71] Steve Mason, Judean War 2: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2008), p. 155.
[72] One assumes that Josephus means “around the time of the death of Philip” as just recounted.
[73] In short, the two Herods were both in love with their niece who carried the blood of the Hasmoneans through her father.
[74] A fortified hilltop palace located in Jordan fifteen miles (24 km) southeast of the mouth of the Jordan river on the eastern side of the Dead Sea. In
1978–1981, excavations were carried out by Virgilio Corbo, Stanislao Loffreda and Michele Piccirillo, from the Franciscan Biblical Institute in Jerusalem. The
ruins remain in remarkably untouched condition to this day. Archaeology reveals within the fortified area, ruins of the Herodian palace, including rooms, a
large courtyard, and an elaborate bath, with fragments of the floor mosaic still remaining. Traceable also, coming from the east, is the aqueduct that
brought water to the cisterns of the fortress. Pottery found in the area extends from late Hellenistic to Roman periods and confirms the two main periods
of occupation, namely, Hasmonean (90 BC–57 BC) and Herodian (30 BC–AD 72), with a brief reoccupation soon after AD 72 and then nothing further – so
complete and systematic was the destruction visited upon the site by the Romans. “Anastylosis at Machaerus,” Biblical Archeology Review, Jan/Feb. 2015,
Vol. 41, No. 1, pp. 52–61.
[75] Ant. 18.5.1 (109–12).
[76] Plutarch, Antony 32–34.
[77] Ant. 18.5.1 (113–5).
[78] Ant. 18.5.2 (116–9).
[79] Tiberius’ reign was counted from August 19, 14 AD. So, for example, Tacitus could refer to the start of the year 23 AD as occurring in the “ninth year
of Tiberius” (Ann. 4.1). So also Pliny the Elder (NH 33.8) and Philo (Leg. 21).
[80] Dio 58.26.
[81] Tacitus, Ann. 6.31–7. All citations of his Annales refer to A. J. Woodman’s translation (Hackett, 2004).
[82] Tacitus, Ann. 6.44.5.
[83] Ant. 18.5.3 (120–6).
[84] Spelled Banus in another manuscript, probably a play on words of the Latin balneum (bath) or the Greek balaneus (bath-man). See Steve Mason, Life
of Josephus: Translation and Commentary (Brill, 2001), p. 18.
[85] Life 2 (11–12).
[86] Ant. 17.8.1 (191).
[87] Ant. 18.2.1 (20).
[88] Ant. 18.4.6 (106).
[89] Wars 2.20.1–4 (556–68).
[90] Wars 3.2.1 (9–11).
[91] Wars 3.2.2 (19–20).
[92] Wars 7.8.1 (262–4).
[93] Ant. 18.5.2 (118).
[94] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 287, n. 26.
[95] Campbell, “Anchor”, p. 293, n. 42.
[96] Ant. 18.4.5 (104–5).
[97] Campbell, p. 184-185, exc.
[98] Campbell, p. 185, n. 58
[99] Ant. 18.4.4–5 (96).
[100] Suetonius, Tiberius 66.
[101] Suetonius, Caligula 14.3.
[102] Suetonius, Vitellius 2.4.
[103] Suetonius, Caligula 5.
[104] Dio 59.27.2–4.
[105] Tacitus, Ann. 2.1—5.2.
[106] Tacitus, Ann. 2.43.2.
[107] Tacitus, Ann. 2.57.3—58.2.
[108] Tacitus, Ann. 2.68–69.
[109] Tacitus, Ann. 6.31.
[110] This sacrifice comprised a boar, a ram, and a bull. (Original footnote to the text by Woodman.)
[111] Tacitus, Ann. 6.37.1—38.1.
[112] One gets a crazy vertiginous sensation that Josephus’ account of these events relies on Tacitus, even though we know that Tacitus published some
years after Josephus. Interpolation? Perhaps.
[113] Philo, Legatio 32 (231–2).
[114] Tacitus, Ann. 12.12 ff.
[115] Of course, there’s the nagging problem of whether the gospels can agree on whether that ministry was one year or three and whether Jesus was
crucified in 29, 30, 32 or 33 AD; not to mention that pesky John the Baptist not sticking to the schedule and dying in 35/36 when he’s supposed to die
before Jesus’ ministry begins. Then there is the problem of the almost immediate conversion of Paul, who supposedly was a persecutor of the early
“church”, which hardly had time to form or grow or spread, and how to fit his chronology in with the chronology of Jesus and Pilate. It’s really a mess and
the amount of ink that has been spilled on it would float an aircraft carrier.
[116] Bart D. Ehrman, A Brief Introduction to the New Testament (2nd ed.; Oxford University Press, 2008), p. 136.
[117] John Dominic Crossan, Jesus: A Revolutionary Biography (HarperOne, 1995), p. 145.
[118]
 Donald B. Redford, Egypt, Canaan, and Israel in Ancient Times (Princeton University Press 1992), pp. 301, 258, 260–1, 263.
[119] Josephus, Flavius: The Jewish War, translated by G. A. Williamson, introduction by E. Mary Smallwood (Penguin, 1981), p. 24.
[120] Pervo (2015), pp. 126–7.
[121] Ibid., p. 127.
[122] Ibid., pp. 128–9.
[123] In 1835, German theologian David Friedrich Strauss published his extremely controversial The Life of Jesus, Critically Examined (Das Leben Jesu).
While not denying that Jesus existed, he did argue that the miracles in the New Testament were mythical retellings of normal events as supernatural
happenings. According to Strauss, the early church developed these miracle stories to present Jesus as a fulfillment of Jewish prophecies of what the
Messiah would be like. This ¼ perspective was in direct opposition to the supernaturalist view that the bible was accurate both historically and spiritually.
The book caused an uproar across Europe. The Earl of Shaftesbury called the 1846 translation by Marian Evans "the most pestilential book ever vomited
out of the jaws of hell," and Strauss' appointment as chair of theology at the University of Zürich caused such controversy that the authorities offered him
a pension before he had a chance to start his duties. (“David Strauss”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/David_Strauss)
[124] Ellegard, 2008, p. 170.
[125] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory
[126] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ_myth_theory
[127] Ibid.
[128] Doherty Jesus: Neither God nor Man, pp. vii-viii.
[129] Doherty, The Jesus Puzzle, Journal of Higher Criticism, Vo. 4. Issue 2, 1997.
[130] Price doesn’t fully agree with this point. He thinks the epistles are late pseudepigrapha but do attest an earlier variety of Christianity that knew of no
historical Jesus. (Personal communication with the author, 2015.)
[131] “Christ-myth theory”, Wikipedia.
[132] For an opposing view, see Robert Price, Amazing Colossal Apostle, and the “Dutch Radicals”.
[133] Ellegard, “Theologians”, pp. 169-70.
[134] Philo, Quod Omnis Probus Liber 12.75—13.91. Available online at: http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book33.html
[135] Philo, in Eusebius, P.E. 8.11.1–18. Available online at: http://www.earlyjewishwritings.com/text/philo/book37.html
[136] Pliny, Historia Naturalis 5.17 or 29; in other editions 5.(15).73.
[137] Wars 2.8.2–13 (119–61).
[138] Ant. 13.5.9 (172).
[139] Ant. 15.10.4 (371).
[140] Ant. 18.1.5 (18–9).
[141] Gabriele Boccaccini, Beyond the Essene Hypothesis: The Parting of the Ways Between Qumran and Enochic Judaism (Eerdmans, 1998), p. 47.
[142] John Collins’ recent work, Beyond Qumran, supports Ellegard’s conclusions, with discussion of such communities scattered around the empire.
[143] Epiphanius, Panarion 1:18.
[144] Ibid. 1:19.
[145] Norman Golb, Who Wrote the Dead Sea Scrolls?: The Search for the Secret of Qumran (Simon & Schuster, 1996).
[146] “Essenes”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essenes
[147] Shürer, vol. II, p. 591–7.
[148] Sanhedrin (43a): “Jesus was hanged on Passover Eve. Forty days previously the herald had cried, ‘He is being led out for stoning, because he has
practiced sorcery and led Israel astray and enticed them into apostasy. Whosoever has anything to say in his defense, let him come and declare it.’ As
nothing was brought forward in his defense, he was hanged on Passover Eve.” That is to say, his dead body was hanged on a gibbet after stoning.
[149] Sanhedrin (107b), cited by Wells, The Jesus of the Early Christians (1971), p. 200.
[150] Ibid., p. 202.
[151] Birger A. Pearson, Gnosticism, Judaism, and Egyptian Christianity (Fortress Press, 2006), pp. 37–8.
[152] It is interesting to note that this was the time that brought forth Antiochus of Ascalon beginning the phase of Greek philosophy known as Middle
Platonism. was a pupil of Philo of Larissa at the Academy, but he diverged from the Academic skepticism of Philo and his predecessors. He was a teacher
of Cicero, and the first of a new breed of eclectics among the Platonists; he endeavoured to bring the doctrines of the Stoics and the Peripatetics into
Platonism, and stated, in opposition to Philo, that the mind could distinguish true from false. he had a school at Alexandria as well as in Syria, where he
seems to have died. Looking into Middle Platonism reveals a rich field of comparative study for emerging Christianity.
[153] Rev. G. T. Manley, The New Bible Handbook (London, 1960), p. 140, cited by Wells (1971), p. 282.
[154] H. Hepding, Attis, seine Mythen und sein Kult (Giessen, 1903), p. 65 ff., cited by Wells (1971), p. 282.
[155] Wells (1971), p. 282.
[156] 1 Cor. 1:22–4, 2:1–2. At the end of this letter, commenting on Christ’s resurrection or ascension, an event associated with the cross, Paul says: "If
Christ has not been raised, then our preaching is in vain and your faith is in vain ... and you are still in your sins" (1 Cor. 15:14–7).
[157] Albert Schweitzer, The Mysticism of Paul the Apostle, ranslated by W. Montgomery (London, 1931), p. 72, cited by Wells (1971), p. 298.
[158] Wells (1971), p. 228.
[159] Assuming that the reference to the fleshly descent of Jesus is not an interpolation.
[160] G. Murray, Stoic, Christian and Humanist (London, 1950), p. 76, cited by Wells (1971), pp. 237–8.
[161] Ibid.
[162] 1 Cor. 15:5, where Paul says that Jesus appeared first to Cephas, “then to the twelve”. In the gospels, Judas has already betrayed Jesus, so he
appears only to “the eleven”.
[163] 1 Cor. 9:5.
[164] G. A. Wells, The Historical Evidence for Jesus (1988), pp. 217–18.
[165] G.A. Wells, Can We Trust the NT? (2004), pp. 49–50.
[166] Ibid., p. 43.
[167] James 5:12.
[168] Wells (1971), pp. 155–6.
[169] Ellegård, pp. 143–4.
[170] Eusebius, H.E. 3.3.5.
[171] Eusebius, H.E. 6.20.3.
[172] De Vir. Illus. Voc. Caius.
[173] The Muratorian fragment is a Latin manuscript translated from Greek, long thought to be the earliest list of canonical Christian books. However,
while early scholars dated it to ca. 170 AD, it’s now thought to be closer to the fourth century. In other words, it doesn’t give a very solid idea of the early
Christian canon.
[174] Moses Stuart, Rensselaer David Chanceford Robbins, Mark Mewman, A Commentary on the Epistle to the Hebrews, Vol. I (Codman Press, 1827), p.
123.
[175] Leopold Fonck, The Catholic Encyclopedia (1910). Available online at: http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/07181a.htm
[176] The Interpreter's Bible (1955), TIB XI, p. 588.
[177] "Introduction to Hebrews", The New Analytical Bible and Dictionary of the Bible (KJV) (John A. Dickson Publishing Co., 1950), p. 1387.
[178] Eric F. Mason, You Are a Priest Forever: Second Temple Jewish Messianism and the Priestly Christology of the Epistle to the Hebrews (STDJ 74;
Leiden/Boston: Brill, 2008).
[179] Adolph von Harnack, “Probabilia uber die Addresse und den Verfasser des Habraerbriefes, ” Zeitschrift fur die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und
die Kunde der aelteren Kirche (E. Preuschen, Berlin: Forschungen und Fortschritte, 1900), 1:16–41.
[180] A. J. Gordon, “The Ministry of Women,” World Missionary Review 7 (December 1894): 910–921.
[181] Gilbert Bilezikian, Beyond Sex Roles: What the Bible Says about a Woman's Place in Church and Family (Baker Academic, 1985 1st Edition & 2nd
Editions; 2006 3rd Edition).
[182] Priscilla and Aquila were a first-century Christian missionary married couple; Paul was generous in his recognition and acknowledgment of his
indebtedness to them (Rom. 16:3–4).
[183] Donald Guthrie, The Letter to the Hebrews, (Tyndale New Testament Commentaries, Grand Rapids, Mich.: Eerdmans, 1983, reprinted 1999), p. 21.
[184] Gordon, op. cit.
[185] “Epistle to the Hebrews”, Wikipedia.
[186] One must keep in mind that the veracity of Eusebius – or, put another way, the accuracy – has been brought into serious question by the work of
Bauer. Read Ellegård for a more thorough critique of Eusebius and dating based on his claims.
[187] Ellegård, pp. 39–40.
[188]
 We have already encountered Muratori above somewhat unsatisfactorily. I would suggest that it was written by someone already in full
apologetic/true-believer mode.
[189] Ellegård, pp. 40–1. Paul sends greetings to Hermas (among others) in Rome, in Rom. 16:14. Clement is referred to as one of Paul’s co-workers
(along with Euodia and Syntyche) in Phil. 4:3.
[190] I am grateful to Richard Pervo (personal communication) for reminding me that the language of antiquity could be used quite loosely. Just look at
Acts!
[191] Ellegård, pp. 42–3.
[192] Paul usually uses the name “Cephas” (“rock” in Aramaic) in his letters. He only uses “Peter” twice, in Gal. 2:7–8: “ On the contrary, they saw that I
had been entrusted with the task of preaching the gospel to the Gentiles, just as Peter had been to the Jews. For God, who was at work in the ministry of
Peter as an apostle to the Jews, was also at work in my ministry as an apostle to the Gentiles.” He never refers to Cephas in the same context, as apostle
to the Jews. In fact, in the very next sentence (2:9) he calls “James, Cephas and John” the pillars.
[193] Suetonius, Domitian 15.1, in ibid., p. 198–9.
[194] Dio 67.14.1f., in Peter Lampe, From Paul to Valentinus: Christians at Rome in the First Two Centuries (Fortress Press, 2003), p. 198.
[195] Eusebius, Ecc. Hist. 3.18.4, in ibid., p. 199.
[196] Philostratus, Life of Apollonius 8.25.
[197] Tac. Ann. 15.44; Seutonius, Claudius 25.3; Suetonius, Nero 16.2; Pliny, Epistle 10.96.8.
[198] Lampe, op. cit., p. 202.
[199] Ibid., p. 203.
[200] Alan Garrow, The Gospel of Matthew’s Dependence on the Didache.
[201] The Anchor Bible Dictionary, v. 1, pp. 613–4.
[202] Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. 1, Introductory Note to the Epistle of Barnabas.
[203] “Epistle of Barnabas”, Wikipedia.
[204] Translated by J.B. Lightfoot, available online at: http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/text/barnabas-lightfoot.html
[205] New Bible Commentary, ed. Professor F. Davidson (and others), 2nd edn. (London, 1961).
[206] P. L. Couchoud, The Enigma of Jesus (London, 1924), p. 122. Also, Couchoud, Le mystère de Jésus (Paris, 1926).
[207] Wells, pp. 288–91, exc.
[208] M. Dibelius, Die Geisterwelt im Glauben des Paulus (Göttingen, 1909), p. 201.
[209] Wells, pp. 294–5, exc.
[210] Wells, p. 316.
[211] Tacitus, Ann., 15.44.2–4.
[212] Robert E. Van Voorst, Jesus Outside the New Testament: An Introduction to the Ancient Evidence Eerdmans Publishing (2000), pp. 33–5, 44–8. In the
Greek of the time, both christos and chrestos were pronounced the same. (Thanks to Richard I. Pervo for pointing this out to me.) This may suggest that
outsiders simply confused the two words. However, the lack of attestation to Christian references, and the presence of Chrestian ones (see below), in the
earliest historical record, may suggest that they got it right.
[213] William Smith and Henry Wace, A Dictionary of Christian Biography, Literature, Sects and Doctrines, vol. III (John Murray, 1882), p. 819.
[214] See this website for more evidence (including 13 early manuscript references, 11 inscriptions/graffiti, and references by Church Fathers Justin Martyr,
Clement, Tertullian and Lactantius): http://www.mountainman.com.au/essenes/chrestians%20christians.htm.
[215] Tacitus, Histories 5.9.8.
[216] Hermann Detering, “1 Clement and the Ignatiana in Dutch Radical Criticism”, available online at: http://www.radikalkritik.de/Clem_eng.pdf
[217] Phil. 13.1; Mart. Poly. 10.1.
[218] See "Who Published the New Testament?", Free Inquiry 28.1 (2007/2008), pp. 30-33, and The First Edition of the New Testament (Oxford University
Press, 2011).
[219] Lieu (2015), pp. 293–4.
[220] Acts 20; 1 Tim. 1, 4, 6; Ign. Eph. 7–9, 16–7.
[221] Magnesians 11:1, quoted in Ellegard, p. 207.
[222] Trallians 9–10, quoted in Ellegard, pp. 207–8.
[223] Philadelphians 8:2—9:2, quoted in Ellegard, p. 208.
[224] Smyrnaeans 1, 3, quoted by Carrier, p. 318.
[225] Carrier, p. 319.
[226] Richard I. Pervo, “Acts in Ephesus (and Environs) c. 115”, Forum Third Series 4,2 (Fall 2015), p.146, 147, exc.
[227] Ibid., p. 139.
[228] Ephesians 19, quoted in Carrier, p. 320.
[229] Carrier, p. 321.
[230] Ibid., p. 146. See also Pervo’s The Making of Paul: Constructions of the Apostle in Early Christianity and The Mystery of Acts: Unraveling Its Story” and
“Dating Acts: Between the Evangelists and the Apologists.
[231] W. Sanday, The Gospels in the Second Century (London, 1876), p. 272.
[232] Wells (1971), p. 111.
[233] There are also several alleged coins minted by Pilate from the late 20s/early 30s AD. However, the coins do not include Pilate’s name. The only
reason they are associated with Pilate is because they include the years they were minted, and that association is simply based on the assumption that
Pilate ruled during those years. They could have been minted by anyone who was prefect of Judea at the time.
[234] The issue of heresy is anachronistic at that time, as Pervo and others point out. There was not yet any sort of established orthodoxy against which
to claim heretical views; there were only “factions”.
[235] Philo, On the Embassy to Gaius (Caligula) 24.159–161.
[236] Details concerning Sejanus' fall are provided by Cassius Dio. Exactly that portion of Tacitus is missing in all surviving manuscripts.
[237] Philo, Embassy 37.298—39.306.
[238] Ant. 18.3.1 (55–9).
[239] Ant. 18.4.2 (89).
[240] Ant. 17.6.1–4 (146–67).
[241] Ant. 17.6.5–6 (174–81).
[242] Ant. 17.7.1 (182–7).
[243] Ant. 17.8.1 (188–91).
[244] Ernest L. Martin, The Star of Bethlehem: The Star That Astonished the World, 2nd ed. (Associates for Scriptural Knowledge, 1996). Available online at:
http://www.askelm.com/star/star011.htm
[245] A more recent work by Gerard Gertoux comes to the same conclusion. See Herod the Great and Jesus: Chronological, Historical and Archaeological
Evidence (2015): http://www.academia.edu/2518046/Herod_the_Great_and_Jesus_Chronological_Historical_and_Archaeological_Evidence
[246] Tacitus suggested that there may be been foul play involved in the death of Gaius and that Gaius's step mother Livia may have had a hand in his
death. Livia's presumed motive may have been to orchestrate the accession of her own son Tiberius as heir to Augustus.
[247] Ibid. Available online at: http://www.askelm.com/star/star012.htm
[248] Ant. 17.8.1 (188–9).
[249] Ant. 17.9.1–3 (206–18).
[250] Ant. 17.9.3 (221–3).
[251] Vell. 2.117.2.
[252] 66 A.D. – The Last Revolt (DVD), History Channel.
[253] Martin presents some evidence that he was reassigned to the province in 2 BC following a two-year governorship of Sentius Saturninus. Gertoux
argues that Quirinius was governor during this time, and that he was reassigned later, during the census of 6 AD.
[254] Ant. 17.10.1 (250–3).
[255] Ant. 17.10.1–2 (250–9).
[256] Ant. 17.10.2 (260–4).
[257] Ant. 17.10.4 (269).
[258] Ant. 17.10.9 (286–90).
[259] Ant. 17.10.9 (291–4).
[260] First cousin of Herod, the one who had prevented him from killing himself during his final illness.
[261] Ant. 17.10.10 (295–8).
[262] Wars 2.6.1 (80).
[263] Wars 2.6.3 (93–9).
[264] Luke 3:1.
[265] Wars 2.12.8 and Ant. 19.5.1.
[266] Strabo 16.2.46 (765).
[267] Dio 55.27.6.
[268] Ant. 17.6.4 (164–7).
[269] Ant. 17.9.1 (207–8).
[270] Ant. 17.13.1 (339).
[271] Ant. 17.13.1 (341).
[272] Ant. 15.3.1 (39–41).
[273] Ant. 17.13.1 (340).
[274] It was five days after executing his son that Herod died. Later in Antiquities, Josephus tells the story of the bird omen seen by Antipas, who only
lived five days after seeing it. Ant. 18.6.7 (200). So it strikes me that this five days may be another number cue, if we could only figure out what it meant
to Josephus.
[275] Wars 2.3.4 (52).
[276] Wars 2.4.1 (55), Mason translation.
[277] Wars 2.4.1 (56).
[278] Wars 1.33.2 (648–49).
[279] Ant. 17.10.5 (271–2).
[280] Wars 2.4.2 (57–9).
[281] “Gabriel’s Revelation”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gabriel%27s_Revelation. See also Knohl, Israel, Messiahs and Resurrection in ‘The
Gabriel Revelation’ (Continuum, 2009).
[282] Wars 2.4.3 (60–5). Cf. Ant. 17.10.7 (278–84).
[283] Richard Gottheil, Kaufmann Kohler, “Anthronges”, Jewish Encyclopedia: http://www.jewishencyclopedia.com/articles/2088-athronges
[284] Wars 2.8.1 (117–8).
[285] Ant. 18.1.1, 6 (9–10, 23–5).
[286] Ant. 17.10.7 (284).
[287] Curiously, this is the same year that Varus and three Roman legions were destroyed in the Battle of the Teutoberg Forest by an anti-Roman alliance
that was led by Arminius, who had acquired Roman citizenship and received a Roman military education
[288] Tacitus, The History, 5.9-10; Trans. A. J Church and W. J. Brodribb, edited by Moses Hadas, Modern Library edition, 1942, p. 663.
[289] Wars 2.9.1–2 (167–9).
[290] Ant. 17.13.5 (354).
[291] Ant. 18.1.1 (1–3).
[292] Wars 2.17.8 (433–4).
[293] Ant. 15.10.5 (373–9).
[294] Ant. 20.5.2 (100–2). Since Judas had a son named Simon, one wonders if he had a brother named Simon also?
[295] 1 Clem. 5:2, Lightfoot translation.
[296] As Richard Carrier shows in his book (pp. 337–42), the passage in Josephus that refers to James the brother of Jesus probably refers to a different
James, and a different Jesus, and the phrase “who was called Christ” is in all likelihood a scribal interpolation.
[297] Wars 7.8.1 (252–4).
[298] Ant. 18.1.1 (4–10).
[299] Ant. 18.3.1 (3).
[300] Ant. 18.2.1 (26).
[301] Dio 55.13.4.
[302] Tacitus, Ann. 2.30.4; 3.22.1; 3.48.1.
[303] CIL III 6687, ILS 2683, quoted in Gertoux (2015).
[304] Ant. 18.2.2 (29–32).
[305] Wars 2.9.1–2 (167–9).
[306] Ant. 18.2.2 (33).
[307] Wars 2.3.4 (52).
[308] Ant. 18.2.2 (34–35)
[309] Ant. 18.4.3 (95).
[310] One cannot help but note the similarity of the name Caiaphas to Cephas.
[311] Dio, Hist. 23 ; Tac. Ann. xvi. 17.Ann. i. 80, vi. 27 ; Hist. ii. 65, 97 ; Suet. Tib. 63. See: William Thomas Arnold. (2013). The Roman System of Provincial
Administration to the Accession of Constantine the Great. London: Forgotten Books. (Original work published 1879)
[312] See his account above, in the section “Philo and Josephus on Pilate”.
[313] Tacitus, Ann. 15.44.3, where he refers to Pilate as procurator, not prefect.
[314] Ant. 18.3.3 (63–4).
[315] An ancient Table of Contents of the 18th book of Antiquities omits any reference to the passage about Jesus, as does the Josephus codex of Photius.
Also notice that Origen’s reference appears to make it clear that the TF did not exist in his copy.
[316] Zindler, The Jesus the Jews Never Knew, p.45-48
[317] Earl Doherty, Supplementary Articles No. 16: Josephus On the Rocks, http://jesuspuzzle.humanists.net/supp16.htm
[318] See Lester Grabbe, "Jesus Who is Called the Christ: References to Jesus Outside Christian Sources", in Thomas S. Verenna, Thomas L. Thompson, “Is
This Not The Carpenter?": The Question of The Historicity of the Figure of Jesus (2013), pp. 61–67. For the most concise and up-to-date treatment of the
sources, see Carrier.
[319] Referring to the Saul/Paul of Acts, not the historical Paul of the epistles. But he is right that Jesus was shaped partly from the words and actions of
Paul.
[320] Daniel T. Unterbrink, Judas of Nazareth: How the Greatest Teacher of First-Century Israel Was Replaced by a Literary Creation (Bear & Co., 2014), pp.
241–2.
[321] Ibid., p. 256.
[322] In his story, “Silver Blaze”, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle chronicles the mystery of the kidnapping of a prize race horse. Sherlock Holmes concludes “the
midnight visitor was someone the dog knew well”, ultimately leading to the determination that the horse’s trainer was the guilty party. Gregory
(Scotland Yard detective): "Is there any other point to which you would wish to draw my attention?" Holmes: "To the curious incident of the dog in the
night-time." Gregory: "The dog did nothing in the night-time." Holmes: "That was the curious incident."
[323] Unterbrink, op. cit., p. 269.
[324] Hugh Schonfield, The Essene Odyssey: The Mystery of the True Teacher and the Essene Impact on the Shaping of Human Destiny (Element Books,
1993), p. 7.
[325] Ant. 18.3.4–5 (65–80).
[326] Tacitus, Ann. 13.44.
[327] Tacitus, Ann. 13.43.2.
[328] Interestingly, one of Caesar’s assassins was named Lucius Pontius Aquila, a tribune of the plebs who refused to stand during one of Caesar’s
triumphs and later served under Caesar’s betrayer, Decimus Junius Brutus Albinus.
[329] Ant. 18.3.5 (81–4).
[330] Tacitus, Ann. 2.85.4.
[331] Wars 2.6.1 (80).
[332] Historia Ecclesiae 2:7.
[333] Tacitus, Histories 5.9.1.
[334] Tacitus, Ann. 2.43.2.
[335] Ant. 18.2.5 (53).
[336] Ant. 18.3.1 (55).
[337]
 Ant. 18.3.1 (56–9).
[338] Wars 2.9.2–3 (169–74).
[339] Wars 2.9.4 (175–7).
[340] Wars 2.9.5 (178–80).
[341] Ant. 18.5.3 (120–6).
[342] Rajak, Tessa (1996), "Iulius Agrippa (1) I, Marcus", in Hornblower, Simon, Oxford Classical Dictionary, Oxford: Oxford University Press
[343] Ant. 18.7.2. Also see Mason, Charles Peter (1867), "Agrippa, Herodes I", in Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology
1, Boston: Little, Brown and Company, pp. 77–78
[344] Ant. 18.4.1 (85).
[345] Compare Ant. 18.2.2 (30–1).
[346] A. J. Woodman, in his translation of The Annals, notes in a footnote: “Epigraphic evidence shows that the appointment of Cn. Sentius Saturninus
(suffect consul AD 4) was confirmed by Tiberius ¼”
[347] Tacitus, Ann. 2.74.
[348] Tacitus, Ann. 3.9–10.
[349] Tacitus, Ann. 3.13.
[350] Tacitus, Ann. 3.19.
[351] This was the Sejanus mentioned by Philo as being responsible for the persecution of the Jews in Italy.
[352] “Albucilla was the wife of Satrius Secundus, and was infamous for having had many lovers. In 37 AD, she was accused of treason, or impiety, against
the emperor (Latin: impietatis in principem) along with Gnaeus Domitius Ahenobarbus, Vibius Marsus, and Lucius Arruntius. As a result she was imprisoned
by command of the senate ¼” (“Albucilla”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Albucilla) Her husband, Satrius Secundus, “was a dependent of
Sejanus. He accused Aulus Cremutius Cordus, the historian, of having eulogized Brutus and spoken of Cassius as the last of the Romans, which was
considered an offence under the lex maiestas, and the senate ordered the burning of his writings in 25 AD. He afterwards betrayed his master, and gave
information to Tiberius of the conspiracy which Sejanus had formed against him. Josephus relates that Antonia informed Tiberius of the conspiracy of
Sejanus. It has been conjectured that Secundus, unwilling or unable to have an interview with the emperor, had acquainted Antonia with the plot.”
(“Satrius Secundus”, Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Satrius_Secundus)
[353] Tacitus, Ann. 6. 47; 2.74, 79; 4.47, 48; 9.10.
[354] Joseph Hilarius Eckhel, vol. iv. pp. 147, 148
[355] This poem by Lewis Carroll is said to be an allegory for eastern and western religions gobbling people up.
[356] Ronald Syme, The Roman Revolution (Oxford, 1939), p. 476.
[357] De Oratore 1.39, 2.32; Brutus 52; Pro Balbo 53; Pro Caelio 24.
[358] Syme, op. cit., pp. 362, 396.
[359] Ibid., p. 399.
[360] Daniel T. Ariel. 2014. Review of David M. Jacobson and Nikos Kokkinos eds. Judaea and Rome in Coins, 65 BCE–135 CE . London: Spink and Son Ltd,
2012. Numismatic Chronicle 174:385–391. P. 388.
[361] Tacitus, Ann. 1.8.4.
[362] Tacitus, Ann. 3.18.2.
[363] Tacitus, Ann. 2.4.3, 2.43.2.
[364] Proconsul of Asia in 20–21 AD, according to A. J. Woodman (note to Ann. 3.66.1).
[365] Tacitus, Ann. 3.66; 3.67.1; 3.68.1; and 4.15.3.
[366] Tacitus, Ann. 4.68.1.
[367] This Silanus was, apparently, murdered by Claudius' freedman, Narcissus, in 42 AD, which one deduces from a passing reference at Ann. 11.29.1.
[368] Tacitus, Ann. 6.9.3.
[369] Tacitus, Ann. 4.17–19, excerpts.
[370] William R. Farmer, Maccabees, Zealots, and Joseophus: An Inquiry into Jewish Nationalism in the Greco-Roman Period (Greenwood Press, 1956), pp.
163–7.
[371] Galatians 2:9: “and when James and Cephas and John, who were acknowledged pillars, recognized the grace that had been given to me, they gave
to Barnabas and me the right hand of fellowship, agreeing that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised.”
[372] Luke 3:1.
[373] See Jason D. BeDuhn, The First New Testament: Marcion’s Scriptural Canon (Polebridge Press, 2013) and Joseph B. Tyson, Marcion and Luke-Acts: A
Defining Struggle (University of South Carolina Press, 2006).
[374] Ellegard 2008, pp. 169, 170.
[375] Ellegard, (2008), p. 172
[376] See Goulder and Dykstra.
[377] Hyam Maccoby, The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity (Barnes & Noble, 1998).
[378] Elaine Hilsenrath, Jesus, The Nazorean: An Investigation and Analysis of the Origins, Ideology, and Activities of the Community of Jews Who Followed
Jesus The Sect of the Nazoreans (BookSurge Publishing, 2009).
[379] Wars 6.5.3 (300–5).
[380] See Tolbert’s Sowing the Gospel.
[381] Ant. 15.7.9–10 (254–61).
[382] Ant. 16.7.6 (227).
[383] Ant. 18.5.4 (136, 141).
[384] Wars 2.20.1 (556–8).
[385] Wars 2.20.2 (559–61).
[386] Acts is primarily concerned with showing the harmony between the two important early Christian figures: Paul and Peter. However, this agenda
overrides concern with the facts, presenting a whitewashed version of both Paul and Peter, almost totally at odds with the data available in Paul’s letters.
See Michael Goulder, St. Paul versus St. Peter: A Tale of Two Missions (Westminster John Knox Press, 1995), and Pervo, Dating Acts.
[387] While Acts focuses on Peter within the Jerusalem church, Paul’s letters strongly imply that James was the church’s main leader.
[388] Wars 2.18.4 (469–76).
[389] 2 Corinthians 11, NIV.
[390] Galatians 1 and 2, excerpts.
[391] Dillon, Middle Platonists.
[392] P. L. Couchoud, The Enigma of Jesus (London, 1924), p. 122. Also, Couchoud, Le mystère de Jésus (Paris, 1926).
[393] Wells (1971), pp. 288–91, exc.
[394] This was undoubtedly a self-interested approach since local priests of other religious persuasions often hailed a powerful ruler with the titles and
theologies of their own kings/religions as a diplomatic maneuver. But Paul was not analyzing the text from this point of view; he was going all exegetical
and trying to derive meaning that applied to him and his situation and the world around him.
[395] NIV.
[396] Rainer RIesner, Paul’s Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology (Erdmans, Grand Rapids/Cambridge, 1998), p. 237.
[397] NIV.
[398] Riesner, op. cit. pp. 246–7.
[399] Wells (1971), p. 298.
[400] Isaiah 45, NIV.
[401] E. Gibbon, The Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, Everyman edn. In 6 vols. (London, 1960), end of Chapter XV.
[402] Wells (1971), p. 103.
[403] Stefan Weinstock, Divus Julius (Oxford University Press, 1972).
[404] Jerome Carcopino, Cicero: The Secrets of His Correspondence, 2 vols., (London: Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1951).
[405] See Stevenson’s Transformation of Roman Republic.
[406] Mommsen, History; Arthur D. Kahn, The Education of Julius Caesar: A Biography, A Reconstruction (iUniverse, 2000). Michael Parenti, The
Assassination of Julius Caesar: A People’s History of Ancient Rome (New Press People’s History, 2004).
[407] Mattias Gelzer, Caesar: Politician and Statesman (Harvard University Press, 1921, 1968).
[408] Gelzer (1968), p. viii.
[409] Quoted in Jona Lendering, “Gaius Julius Caesar”, available online at: http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar10.html
[410]
Att. 7.7, trans. Evelyn S. Shuckburgh, The Letters of Cicero, 4 vols. (George Bell and Sons, 1908–1909).
[411] Att. 9.7, Shuckburgh.
[412] Vell. 2.56.
[413] Att. 11.20, Shuckburgh.
[414] Suetonius, Iul. 73.
[415] Att. 14.22, Shuckburgh.
[416] The contrast between his early life and the high moral tone adopted by him in his writings has frequently been questioned, but I see no reason why
he could not have reformed. He does seem to have bent a bit the other way when writing about Caesar so as not to be accused of partiality.
[417] Sallust, Cat. 54 (translated by John C. Rolfe, Loeb, 1931).
[418] Included in B. K. Workman, They Saw it Happen in Classical Times (Blackwell, 1964), p. 112.
[419] Plutarch, Caesar 63–7.
[420] “Appian: The Funeral of Julius Caesar”, from: William Stearns Davis, ed., Readings in Ancient History: Illustrative Extracts from the Sources, Vol. II:
Rome and the West (Boston: Allyn and Bacon, 1912–13), pp. 154–8.
[421] Suetonius, Caesar 84–5, translated by Joseph Gavorse. Available online at: http://www.livius.org/caa-can/caesar/caesar_t10.html
[422] Georg. 1.
[423] Plutarch, Caes. 69.
[424] Cic. Att. 14.1.1.
[425] Gelzer (1968), pp. 329–31.
[426] Like Carotta, Barry Strauss connects Fulvia with Caesar’s funeral: The Death of Caesar (Simon & Schuster, 2015), pp. 170, 173.
[427] Erik Zara, “Chrestians before Christians? An Old Inscription Revisited” (2009):
https://sites.google.com/site/originsofchristianity/romanisation/antonia-minor/Chrestians before Christians - An Old Inscription Revisited.pdf
[428] See J. B. Mitchell, Chrestos: A Religious Epithet (Williams and Norgate, 1880) and D. M. Murdock, “Is Suetonius's Chresto a Reference to Jesus?”:
http://www.truthbeknown.com/suetoniuschresto.html
[429] Lampe, p. 352.
[430] Francesco Carotta, Jesus Was Caesar: On the Julian Origin of Christianity: An Investigative Report (Aspekt, 2005).
[431] For example, his theology of the dying and rising god, his focus on the ritual meal, and the mystical union implied by the concept of the “body of
Christ”. See Wells.
[432] A suggestion made by J. M. Robinson in his Pagan Christs (1911), and supported by Wells.
[433] William Smith (ed.), A Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology Vol. II (John Murray, 1880), p. 631.
[434] Elaine Pagels’s book, The Gnostic Paul: Gnostic Exegesis of the Pauline Letters (Trinity Press, 1992), analyzes Paul’s letters in terms of Valentinian
gnosticism, showing how the letters were read by 2nd-century gnostics and how they could be considered ‘proto-gnostic’ in nature. In other words, the
gnostics may have gotten a lot of their ideas from Paul, or Paul at least may have influenced the ideas the gnostics later developed, based on their
interpretations of his ideas.
[435] In addition to Romans. Both letters are in the unique position of having been addressed to congregations that had not previously met Paul
personally. For all his other letters, we can infer that he did not feel the need to spell things out so clearly that he had presumably already taught in
person. Romans and Ephesians were different: he had to formulate his gospel clearly for those whom he had yet to address in person.
[436] Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, cited by Pagels, 1972, Fortress Press, p. 1.
[437] Suetonius, Claudius 25.
[438] Dio 60.6.6–7.
[439] Orosius, History 7.6.15–16.
[440] A. S. Hunt and G. C. Edgar (eds.) Select Papyri II (Loeb Classical Library, 1934), pp. 78–89.
[441] Ant. 19.5.2–3 (278–91).
[442] See H. Stuart Jones, “Claudius and the Jewish Question at Alexandria”, Society for the Promotion of Roman Studies, Vol. 16, Part 1 (1926).
[443] See Ant. 19.8.2—19.9.2 (343–361). Daniel R. Schwartz, in Agrippa I: The Last King of Judaea (Mohr/Siebeck, 1990), pp. 108–10, argues that Agrippa
died in in the period between Sept./Oct. 43 and Jan./Feb. 44, favoring September/October 43 AD, in the third year of Agrippa’s rule under Claudius. He
bases this on evidence from numismatics (coins), Josephus, and the times of the games at Caesarea Maritima.
[444] Acts 12.
[445] As mentioned above in the section “The Passion of Caesar”, Agrippa (along with his son and Herod of Chalcis) was brought up at Rome with the
Imperial princes and, as H. Stuart Jones notes (op. cit.), would have had powerful friends at court. Antonia, the younger daughter of Mark Antony and
Octavia Minor (Augustus’ sister), was at the center of this coterie.
[446] Acts 21.21.
[447] Acts 24:5.
[448] See Robert Eisenman, James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls (Penguin, 1997) and
The New Testament Code: The Cup of the Lord, the Damascus Covenant, and the Blood of Christ (Penguin, 2006).
[449] Dennis R. MacDonald, The Legend and the Apostle: The Battle for Paul in Story and Canon (Westminster Press, 1985), p. 35; see also pp. 28, 36.
[450] 2 Corinthians 12:14–8: “Here I am, ready to come to you this third time. And I will not be a burden, because I do
not want what is yours but you; for children ought not to lay up for their parents, but parents for their children. I will
most gladly spend and be spent for you. If I love you more, am I to be loved less? Let it be assumed that I did not
burden you. Nevertheless (you say) since I was crafty, I took you in by deceit. Did I take advantage of you through any
of those whom I sent to you? I urged Titus to go, and sent the brother with him. Titus did not take advantage of you,
did he? Did we not conduct ourselves with the same spirit? Did we not take the same steps?” As Campbell writes,
regarding the collection for Jerusalem: “It seems to have given rise to accusations of fraud – specifically, that although
nobly (or arrogantly) eschewing direct personal support from the Corinthians, he nevertheless intended to abscond
with this even larger sum that he was raising ostensibly for the Christian community in Jerusalem” (Framing Paul, p.
150).
[451] Ant. 18.3.5 (81–4).
[452] The author of Luke-Acts appears to avoid any explicit description of the collection, almost as if he is trying to smooth over a controversy. What
reference he does make are so vague that, without knowledge of Paul’s letters, the reader would not be able to know what the nature of the collection
was in the first place.
[J1]This quoted paragraph appears a few pages back (page 21).
[J2]Maybe draw a short comparison between this and Josephus’ account on previous page?