andrewcriddle

One factor in convincing Orthodox Christians that the canon was now closed, may have been hostility in the late 2nd century to the Montanists, the advocates of the "new prophecy", who were bringing forward their own supposedly inspired oracles in support of their rigorist version of Christianity.

Andrew Criddle

Gamera

You're right. That's what I meant. If anything Paul's letters influenced the writing of the four Gospels themselves.

But Paul clearly had the gospel narrative, as 1 Cor. 15 indicates.

Gamera

Paul clearly had the basic narrative upon which the later four Gospels are based, as 1 Cor. 15 indicates.

I don't know exactly what you mean by "personal revelation" but it seems to me that the espistles are no different than any "art" of moral living written in antiquity. Paul is merely trying to apply this novel belief to everyday life, which had never been done before because Christianity was brand new. I would think this has less to do with revelation than ratiocination, though it doesn't bother me that he calls it revelation.

Good question. It's something I'm trying to figure out myself. Clearly Origen is writing "theology-like" texts, and it's full blown in the next century after him. But think about the obsessions of theology (what is the nature of God, what is the substance of Christ, what is the nature of sin) and you'll find none of that in Paul's writings. His concerns are "existential" -- what is sin in my life -- not theological.

Anyway, I think what happened is that theology become the dominant theme of religious discourse in the West by the middle ages, and as a result, we retrojected theological themes into Paul's epistles. But you simply don't find them there. No parcing of the trinity, no meditation on original sin, no speculation about Christ's reign in the millennuim, and so forth. It's totally absent.

Steven Avery

And we have 1 Timothy 5:18 .. where Paul refers to a passage from the Gospel of Luke as scripture.

Solo

This must be Paul referring to an early draft of Luke's gospel. Put it down to doctor-patient privilege.

Jiri

Niall Armstrong

Deuteronomy 25:4, hardly Luke 10:7.