Web viewSo does the Didache: ... He proceeds instead by rewriting the whole history of Christianity...

Theological Tendencies of Some Pauline Interpolations

Much progress has been made in identifying interpolations in the Pauline letters, with the recent

work of William O Walker Jr particularly notable. Research will surely continue,1 but with what

is already in hand, we may ask: Why were these interpolations made? Have any of them a

common character, and does that common character suggest a motive for their addition? Among

interpolations so far convincingly identified, I find that several do have a common character, and

that their implied purpose was irenic: to compose tensions between Paul and a group of

Christians whom I will call Alpha, whose view of salvation was not based on the Resurrection or

on the Atonement interpretation of the Resurrection, which in our minds is associated with Paul.

One way to reduce those tensions would have been to add to the genuine letters, most easily at

the time they were first edited for general circulation, passages expressing Alpha doctrine, so that

this earlier Christianity might seem to have a place in Pauline theology. The intent, then, would

have been to widen the perceived character of Paul=s teaching, as it was to be transmitted.

Alpha Doctrine. Several canonical and other documents have this in common: they do not

mention the Resurrection, even at points where such mention might be expected. Instead, they

preach Christianity as Mark shows Jesus to have preached it B from a reinterpreted Jewish

tradition. The Epistle of James has often been said to be more Jewish than Christian, in part

because it does not quote Jesus. Yet Jesus himself (if we trust Mark) did not preach by quoting

himself, but by quoting scripture in calling for a reform within Judaism which would move it

away from its sacrificial focus and toward its ethical focus.2 On the ethical side, Jesus was

radical. In Mk 10:19 he spells out what he accepted of the Mosaic Decalogue, namely, half of it:

five commandments plus a sixth against fraud.3 Jesus rejected the Pharisaic Atraditions of the

1Walker Interpolations 236, A . . . there are likely to be more B perhaps many more B non-Pauline interpolations in the letters generally regarded as authentically Pauline.@

2Micah 6:6, AWherewith shall I come before Jehovah . . . shall I come before him with burnt-offerings, with calves a year old? [7] Will Jehovah be pleased with thousands of rams? . . . [8] He hath showed thee, O man, what is good; and what doth Jehovah require of thee, but to do justly, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with thy God?@

3Mk 10:19 names the commandments against murder (#6), adultery (#7), theft (#8), false witness (#9), fraud, and honor to father and mother (#5). This is almost, but not precisely, Athe second table of the Decalogue.@ For the new commandment against Afraud,@ compare Deut 24:14 AThou shalt not oppress a hired servant that is poor and needy . . . [15] in his day thou shalt give him his hire,@ and Malachi 3:5, Aagainst those that oppress the hireling in his wages.@ That the Mk 10:19 omission of the Sabbath commandment (#4) was not inadvertent is

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fathers,@ and Mk 3:6 attributes Jesus= death in part to the enmity of the Pharisees. AJames@

keeps exactly to that narrowed, but also revitalized, sense of the Law.4 So does the Didache: its

Eucharistic prayers thank God for Jesus B not for his death, but rather for his Ashowing the way

to Life.@5 The pre-Pauline hymn quoted in Philippians 2:6-11 sees Jesus as exalted in Heaven,

but focuses on his exaltation, not his death.6 These witnesses attest a vigorous and articulate

Christianity which, at least at Philippi, was liturgically established, with is own hymnology,

before the arrival of Paul.

Paul and Alpha. For the opposition between Paul and the Epistle of James (I here avoid the

question of its authorship, and consider only its doctrinal position), we have very direct evidence.

First, Paul in Romans:7

Rom 3:20-24. Because by works of the law shall no man be justified in his sight, for

through the law cometh the knowledge of sin . . . through faith in Jesus Christ unto all

them that believe . . . being justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in

Christ Jesus.@Rom 4:1-3. What then shall we say that Abraham our forefather hath found according to

the flesh? For if Abraham was justified by works, he hath whereof to glory, but not toward

God. For what saith the scripture? And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto

him for righteousness.

and then the response of the Epistle:

James 2:17-18. Even so faith, if it have not works, is dead in itself. Yea, a man will say, Thou

hast faith and I have works: show me thy faith apart from works, and I by my works will show

thee [my] faith.

James 2:19-24. Thou believest that God is one; thou doest well; the demons also believe and

shudder. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith apart from works is barren? Was not

Abraham our father justified by works, and by works was faith made perfect; and the scripture

proved by Jesus= own Sabbath violations, Mk 2:23-28 and 3:1-6.4Including the distinctive Jesus commandment against fraud. James 5:4, ABehold, the hire

of the laborers who mowed your fields, which is of you kept back by fraud, crieth out.@5Did 9:3, AWe give you thanks, our Father / for the life and knowledge / which you revealed

to us through your servant Jesus@ (tr Varner). This is Jesus the servant, but not yet Jesus the suffering servant.

6With Hunter Paul 40f, I follow the reconstruction of Lohmeyer.7The ASV translation is used, here and below, because of its grammatical fidelity to the

wording of the original Greek.

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was fulfilled which saith, And Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned unto him for

righteousness, and he was called the friend of God. Ye see that by works a man is justified, and

not only by faith.

Much commentarial effort has been expended in explaining away this opposition, but I find the

opposition to be manifest: AJames@ not only disputes the clearly stated position of Paul in Romans,

but specifically ridicules Paul=s supporting example of Abraham.8

This is rather crisp. Nor was Paul himself a conspicuously forgiving opponent, as witness these

remarks:

1 Cor 16:22 [following Paul=s signature]. If any man loveth not the Lord, let him be anathema.

Gal 1:9. As we have said before, so say I now again, if any man preacheth unto you any gospel

other than that which ye received, let him be anathema.

This amounts to consigning Paul=s opponents (whoever one may suppose them to have been, in these

passages) to eternal damnation. Oppositions in which Paul was involved tended to be heated

oppositions.

The Apostolic Age effectively ended with the deaths of Paul (c60) and Peter (c64). Those events

would have raised, in an insistent form, the question of how things were now to be managed, and what

of the heritage of previous leadership was to go forward as approved for the Christian future. The

hostility showed by Paul in the above quotes may well have seemed problematic to a movement also

beset by formidable outside enemies: the Roman emperors, the traditional Jewish leadership, and the

hierarchical Greco-Roman culture, which clashed with the radical egalitarian style of the Jesus

movement churches. What to do?

As to the first of these tensions, the theological confrontation between Paul and the no less heated

Alpha spokesman AJames,@ I suggest that occasion was taken, when Paul=s letters were gathered

and edited for general circulation, not to delete the anti-Alpha passages, but rather to include new

passages which showed Paul himself as preaching Alpha doctrine, thus bringing the Alpha people

within the circle of what, in future, would be scripturally recognized as Pauline Christianity.

I will illustrate this by considering three interpolations in the genuine Pauline letters, by which I

believe that this irenic intention was carried out.

1. Romans 1:18-2:29

8As had the prophets before him; see again Micah 6:7, A . . . shall I give my first-born for my transgression?@

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For a detailed argument for this interpolation, see Walker Interpolations 166-189. The intrusive

nature of the passage is easily seen in the degree to which it differs from its surroundings, and the

degree to which its surroundings knit together, when the suspect passage is removed. The suspect

passage is here italicized:

Rom 1:17. For therein is revealed a righteous of God from faith unto faith: as it is written,

But the righteous shall live by faith.

[18]. For the wrath of God is revealed from Heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness

of men, who hinder the truth in unrighteousness, [19] because that which is known of God is

manifest in them; for God manifested it unto them. [20] For the invisible things of him since the

creation of the world are clearly seen, being perceived through the things that are made, [even]

his everlasting power and divinity; that they may be without excuse: [21] because that, knowing

God, they glorified him not as God, neither gave thanks, but became vain in their reasonings,

and their senseless heart was darkened. [22] Professing themselves to be wise, they became

fools, [23] and changed the glory of the incorruptible God for the likeness of an image of

corruptible man, and of birds, and four-footed beasts, and creeping things. [24] Wherefore God

gave them up in the lusts of their hearts unto uncleanness, that their bodies should be dishonored

among themselves: [25] for that they exchanged the truth of God for a lie, and worshipped and

served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever, Amen. [26] For this cause

God gave them up to vile passions: for their women changed the natural use into that which is

against nature, [27] and likewise also men, leaving the natural use of the woman, burned in their

lust one toward another, men with men working unseemliness, and receiving in themselves that

recompense of their error which was due. [28] And even as they refused to have God in their

knowledge, God gave them up unto a reprobate mind, to do those things which are not fitting;

[29] being filled with all unrighteousness, wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy,

murder, strife, deceit, malignity; whisperers, [30] backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty,

boastful, inventors of evil things, disobedient to parents, [31] without understanding, covenant-

breakers, without natural affection, unmerciful; [32] who, knowing the ordinance of God, that

they that practice such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but also consent with

them that practice them. [2:1] Wherefore thou are without excuse, O man, whosoever thou art

that judgest, for wherein thou judgest another, thou condemnest thyself; for thou that judgest dost

practice the same things. [2] And we know that the judgement of God is according to truth

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against them that practice such things. [3] And reckonest thou this, O man, who judgest them

that practise such things, and doest the same, that thou shalt escape the judgement of God? [4]

Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing

that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance? [5] But after thy hardness and impenitent

heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation by the righteous

judgement of God; [6] who will render to every man according to his works: [7] to them that by

patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and incorruption, eternal life; [8] but unto them

that are factious, and obey not the truth, but obey unrighteousness, [shall be] wrath and

indignation, [9] tribulation and anguish, upon every soul of man that worketh evil, of the Jew

first and also of the Greek; [10] but glory and honor and peace to every man that worketh good,

to the Jew first and also to the Greek, [11] for there is no respect of persons with God. [12] For

as many as have sinned without the law shall also perish without the law, and as many as have

sinned under the law shall be judged by the law; [13] for not the hearers of the law are just

before God, but the doers of the law shall be justified: [14] (for when Gentiles that have not the

law do by nature the things of the law, these, not having the law, are the law unto themselves,

[15] in that they show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience bearing

witness therewith, and their thoughts one with another accusing or else excusing; [16] in the day

which God shall judge the secrets of men, according to my Gospel, by Jesus Christ. [17] But if

thou bearest the name of a Jew, and restest upon the law, and gloriest in God , [18] and knowest

his will, and approvest the things that are excellent, being instructed out of the law, [19] and art

confident that thou thyself art a guide of the blind, a light of them that are in darkness, [20] a

corrector of the foolish, a teacher of babes, having in the law the form of knowledge and of the

truth; [21] thou that teachest another, teachest thou not thyself? Thou that preachest a man

should not steal, does thou steal? [22] Thou that sayest a man should not commit adultery, dost

thou commit adultery? [23] Thou that abhorrest idols, dost thou rob temples? [23] Thou who

gloriest in the law, though thy transgression of the law dishonorest thou God? [24] For the name

of God is blasphemed among the Gentiles because of you, even as it is written. [25] For

circumcision indeed profiteth, if thou be a doer of the law, but if thou be a transgressor of the

law, thy circumcision is become uncircumcision. [26] If therefore the uncircumcision keep the

ordinances of the law, shall not his uncircumcision be reckoned for circumcision? [27] And shall

not the uncircumcision which is by nature, if it fulfil the law, judge thee, who with the letter and

circumcision art a transgressor of the law? [28] For he is not a Jew who is one outwardly,

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neither is that circumcision which is outward in the flesh, [29] but he is a Jew who is one

inwardly, and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit not in the letter, whose praise is not

of men, but of God.

3:1. What advantage then hath the Jew? or what is the profit of circumcision? Much every way.

First of all, that they were entrusted with the oracles of God . . .

Argument for Interpolation. First, an interpolation should differ in some way from its context. Rom

1:18-2:29 differs from its context in that it speaks of repentance and salvation by works of the law, and

does not mention faith, whereas the surrounding text insists that Aby the works of the law shall no

flesh be justified in his sight@ (Rom 3:20). The means of salvation are different, and the means

expounded in the suspected passage are denied in the surrounding text. The test by difference is thus

met. Second, when an interpolation is removed (unless the interpolator has smoothed the edges), it

should leave behind a consecutive text. Removing Rom 1:18-2:29 leaves:

Rom 1:16. For I am not ashamed of the Gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to

every one that believeth, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. [17] For therein is revealed a

righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith.

[3:1] What advantage then hath the Jew? Or what is the profit of circumcision? [2] Much every

way: first of all, that they were intrusted with the oracles of God. [3] For what if some were

without faith? Shall their want of faith make of none effect the faithfulness of God? [4] God

forbid; yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar, as it is written, That thou mightest be

justified in thy words, and mightest prevail when you comest into judgement.

Rom 3:1 begins a section within what seems to be a Afaith@ discourse; the paraenetic insert thus

comes at a section boundary, and is not obviously interruptive. But the larger logic of the Afaith@

discourse nevertheless becomes clearer when the Aworks@ discourse of 1:18-2:19 is removed. The

test by removal is thus met. Both tests are met.

Argument for Alpha Character. It is obvious that Rom 1:18-2:29 (justification by works) is at

variance with Paul=s Atonement doctrine (justification by faith). Is it more at home elsewhere? Yes, it

is. Rom 1:18-2:29 resembles passages in what I have above identified as Alpha documents. Here is a

James similarity:

James 1:22. But be ye doers of the Word, and not hearers only, deluding your own selves.

Rom 2:13. For not hearers of the law are just before God, but the doers of the law shall be

justified.

The most extensive Alpha contact is with the vice list in the Two Ways tract, best preserved as part of

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the Didache:

Did 5:1. Murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, feats of magic, sorceries,

robberies, perjuries, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, fraud, haughtiness, malice, willfulness,

covetousness, foul speech, jealousy, audacity, pride, boastfulness.

Rom 1:29 . . . wickedness, covetousness, maliciousness, full of envy, murder, strife, deceit,

malignity, whisperers, [30] backbiters, hateful to God, insolent, haughty, boastful, inventors of

evil things, disobedient to parents, without understanding, covenant-breakers, without natural

affection, unmerciful.

The Two Ways likes to double its vices (adulteries/lusts, magic/sorceries, thefts/robberies), and a close

accounting would reflect this, but of the 20 vices of the Romans list, as it stands, 10 coincide with the

22 vices of the Didache. Then not only is Rom 1:18-2:29 atypical of Romans elsewhere, it has points

of similarity with Alpha documents.

2. Galatians 5:13-6:119

Here is this passage together with a few verses of its context at both ends:

Gal 5:11. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then

hath the stumbling-block of the cross been done away. [12] I would that they that unsettle

you would mutilate themselves.10

[13] For ye, brethren, were called for freedom, brethren, only [use] not your freedom for

an occasion to the flesh, but through love be servants one to another. [14] For the whole

law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. [15] But

if ye bite and devour one another, take heed that ye be not consumed, one of another. [16]

But I say, Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of the flesh. [17] For the flesh

lusteth against the Spirit, and Spirit against the flesh, for these are contrary, the one to the

other, that ye may not do the things that ye would. [18] But if ye are led by the Spirit, ye are

not under the law. [19] Now the works of the flesh are manifest: fornication, uncleanness,

9I differ from O=Neill in including the Gal 6:11 passage in the interpolation; O=Neill seems to cite Völter [not seen] as also including it. For Zahn=s evidence, see below. I also note that personalia tend to occur at the ends, not the middles, of Pauline letters, and Gal 6:11 looks like a claim of authenticity, such as the writer of 2 Thessalonians makes in 2 Thess 3:17. Another device of interpolators, a familiarization attempt, appears in Gal 5:21, AI warn you, as I warned you before.@ For this device in the genuine Paul, see the comparison of 1 Cor and Gal, above. But no commentator known to me has identified the prior occasion on which the historical Paul issued a warning to which Gal 5:21 might refer (see Betz Galatians ad loc).

10This indecent suggestion is muted in the ASV translation; I here follow RSV.

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lasciviousness, [20] idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife, jealousies, wraths, factions,

divisions, parties, [21] envyings, drunkenness, revellings, and such like; of which I

forewarn you, that they who practice such things shall not inherit the Kingdom of God.

[22] But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,

faithfulness, [23] meekness, self-control; against such there is no law. [24] and they that

are of Christ Jesus have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts thereof. [25] If

we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us also walk. [26] Let us not become vainglorious,

provoking one another, envying one another. [6:1] Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in

any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to

thyself, lest thou also be tempted.. [2] Bear ye one another=s burdens, and so fulfil the law

of Christ. [3] For if a man thinketh himself to be something when he is nothing, he

deceiveth himself. [4] But let each man prove his own work, and then shall he have his

glorying in regard of himself alone, and not of his neighbor. [5] For each man shall bear

his own burden. [6] Let him who is taught the Word share all good things with him who

teaches. [7] Do not be deceived: God is not mocked, for whatever a man sows, that will he

also reap. [8] For he who sows to his own flesh will from the flesh reap corruption, but he

who sows to the Spirit will from the Spirit reap eternal life. [9] And let us not grow weary

in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart. [10] So then, as we

have opportunity, let us do good to all men, and especially to those who are of the

household of faith. [11] See with what large letters I am writing to you with my own hand.

[12] It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would compel you to be

circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. [13]

For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law.

Argument for Interpolation. First, the contrast with the surrounding text is similar to that in the

preceding example. Text and context preach rival systems of salvation. The emphasis on works in Gal

5:13-6:11 is directly opposed by Gal 2:16 Ayet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the

law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed on Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by

faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law shall no flesh be

justified.@11 There is also a linguistic difference: Zahn 1/166 notes present tenses in Gal 1:6, 7; 5:10-

12, and 6:12f, neatly avoiding our passage; his list of the false teachers as the seducers of the Church

11Note the virtual identity between Rom 3:20, cited above, and Gal 2:16, cited here. This is the voice of Paul.

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(Gal 1:7, 3:1, 4:17, 29-31, 5:7, 10, 12 and 6:12f) again avoids our passage, and brackets it on both

sides. The style is thus different, and the first test, the test of difference, is met for this passage.

Second, that Gal 5:13-6:11 interrupts a discourse on circumcision is obvious when it is removed and

the neighboring passages are put together:

Gal 5:11. But I, brethren, if I still preach circumcision, why am I still persecuted? Then hath the

stumbling-block of the cross been done away. [12] I would that they that unsettle you would

mutilate themselves! [6:12] It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh that would

compel you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of

Christ. [13] For even those who receive circumcision do not themselves keep the law . . .

The continuity is evident, and the second test, the test by removal, is thus met. Both tests are met.

Argument for Alpha Character. The vice list in Galatians may again be compared with that in the

Didache version of the Two Ways:

Did 5:1. Murders, adulteries, lusts, fornications, thefts, idolatries, feats of magic, sorceries,

robberies, perjuries, hypocrisies, double-heartedness, fraud, haughtiness, malice, willfulness,

covetousness, foul speech, jealousy, audacity, pride, boastfulness.

Gal 5:19-21 . . . fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,

jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, parties, envyings, drunkenness, revellings . . .

Galatians here multiplies categories (factions/divisions/parties, drunkenness/revellings), so that it

actually contains fewer than its nominal 15 sins, but whatever their total number, 5 of that number have

close counterparts in the Didache version of the Two Ways list. The mismatch with that list is not the

same as the Romans mismatch, noted above. This may be because Gal 5:13-6:12 (which concentrates

on faults within the community) and Rom 1:29-30 (which has in view crimes in the wider society)

have a somewhat different orientation. But between them, they provide parallels for something like 15

of the 22 Didache vices. Further, Gal 5:13-6:11 has many similarities with the Epistle of James. In the

order of occurrence in James, we have the following

$ James 2:8. Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love thy

neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

Gal 5:14. For the whole law is fulfilled in one word, [even] in this: Thou shalt love thy neighbor

as thyself.12

$ James 2:12. So speak ye, and so do, as men that are to be judged by a law of liberty.

Gal 5:13a. For ye, brethren, were called for freedom . . .

12On this precept, see further under 1 Cor 13, below.

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$ James 4:3. Ye ask, and receive not, because ye ask amiss, that ye may spend it in your

pleasures.

Gal 5:13b . . . only use not your freedom for an occasion to the flesh.

$ James 4:16. But now ye glory in your vauntings: all such glorying is evil.

Gal 5:26. Let us not become vainglorious, provoking one another, envying one another.

$ James 5:19. My brethren, if any among you err from the truth, and one convert him, [20] let

him know that he who converteth a sinner from the error of his way shall save a soul from death,

and shall cover a multitude of sins.

Gal 6:1. Brethren, even if a man be overtaken in any trespass, ye who are spiritual, restore such

a one in a spirit of gentleness, looking to thyself, lest thou also be tempted.

I pass over the similarity of order between the James passages and their Galatians counterparts,

as attributable to coincidence. But the last correspondence is surely very striking. Paul=s own

response toward the erring brother, as seen in passages not presently suspect as interpolations, is

to judge and exclude him.13 In sum: At several points where it differs in substance with the rest of

Galatians, our passage shows similarities with Alpha documents.

3. 1 Corinthians 12:31b-14:1a

This is the much loved Alove@ chapter, 1 Cor 13, plus half-verse attachment points at both

ends. It has been well analyzed by Walker 147-165. With Walker,14 I consider 14:1a to be an

intentional repetition, meant to resume the remote context in 12:31, and thus a join rather than

part of the interpolation proper. Also meant as a join is the transition passage 12:31b. I here

group both with the context, so as to better highlight the interpolation proper:

1 Cor 12:30. Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31]

But earnestly desire the greater gifts. [31b] And moreover a most excellent way I show unto

you:

[13:1] If I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, but have not love, I am become

sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal. [2] And if I have prophecy, and know all mysteries

131 Cor 5:3, AFor I verily, being absent in body but present in spirit, have already as though I were present judged him that hath so wrought this thing, [4] in the name of the Lord Jesus.@ [5:5] Ato deliver such a one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh.@ [5:11] AI wrote unto you not to keep company, if any man that is named a brother be a fornicator, or covetous, or an idolater, or a reviler, or a drunkard, or an extortioner; with such a one no, not [even] to eat.@

14And others; see Walker Interpolations 153f, quoting Meeks and Titus.

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and all knowledge, and if I have all faith, so as to remove mountains, but have not love, I

am nothing. [3] And if I bestow all my goods to feed the poor, and if I give my body to be

burned, but have not love, it profiteth me nothing. [4] Love suffereth long and is kind; love

envieth not; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up; [5] doth not behave itself unseemly,

seeketh not its own, is not provoked, taketh not account of evil; [6] rejoiceth not in

unrighteousness, but rejoiceth with the truth; [7] beareth all things, believeth all things,

hopeth all things, endureth all things. [8] Love never faileth, but whether prophecies, they

shall be done away, whether tongues, they shall cease, whether knowledge, it shall be done

away. [9] For we know in part, and we prophesy in part, [10] but when that which is

perfect is come, that which is in part shall be done away. [11] When I was a child, I spake

as a child, I felt as a child, I thought as a child; now that I am become a man, I have put

away childish things. [12] For now we see in a mirror, darkly, but then face to face; now I

know in part, but then shall I know fully even as also I was fully known. [13] But now

abideth faith, hope, love, these three: and the greatest of these is love.

[14:1a] Follow after love, [14:1b] yet desire earnestly spiritual gifts. [2] For he that

speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men, but unto God, for no man understandeth; but

in the spirit he speaketh mysteries. [3] But he that prophesieth speaketh unto men

edification, and exhortation, and consolation.

Argument for Interpolation. First, given the emphasis placed on faith elsewhere in this epistle and in

Romans, it is certainly startling to hear, in 1 Cor 13:13, that of faith, hope, and love, Athe greatest of

these is love.@ Also in favor of the separateness of 1 Cor 13 is its literary integrity and its exalted

literary tone, which have frequently been noticed by the commentators.15 But the more cohesive 1 Cor

13 is, the less formal continuity it has with the material preceding and following. Amusingly, though 1

Cor 13 deprecates prophecy as one of the temporary and childish things, Paul in 1 Cor 14:3 proceeds to

extol prophecy as compared to tongues. This may count as another point of difference, indeed, of

conflict. Formally, the items in this part of 1 Cor, which are responses to questions asked by the

Corinthians, are signaled by the marker perì dé, Aas for, concerning.@ 1 Cor 13 stands out in lacking

this marker.16 In several ways, then, the test of difference is met.

15For a sample of comments, see Walker 155f, citing Spicq, Meeks, Fee, and Titus.16Mitchell Concerning denies that perì dé is necessarily an answer to a previous epistolary

question, and shows that it is Asimply a topic marker, a shorthand way of introducing the next subject of discussion@ (p234). That definition will suffice for 1 Cor also; it merely happens that we know, from 1 Cor 7:1, that these topic markers signal responses to Athe things whereof ye wrote.@ That first topic is marriage. Other perì dé markers occur at 1 Cor 7:5 (the unmarried), 8:1 (food offered to idols),

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Second, when the surrounding passages are joined:

1 Cor 12:30. Have all gifts of healings? Do all speak with tongues? Do all interpret? [31] But

earnestly desire the greater gifts. [14:2] For he that speaketh in a tongue speaketh not unto men,

but unto God, for no man understandeth; but in the spirit he speaketh mysteries; [3] but he that

prophesieth speaketh unto men edification, and exhortation, and consolation.

it appears that our passage interrupts a continuous discourse on spiritual gifts. The continuity could not

be better, and the second test, the test by removal, is also met. Both tests are met.

Argument for Alpha Character. The theme of love within the Christian community, though it jars in

its Pauline Afaith@ context, is at home in the Two Ways:

Didache 1:2. On the one hand, then, the Way of Life is this: first, you will love the God

who made you; second, your neighbor as yourself.17

It is also at home in James:

James 2:8. Howbeit if ye fulfil the royal law, according to the scripture, Thou shalt love

thy neighbor as thyself, ye do well.

What makes this a Aroyal@ law is that it goes back to a point emphasized by Jesus:

Mark 12:13 . . . The second is this, Thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself. There is none

other commandment greater than these.

And what makes it Ascriptural@ is that it goes back to scripture, indeed, to the Pentateuch:18

Lev 19:18. Thou shalt not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of thy

people, but thou shalt love thy neighbor as thyself: I am Jehovah.

The interpolation ends by noting that tongues and prophesies are part of the childhood of the

believer, and will be done away with at the end, where love will not only persist, but will be fully

realized. This reads like a sermon against the tongues and prophesies of which Paul in 1 Cor 12

was just speaking.

Summary. This is the last of my three examples. I take it as demonstrated that (a) these passages

are indeed interpolated in their Pauline contexts, and to different degrees interrupt and/or

12:1 (spiritual gifts), 16:1 (the collection for Jerusalem), and 16:12 (the visit of Apollos).17I do not consider Did 1:2 part of the Asectio Evangelica,@ since the parallel to Mt 22:37f

is trivial, whereas that to Mk 12:30f is fundamental. Did 1:2a occurs in the Barnabas version of the Two Ways, at Barn 19:2a, and Did 1:2b at Barb 19:5b, whereas the bulk of the Asectio Evangelica,@ which consists of late Matthean additions to the Didache, is absent in Barnabas.

18As much in Jesus goes back to scripture, albeit with a particular emphasis. I thus cannot accept the Acriterion of dissimilarity,@ which privileges, as representing the Historical Jesus, sayings with no counterpart in Judaism. Au contraire.

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contravene those contexts; whereas (b) they are entirely at home in the context of one or more

Alpha Christian documents. I end by suggesting that their insertion into what later ages would

regard as Pauline preaching has the effect, and was meant to have the effect, of making Paul

preach Alpha principles alongside his well-known (and not denied) Beta doctrines. These

improvements in Paul make Paul more nearly an Apostle to all Christian believers.

A Further Instance

These interpolations, I have suggested, were one way in which the Alpha heritage was grafted

onto the Pauline heritage. But there were also other ways, and I will close with one of them: the

quite different approach taken by Luke-Acts. This text seems to take the AJames@ view of the

Atonement doctrine, so fervently advocated by Paul in Romans. But unlike James,@ Luke does

not proceed by direct argument, and unlike the above interpolators, he does not proceed by

subversive interpolation. He proceeds instead by rewriting the whole history of Christianity as it

then existed, whether in the Gospels or in the Pauline letters, so as to leave the Atonement out.

That the Atonement doctrine is late is already suggested in Mark, where it is precariously

situated in just two passages: Mk 10:45 (AFor the Son of Man also came not to be ministered

unto, but to minister, and to give his life a ransom for many@) and 14:24 (AAnd he said unto

them, This is my blood of the covenant, which is poured out for many@). In his incorporation of

Mark into his own Gospel, Luke eliminates both these passages.19

It might be thought that, at least in Acts, Luke would be constrained to acknowledge the

Atonement doctrine that plays so prominent a role in Paul=s genuine letters. But this he does not

do. Luke gives many speeches of Paul, to magistrates and to the Athenian public, but in none of

them does Paul mention the Atonement doctrine. Its only appearance in Acts is during Paul=s

farewell to the elders of Ephesus, in Acts 20:28 (ATake heed unto yourselves, and to all the

flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you bishops, to feed the church of the Lord which he

19Lk 22:27 has been read as implying what Mk 10:45 specifies (Hengel Atonement 73, Bovon Luke 3 175), but in the larger context of what Luke does in Luke-Acts, I cannot think that this is a valid way to read Luke. The difficulties in interpreting some passages must however be admitted. In view of the apparent post-Pauline wish not to bring the Alpha/Beta theological difference to a boil, it is possible that ambiguous formulations were preferred for hymns and creedal statements: both Alpha and Beta members could repeat and accept them, though in different senses. For a later example of consensus reached over wording with different internal meaning, see Faulkner=s account of theological disputes at the Council of Nicaea.

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purchased with his own blood@). This acknowledges that Paul himself viewed Jesus this way,

but still excludes the Atonement doctrine from Paul=s preaching; that is, from Pauline doctrine

properly so called.

Then in one way or another, whether by addition to the letters of Paul (as in the interpolations

here examined) or by subtraction from the previous Gospel (as consistently in Luke-Acts), the

Alpha view of Christianity was introduced into what would become the mainline tradition, as a

way of preserving it in viable form for the future.

Works Cited

Hans Dieter Betz. Galatians. Fortress 1979

François Bovon. Luke 3. Fortress 2012

John Alfred Faulkner. The First Great Christian Creed. American Journal of Theology v14 #1

(1910) 47-61

Martin Hengel. The Atonement. 1980; tr SCM 1981

A M Hunter. Paul and His Predecessors. 2ed SCM 1961

Margaret M Mitchell. Concerning περι δε in 1 Corinthians. Novum Testamentum v31 #5 (1989)

229-256

J C O=Neill. The Recovery of Paul=s Letter to the Galatians. SPCK 1972

William Varner. The Way of the Didache. University Press of America 2007

William O Walker Jr. Interpolations in the Pauline Letters. Sheffield 2001

Theodor Zahn. Introduction to the New Testament. 3v 1897-1899; 3ed 1907-1907; tr Clark 1909

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