04.01. Appendix 1. THE APOCRYPHAL CORRESPONDENCE OF ST. PAUL WITH THE CORINTHIANS

APPENDIX I THE APOCRYPHAL CORRESPONDENCE OF ST. PAUL WITH THE CORINTHIANS IN the Armenian canon there was a correspondence between St. Paul and the Corinthians, of which many MSS. are extant, and the quotations of Aphraates and Ephraim show that this was derived from the Old Syriac, which was the basis of the Armenian text. The same correspondence was found by Bergen in Milan (1891) and Bratke in Laon (1892) in two Vulgate Latin MSS. Finally, C. Schmidt discovered the same correspondence in the Coptic version of the Acta Pauli, and showed that an acute suggestion of Zahn was correct, that the correspondence was originally an extract from this ancient apocryph, which probably was written in Asia late in the second century (see Tertullian, De Baptismo, 17).

It would be beyond the province of the present book to discuss the importance of this document. It is plain that its presence in the Syriac canon (from which the Armenian cannot be separated), and in two local texts in Latin, points to the time when the Corpus Paulinum was not yet completely closed. Moreover, the bearing of the correspondence on the controversy with second century Gnosticism is very clear: it is in this respect an excellent example of the way in which in apocryphal books there was no half-hearted tendency to make Apostles contribute to contemporary polemics. The translation below is based on Harnack’s reconstruction of the text in H. Lietzmann’s Kleine Texte, 12, in which is given a critical apparatus of the Coptic, Syriac, Armenian, and Latin, together with the text of Bergen’s Latin MS. Recent literature of importance is C. Schmidt, Acta Pauli (1905), and Harnack, Untersuchungen über den apokryphen Briefwechsel der Korinther mit dem Apostel Paulus. A full account of earlier books is given by Zahn, Geschichte des Neutest. Kanons, 2, pp. 592 ff. THE EPISTLE OF THE CORINTHIANS TO PAUL Stephanus and the elders who are with him, Daphnus and Euboulos and Theophilos and Xenon to Paul, greeting in the Lord.

There have come to Corinth two men, Simon and Cleobios, who are turning aside the faith of some by harmful words, which do thou test, for we have never heard such things either from thee or from the other Apostles, but we hold fast to that which we received from thee and the rest. As then the Lord had mercy on us, come to us, that while thou art still in the flesh we may again hear these things from thee; for we believe, as it was revealed to Theonoes, that the Lord has saved thee from the hand of the lawless. Now what they say and teach is this: it is not, they say, necessary to use the prophets, that God is not Almighty, that there is no resurrection of the flesh, that man is not the creation of God, that Christ has not come in the flesh, and was not born of Mary, and that the world belongs not to God but to angels. Therefore, brother, make all haste to come to us, that the Church of the Corinthians be not made to stumble, and that the folly of those men be brought to nought. Farewell in the Lord. THE EPISTLE OF PAUL TO THE CORINTHIANS

Paul the prisoner of Jesus Christ to the brethren, who are in Corinth, greeting. In my many troubles I do not wonder that the teachings of the Evil One make such progress; but my Lord, Jesus Christ, will hasten His coming, bringing to nothing those who corrupt His word. For I delivered to you in the beginning that which I received from those who were Apostles before me, who had been all the time in the company of Jesus Christ, that our Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary, of the seed of David, when the Spirit had been sent from heaven from the Father to her, that He should come into this world, and set free all flesh through His flesh, and raise us up in the flesh from the dead, as He had shown Himself an example for us; and that man was created by the Father, for this cause also he was sought when lost, that he might be made alive by the adoption as a son. For God Almighty, the Creator of heaven and earth, first sent the prophets to the Jews that they might be torn away from their sins; for His plan was to save the house of Israel, for this cause he sent a portion of the Spirit of Christ into the prophets who announced the true worship at many times. But the Prince of the world (ὁ δὲ ἄρχων) being unrighteous, because he wished to be God, laid hands on them, and slew them, and thus bound all flesh of men to his will. But God Almighty, being righteous, did not wish to reject His creation, but had pity on it, and sent His Spirit into Mary, in order that the evil one might be shown to be conquered through the flesh, in which he had boasted. For through His own body did Jesus Christ save all flesh, making manifest the temple of righteousness in His own body, by which we were saved. For be well assured that those men are not the sons of righteousness, but of wrath, who reject the plan of God, saying that heaven and earth, and that which is in them, are not the work of God, for they hold the faith of the accursed serpent. Therefore put them from you and fly from their teaching. But for those who say there is no resurrection of the flesh there shall indeed be no resurrection, for they do not believe that the dead (i.e. the Lord) thus rose. For they ignore, O Corinthians, the grains of wheat, or of other food, which are cast bare into the ground and after they have decayed spring up, having obtained a body according to the will of God. And He raises up not only that which was sown but, by His blessing, many times as much. But if we ought not to make a parable from the seeds, understand how Jonah the son of Amathai, when he would not preach to the Ninevites, was swallowed by the whale; and after three days and three nights God heard the prayer of Jonah from the depths of Hades, and nothing of him was hurt, neither hair nor eyebrows. How much more will He raise up us who believe on Christ Jesus, as He also rose? and if the dead man let down by the children of Israel on to the bones of the prophet Elisha rose from the dead in his body, how much more shall you, who are let down on the body and bones and spirit of Christ, be raised up in that day, and keep your flesh?

If then ye receive anything else, let no man trouble me, for I bear these bonds, that I may gain Christ, and I carry in my body His marks, that I may attain to the Resurrection of the dead, and whosoever shall walk in the rule, which he received from the blessed prophets and the holy Gospel, shall receive a reward: but he who trangresses these, the fire is for him and for those who thus run, who are generations of vipers, whom do ye reject in the power of the Lord, and peace shall be with you.

¹ The actual Greek is here given in the Coptic.