Why Apostle Peter calls Paul "the man who is my enemy" (2021-02-10) ​

0:00:01 i haven't been to a book shop for months but thankfully i do still get books sent to me from 0:00:07 amazon and this tome arrived today in the post it's called " After the New Testament : A Reader 0:00:15 in Early Christianity " 100 to 300 C.E (common era) A.D by Bart Ehrman . and this is published by Oxford 0:00:25 university press and i said right it's a little gem this actually . and it says on the back cover : 0:00:32 revealing the rich diversity of the early christian movement . this book brings together 0:00:37 an extensive collection of texts from the second and third centuries both orthodox 0:00:43 and heterodox (in inverted commas) selections include the writings of the apostolic fathers ,
0:00:49 the writings of Nag Hammadi , the early pseudopigrapha , martyrologies , anti-jewish
0:00:55 tract dates , hysteriologies , canon list church orders , liturgical texts and theological treaties .
0:01:02 featuring large textual excerpts , entire documents wherever possible , concise introductions and lucid 0:01:09 up-to-date translations . this is ideal for courses in early christianity , christian origins and early 0:01:16 church history . and indeed it's got some rave reviews from academics on the back and
0:01:25 looking through this i just wanted to share with you some of the letters written by
0:01:31 so-called jewish christians and these are not people who followed the apostle paul but continued 0:01:37 to obey the jewish law to all intents and purposes they were jews who accepted jesus as the messiah ,
0:01:42 as a human messiah and as a prophet . one of the texts is the gospel of the ebionites 0:01:49 which i'm not going to read today but because i want to look at a letter i wasn't really
0:01:55 familiar with it's called " the letter of Peter to James and its reception " and i'll just read to you 0:02:02 what Bart Ehrman has to say about it and then i'll read a couple of extracts 0:02:07 from the letter because it's really really interesting . if you're interested in the 0:02:12 great diversity of doctrine and faith in early christianities to such a degree that you could 0:02:17 even speak of early christianities plural . people have very very different beliefs about the law ,
0:02:24 about Jesus , about god or even if there was one god , maybe more there's more than one god 0:02:28 anyway that's a different subject . in the letter of Peter to James
0:02:35 this introduction is by Bart Ehrman he says : the letter of Peter to James is one of a number of 0:02:39 early christian writings produced in the name of Jesus disciple Simon Peter . it does not survive 0:02:47 as an independently a transmitted letter but only as the preface to the homilies of clement 0:02:54 a collection of stories and sermons by clement of Rome . the account of its reception 0:03:01 by James (that's the brother of Jesus and leader of the church in Jerusalem) is also part of this 0:03:07 preface . the date of the composition of these works is difficult to determine but they are probably to 0:03:13 be situated in the early 3rd century . the letter of Peter urges James to pass along the accompanying 0:03:21 sermons carefully and only to those who are worthy to receive them . the clear concern is 0:03:28 that Peter's teachings not be corrupted by those who have a different understanding of the truth .
0:03:34 both the letter and the reception are jewish christian writings as seen in their emphasis on 0:03:41 emulating the actions of Moses on keeping the law and on opposition to the person Peter calls 0:03:49 the man who is my enemy commonly understood to be none other than the apostle Paul .
0:03:56 who taught that salvation comes to all people jew and gentile 0:04:00 apart from following the law of moses and who urged gentiles not to be circumcised .
0:04:07 you see in the letter of galatians he talks about that : Paul's notion stood in sharp contrast 0:04:13 to the views of jewish christians like the ebionites as seen here for example 0:04:18 in the insistence by James the brother of Jesus himself that only one who has been circumcised is 0:04:26 a believing christian . so that's Bart Ehrman's introduction . and the letter of James begins 0:04:32 so the letter of Peter to James begins : Peter to James the lord and bishop of the holy church 0:04:40 peace be with you always from the father of all through Jesus christ
0:04:45 knowing well that you my brother eagerly take pains about what is for the benefit of us all .
0:04:51 i earnestly beseech you   not to pass on to anyone of the gentiles 0:04:59 the books of my preachings which i hear forward to you . and of course we 0:05:04 know in Matthew's gospel that Jesus said that he was only sent to the lost sheep 0:05:09 of the house of Israel and Peter here is saying in effect that he was only sent to preach to the jews .
0:05:17 nor to anyone of our own tribe before probation . (so even to the jews they have to be tested
0:05:22 first) . but if someone worthy of them has been examined and found to be worthy then you may 0:05:30 hand over to him in the same way as Moses handed over his office of a teacher to the seventy . so
0:05:38 here is Peter comparing himself with Moses the jewish prophet . and then skipping to chapter two
0:05:49 the letter of Peter to James says : in order now that the same may also take place among us 0:05:57 hand over the books of my preaching in the same mysterious way to our 70 brethren that they may 0:06:03 prepare those who are candidates for positions as teachers . for if we do not proceed in this way , 0:06:11 our word of truth will be split into many options . this i do not know as a prophet but i have already
0:06:19 the beginning of the evil before me . for some among the gentiles have rejected my 0:06:27 lawful preaching and have preferred a lawless and absurd doctrine of the man who is my enemy .
0:06:35 so this is Peter talking about Paul referring to him as the lawless and absurd doctrine of the man 0:06:43 who is my enemy . and indeed some have attempted whilst i am still alive to distort my words
0:06:50 by interpretations of many sorts as if i taught the disillusion of the law and although i was of 0:06:57 this opinion did not express it openly but that may God forbid . so Peter is absolutely rejecting 0:07:06 the idea that openly or in a private way that he rejected the law . now he upheld the law of Moses
0:07:13 (he says) . and god forbid that i should have preached anything other than that (he says) . for to do such
0:07:19 a thing means to act contrary to the law of god which was made known by Moses and was confirmed by
0:07:26 our lord in in its everlasting continuance . so he's saying here that Jesus himself taught that the law 0:07:34 would continue , the jewish law should be obeyed . for he said the heaven and the earth will pass away
0:07:42 but one jot or tittle shall not pass away from the law . now this is a quote from 0:07:49 Matthew 24 to 35 and 5 18. there's two verses there in Matthew . that's pretty clear so 0:07:58 ending that there and just reminding ourselves of what Paul taught in his letter to the ephesians
0:08:07 Paul says : he Jesus has abolished the law with its commandments and ordinances so that he might 0:08:13 create in himself one new humanity in the place of two thus making peace . so he believes that jesus 0:08:21 taught the abolition of the law even though in Matthew's gospel chapter 5 verse 17 he says do not 0:08:27 think i have come to abolish the law . i have not come to abolish it but to fulfill . so the precise 0:08:32 opposite of what Paul is teaching . and in this letter of Peter to James , Peter is crystal clear 0:08:39 that he himself upholds that teaching of Jesus which we see in Matthew's gospel 0:08:45 and calling Paul who is my enemy . i think that's probably enough for now , now i just 0:08:55 we ought to say and Bart Ehrman would doubtless say and i would agree with him 0:09:00 i don't think this letter is actually from the historical Peter to James .
0:09:07 for a start people like all of virtually , all of Jesus disciples what we would perhaps call 0:09:12 today peasants . they were uneducated and in fact there's a verse in acts and the sanhedrin actually 0:09:18 says that they are untutored , they are uneducated people . they didn't go to galilean university 0:09:25 and learn how to read and write , they couldn't read , they couldn't write , they weren't in a 0:09:29 position to write letters and neither was James . so i think that this is even though it's not by
0:09:37 Peter nevertheless it does reflect the views i think of jewish christianity and very likely 0:09:45 would be Peter's view as well historically . so even though it's not by him i think it probably 0:09:51 faithfully reflects the historical Peter's own views and definitely reflects the reviews of 0:09:57 James because even in the new testament in acts it has james clearly upholding the jewish law . so
0:10:05 this is a very different kind of christianity than you'll hear preached about today in the churches .
0:10:11 it's very different from Paul's christianity but it bears witness to the great diversity of
0:10:17 christianities we see in the early centuries . jewish christianity ultimately became extinct
0:10:24 perhaps to be reborn as islam , as another text i quoted another video once said : islam in a sense 0:10:31 carries that same belief about Jesus being a prophet , a messiah not god and teaching in
0:10:40 the main the continuance of the jewish law and not teaching its abolition as Paul did .
0:10:45 anyway , i hope that was of some interest . until next time