John Mauck's thesis that Luke and Acts are legal briefs is on Amazon under this title:JohnHurt wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 9:42 pmI believe that is 2nd Peter, not 1st.mike wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:51 am John, as I said elsewhere in previous discussions, not only do you throw out Paul, you must throw out Peter as well, because according to you, he was deceived by and about Paul.
Peter wrote:
1 Peter 3:14 Therefore, dear friends, while you wait for these things, make every effort to be found at peace with Him without spot or blemish. 15 Also, regard the patience of our Lord as an opportunity for salvation, just as our dear brother Paul has written to you according to the wisdom given to him. 16 He speaks about these things in all his letters in which there are some matters that are hard to understand. The untaught and unstable twist them to their own destruction, as they also do with the rest of the Scriptures.
17 Therefore, dear friends, since you know this in advance, be on your guard, so that you are not led away by the error of lawless people and fall from your own stability. 18 But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. To Him be the glory both now and to the day of eternity. Amen.
Peter is warning all of us that the unlearned that don't know any better, and the unstable that do, will twist the writings of Paul to contradict the teachings of Christ. Here is how misusing the writings of Paul will lead anyone to their own destruction, as in Matt 7:21-23:
Matt 7:(21) Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
Paul said you are saved by grace, not by by works or doing the will of the Father. Eph 2:8-9.
Matt 7:(22) Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
Paul prophesied in the Name of Christ, cast out devils, and did many wonderful works, just like the false prophet in Deuteronomy 13:1-5, which is a test from God.
(23) And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
The word "iniquity" here is "anomos", or lawlessness. Christ said that you are saved by keeping the 10 Commandments (Matt 19:16-19). Paul said that the law has been abolished in nearly all of his epistles. Christ will exclude those that are "anomos" and say that He never knew them.
Paul is a single witness for himself that he was accepted by the Apostles in Galatians 2. In the Clementine literature, Paul, with the name of "simon magus", was opposed by Peter, according to Clement. But the Catholic church of Constantine has elevated Paul over Peter, and over Christ for that matter. They have rewritten the history of the early church.mike wrote: ↑Wed Dec 06, 2023 7:51 am According to you, the apostles basically failed in their calling, because they fell for the deceptions of Paul, and because the majority of apostolic teaching that has been preserved is the teachings of Paul. Jesus entrusted his disciples with this great commission, and according to you, they were a failure. And these poor deceived men are whom we have to trust to have preserved the words of Jesus in the gospels, which you deem perfectly valid and authoritative, while counting their other writings as misguided.
The books of Luke and Acts were written to "the most excellent Theophilus". This is how a Roman magistrate is to be addressed. It would be like addressing these books to the "Honorable Judge John Smith". These books were written for the trial of Paul at Rome, by Luke. The book of Luke explains to the Roman government how Christianity started, and the book of Acts explains the founding of the Church, and how Paul was not guilty of bringing Greeks into the Temple, as he was engaged in a ritual bath when this occurred. These two books are legal briefs, and should not have been placed in our Bibles by Constantine. This is why the last part of the Book of Acts is all about Paul and how he was brought to Rome for his trial, where the narrative ends. John Mauck makes a good case for these two books at legal briefs at:
Regardless, the doctrines of Paul are different from the Doctrines of Christ. Paul said a lot of good things, but on whatever topics where he opposed Christ, we should see the Doctrines of Christ as supreme.
Paul On Trial The Book Of Acts As A Defense Of Christianity