Visions of Paul- #47 - Meeting Notes-11-25-21

 

PAUL, APOCALYPSE OF. Paul wrote of being caught up into Paradise in the third heaven, and hearing “things that cannot be told” (2 Cor 12:1-4). Such passages offered a clear opportunity for the writing of apocrypha, in this case to narrate Paul’s vision; in due course the opportunity was taken. Augustine mentions an Apocalypse of Paul, and a book of that name is condemned by the Decretum Gelasianum. The Decretum Gelasianum or the Gelasian Decree is so named because it was traditionally thought to be a Decretal of the prolific Pope Gelasius I, bishop of Rome 492–496. The Decretal was decrees of selection regarding the cannon among other things … The Decretum has five parts actually. Parts 1, 3, and 4 are not relevant to the canon. The second part is a canon catalogue. The Deuterocanonical Books (other than Baruch and the Letter of Jeremiah) are accepted by the catalogue, and are still found in the Roman Catholic Bible, though not in the Protestant canon…This work that we are studying this week was prob. the first of the two works now known under this title.

The work is believed to be written by Paul .Unbelievers believe this work  to be a type of recorded hallucination,  or a flat bit of creative writing…  

Believers have a problem with the varied information gleaned from different translations.. None standing out as the most credible….

 

1.       This is a document  of which the Latin and Coptic are the most important in terms of transliteration. It purports to have been discovered in Paul’s house in Tarsus, in consequence of a vision given to the tenant in the reign of Theodosius. This puts its date at the end of the 4th cent. or the beginning of the fifth.

2.       It begins with the complaint of creation against the sins of men, and goes on to describe the reports of the angels, night and morning, about the actions of mankind. Then Paul is caught up to the third heaven and witnesses the judgment of two souls as they depart this life, the one righteous, the other wicked.

3.       He is led through Paradise, where he meets Enoch, crosses the Acherusian Lake, and visits the city of Christ, girt about with twelve walls, with twelve towers and twelve gates of great beauty; then through Hell, where he sees the tortures of the wicked and obtains for them relief for the day and night of the Lord’s Day. A further visit to Paradise follows, during which Paul meets and is greeted by Mary; Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and the patriarchs; Moses and the major prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Ezekiel); other OT figures ending with Zacharias and John the Baptist; and last of all, Adam.

 

The ending varies with the different translations from The Lat., Gr. And  break off after the meeting with Elijah and Elisha (omitting Zacharias, John, and Adam), although the Lat.  transfers the story of the discovery to this point, relating how Paul wrote down his vision and hid it (for which he was to be rebuked by the Lord on his release from this life: “Have I shown you everything that you should put it under the wall of a house?”). The Coptic continues with a fresh visit to the third heaven …There is a  question whether the original text did  end with the granting of the Sabbath day of rest or not. The appears to be the result of different translations..

What can we take away from this book….

First and foremost it is that “ Pride is the root of all evil” …

Page 21…

“these who are not admitted to enter into the City of Christ?

And he said to me: These are they who zealously abstained day

and night in fasts, but they had a proud heart above other

men, glorifying and praising themselves and doing nothing for

their neighbours. For they gave some friendly greeting, but to

others they did not even say hail! and indeed they shewed

hospitality to those only whom they wished, and if they did

anything whatever for their neighbour they were

immoderately puffed up. And I said: What then, Sir? Did their

pride prevent them from entering into the City of Christ? And

the angel answered and said unto me: Pride is the root of all

evils.”

2 - The whole time which

these men passed on earth zealously serving God, on account

of the confusion and reproaches of men at the time, they

blushed and humiliated themselves, but they were not

saddened, nor did they repent that they should recede from

Page | 22

their pride which was in them.”

 

 

Page 24..

And I said: Tell me, Sir, why one exceeds another

in glory? And the angel answered and said unto me: All who

have in themselves even a little detraction or zeal or pride,

something of his glory would be made void even if he were in

the city of Christ:

And so on.. there are also many references to pride by stressing the value of humility….

It is easy to reference this value in our present bible.

Example:

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.” Proverbs 16:5 “The LORD detests all the proud of heart. Be sure of this: They will not go unpunished.” Proverbs 16:18 “Pride goes before destruction, a haughty spirit before a fall.”

 

Heaven is the land of milk and honey.. this is right out of the old testament…

Hell has rivers of fire and of ice (for the cold hearted)…. This referenced being unfeeling, disregarding the needs of others, selfishness and hypocritical behavior… Love your neighbor Christ said.. Who is your neighbor he was asked… In a parable he answered that it was anyone in need….

Some angels are evil, the dark angels of hell, including Temeluchus, the tartaruchi….

This is also consistent with the bible..

Luke 10:18 refers to "Satan falling from heaven" and Matthew 25:41 mentions "the Devil and his angels", who will be thrown into hell. All Synoptic Gospels identify Satan as the leader of demons.

Conclusion

Paul gives us little information in the bible text. But what we do have is this. First, Paul somehow (in or out of his body of flesh) was caught up to the third heaven—paradise. Second, paradise is where Jesus is. Third, Paul heard unsayable sayings. Fourth, these sayings may have come to him in the form of a heavenly or angelic dialect. We simply do not know. But he appeared to have written them down and buried them in the foundation of his house. For which he was admonished by God and an angel was sent to retrieve them for the world to see….

Why did Paul hear things that he determined that he could not repeat?? Again we can only speculate about this…

I found this book fascinating on many different levels and found that it did largely support the bible that we now use. Having said that it also goes into incredible detail beyond anything recorded in our present bible in any version that I have read…So that this , in and of itself, requires faith or a willingness to believe.