norwegen
Diamond Member
In Antiquities of the Jews, Josephus wrote about a Jewish man in Rome who generated controversy there over Mosaic Law:
Paul’s letter to the Colossians may actually have been written (or dictated) by Paul himself, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. In this letter we have another clue as to the three companions of Paul’s who were of a mind with him and with him during at least some interval in his imprisonment (4:10).
Though under house arrest in Rome, Paul was free to receive guests, and hence his message got out (Acts 28). Though his position on the Law was often nuanced, he ultimately called for the more excellent way of Christ, teaching that Christ was the end of the Law (Rom 10:4) and that reliance on the Law put Jews under a curse (Gal 3:10).
Naturally, this would have generated controversy among Jews, as most of them were still dedicated to Moses. And opposition to the gospel would arise as Christ foretold (Mat 10:21-22).
So, did Paul sail to Rome because he was not welcome in Judea? Did he, Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus flee Rome while 4,000 other Jewish men were exiled?
Or did I just experience a flight of fancy? I mean, what are the odds?
There was a man who was a Jew, but had been driven away from his own country by an accusation laid against him for transgressing their laws, and by the fear he was under of punishment for the same; but in all respects a wicked man. He, then living at Rome, professed to instruct men in the wisdom of the laws of Moses. He procured also three other men, entirely of the same character with himself, to be his partners. These men persuaded Fulvia, a woman of great dignity, and one that had embraced the Jewish religion, to send purple and gold to the temple at Jerusalem; and when they had gotten them, they employed them for their own uses, and spent the money themselves, on which account it was that they at first required it of her. Whereupon Tiberius, who had been informed of the thing by Saturninus, the husband of Fulvia, who desired inquiry might be made about it, ordered all the Jews to be banished out of Rome; at which time the consuls listed four thousand men out of them, and sent them to the island Sardinia; but punished a greater number of them, who were unwilling to become soldiers, on account of keeping the laws of their forefathers. Thus were these Jews banished out of the city by the wickedness of four men. (Antiquities 18.5.81-84)
Paul’s letter to the Colossians may actually have been written (or dictated) by Paul himself, so I’ll give it the benefit of the doubt. In this letter we have another clue as to the three companions of Paul’s who were of a mind with him and with him during at least some interval in his imprisonment (4:10).
Though under house arrest in Rome, Paul was free to receive guests, and hence his message got out (Acts 28). Though his position on the Law was often nuanced, he ultimately called for the more excellent way of Christ, teaching that Christ was the end of the Law (Rom 10:4) and that reliance on the Law put Jews under a curse (Gal 3:10).
Naturally, this would have generated controversy among Jews, as most of them were still dedicated to Moses. And opposition to the gospel would arise as Christ foretold (Mat 10:21-22).
So, did Paul sail to Rome because he was not welcome in Judea? Did he, Aristarchus, Mark, and Jesus Justus flee Rome while 4,000 other Jewish men were exiled?
Or did I just experience a flight of fancy? I mean, what are the odds?
