4 JWO_12_04_TheEbioniteChargeAgainstPaul_0066

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• The Ebionite Charge Against Paul

Parent: JesusWordsOnly

The Ebionite Charge Against Paul

Early church historians preserved the Ebionite charge against Paul even while trying to dishonor the Ebionites. This is the exact quote from Epiphanius in the 300s:

They declare that he (Paul) was a Greek... He went up to
Jerusalem, they say, and when he had spent some time there, he was
seized with a passion to marry the daughter of the priest. For
this reason he became a proselyte and was circumcised. Then, when
he failed to get the girl, he flew into a rage and wrote against
circumcision and against the sabbath and the Law. (Epiphanius,
Panarion, 30.16. 6- 9.)

The Ebionites thus say that Paul was not a Jew, but the son of two Gentile parents. He became circumcised as an adult when he fell in love with the daughter of a priest.