Parent: JesusWordsOnly
How Plausible Is The Ebionite Charge Against Paul?
There is independent evidence to corroborate the Ebionite charge that Paul was not a Jew in the strict Jewish sense. It appears he was an Herodian Jew which to true Jews is not a true Jew at all :
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Herod and his family tried to tell Jews he was Jewish, but true Jews did not accept Herod's claims. The Herodian lineage had foreign elements in it.
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Herod the Great was a Roman collaborator ruling Judea as King prior to Jesus. He was put into power by the Romans lending him troops to subjugate Judea.
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One of his sons, Herod Antipas, succeeds him in the time of Christ to rule part of his kingdom.
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Saul/Paul in (Rom. 16:11) greets "Herodion, my kinsman" [i.e., 'my relative'] which is a name that a member of the Herodian family would use. 16
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Josephus, who as far as we know was not a Christian, mentions a Saulus in his work The Antiquities of the Jews.
In book XX, chapter 9, Josephus says Saulus is a member of the family of the successor, Herod (Antipas). Josephus says this Saulus sided with the High Priest in resisting a tumult by lower order priests over temple funds going to the High Priest. Josephus records this Saulus' activity was after Jesus' movement had
"Costobarus...and Saulus did themselves get together a multitude
of wicked wretches, and this because they were of the Royal
Family, and so they obtained favor among them because of their
kindred to Agrippa ." Josephus Antiq. XX, ch, 9. sec. 4
already begun but before we know independently that Paul joined it. (. Antiquities , XX 9.4.). This therefore puts the Saulus of Josephus in precisely the chronological position of Saul (Paul) prior to his road to Damascus experience. Further, the Saulus of Josephus and the Saul of Acts both are collaborators of the High Priest (an appointee of Herod). So when Josephus says Saulus was of the family of Herod, this is direct evidence that Saul-Paul was of the family of Herod.
- The most important fact is that Paul says he has Roman citizenship from birth. (Acts 22:28 "I have been born a Roman citizen.") You would carry around proof on a small Libellus.
Paul's claim was accepted in Acts.
It has several implications.
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First, Roman citizenship was an honor from Rome which in the Judean region primarily only could be enjoyed by members of Herod's family or his closest allies. The list of Roman citizens was kept in Caesar's office in Rome. It was not a very long list. Most native-born Italians did not enjoy this privilege.
In outlying provinces like Judea, it was dispensed to military allies and their families to give them special protection from Roman occupation forces. You could not torture or beat a Roman citizen.
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Second, Roman citizenship from birth means Saul had to be given a Roman name from birth. It turns out that Paul is a 1 8 Roman name.
"I am giving [those] of the synagogue of Satan, the ones who say they are Jews and are not but are lying. Listen! I will make them so that they shall come and prostrate themselves in reverence before your feet, and they shall know that I loved you." Jesus, (aRev. 3:9)
16.See discussion in Prof. Robert Eisenman, "Paul as Herodion,"
JHC (Spring 1996) at 110 etseq.,
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How did Paul happen to have a Roman birth name if he was truly Jewish? It cannot happen. A true Jewish family would not give their child a Roman name or even accept Roman citizenship from birth. This would represent defilement. Thus, Paul had to be from birth a non-Jew. However, his parents also named him Saul, which is a Jewish name. Thus, his parents aspired to be Jewish. This fits perfectly the Herodians. They would be non-Jews and Roman citizens, but they would also aspire to be Jewish.
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Thus, in the Judea of that era, only Herodians would have a child with both a Roman and Hebrew name (Paul Saul ) who would have Roman citizenship from birth (Acts 22:28) and who would greet a "kinsman" (i.e., a relative) named Herodion. ((Rom. 16:11).) It thus is not a coincidence that Saul in Acts is a collaborator of the High Priest appointed by Herod. Nor is it insignificant that Saulus in Josephus is likewise a collaborator of the High Priest in precisely the time-frame of Saul-Paul prior to becoming a Christian. This then leads us to the unequivocal statement in Josephus that Saulus is a member of the Royal family of Herod Antipas.
In fact, Paul being an Herodian 'Jew' would explain the presence of Herod's foster brother as a member of the Christian church at Antioch. After Paul's Damascus Road experience, he went to Arabia for fourteen years. (Gal. 1:17
- "When a foreigner received the right of citizenship, he took a new name." The nomen "had to be nomen of the person, always a Roman citizen , to whom he owed his citizenship." Harold W. Johnston, The Private Life of the Romans (Revised by Mary Johnston) (Scott, Foresman and Company:
- ch. 2.
- Most Christians assume that Jesus changed Saul's name to Paul in the same way Jesus changed Simon's to Peter. However, there is no mention of this in the three accounts of Paul's vision in (Acts 9), 22, and 26. In the middle of Acts, Luke starts referring to Saul as Paul, with no explanation. Nor does Paul explain in any of his letters why he uses the name Paul. It turns out that Paul is a Roman name. Saul is a Hebrew name. There is an apocryphal account that Paul took his name from a Roman official Paulus whom he converted. Yet, to be a citizen from birth, one must have a Roman name from birth. Paulus -Herod the tetrarch's foster-brother liar at Ephesus. It also fits the parallel statement by Jesus about those who "lie" and "say they are Jews but are not." (Rev. 3:9.)
Most important, the Ebionite charge has the characteristic of evidence one might bring up at a trial. It has a judicial ring to it. There is nothing polemical about it. No doctrines are involved. The charge purports to be the result of someone trying to find out more about Paul's background. Thus, it appears the Ebionites were involved in finding evidence to bring up at a trial regarding Paul.