An Atheist Explores the Bible Part 210: Saul Becomes Paul, and Titus Wants to Keep His Foreskin (Acts 11-15)

Acts 11-15
Saul Becomes Paul, and Titus Wants to Keep His Foreskin.

Welcome to another instalment of An Atheist Explores Sacred Texts (Bible version).

In this series I work my way chapter-by-chapter through the King James Bible, commenting on it from the point of view of the text as literature and mythology.

For more detail, see the introductory post http://bit.ly/2F8f9JT

For the online KJV I use, see here http://bit.ly/2m0zVUP

And now:

Acts 11

“Then remembered I the word of the Lord, how that he said, John indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost.”

Peter recounts the events of the previous chapter to the other apostles, to account for why he ate and discussed with Gentiles. Note: if you ever need to excuse your actions to religious people, claiming to have had a vision from God that told you to do it seems to be a good tactic, because the other apostles take Peter’s word for it. And so it becomes their official policy to spread the gospel to non-Jews as well as Jews.

Barnabas heads out in search of Saul, and there is a gathering of followers at Antioch, where it is said here the name “Christians” is first used. Further, the book anchors the action in time somewhat by mentioning a “time of dearth” in the reign of Claudius Caeser. Here the Christians send aid to their brethren in Judaea, under the leadership of Barnabas and Saul.

Acts 12

“Now about that time Herod the king stretched forth his hands to vex certain of the church.”

The writing in this chapter is all over the place, but piecing it together: in the Days of Unleavened Bread (which seems to correspond to Lent), King Herod (evidently not the same one) begins to persecute the Christians, killing James brother of John and arresting Peter. Peter escapes with the aid of an angel and goes to the house of John Mark (it’s unclear if this is the brother of James or not). A woman called Rhoda refuses to admit Peter, in a seemingly pointless interlude, but eventually Peter is admitted. Herod gets angry, kills his guards and goes off to Caeserea where he has a bit of a fight with Tyre and Sidon, makes a speech, is acclaimed a god and is struck down by God for presumption. Meanwhile Barnabas and Saul return from Jerusalem (I thought they were in Antioch?) and take with them John Mark (to where?). As I said, it’s all over the place in this chapter.

Acts 13

“For so hath the Lord commanded us, saying, I have set thee to be a light of the Gentiles, that thou shouldest be for salvation unto the ends of the earth.”

The chapter begins with the disciples together, when the Holy Spirit calls Barnabas and Saul to go to Cyprus. This they do (there is a fleeting mention that John is there also, which is a bit confusing).

Here Saul changes his name to Paul (or, as described here, is “also called” Paul). I wonder what the rationale behind the name change is? Evidently it points to a psychological “rebirth” – Saul was the guy who went around persecuting Christians, whereas Paul is the annoyingly fervent new guy.

Anyway, Paul and Barnabas encounter a sorcerer known as Barjesus and also Elymas, and Paul makes him blind for a year for being blasphemous. Nice. Charitable. It also feels like a bit of a retread of the Simon the Magus story. The rest of the chapter is taken up with Paul retelling the bible from Moses to Jesus. The Jewish authorities speak out against Paul and Barnabas, so Paul and Barnabas decided that the message was meant for the Gentiles instead, and they gain converts.

Acts 14

“And they called Barnabas, Jupiter; and Paul, Mercurius, because he was the chief speaker.”

Paul and Barnabas continue their ministry. In Iconium they end up causing a civil war, with Gentiles and Jew on both sides, those who listen to the apostles vs. those who reject them. They leave there, heal a lame man and get hailed as Roman gods (see the quote above) – this is rather humourous as Paul has to plead with the priest of Jupiter not to sacrifice animals to him. It ends, rather suddenly, with Paul being stoned and left for dead, but carried away by his friends seemingly none the worse.

After this the chapter devolves into the apostles travelling from place to place and then taking stock of their conversions of the gentiles.

Acts 15

“And certain men which came down from Judaea taught the brethren, and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.”

This chapter largely deals with discussions among the apostles as to whether the Gentile converts should be circumcised or not. Luckily for the Gentiles’ genitals, it is decided that this is not necessary. All the non-Jewish converts to Christianity need do to affirm their faith is to refrain from offering meat to idols, eating anything that has been strangled, and “from blood”, which I assume is a dietary requirement. So much for a rare steak. They are also to refrain from “fornication”, which is an ill-defined term that could pretty much mean any kind of sexual misconduct the user wishes it to be. Extra-marital? Pre-marital? Marital but purely recreational?

What’s interesting here, though, is that this is an early example of the rules being changed according to, pretty much, the whim of the church leaders. There’s not even any mention in this chapter of the apostles praying for guidance or being “moved by the Holy Spirit”. The decision does not come from supernatural inspiration, but from interpretation of existing scripture (as interpreted, here, by James).

The chapter ends with “sharp contention” between Paul and Barnabas, who each head off for different regions with a follower (Paul and Silas to Syria, Barnabas and Mark to Cyprus) to check in with the converts in this region. It seems like a busy life, at least, being an Apostle.