I agree. Paul, Peter, and Jude all began their epistles with their name, while John used his name in Revelation. Only four of the epistles did not have named authorship. Mike Ratliff uses his name on all his posts to his credit..

Joe, are you transgender?

Rick,
What? Am I transgender? I don’t understand the question. Normally, if someone would ask me that we’d be throwing down but I’m assuming you didn’t mean it that way.

Well, perhaps Editor is a woman.

Joe,

I have heard of the idea that Aquila and Priscilla may have written Hebrews.

Tertulian thought it was Barnabas which seems that his “writing” was similar to Paul’s…

Others think it was a sermon by Paul that was transcribed by Luke…

So in there is the possibility that a woman had part in it.

And I did not get the transgender “joke” either…

but I might suggest xxxchurch if there is an issue! = )

iggy

Yeah, I’ve heard all of those suggestions and I’ve heard that it could have been a woman which is why no name was given. I’ve also heard Peter but that one kind of got squashed quick, I think.

I am going with God… it was the only book in the bible that God wrote Himself… it is all in the Vatican next to their huge porn collection.

But they are starting to link to xxxchurch… to get help.

The Barnabas one is a bit sticky to me as what was supposed to be written by Barnabas looked like a bunch of Pauline quotes strung together.

Apollos (which has strong ties to Aquila and Priscilla) is one that I also thought…

Now, Aquila and Priscilla seems to be the common connection to Paul and to Apollos…

But I agree with Commenter, it is most likely God.

iggy

I completely reject Paul. He forgot to name himself that time? Come on. And why does he start writing to the Hebrews who would have known him as Saul?

A long time ago Ken Silva wrote a post about how he was the editor. So whenever I see “editor” I know it’s Ken Silva.

Where’s the mystery? At least for us, that is..

But I assume we’re talking about all the people who haven’t seen that declaration. He’s not foolin me though =)~

jOE

We know of no other letters where Paul forgot his name. Personally, I have no leaning. And yes, I said the woman thing to get a laugh out of Rick, but it has as much merit as any other argument I’ve heard.

2 Timothy 3:16-17 “All Scripture is God-breathed and is useful for teaching, rebuking, correcting and training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be thoroughly equipped for every good work.”

Yep God wrote it… it was not made with men at all… it was totally inspired by God and He breathed it straight into a huge rock and then they copied it to some parchment. Then Gutenberg printed it and some people died…

It was all God.

iggy

The imagery, the OT connections, the incarnation, and even the warnings are magnificent. Back to the subject of the thread, I believe we should all attach our name to our writings.

You are so totally emergent.

OK Tim, seeing how Joe forgave me for the transgender dig, I will forgive you as well. Did I mention I love the candlestick in Revelation as well?

Yeah, there is def some wild details. Like one of David’s Mighty Men who killed a lion in a pit on a “snowy day”
as if it would have been easier on a sunny day

Actually, Paul/Saul was not a Greek/Jewish thing – Saul took on the surname of his first convert – Sergius Paulus – as it believed it was a credential in Asia Minor that would identify him both as a Roman citizen, and as a way to get audiences with rulers, to whom he could bear witness…

Joe,

Are you on smack?

It was unicorns not dinosaurs!

iggy

Chris L,
I would have to respectfully disagree with you on this one. I’ve read some of the sources that argue the position you present and I do not agree with them. I believe the sources that talk about it in a Hebrew/Greek issue to be more consistent. No, I can’t cite them tonight as I am trying to write a paper for a class but I had to express my POV.

I love the part where that dude stabbed that other super fat dude….

Driscoll referenced that one in his sermon on humor. The part of that message that made my ears perk up was when he was noting that most of the disciples were blue-collar guys and there were probably fingers pulled and such. I thought, “He must be reading my blog.”

God wrote it!!!!

It is the eternal inspired word of GOD not man! Stupid imbeciles!

Man had anything to do with it. The writers of the Bible were like pens in the hand of God and had NOTHING as far as input. (If you did not all go to those liberal bible colleges you would have known this!) Otherwise they could claim it was their works that save us and not God. God alone saves us and we can DO NOTHING TO ADD TO IT!

If you guys were not dead in your sins you could repent like me!

When Paul stated things like “this is from me and not God” it was God being sarcastic.

So, stop arguing and realize how much smarter I is than you as God gifted me to teach/pastor/condemn all of you idiots that deny the Sovereign God in how you destroy His eternal plan and mess it up by your unrighteous acts of man loving theology while dresses as Rob Bell with a goatee and shaved heads like Assyrian male hookers! REPENT!

Now go and get real jobs to stimulate Bush’s economy. God bless America for only real Christians live here. And God bless your collective mommas for not aborting you when they had the chance so later God could toss you into the Hell you all deny!

Nothing shall separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus our Lord,
Murphy McStinky

Chris L said:

“Actually, Paul/Saul was not a Greek/Jewish thing – Saul took on the surname of his first convert – Sergius Paulus – as it believed it was a credential in Asia Minor that would identify him both as a Roman citizen, and as a way to get audiences with rulers, to whom he could bear witness…”

Out of curiosity, where did you get this from?

Joe,

AHHHHHH! A tongue speaker! Away you devil!

If you were really saved, then you could repent of your heresy, but since you are not, be ready to burn baby!

Loving God, whom I have not seen,
Murphy McStinker

“Actually, Paul/Saul was not a Greek/Jewish thing – Saul took on the surname of his first convert – Sergius Paulus – as it believed it was a credential in Asia Minor that would identify him both as a Roman citizen, and as a way to get audiences with rulers, to whom he could bear witness…”

Out of curiosity, where did you get this from?

1) My New Testament Survey class back in ‘87 referenced this as the source of Saul/Paul’s name change.

2) RVL and other Jewish-Christian scholars have identified this as a likely explanation for the change of name because:

a) In Acts 13:7, we are introduced to Paul’s first Gentile convert, Sergius Paulus (Paulos in Greek). In vs. 9, we are given the only account of Paul’s name change, in which he has the new name Paulos – exactly the same spelling as the Proconsul’s last name.

b) The next major city Paul goes to is Pisidian Antioch, which is out of the way of the remainder of his journey. Roman records and 20th century excavation of Pisidian Antioch show that the ruling family of this city was the Paulos family, from which Sergius came, and that this city is where the ‘elite’ Roman rulers were born, often the right-hand men of Caesar.

c) From a number of records, the last name Paulos was considered to be perstigous (like having the last name “Rockefeller” or “Kennedy” in 20th Century America).

d) In Cyprus, we have Paul purposely going to the proconsul, going through a sorcerer/false prophet to get to him. This is not the first, or last time, that Paul targets people in power to witness to.

e) Pisidian Antioch was also called “Little Rome”, laid out on seven hills (like Rome, itself), and held in highest regard by Caesar. If Paul wanted to work his way “up the chain” to an audience with Caesar and the other rulers in Rome, Pisidian Antioch was the next step, with Ephesus being the other key step on the way to Rome.

f) In Acts, we read:

Agrippa said to Festus, “This man could have been set free if he had not appealed to Caesar.”

The thing is – under Roman law – if you appealed to Caesar, you had the right to withdraw your appeal at any time up until your audience with Caesar. But Paul never did!

So – we have a guy taking on a prestigious name, working his way up the chains of power, trying to convert them all along the way (including Agrippa), and then trying to get an audience with Caesar, himself, at his own mortal peril, when he could have dropped the appeal at any later time.

Yeah, normal discussions among friends, Christians, is so wrong.

Tim said: “Maybe the snow hampers the lions movements.” You are correct. I saw that on Animal Planet.

The story of Ehud is a good one. I still favor Elijah on Mt Carmel. “Maybe your god’s busy on the toilet!”

–I think it is important to deconstruct everything, including names.–

Speaking of which, is anyone going to bring up the master of pseudonyms himself, and a posthumous friend of emergent I have heard (though being posthumous I doubt he had much say in that), Soren Kierkegaard?