Quote:
Originally Posted by boxcar
1. Paul identifies himself as a Jew in a few places in the NT.
2. Paul also identifies himself as the writer of several NT books.
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Paul's existence is even more questionable than Jesus's.
Pseudepigraphic works were common at the time. Even if the author identifies himself as a specific person in the text that does not mean it's true. A. Conan Doyle is not the fictitious Doctor John Watson. Of the 14 traditional Pauline letters scholars attribute, through textual analysis, only 7 to Paul. Even then the analysis only confirms that those seven had a common author who may or may not have been Paul.
Paul and pseudopigrapha aside do any of the authors of the non-Pauline letters identify themselves in the text?
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxcar
3. As for the rest of the writers, they must have been messianic Jews since they extensively quote the OT to support their NT theology. A big bunch of Gentiles would not have had this kind of knowledge of Old Covenant Judaism or the OT.
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Why not? I know people who have an extensive knowledge of
The Lord of the Rings, or of the Harry Potter books, Sherlock Holmes, Agatha Christie books, the Star Wars movies,
Star Trek (both generations). All it takes is being passionate about the subject, and a bunch of religious nuts inevitably will be very passionate. So a bunch of Gentiles could very easily have an extensive knowledge of the OT, particularly since (as you point out) it was available in Greek.
Quote:
Originally Posted by boxcar
4. Two more reasons that strongly favor Jewish authorship of the NT (again, save for Luke's two canonical works) is that Jesus was Jewish, was born in Israel and personally chose 12 Jewish men for his apostles at the beginning of his ministry; and He also promised 11 of these 12 very late in his ministry that He would soon send the Holy Spirit to them to receive additional divine revelation after He was gone.
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Scripture proves nothing.
I am struck by the geography of the letters. With the exception of the letters to the Hebrews are they not all addressed to churches in Italy, Greece and Asia minor? If so that would be a strong indicator that the religion was Greek, partly based on Judaism to be sure, but Greek nonetheless.
