CORINTHIANS, APOCRYPHAL EPISTLES ai. — Brief letter of the C. and a somewhat longer reply from Paul (III C.), apparently suggested, respectively, by I Cor. 7:1 and 5:9.
In the name of the community, Stephen, together with other elders, informs Paul about the activity of certain Simon and Cleobius, who preach doctrines never heard from his lips and, indeed, contrary to his teaching. They deny the authority of the prophets; the creation and universal dominion of God, to whom they seem to oppose the angels in their relations with the world; the reality of Christ’s Incarnation and the resurrection of the flesh. So that the error may not take root, the writers appeal for Paul’s prompt intervention. He replies by rebutting point by point the teaching of the false preachers. The thoughts and expressions are drawn chiefly from the Pauline letters.
The discovery of the Coptic text of the Acta Pauli by C. Schmidt (Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger baptischen Papyrstundschaft Nr. 1 herausgegeben, Leipzig 1904; 2nd ed. ibid. 1905) decisively demonstrated that the two letters originally formed part of the Acta (v. APOLLO, ATTI APOCRIFI di). The fact that III C. was accepted for a certain period into the canon of the Syriac and Armenian Churches contributed to their being regarded as independent texts and to their authority; hence St. Ephrem, together with the Pauline letters, also comments on these two, the first as a preamble to the second. The content, which has an antagonistic character, suggests dating the Acts of Paul between 160 and 170. According to Tertullian (De Baptismo, 17: PL 1, 1328 ff.), they were the work of an Asian presbyter who, because of this forgery inspired in him by his love for the Apostle, was deprived of his dignity. Cf. St. Jerome, De Viris ill., 17: PL 23, 651.
BBL: For the Coptic text: C. Schmidt, op. cit. in the text; a German version of the Armenian text and two Latin recensions were published by P. Vetter, Der apokryphe dritte Korintherbrief, Vienna 1894; L. Vousux, Les Actes de Paul et ses lettres apocryphes, Paris 1913, pp. 248–75, Latin text and French version; E. Hennecke, Neustamentliche Apokryphen, 2nd ed., Tübingen 1924, p. 207 ff., (German version); M. R. James, The Apocryphal New Testament, Oxford 1924, p. 289 ff.; K. Pink, Die pseudopaulinischen Briefe I, in Biblica, 6 (1925), pp. 68–91; E. Amann, Apocryphes du Nouveau Testament, in DBs, I, col. 518 f. Teodorico da Castel San Pietro