CORINTHIANS, APOCRYPHAL EPISTLES TO the. — A brief letter from the C. and a somewhat longer reply from Paul (III C.) seem to suggest, respectively, passages from 1 Cor. 7:1 and 5:9.
On behalf of the community, Stephen, along with other elders, informs Paul about the activity of certain Simon and Cleobius, who preach doctrines never heard from his mouth, indeed contrary to his teaching. They deny the authority of the prophets; the creation and universal dominion of God, to which they seem to oppose angels in their relationship 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 call for Paul’s prompt intervention. He responds by refuting point by point the teaching of the false preachers. Thoughts and expressions are drawn, for the most part, from the Pauline epistles.
The discovery of the Coptic text of the Acts of Paul by C. Schmidt (Acta Pauli aus der Heidelberger koptischen Papyrushandschrift Nr. 1 herausgegeben, Leipzig 1904; 2nd ed. ibid. 1905) decisively demonstrated that the two letters originally formed part of the Acts (v. PAUL, APOCRYPHAL ACTS OF). The fact that III C. was, for a time, considered a separate text and included in the canon of the Syriac and Armenian Churches contributed to their being regarded as independent works; thus St. Ephrem, in commenting on the Pauline epistles, also comments on these two, the first as a preface to the second. The content, which has an anti-Gnostic tone, suggests dating the Acts of Paul between 160 and 170. According to Tertullian (De Baptismo, 17: PL 1, 1328 sg.), they were written by an Asian priest who, out of misguided love for the Apostle, was deprived of his office for this forgery. Cf. Jerome, De Viris ill., 17: PL 23, 651.