WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS? PAUL, PETER, AND JAMES

 

WHY CAN'T WE BE FRIENDS? PAUL, PETER, AND JAMES

Brett Todd

There is an interesting ancient letter written by, supposedly, the Apostle Peter to James, the brother of Jesus.  All scholars that I’m aware of agree that Peter never wrote this letter.  Rather, this is an ancient forgery written by someone we don’t know in the name of Peter.  This practice was obviously widely practiced because we even have letters in the New Testament of our Bible that were forgeries written in the name of Paul or Peter.  For example, we know that Paul did not write First or Second Timothy.  They are simply forgeries and there are other forgeries in the Bible as well.

In this letter, “Epistle of Peter to James” which is dated around the early 3rd century, Peter calls the Apostle Paul, “the man who is my enemy” (Ante-Nicene Fathers, Vol. VIII).  Here, scholars agree that this man who is Peter’s enemy is none other than Paul.

Though it is true that Peter did not write this letter and that this letter is an ancient forgery, it may reflect the conflict between Christian Jews and Gentile during this period and earlier.  As we take a closer look at ancient Christian history, there seemed to be a continual and furthering split between Jew and Gentile Christians.

 

So where did this conflict begin and is there anything in the Bible that would suggest that the Apostle Paul, Peter, and the brother of James were anything but friends?

In the book of Galatians (genuine letter of Paul) found in the New Testament of the Bible, Paul complains about Peter.  This is what he said, “But when Cephas [Peter] came to Antioch, I [Paul] opposed him to his face…” (Galatians 2:11). What was Paul’s complaint?  There were “false brothers” (2:4), whether Peter and James or their followers, who went to Paul’s new Gentile converts in Galatia to convince them to live like Jews, which included circumcision.  But as you probably already know, Paul was against circumcision.  This is what Paul said about the practice of Jewish circumcision, “Listen! I, Paul, am telling you that, if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you.” (Galatians 5:2).  

Later, to the surprise of many Bible readers, Paul even has stronger words for those who were pushing circumcision on his new converts, saying, “I wish those who unsettle you would castrate themselves!” (Galatians 5:12).  However, the word “castrate” is not what Paul actually said, it should be translated verse 12, “I wish those who were stirring you up would cut it all off” referring to their whole private part.  Whether Paul was talking about Peter and James or their followers is not certain.  Either way, Peter and James are more than likely in the back of Paul's mind with this whole fiasco.

More than likely, what we have before us is the beginning of the end of early Jewish Christianity.  In other words, Jewish Christianity slowly faded away while Gentile Christianity became the dominant force in this new Jesus movement.  In the end, Jewish Christianity disappeared into the sands of history, while Paul’s brand of Christianity, in part, is still with us to this day.

In our next article, we will talk about what early Christians believed about God or the Gods.