Did Paul know details of Jesus’s crucifixion?

  • New Testament historians

    • David Brondos: “a number of other passages indicate that Paul knew the historical circumstances surrounding the cross and expected his readers to know them as well” [Paul on the Cross (Fortress, 2006), 68.]

  • Plausibility

    We can anticipate this from basic reasoning about social groups:

    • Martin Hengel: “it was simply impossible in the antiquities to proclaim a man crucified a few years ago, as Kyrios, Son of God and Redeemer without saying something about who this man was, what he taught in did, and why he died” [“The Origins of th Christian Mission,” in Between Jesus and Paul (Fortress, 1983), p. 34 in “Der Ursprunge der christliche Mission,” NTS 18 (1971).]

“Yes, after all…

  • Paul explicitly reports events just before the crucifixion

    Paul explicitly reports events just before the crucifixion.

    After all…

       focusing just on Paul’s undisputed letters, Paul recounts…

    • “Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread” [the Last supper].1
    • Jesus’s Last Supper speech (verbatim).2
    • Jesus was taken by Roman/Jewish leaders.3
    • Jesus did not resist.4

    This is relevant because…

    • He assumes his audience is familiar with “the night” and the “betrayal” by Judas Iscariot.
    • These details would likely not be circulated without context.
    1. • 1 Corinthians 11:23-24 — For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body,…”
      As noted by one scholar:

      • Chrisitan Wolff: “…the imperfect form ...., 'was handed over', is used, expressing the course that this process took.” [“Humility and Self-Denial” in Wedderburn’s “Paul and Jesus” (Bloomsbury Academic, 2015), 158.]

    2. Paul also quotes verbatim Jesus’ Last Supper speech at length:

      • 1 Corinthians 11:24-26 — ”when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, “This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me.” In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, “This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me.” For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord’s death until He comes.”

    3. Paul writes:

      • 1 Thes 2:14 — “the Jews, who… killed the Lord jesus”
      • 1 Cor 2:8 — “…the rulers of this age… if they had understood it they would not have crucified [Jesus]” (with context just laid in 1 Cor 1:23 — ”we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” (Roman leaders and Jewish leaders were the “rulers of this age” for Paul.)

    4. Paul says that Jesus lovingly went to judgement and the cross without resistance:

      • Gal 1:4 — ”gave Himself… so that he might rescue us”
      • 2 Cor 13:4 — “He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet…”

      This sentiment pervades Paul’s writings both explicitly:
      • 2 Corinthians 5:14 — “Christ… died for all”
      • Galatians 2:20 — “[Jesus] gave Himself up for me” And implicitly, where,
      • David Brondos: “he alludes to it through the phrases he employees when speaking of Christ's death and in the contexts in which he discusses the cross. Perhaps the most important of these phrases are those in which Paul employs the Greek preposition hyper: Paul makes use of this preposition to speak of Christ's death ‘for’ or ‘on the half of’ others at least 10 times in his letters,” [Paul on the Cross (Fortress, 2006), 71.]

  • Paul explicitly reports precise details of Jesus's crucifixion

    Paul explicitly reports precise details of Jesus's crucifixion.

    For example,…

    • Paul reports the context before and after. (See above.)
    • Paul reports Jesus was crucified.1
    • Paul reports it involved Jesus’s body and blood2
    • Paul reports Jews and Romans were responsible?3
    • Paul reports Jesus faced “reproaches” during the process.4
    • Paul reports “His sufferings,… His death”. (Phil 3:10)
    1. Crucified
      • “He was crucified” (2 Cor 13:4)
      • “crucified with Him” (Rom :6)
      • “the cross of…Jesus Christ …crucified.” (Gal 6:14)
      • “Has Christ been divided? Paul was not crucified for you, was he?” (1 Cor 1:13)
        On the cross
      • “the cross of Christ” (1 Cor 1:17)
      • “the cross is foolishness [to some]” (1 Cor 1:18)
      • “stumbling block of the cross” (Gal 5:11)
      • “persecuted for the cross of Christ.” (Gal 6:12)
      • “the cross of our Lord Jesus” (Gal 6:14)
      • “the cross” (Eph 2:16)
      • “cross of Christ” (Phil 3:18)
      • “death on a cross” (Phil 2:8)
      • “the blood of His cross” (Col 1:2)
    2. Paul linked physically persecuted Christians with Jesus[?])
      • “the body of the dying of Jesus” (1 Cor 4:10)
        And refernced the spilling of Jesus’s blood on the cross:
      • “the blood of His cross” (Col 1:2)
    3. Paul writes:

      1 Thes 2:14 — “the Jews, who… killed the Lord jesus”
      1 Cor 2:8 — “…the rulers of this age… if they had understood it they would not have crucified [Jesus]” (with context just laid in 1 Cor 1:23 — ”we preach Christ crucified, to Jews a stumbling block and to Gentiles foolishness.” (Roman leaders and Jewish leaders were the “rulers of this age” for Paul.)

    4. Many scholars think Paul alludes to the event here:

      Romans 15:3 — For even Christ did not please Himself; but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached You fell on Me.” (cf. 2 Cor 13:4; cf Ps 69:9)