3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

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Niemand
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3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

Post by Niemand »

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Intro
I haven't done much in terms of New Testament Apocrypha that appear in other churches, except Laodiceans (which appears in the Wycliffe Bible). Here's another New Testament work which has been accepted by some churches into mediaeval times and beyond.

As with the better known and more accepted Pauline Epistles, there are references to various figures and also a certain amount of padding.

The letter appears to have been written in response to certain Gnostic and heretical claims. It is adamant that Christ was born of Mary in the flesh (so not a spirit etc), and that he was conceived by God. Both of these became major debating points in the centuries before Constantine. It also brings up the matter of our own resurrection in the future.

There are a few obvious Bible references in it, such as the story of Jonah and he refers to the "generation of vipers" towards rhe end:
Matthew 12:34 O generation of vipers, how can ye, being evil, speak good things? for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh.
Like Laodiceans, there is nothing that really jumps out at me as being particularly unusual. If you think otherwise, please feel free to reply below. And as with Laodiceans, its origins are similarly murky.

Name
This book is normally called 3 Corinthians, III Corinthians or the Third Epistle to the Corinthians.

Canonicity
3 Corinthians is attributed to St. Paul, but most scholars and almost all churches today dispute that. However it does seem to be fairly well attested (Wikipedia):
The earliest extant copy is Papyrus Bodmer X, dating to the third century. Originally written in Koine Greek, the letter survives in Greek, Coptic, Latin, and Armenian manuscripts.
The Roman Catholic church dates it to around 160-170 AD when the gnostic movement was in full swing.
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So far in my Apocrypha series, I've dealt with books that Roman Catholics use (Tobit, 2 Maccabees etc) and most Protestants don't, that Eastern Orthodox use but most RCs don't (Odes, Psalm 151) and books used by the Ethiopians and almost no one else (Jubilees, Covenants).

3 Corinthians seems to have been one of those books which have hovered around the New Testament canon. There are those which barely made it in (Revelation, Hebrews), and those which narrowly missed out (the Shepherd of Hermas). 3 Corinthians falls into the third camp, since like Laodiceans it has appeared in some Bibles and then disappeared... but at the same time it doesn't feel like something way outside the modern canon like the Gospel of Thomas or the various gnostic Pseudepigrapha.

3 Corinthians has had a very marginal existence in any canon. It has been treated by some Armenian churches as canon or at least deuterocanonical (of secondary relevance), but not even by all of them! It was used anciently (and then rejected) by some Eastern Orthodox and Syriac churches (although it never made it into the Syriac Peshitta which is their main canon.)

3 Corinthians made it into the Middle Ages in limited ecclesiastical use and even the modern age, as according to Wikipedia it appears in:
the Oskan Armenian Bible of 1666, [and] it was in an Appendix to the Zohrab Armenian Bible of 1805 which follows the Vulgate canon, and it is not currently considered part of the Armenian Orthodox New Testament. It was not part of the canon list of Anania Shirakatsi in the 7th century but is part of the canon lists of Hovhannes Imastaser (11th century), Mekhitar of Ayrivank (13th century) and Gregory of Tatev (14th century).
In some manuscripts and books, 3 Corinthians was incorporated into the Acts of Paul, much like the Prayer of Manasseh and Epistle of Jeremiah also found themselves joined to other works.

I will quote the full text in the replies section and maybe examine some of it in greater detail

Audiobook link... not the best sound 😗 but given that it is just under seven minutes long, and there seems to be little other choice, I'm not complaining.
--
This is part of my ongoing series on Apocryphal/Deuterocanonical works:

1 Esdras inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343974

2 Esdras (the most relevant book in the Apocrypha?) inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1344302

1 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69454

2 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69468

3 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69496

4 Maccabees
viewtopic.php?t=69515

Book of Baruch and the Epistle of Jeremy/Jeremiah
viewtopic.php?t=69433

Book of Tobit inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1341501

Apocryphal additions to Esther inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?p=1343414

Bel and the Dragon (quoted in full, KJV; inc audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69261

Prayer of Azarias and Hymn of the Three Children (quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?p=1341611

Book of Judith and the Book of Mormon, inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69402

Book of Susanna inc. audiobook link
viewtopic.php?t=69386

Wisdom of Solomon
viewtopic.php?t=69469

Book of Sirach or Ecclesiasticus
viewtopic.php?t=69412

Prayer of Mannases (aka Mannaseh; quoted in full KJV, inc. audiobook link)
viewtopic.php?t=69263

Psalm 151 (quoted in full, NRSV)
viewtopic.php?t=63875

Epistle to the Laodiceans (NT, quoted in full Wycliffe's translation, )
viewtopic.php?t=64025

The Book of Odes - this is an Eastern Orthodox work of limited interest, but included for the sake of completeness.
viewtopic.php?t=69470

Outside the Western and Eastern Orthodox Canon...

The Ethiopian canon. This includes brief info on the books of Sinodos, Ethiopian Clement, Ethiopian Covenant, and Didascalia as well as a list of other works in the canon.
viewtopic.php?t=69540

The Book of Enoch
viewtopic.php?t=69577

The Book of Jubilees, also known as Leptogenesis or Little Genesis
viewtopic.php?t=69548

The Shepherd of Hermas
viewtopic.php?p=1352230#p1352230

And also
Antilegomena: the books which barely made it into the Bible - Revelation, the Song of Solomon, Jude, Esther etc.
viewtopic.php?t=69609
Last edited by Niemand on February 10th, 2023, 6:05 pm, edited 4 times in total.

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Niemand
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Posts: 13999

Re: 3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

Post by Niemand »

A modern translation by Ken Johnson. (M.R. James' translation is linked afterwards.)

https://www.interfaith.org/christianity ... rinthians/
Stephanus and the presbyters who are with him, Daphnus, Eubulus, Theophilus and Xenon, to Paul their brother in the Lord, greeting.

Two men have come to Corinth, Simon and Cleobius, who pervert the faith of many through pernicious words we want you to respond to. We have never heard such things from you or the other apostles. What ever you and the other apostles teach we will believe. The Lord has shown mercy to us, since you are still alive we wish to hear from you again. Please do write or come to us. We believe, what has been revealed to Theonoe, that the Lord delivered you out of the hand of the lawless one. What they teach is as follows:

1. We must not appeal to the prophets
2. God is not Almighty
3. There is no resurrection of the flesh
4. Creation is not God’s work

5. The Lord did not come in the flesh
6. The Lord was not born of Mary
7. The world is not of God but the Angels

So brother, hurry and come here, that the church here in Corinth may remain pure, and the foolishness of these men may be made known to all. Farewell in the Lord.

From Paul to Corinth
Paul, the prisoner of Jesus Christ, to the brothers in Corinth, greeting!
Since I am in prison, I am not surprised that the teachings of the evil one are quickly gaining ground. My Lord Jesus Christ will quickly come, since he is rejected by those who falsify His words. I delivered to you from the beginning what I received from the apostles who were before me, who were at all times together with the Lord Jesus Christ.

Our Lord Jesus Christ was born of Mary of the seed of David. The Holy Spirit was sent from Heaven by the Father into her, that he might come into this world to redeem all flesh through his own flesh, and that he might raise up from the dead we who are fleshly, just as He has shown Himself as our example.

Since man was molded by his Father, man was sought for when he was lost, that he might be quickened by adoption into sonship. The almighty God, who made heaven and earth, first sent the prophets to the Jews, that they might turn from their sins; for he had determined how to save the house of Israel, therefore he sent a portion of the spirit of Christ into the prophets, who at many times proclaimed the faultless worship of God. But since the prince who was unrighteous wished to be God, he laid hands on them and killed them, and so all the flesh of men were bound to passions. But God, the almighty, who is righteous and would not repudiate his own creation, sent the Holy Spirit to Mary the Galilean, who believed with all her heart, and she received the Holy Spirit into her womb that Jesus might enter the world, in order that the evil one might be conquered by the same flesh which he held sway, and be convinced that he was not God.

For by his own body Jesus Christ saved all flesh and brought it to eternal life through faith, that he might present a temple of righteousness in his own body, through whom we are redeemed. These are not children of righteousness but of wrath, who reject the providence of God, saying that heaven and earth and all that is in them are not the works of the Father. They are themselves therefore children of wrath, for they have the accursed faith of the serpent. From them turn away, and flee from there teaching! For you are not sons of disobedience but of the church most dearly beloved. This is why the time of the resurrection is proclaimed.

As for those who tell you there is no resurrection of the flesh, for them there is no resurrection, who do not believe in Him who has risen. You men of Corinth must understand that they don’t know about the sowing of wheat or other seeds. That they are cast naked to the ground and when they have perished below and are raised again by the will of God in a body and clothed. The body is not only raised up, but abundantly blessed. And consider not only the seeds, but nobler bodies.

You know how Jonah the son of Amathios, when he would not preach in Nineveh but fled, was swallowed by a whale and after three days and three nights God heard Jonah’s prayer out of the deepest hell, and no part of him was corrupted, not even an eyelid. How much more, you of so little faith, will he raise up you who have believed in Christ Jesus, as he himself rose up? And if, when a corpse was thrown by the children of Israel on the bones of the prophet Elisha, the man’s body rose up, so you also who have been cast upon the body and bones and spirit of the Lord will rise up on that day with your flesh whole.

But if you receive anything else, do not cause me trouble; for I have these fetters on my hands that I may gain Christ, and his marks on my body that I may attain to the resurrection form the dead. And whoever abides by the rule which he received by the prophets and the holy Gospel, he shall receive a reward and when he has risen form the dead shall obtain eternal life. But to him that turns aside form them – there is fire with him and those who go before him in the way, since they are men without God, a generation of vipers; from these turn away in the power of the Lord
May peace, grace and love be with you. Amen.


M.R. James translation which is in more KJV style language.
https://en.wikisource.org/wiki/The_Apoc ... orinthians

James notes "the influence not only of 1 Cor. xv but of the Apocalypse of Peter is visible here."

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Niemand
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Posts: 13999

Re: 3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

Post by Niemand »

Another work addressed to the church at Corinth is 1 Clement, although its provenance is a lot less murky than 3 Corinthians, and it seems to have been read out in Corinth decades later. According to Ibn Khaldun, an Arab living in the 14th century, 1 Clement appeared in some Christian Bibles of his day.... probably Coptic, possibly Spanish.

1 Clement
viewtopic.php?p=1368842

Also the supposed sequel. Probably not by Clement, but also related to Corinth:
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viewtopic.php?t=70327

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Niemand
Level 34 Illuminated
Posts: 13999

Re: 3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

Post by Niemand »

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Niemand
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Posts: 13999

Re: 3 Corinthians (Armenian canon)

Post by Niemand »

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