Acts of Paul

The Acts of Paul is one of the earliest and most important works in a group of writings called the New Testament apocrypha, which are stories about Paul the Apostle that were not included in the Bible. These writings were created around the years 100 to 160 AD and were sometimes called “false writings” because they were not written by Paul himself. Early Christian leaders like Tertullian and Eusebius said these stories were not true parts of the Bible and should not be trusted.

The Acts of Paul were written by someone unknown, probably from a Christian community in Asia Minor, and they told stories about Paul’s travels and work. Unlike the stories in the Bible, these tales were passed down by word of mouth instead of being written down at the time. The main ideas in these stories focused on being pure and not following certain wrong beliefs called Gnosticism.

We know about these stories mostly from old books written in Greek, but a version in the Coptic language was also found. This version showed that the Acts of Paul included three big parts: the Acts of Paul and Thecla, the Third Epistle to the Corinthians, and the story of Paul’s death, called the Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Paul. There were also smaller stories, like the Healing of Hermocrates and the Strife of the Ephesian Beasts, but these only exist in pieces today. All these stories are thought to have been written by one person who used old oral traditions instead of the Bible stories.

Overview

The Acts of Paul is a collection of stories about the Apostle Paul and his work. It includes tales like the Acts of Paul and Thecla, Paul's Correspondence With the Corinthians, and the Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Paul.

Paul's Correspondence With the Corinthians was written about 100 years after Paul’s time. It has two letters. The first letter tells how two leaders came to Corinth and shared confusing and wrong ideas about God and Jesus. The second letter is Paul’s reply, where he corrects these mistaken ideas.

The Martyrdom of the Holy Apostle Paul describes Paul’s final days in Rome. It says that when Paul was to be executed, milk came from his neck instead of blood.