Metalogos The Gospels of Thomas & Philip & Truth

that Lk 22:6365 takes place at the hands of the
Temple guard, not those of the Romans.) Thus
perhaps the puzzling II-Cor 5:16, ΕΓΝΩΚΑΜΕΝ
ΚΑΤΑ ΣΑΡΚΑ ΧΡΙΣΤΟΝ: ‘We have known Christ
according to the flesh.’ This would certainly explain
Paul's subsequent obsession with unmerited
forgiveness!
In any event, my purpose here has been
merely to format a set of scriptural dichotomies
which exhibit the underlying logic of the ancient
Messianic/Paulianity schism, as essentially a
conceptual (and of course pragmatic!) rather than
a factual issue. This in turn may hopefully serve to
stimulate in the reader a reconsideration of the
apostolic status of Saul of Tarsus. For he evidently
never joined Christ's Discipleship at all— which
would indisputably have meant accepting Peter's
spiritual authority— much less became an Apostle.
These basic questions can no longer be
papered over, nor can they be settled by
institutional fiat. For their illuminating implication is
that traditional Christianity— as defined by the
classical NT canon including both the Gospels and
Marcion’s collection of Paul's Epistles— is logically
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