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The Acts of Paul and Thecla attributes to Paul a beatitude from Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount, declaring the pure in heart blessed. Matthew records this as one of Jesus’ own sayings, not Paul’s.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Matthew 5:8
New Testament
6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be satisfied. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called the children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness, for the kingdom of heaven belongs to them.
Date: 70–90 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
Acts of Paul and Thecla 1:5
Paul and Thecla
Early Christian
5 And when Paul entered the house of Onesiphorus, there was great joy, and kneeling, and breaking of bread, and the word of God about abstinence (or continence) and the resurrection; for Paul said: Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. Blessed are those who keep the flesh chaste, for they will become the temple of God. Blessed are those who abstain (or the continent), for God will speak to them. Blessed are those who have renounced this world, for they will be pleasing to God. Blessed are those who have wives as though they did not have them, for they will inherit God. Blessed are those who fear God, for they will become angels of God.
Date: c. 160–190 CE (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
“... The formal constraint of beatitudes may have necessitated this shift, since, for example, Jesus promises future rewards in seven out of nine beatitudes in Matthew 5:3-11. The form of the beatitudes has imposed certain changes in verb tense, causing the Pauline ethic to resemble Jesus’ own teaching to a greater degree ... Beatitudes i and xii are word for word the same as Matthew 5:8 and 5:7 respectively; the apodosis in vii equals that in Matthew 5:4; the apodosis in viii resembles that in Matthew 5:9 ... Thus, Beatitudes ii, iv, v, xi, and xiii are expositions of 1 Corinthians 6-7. Four other beatitudes take direct inspiration from Jesus’ beatitudes, displaying dependence on Matthew. The remaining four relate to the theme of continence and the resurrection, and would appear to be inventions of the Presbyter himself, though not without Pauline inspiration. The frequency of allusions to 1 Corinthians 6-7 is hardly by accident. The Presbyter’s purpose for recounting Thecla’s story emerges—he wishes to give narrative embodiment to Paul’s teaching in 1 Corinthians 6-7 ...”
Dunn, Peter W.
The Influence of 1 Corinthians on the Acts of Paul
(pp. 448-449) Scholars Press, 1996
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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