Simon Magus part 3

by John Thomas Lowe
(Woodruff, SC)

part 3
Anti-Paulinism

The Apostles Paul and Peter confront Simon Magus before Nero.
The Pseudo-Clementine writings were used in the 4th century by members of the Ebionite sect, one characteristic of which was hostility to Paul, whom they refused to recognize as an apostle. Ferdinand Christian Baur (1792–1860), founder of the Tübingen School, drew attention to the anti-Pauline characteristic in the Pseudo-Clementines and pointed out that in the disputations between Simon and Peter, some of the claims Simon is represented as making (e.g., that of having seen the Lord, though not in his lifetime, yet subsequently in vision) were the claims of Paul; and urged that Peter's refutation of Simon was in some places intended as a polemic against Paul. The enmity between Peter and Simon is clearly shown. Simon's magical powers are juxtaposed with Peter's powers in order to express Peter's authority over Simon through the power of prayer. In the 17th Homily, the identification of Paul with Simon Magus is affected. Simon is there made to maintain that he has a better knowledge of the mind of Jesus than the disciples, who had seen and conversed with Jesus in person. His reason for this strange assertion is that visions are superior to waking reality, as the divine is superior to humans. Peter has much to say in reply to this, but the passage which mainly concerns us is as follows:
But can anyone be educated for teaching by vision? Moreover, if you say, "It is possible," why did the Teacher remain and converse with waking men for a whole year? Furthermore, how can we believe you even as to the fact that he appeared to you? Moreover, how can he appear to you seeing that your sentiments oppose his teaching? However, if you were seen and taught by him for a single hour, and so became an apostle, then preach his words, expound his meaning, love his apostles, fight not with me who had conversed with him. For it is against a solid rock, the foundation-stone of the Church, that you have opposed yourself in opposing me. If you were not an adversary, you would not be slandering me and reviling the preaching that is given through me, in order that, as I heard myself in person from the Lord, when I speak I may not be believed, as though forsooth it were I who was condemned and I who was reprobate. Alternatively, if you call me condemned, you are accusing God, who revealed the Christ to me, and are inveighing against Him, who called me blessed on the ground of the revelation. But if indeed you genuinely wish to work along with the truth, learn first from us what we learned from Him, and when you have become a disciple of truth, become our fellow workman.
The anti-Pauline context of the Pseudo-Clementines is recognized, but the association with Simon Magus is surprising, according to Jozef Verheyden, since they have little in common. However, most scholars accept Baur's identification, though others, including Lightfoot, argued extensively that the "Simon Magus" of the Pseudo-Clementines was not meant to stand for Paul. More recently, Berlin pastor Hermann Detering (1995) has made the case that the veiled anti-Pauline stance of the Pseudo-Clementines has historical roots and that the Acts 8 encounter between Simon the magician and Peter is itself based on the conflict between Peter and Paul. Detering's belief has not found general support among scholars, but Robert M. Price argues much the same in The Amazing Colossal Apostle: The Search for the Historical Paul (2012).
Anti-Marcionism
There are other features in the portrait which are reminiscent of Marcion. The first thing mentioned in the Homilies about Simon's opinions is that he denied that God was just. By "God," he meant the creator god. However, he undertakes to prove from the Jewish scriptures that there is a higher god who possesses the perfections falsely ascribed to the lower God. On these grounds, Peter complains that, when setting out for the gentiles to convert them from their worship of many gods upon earth, Satan had sent Simon before him to make them believe that there were many gods in heaven.
Druidism
In Irish legend, Simon Magus came to be associated with Druidism. He is said to have come to the aid of the Druid Mog Ruith. Irish Druids' fierce denunciation of Christianity appears to have resulted in Simon Magus being associated with Druidism. The word Druid was sometimes translated into Latin as a magus, and Simon Magus was also known in Ireland as "Simon the Druid."
Medieval legends, later interpretations
The fantastic stories of Simon, the Sorcerer persisted into the later Middle Ages, becoming a possible inspiration for the Faustbuch and Goethe's Faust. The Church of Santa Francesca Romana, Rome, is claimed to have been built on the spot where Simon fell. Within the Church is a dented slab of marble that purports to bear the imprints of the knees of Peter and Paul during their prayer.
The opening story in Danilo Kiš's 1983 collection The Encyclopedia of the Dead, "Simon Magus," retells the confrontation between Simon and Peter, agreeing with the account in the Acts of Peter, and provides an additional alternative ending in which Simon asks to be buried alive in order to be resurrected three days later (after which his body is found putrefied).