Q&A:Plagiarism

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Someone emailed us with the following question. Presumably, with the attempt to excuse William Branham's repeated plagiarism of others.

Q: Would you apply Jeremiah 23:30 to the following :

  1. Paul on Aratus' poem "Phainomena" in Acts 17:28?
  2. Jesus' Sermon on the Mount on Moses?
  3. Joshua and Samuel who quoted Jasher and Enoch verbatim?

Paul on Aratus' poem "Phainomena"

Acts 17:28 states:

...for in Him we live and move and have our being, as also some of your own poets have said, ‘For we are also His offspring.’

This cannot be considered plagiarism for the following reasons:

  1. Paul did not write the Book of Acts, Luke did. What we have here is Luke relating Paul's speech on Mars Hill.
  2. Paul clearly states that he is quoting someone else - a poet. So he is putting everyone on notice that these are not his words.

Not sure how anyone could construe this as plagiarism. Plalgiarism is defined as the practice of taking someone else's work or ideas and passing them off as one's own. Paul is not trying them to pass them off as his own ideas.

Jesus' Sermon on the Mount on Moses

Joshua and Samuel who quoted Jasher and Enoch