[aron]

One thing that struck me about the immediate post-apostolic period is that there is a resounding silence from the labors of Paul. Where are his disciples?

The only connection I can find to any surviving link to Paul is possibly Clement of Rome. Paul lists a Clement as a fellow laborer in his epistle to the Philippians, 4:3, but it is uncertain if this is the Clement of Rome who wrote the famous epistle to the Corinthians. Church history links him to Paul's Clement, but that is a late connection (3rd/4th century) and seems limited. He is also connected to Peter, as following him in a leadership position in Rome. Whether or not Clement of Rome was personally discipled to Paul or Peter is open to question.

Okay, fine; why am I making a big deal about this? Because here is a master organization-builder, and when he leaves there are no people! No disciples! Clement doesn't mention him. He cites his letters, of course, which were widely circulated. But where are Paul's disciples? Paul told Timothy to commit the truth to faithful men, who would in turn instruct others (2 Tim 2:2). But I can see no record that indicates that he or Timothy did this with anyone.

Contrast this with John, who leaves behind Papias, "a hearer of John", and Polycarp, "a disciple of John the evangelist"; Polycarp in turn leaves behind Irenaus, and so forth. Ignatius is also possibly a student of John. There is an unbroken chain of witnesses, from Jesus through the disciples and into the second and third generation of believers, thence commencing up through the ages to us.

We have surviving authentic documents which attest to witnesses of John the evangelist. Why did none of Paul's co-workers leave any trace?

We do, of course, have Luke's documents, which are tremendous. But I am speaking of the transition to the age of the "church fathers"; of all the elder-appointing Paul seems to have been responsible for, it seems remarkable (notable, worth remarking upon) that all his work vanishes. He left behind letters, but no trace of disciples.

Paul was clearly a gifted organizer. I have seen secular histories which call him, not Jesus, the founder of the christian church (!!). But for all his works, I see no trace of people, and it is for me, as I said, a resounding silence. I can only suspect this may somehow be linked to the "turning away" he mentions in the beginning of 2 Timothy. Causality for me is unproven; there is just a big, empty, suggestive gap in the testimony, post-Paul.