My Understanding of Religion
Page 21
The followers of Paul were told that the prophets had promised the gospel. Paul argues Adam committed a sin of disobedience and caused death to come into being. Death reigned from Adam to the coming of the law. He maintains Abraham is heir to the world, and father of all who believe in Jesus. According to Paul the Law was given for a restricted time: from Moses to the coming of 'the seed.' Faith in Jesus has superseded the Law. The Law is no longer needed. When the Gentiles who are going to be saved have been saved, the blindness of Israel will come to an end. All of Israel will be saved. Paul expected a resurrection of the dead at the end-time. He thought of Jesus as the first fruits of the dead. For Paul the second coming of Jesus (Parousia) was imminent. Paul asserted that if his gospel 'be hid, it is hid to them that are lost.' In Galatians Paul is critical of Christians who keep themselves under astrological powers - Bornkamm, the theologian, translates some words written by Paul to mean: have nothing to do with Star-Spirits.
Paul may have taken a collection to the original Christian Church at Jerusalem. It is unlikely that the Jerusalem Christians accepted it. Paul had hoped its acceptance would symbolize the gathering of the Gentiles into the one family of God. The two churches remained separate. Paul, on his visit to Jerusalem, was arrested and accused of taking a Gentile beyond the Temple barrier excluding Gentiles. He was sent to Rome, and arrived there in the spring of AD 60. It is not known what became of Paul, although Acts says he spent two years under house arrest awaiting trial before Caesar. Though Paul was not the first to preach to Gentiles, the worldwide Christian Church is seen as his lasting monument. His influence continued after his disappearance. Paul's letters became a standard reference for Christian teaching. Paul had a deep effect upon the history of Western Christianity through the writings of St Augustine, Martin Luther, and John Calvin.
It seems that the original Christian religion, generated by Jesus and his friends, was outgrown by the religion started by Paul. The writings of John could contain information about the original Christian religion even though a Johannine school or circle somewhere in the East, at the end of the first century AD, may have produced all of the Johannine material. John's Gospel contains traces of eyewitness accounts and accurate knowledge of Palestine. Although the author of John's Gospel was aware of part of the tradition behind the Synoptic Gospels, there is no Eucharist celebration of the Last Supper in his Gospel. Instead, John uses that occasion to have Jesus promise to pray to the Father to send them the Spirit of truth. In John it is the Jews who are the enemies of Jesus and his church. The many differences between the Synoptics and John can be summarized as follows: in the Synoptics there is a waiting for the Second Coming of Jesus (the Parousia) to fulfil end-time (eschatological) expectations, but in John the eschatology is realized and eternal life is already present - for Paul, also, the new age was still to come. Johannine theology is very similar to the outlook criticized by Paul in his first letter to the Corinthians; the contrast between Paul and John is still more obvious if one accepts John contains added material designed to change his realized eschatology into the futuristic eschatology favoured by Paul and the Synoptics.
Paul warned his followers to have nothing to do with Star-Spirits. However, an unusual star is mentioned in the Gospel of Mark, the second letter of Peter, and Revelation. In Revelation the morning star is promised as a reward to those who 'overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end'. 'And I will give him the morning star.' John has Jesus identify himself as 'the bright and morning star.' John is saying Jesus will share himself with successful Christians. He will make himself known in the shape of a star. A visual experience is implied. Jesus will appear as the morning star. A morning star experience is probably indicated by Acts, chapter 2, verse 3: 'And there appeared unto them cloven tongues like as of fire, and it sat upon each of them.' The morning star is a popular motif in Christian art. It is often five-pointed, with each point or tongue having its own colour: red, green, yellow, etc. It is unlikely that a morning star experience lies behind Paul's conversion or calling, detailed in Acts, chapter 9 and elsewhere, which features 'a light from heaven' which 'shined round about him'. Clearly, the religions of Paul and John are very different. It is possible the 'morning star' of Christianity is related to the star of Ishtar: Goddess to Sargon, the first Semitic empire Builder. Some traditions mention Ishtar as the daughter of Sin, moon god of Ur: the city from which Abraham and his people came.
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