I’ve been grappling a lot with the question of Paul, who quite frankly comes across as extremely decentered in many of his letters.
I think this is a good detailing of many contradictions between what Paul wrote and the teachings of Jesus in the gospel, but I also think it's important to remember that the gospels were written decades after Paul's letters and almost certainly after he had died. It's also important to remember that Paul almost certainly thought the apocolypse was coming in his lifetime. And that Paul did not know Jesus in his lifetime. Paul adopted Christianity and decided to become a leader in it only after Jesus had died--prior to that he was prosecuting Christians himself.
I think the gospels have far more spiritual value than Paul's letters, I think including Paul's letters in the canonical bible is a questionable choice at best (especially without including key historical context around them), but we can't truly judge Paul as "contradicting" teachings that did not yet exist in a coherent, unified form.
I think every Christian should study biblical history, it helps a lot in cutting through the more toxic modern iterations (most of which is built on Paul's writings). But even the gospels themselves benefit from a critical eye and historical context, written by anonymous authors so long after Jesus' death.
Thank you for your perspective! You make some great points and I always welcome the discussion. The fact that the first Bible canon was compiled by a Gnostic named Marcion, who is universally labeled a heretic is revealing. In an attempt to negate the heresy, the Hellenistic Christians claimed Paul as their own. The Jewish Christians developed their own 1st century writings that included the Didache, Clementine homilies, James, and the Johannine epistles, etc. in response to the falsehoods that were being circulated about Jesus by false prophets who say they know a Jesus of revelation not of flesh (1 John 4). A false prophet is always known by their deeds and failed predictions. Jesus never said that the end times where coming in his day but he did accurately foresee the fall of the Temple. Paul erroneously said the end times where coming in his day, and instructed others to not marry.
Have you researched the sect of Nazarenes and Ebionites by chance? If you're interested in the subject, I think you'll find the window into Jewish Christianity most revealing compared to the Hellenistic Christianity that emerged early and predominated. There was a line of succession that is erased in the mainstream narrative: James the Just, brother of Jesus was appointed the leader of the Nazarenes after the Resurrection. After his martyrdom by the Jewish priests in 62 AD, their cousin Simeon became the leader until he was also murdered, but by the Romans in 118 AD. An accounting of the early history can be found in the fragments of Hegesippus (110 AD - 180 AD) preserved by Eusebius. I detail the historical divergence in major beliefs in a previous post.
The canonical Gospels were written later as you said, however, the 'Gospel of the Hebrews According to Matthew' dates back to the 1st century, and is the basis for the canonical Matthew. Matthew, being a tax collector, was literate enough to write his first-hand account. I used Matthew alone so that the analysis was as close to historically accurate as possible, despite the transliteration and doctrinal tweaks inserted by Catholicism.
Oh wow thanks for the detailed response! I actually have been focused on the Gnostics lately, in particular the lost texts that were found in Egypt in 1945. You gave me a ton of things to look into, I appreciate it! I'll definitely check out your other work, I just subscribed, we seem to have quite the overlap in topics/interests! :)
Excellent!! You had me at Nag Hammadi lol. I subscribed to you too 😊Feel free to strike up a conversation about religion anytime! I love discussing religion and spirituality. In fact, reading your article gave me the idea of writing about some of the universal truths that Yeshua taught. Tomorrow, I’m publishing an article on the phases of deconstruction.
Amazing! I can't wait to read it! My piece scheduled for tomorrow is about Etty Hilleman and the lessons we can take from her incredible spiritual journey during the holocaust.
I’ve been grappling a lot with the question of Paul, who quite frankly comes across as extremely decentered in many of his letters.
I think this is a good detailing of many contradictions between what Paul wrote and the teachings of Jesus in the gospel, but I also think it's important to remember that the gospels were written decades after Paul's letters and almost certainly after he had died. It's also important to remember that Paul almost certainly thought the apocolypse was coming in his lifetime. And that Paul did not know Jesus in his lifetime. Paul adopted Christianity and decided to become a leader in it only after Jesus had died--prior to that he was prosecuting Christians himself.
I think the gospels have far more spiritual value than Paul's letters, I think including Paul's letters in the canonical bible is a questionable choice at best (especially without including key historical context around them), but we can't truly judge Paul as "contradicting" teachings that did not yet exist in a coherent, unified form.
I think every Christian should study biblical history, it helps a lot in cutting through the more toxic modern iterations (most of which is built on Paul's writings). But even the gospels themselves benefit from a critical eye and historical context, written by anonymous authors so long after Jesus' death.
Thank you for your perspective! You make some great points and I always welcome the discussion. The fact that the first Bible canon was compiled by a Gnostic named Marcion, who is universally labeled a heretic is revealing. In an attempt to negate the heresy, the Hellenistic Christians claimed Paul as their own. The Jewish Christians developed their own 1st century writings that included the Didache, Clementine homilies, James, and the Johannine epistles, etc. in response to the falsehoods that were being circulated about Jesus by false prophets who say they know a Jesus of revelation not of flesh (1 John 4). A false prophet is always known by their deeds and failed predictions. Jesus never said that the end times where coming in his day but he did accurately foresee the fall of the Temple. Paul erroneously said the end times where coming in his day, and instructed others to not marry.
Have you researched the sect of Nazarenes and Ebionites by chance? If you're interested in the subject, I think you'll find the window into Jewish Christianity most revealing compared to the Hellenistic Christianity that emerged early and predominated. There was a line of succession that is erased in the mainstream narrative: James the Just, brother of Jesus was appointed the leader of the Nazarenes after the Resurrection. After his martyrdom by the Jewish priests in 62 AD, their cousin Simeon became the leader until he was also murdered, but by the Romans in 118 AD. An accounting of the early history can be found in the fragments of Hegesippus (110 AD - 180 AD) preserved by Eusebius. I detail the historical divergence in major beliefs in a previous post.
The canonical Gospels were written later as you said, however, the 'Gospel of the Hebrews According to Matthew' dates back to the 1st century, and is the basis for the canonical Matthew. Matthew, being a tax collector, was literate enough to write his first-hand account. I used Matthew alone so that the analysis was as close to historically accurate as possible, despite the transliteration and doctrinal tweaks inserted by Catholicism.
Oh wow thanks for the detailed response! I actually have been focused on the Gnostics lately, in particular the lost texts that were found in Egypt in 1945. You gave me a ton of things to look into, I appreciate it! I'll definitely check out your other work, I just subscribed, we seem to have quite the overlap in topics/interests! :)
Excellent!! You had me at Nag Hammadi lol. I subscribed to you too 😊Feel free to strike up a conversation about religion anytime! I love discussing religion and spirituality. In fact, reading your article gave me the idea of writing about some of the universal truths that Yeshua taught. Tomorrow, I’m publishing an article on the phases of deconstruction.
Amazing! I can't wait to read it! My piece scheduled for tomorrow is about Etty Hilleman and the lessons we can take from her incredible spiritual journey during the holocaust.
I look forward to reading it! I love reading perspectives from WWII. 💛I’m glad we connected.