Johnnie Ellington II August 18, 2015 · [Galatians 2:6-14] We see here that initially it was James, Cephas and John who recognized Paul’s authority. What about the other Jerusalem apostles?
Johnnie Ellington II
August 18, 2015 ·
[Galatians 2:6-14]
We see here that initially it was James, Cephas and John who recognized Paul’s
authority. What about the other Jerusalem apostles? Were they the important and
prominent ones who wanted Paul to add to his teachings? If not, why were they not
mentioned? And what was he supposed to add? It is logical that these opponents were
original apostles, and that they wanted him to preach the following of Mosaic law.
Later, in Antioch, even Cephas had a run-in with Paul over the practice of Mosaic law.
Paul accuses him and the other Jews of dissembling, and not being straightforward about
the truth of the gospel and of wanting to force the Gentiles to accept Mosaic law. If Paul
attacked even his supporters among the Jerusalem apostles, it is inevitable that he was at
odds with them as a group.
Given the extremely strong prohibition of idol worship in any form, which is at the base
of Mosaic law, it is almost certain that any tendency to deify Jesus would have been
strongly resisted by the Jerusalem apostles. This could well have been the basic cause of
the rift between Paul and the original apostles.
Brandon argues (Ibid., p. 154):
According to Paul’s own testimony, his ‘gospel’ was repudiated and his authority as apostle
was rejected by his opponents. This the leaders of the Jerusalem Church could effectively do,
because Paul had never been an original disciple of Jesus, nor had he learned the faith from
them. However, the irony of the situation, from our point of view, is that it is Paul’s ‘gospel’
that has survived and is known to us from his own writings, whereas the ‘gospel’ of the
Jerusalem Christians can only be reconstructed from what may be inferred from Paul’s
references to it and what may be culled, also by inference from the Gospels and Acts. This
apparent triumph of Paul’s version of the faith is surely to be traced to the Jewish overthrow
in A.D. 70....
That final sentence is of great importance. Brandon draws a parallel between the esoteric
Jewish community at Qumran whose books were hidden before the community was
destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 68. Those documents are now known as the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and the community which authored them is known almost solely through them.
Recently those very scrolls have been made available to scholars at large, stirring great
hopes for break throughs in our understanding of Judaism at the time of Christ and thus,
early Christian development.
Brandon proposes that the Christian community in Jerusalem, which strongly maintained
its ties to Judaism, was also wiped out by the Romans in A.D. 70, and its documents lost,
as a repercussion of the Jewish uprising there.
The annihilation of the Mother Church of Jerusalem meant that the original leaders of
Jewish-Christianity were killed or dispersed. Also, there must have been a strong political
force encouraging the moving away from Judaism and any traditions which identified a
community as being tied to Judaism. These factors would have greatly aided in the
strengthening and spread of non-Jewish concepts among early Christians. They would
have especially helped the spread of the concept of Jesus’ deification.
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August 18, 2015 ·
[Galatians 2:6-14]
We see here that initially it was James, Cephas and John who recognized Paul’s
authority. What about the other Jerusalem apostles? Were they the important and
prominent ones who wanted Paul to add to his teachings? If not, why were they not
mentioned? And what was he supposed to add? It is logical that these opponents were
original apostles, and that they wanted him to preach the following of Mosaic law.
Later, in Antioch, even Cephas had a run-in with Paul over the practice of Mosaic law.
Paul accuses him and the other Jews of dissembling, and not being straightforward about
the truth of the gospel and of wanting to force the Gentiles to accept Mosaic law. If Paul
attacked even his supporters among the Jerusalem apostles, it is inevitable that he was at
odds with them as a group.
Given the extremely strong prohibition of idol worship in any form, which is at the base
of Mosaic law, it is almost certain that any tendency to deify Jesus would have been
strongly resisted by the Jerusalem apostles. This could well have been the basic cause of
the rift between Paul and the original apostles.
Brandon argues (Ibid., p. 154):
According to Paul’s own testimony, his ‘gospel’ was repudiated and his authority as apostle
was rejected by his opponents. This the leaders of the Jerusalem Church could effectively do,
because Paul had never been an original disciple of Jesus, nor had he learned the faith from
them. However, the irony of the situation, from our point of view, is that it is Paul’s ‘gospel’
that has survived and is known to us from his own writings, whereas the ‘gospel’ of the
Jerusalem Christians can only be reconstructed from what may be inferred from Paul’s
references to it and what may be culled, also by inference from the Gospels and Acts. This
apparent triumph of Paul’s version of the faith is surely to be traced to the Jewish overthrow
in A.D. 70....
That final sentence is of great importance. Brandon draws a parallel between the esoteric
Jewish community at Qumran whose books were hidden before the community was
destroyed by the Romans in A.D. 68. Those documents are now known as the Dead Sea
Scrolls, and the community which authored them is known almost solely through them.
Recently those very scrolls have been made available to scholars at large, stirring great
hopes for break throughs in our understanding of Judaism at the time of Christ and thus,
early Christian development.
Brandon proposes that the Christian community in Jerusalem, which strongly maintained
its ties to Judaism, was also wiped out by the Romans in A.D. 70, and its documents lost,
as a repercussion of the Jewish uprising there.
The annihilation of the Mother Church of Jerusalem meant that the original leaders of
Jewish-Christianity were killed or dispersed. Also, there must have been a strong political
force encouraging the moving away from Judaism and any traditions which identified a
community as being tied to Judaism. These factors would have greatly aided in the
strengthening and spread of non-Jewish concepts among early Christians. They would
have especially helped the spread of the concept of Jesus’ deification.
LikeShow more reactionsCommentShare
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