(Romans 13:7) Paul echoes Jesus' teaching on rendering unto Caesar what is Caesar's (Mark 12:13-17). EHRMAN: Right. No driving out evil spirits, or healing the invalid at Bethesda, or cleansing the lepers, or raising Lazarus, or other healing miracles. People today, when they read the phrase kingdom of God, they think he's talking about heaven, the place that your soul goes to when you die. BibleProject Podcast / God / Episode 18 Who Did Paul Think Jesus Was? Accordingly its consideration of the birth of Jesus starts with Paul's references thereto: Galatians 4:4; Romans 1:3, 4 and 8:3, and Philippians 2:5-11. The Apostle Paul and His Times: Christian History Timeline, Answers to some of the most puzzling questions about the Apostle Paul. If they aren't brought into the new Jerusalem, the city of God that descends from heaven, they will be destroyed. His death was perhaps part of the executions of Christians ordered by the Roman emperor Nero following the great fire in the city in 64 CE. But then people started thinking, well, wait - is that fair? So now we're faced with a pandemic. Brent Landau tidak bekerja, menjadi konsultan, memiliki saham, atau menerima dana dari perusahaan atau organisasi mana pun yang akan mengambil untung dari artikel ini, dan telah mengungkapkan bahwa ia tidak memiliki afiliasi selain yang telah disebut di atas. I mean, my view is that, you know, people have always been concerned about death, about what happens to them when they die, and so that's why I took on this book in the first place. In 1998, Lee Strobel, a reporter for the Chicago Tribune and a graduate of Yale Law School, published The Case for Christ: A Journalists Personal Investigation of the Evidence for Jesus. Strobel had formerly been an atheist and was compelled by his wifes conversion to evangelical Christianity to refute the key Christian claims about Jesus. And those who have been on God's side, especially those who follow Jesus' teachings, will enter the new kingdom here on Earth. Primary Sources - Paul's Letter To The Galatians | From Jesus To Christ Who Did Paul Think Jesus Was? - BibleProject This may be little more than imaginative writing from a century after Paul died, but it does not clash with the way Pauls critics described him: His letters are weighty and forceful, but in person he is unimpressive (2 Cor. The most vexing question about Pauls death is when it took place. Letters considered Deutero-Pauline (probably written by Pauls followers after his death) are Ephesians, Colossians, and 2 Thessalonians; 1 and 2 Timothy and Titus are Trito-Pauline (probably written by members of the Pauline school a generation after his death). In the process, Paul and the other authors of New Testament letters were enabled by the Holy Spirit to express, in their own inspired words, practical counsel needed by the growing international body we know as the church. First of all, biblical scholars have no idea what event Paul is referring to here. I probably would have subscribed - I would have subscribed to either the view that God was upset and we needed to repent so that he would relent, or that the devil - it was the devil doing it, and we needed to pray to God for mercy and for him to intervene on our behalf. Paul the Apostle - Wikipedia It's about how people have misused the Book of Revelation to talk about how the end is coming and how it always seems like it's going to be coming in our own time. When God creates Adam, he creates him out of earth, and then he breathes life into him. And at the end of the letter, Paul took the work from his scribe and added a personal postscript: See what large letters I use as I write to you with my own hand (Gal. Other scholars say the Romans released Paul, who briefly visited some churches he had planted and then turned west to evangelize Spain, a long-standing dream of his. Our technical director is Audrey Bentham. Melissa Morgan Kelley in Dirt Town Valley, Georgia. When earlier I was saying that Jesus was an apocalypticist who thought that the world was going to come to an end, that God was going to destroy the forces of evil to bring in a good kingdom, that is precisely what the author of the Book of Revelation thinks, that - and the book is a description of how it's going to happen. Jesus | Facts, Teachings, Miracles, Death, & Doctrines And right, it kind of seems like that when you read it - when you just kind of simply read it. You've also studied the Gnostic Gospels, which were the recently discovered gospels that never became part of the canon. One is they based their predictions on the Book of Revelation. John wrote about the love that will be evidenced in our lives when we truly believe the Word of Life loved us enough to die in our place (1John1:1-3; 2:1-2; 3:23). Paul apparently didnt know any. He was a bald-headed, bowlegged short man with a big nose, and an unbroken eyebrow that lay across his forehead like a dead caterpillar. It got put in a grave, or it got put in a pit, and that's what they called Sheol, is the place that your remains are. But even if we assume that the tomb really was empty that morning, what is there to prove that it was a miracle and not that Christs body was moved for uncertain reasons? More specifically, Paul states that he saw the Lord (1 Corinthians 9:1), though Acts claims that near Damascus he saw a blinding bright light. In a discourse on the Resurrection found in 1 Corinthians 15, Paul used five Old Testament texts to put forward his belief in the Resurrection. But it's the only way to stop it. And the most famous of the Gnostic Gospels is Thomas. Perhaps everyone to whom Paul wrote his letters knew all this already? It's going to come very soon. The authors of the New Testament letters wrote by the same Spirit of God who inspired Moses and spoke through Jesus. Is there really a God who's going to allow that, let alone cause it? Most people, of course, are more concerned about the process of dying right now or getting sick or the economics of that. And when people raise their children on this stuff, it can scar them for life. He was raised Jewish. But if Paul could only speak personally of his encounter with the risen Christ on the road to Damascus, that doesnt explain the silence of Peter, James, and John. GROSS: So you were saying there really isn't an explicit description of heaven and hell in the Hebrew Bible or even in the New Testament, but that Paul is important in understanding the history of heaven and hell. I mean, I just - no (laughter). The young Paul certainly would have rejected the view that Jesus had been raised after his deathnot because he doubted resurrection as such but because he would not have believed that God chose to favour Jesus by raising him before the time of the Judgment of the world. Paul's account of these mysterious years is succinct but suggests he told others what he knew about Jesus, for the report circulated that "The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching . The account of Jesus's post-resurrection appearance to Paul is given in detail three times in the Book of Acts and is repeatedly alluded to by Paul himself in his letters. By the same divine inspiration that gave us the Old Testament and Gospels, these authors helped their readers understand who Jesus is and what He has done for us. This does not, however, in any way prove that Jesus was resurrected. GROSS: And you say that for the ancient Jews, the fact that the Messiah didn't come, that was a turning point in beliefs about what happens after death, too. 8. This, though, is not a book that describes what's going to happen to individuals when they die and go to heaven or hell; it's a description of the final judgment of God that somehow is going to be coming to Earth. Omissions? And the graphic imagery in the book has really contributed to all of these interpretations of Revelation. Miracles are, by definition, extremely improbable events, and I see no reason to assume that one has taken place when other explanations are far more plausible. Get the best from CT editors, delivered straight to your inbox! Discover the truths about the Son of God who became the Savior of the world. John defined the special nature of the calling of an Apostle as he quoted the mortal Messiah: "Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you, that ye should go forth" (John 15:16). Yet the two biblical scholars who feature in the movie, Gary Habermas and William Lane Craig, both teach at institutions (Liberty University and Biola University, respectively) that require their faculty to sign statements affirming that they believe the Bible is inspired by God and is free of any contradictions, historical inaccuracies or moral failings. Corrections? In the farming community of Dirt Town Valley, family friends grapple with a difficult truth: One ancestor was enslaved by another. Malaria is another possibility, suggested in the 1800s by archaeologist William Ramsay. He's a distinguished professor of Religious Studies at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and is one of America's most widely read scholars of early Christianity and the New Testament. (Matthew 12:38-40) 21. He was not interested in knowing that Jesus ordered the fulfillment of the Law ( Matthew 5:17-20, Matthew 23:1-3) or anything else in that matter. Paul wrote 13 letters about the practical implications of believing that God in the flesh has purchased the eternal salvation of all who believe in Jesus (1 Timothy 3:16; 2Timothy2:19). It is a pleasure to have you back. EHRMAN: Yeah, that would absolutely be good. EHRMAN: Paul is very important for understanding the history of heaven and hell, as he's important for understanding most things about early Christian thinking. What Does It Mean to Know "Nothing except Christ and Him Crucified?" In an email reply to my question about whether most professional biblical scholars would find his arguments for the historicity of Jesus resurrection to be persuasive, Strobel said, As you know, there are plenty of credentialed scholars who would agree that the evidence for the resurrection is sufficient to establish its historicity. They spent 3 years with Jesus, yet their letters reflect almost no specific mention of what they heard their Teacher say. 2:8). EHRMAN: The various groups of Christians that people sometimes label gnostic would cover a wide range of views. While every effort has been made to follow citation style rules, there may be some discrepancies. v.2 This verse gives us the message of Paul's preaching. It arguably has the most important elementdeath as a sacrifice for our sins and resurrectionbut very little else. And so I think that hell is something we need to fight against; heaven, I'm all for. St. Paul the Apostle - St. Paul the Apostle - Jewish Law, Missionary, Apostle: Paul's central convictions made it difficult for him to explain the proper role of Jewish law in the life of his converts. He's the author of the new book "Heaven And Hell: A History Of The Afterlife." We're not doing anything else. And of course, it kept not happening. I mean, you know, a lot of people aren't joking. Robert Price questions whether Paul even imagined an earthly Jesus (Bible Geek podcast for 10/3/12 @ 1:15:10). 11:236). Jesus was killed by Jews: the Jews who killed the Lord Jesus (1 Thes. In the movie, Strobel crisscrosses the country, interviewing scholars and other professionals about the historicity of Jesus resurrection. Even though Paul clearly described what he heard on the road to Damascus, we shouldn't be too quick to reject the reasonable inference related to his visual observations of Jesus. Non-citizens often faced the lingering death of crucifixion. Although frequently useful, the information in Acts is secondhand, and it is sometimes in direct conflict with the letters. Copyright by the author or Christianity Today/Christian History magazine.Click here for reprint information on Christian History. It's going to grow. Yet the world is full of such extraordinary claims, and The Case for Christ has provided, in my evaluation, no truly compelling evidence to prove the historicity of Jesus resurrection. In his own day, although he was a major figure within the very small Christian movement, he also had many enemies and detractors, and his contemporaries probably did not accord him as much respect as they gave Peter and James. He could travel with a few leather-working tools and set up shop anywhere. In his characterization, secular scholars simply refuse to believe that miracles can happen, and that stance means that they will never accept the historicity of the resurrection, no matter how much evidence is provided. "Jesus Christ, and Him Crucified": Paul's Testimony of Christ GROSS: One of the theses of your book about the history of heaven and how is that views of heaven and hell don't go back to the earliest stages of Christianity, and they're not in the Old Testament or in Jesus' teachings. They were gentiles. 6:11). That in no way proves the historicity of the resurrection. We're recording this on Thursday. (SOUNDBITE OF PETROS KLAMPANIS' "EASY COME EASY GO"). The life is in the breath. If we havent heard anyone raise this challenge before, it might surprise us to know that Paul was not the only one who did not quote Jesus as much as we might expect. Paul [a] (also named Saul of Tarsus; [b] c. 5 - c. 64/65 AD), commonly known as Paul the Apostle [7] and Saint Paul, [8] was a Christian apostle who spread the teachings of Jesus in the first-century world. This is FRESH AIR. Paul sometimes shows knowledge that "the Christ" was a title, not a name, but more commonly he referred to Jesus as "Jesus Christ," "Christ Jesus," or even "Christ," as in Romans 6:4: "Christ was raised from the dead." In all these cases, "Christ" is used as if it were part of Jesus' name. Many things influence how someone views the evidence including, for instance, whether he or she has an anti-supernatural bias.. Sorry, your blog cannot share posts by email. 3 I testify again to every man who receives circumcision that he is bound to keep the whole law . If you actually look at what the Psalms say about Sheol, they always equate it to the grave or to the pit. Surely, if there are gods in the world or God in the world, there has to be justice. Although the exact date of his birth is unknown, he was active as a missionary in the 40s and 50s of the 1st century ce. But what information about Jesus does Paul give us? And so Paul thought he would be alive when the end came. The Apostle Paul is, next to Jesus, clearly the most intriguing figure of the 1st century of Christianity, and far better known than Jesus because he wrote all of those letters that we have. EHRMAN: Well, the same advice everybody's getting who's listening to the right news sources, which is that you need to self-isolate. Pauls account of these mysterious years is succinct but suggests he told others what he knew about Jesus, for the report circulated that The man who formerly persecuted us is now preaching the faith he once tried to destroy (Gal. He taught - his main teaching is that the kingdom of God is coming. However, only seven of these are accepted as being entirely authentic: Letter of Paul to the Romans, both Letters of Paul to the Corinthians, Letter of Paul to the Galatians, Letter of Paul to the Philippians, First Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, and Letter of Paul to Philemon. Only 7 of the 13 letters, however, can be accepted as being entirely authentic (dictated by Paul himself). God will destroy the forces of evil. And so in terms of what I know, I'm an agnostic. Thorn doesnt show up anywhere else in the New Testament, but a version of it appears in the Greek translation of Numbers 33:55 and describes what the Canaanites are to the Jews: thorns in your sides.. It'll be exponential. And the other interesting thing is that what the Gnostics did, by reading their ideas into Jesus, is also what the Orthodox Christians did, by putting words in Jesus' lips that supported their ideas of heaven and hell. Perhaps he figured his readers knew. The others come from followers writing in his name, who often used material from his surviving letters and who may have had access to letters written by Paul that no longer survive. But I personally think, probably, this life is all there is. Resurrection. And secondly, every one of them has been incontrovertibly wrong (laughter). I mean, when you die, you stop breathing. You simply - it is going to be a disaster for some way - somewhere, on some level, for the economy, but it'll be a worse disaster if we are out in public because we could be spreading the virus. Encyclopaedia Britannica's editors oversee subject areas in which they have extensive knowledge, whether from years of experience gained by working on that content or via study for an advanced degree. The Lords Supper Is a Multiethnic Love Feast, Nondenominational Churches Are Growing and Multiplying in DC. They developed the idea, then, that the soul lived forever with God when it's rewarded. The . Nor were they compiling the historical facts we find in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John. Peter healed a lame man (Acts 3:18) and raised a woman from the dead (Acts 9:3642), Philip exorcised demons to heal people (Acts 8:58), and the apostles performed many signs and wonders (Acts 5:12). GROSS: I'm wondering what you think about when you think about how the number of people who are contracting COVID 19 and how the number of people who are dying keeps growing as we get closer to Passover and Easter, which are very holy times in Judaism and Christianity. EHRMAN: Well, yeah. Roberta Shorrock directs the show. Copyright 2020 NPR. EHRMAN: Just to go out in my yard. You mean I've got to live in this thing forever? And Samuel comes up and is really upset that she's called him up from the grave, and he gets upset with Saul for doing this, and he predicts that Saul is going to die the next day in battle, which he does. Some scholars today suggest Pauls thorn was his audience, the troublesome Corinthian church itself. Yet apologists like Gary Habermas, I argue, are just as anti-supernaturalist when it comes to miraculous claims outside of the beginnings of Christianity, such as those involving later Catholic saints or miracles from non-Christian religious traditions. There is significant evidence that the Romans did not typically remove victims from crosses after death. We must live this way because we have received the one Spirit, from the one God and Father of us . We absolutely may do it to ourselves this time, but it won't be a prediction - a fulfillment of predictions of a prophecy; it'll be because of human stupidity and refusal to act in the face of crisis. Note, however, that there is no confirmation of the three days or the scriptural prophecy. And so that's the alternative. Whatever his reasons, Pauls persecutions probably involved traveling from synagogue to synagogue and urging the punishment of Jews who accepted Jesus as the messiah. I don't take that literally anymore because I don't believe there is. Eventually, he left the faith altogether. 15:38). It comes - Gnosticism, in some ways, comes out of Greek thinking. In response to Strobel, I would say that if he had asked scholars teaching at public universities, private colleges and universities (many of which have a religious affiliation) or denominational seminaries, he would get a much different verdict on the historicity of the resurrection. No one knows how Paul would have resolved them or even if they crossed his mind. And that's exactly what I think. 2 Now I, Paul, say to you that if you receive circumcision, Christ will be of no advantage to you. In the late 50s Paul returned to Jerusalem with the money he had raised and a few of his Gentile converts. And so people often point to that as an instance that's - well, so people are alive after they're dead. I'm going to be tortured for 30 trillion years for those 30 years? So how does the Book of Revelation contribute to the vision of hell? The Letter of Paul to the Ephesians, the Letter of Paul to the Colossians, the Second Letter of Paul to the Thessalonians, both Letters of Paul to Timothy, the Letter of Paul to Titus, and the Letter to the Hebrews are of uncertain authorship. And we all just hope that it doesn't lead to even further disaster. Subscribe to CT And so all of the imagery of death and destruction and disease and war in the Book of Revelation is used to show what terrible measures God has to take in order to destroy the forces of evil that are completely - have completely infiltrated the human world, before he brings in a new world. We have, you know, plastics in the ocean, ice caps that are melting. Whatever the thorn was, it humbled him persistently. I was terrified of going to hell. Our view is that we - you've got two things going on in the human parts. And everybody thinks this is as bad as it can be. Paul wanted Jews who believed in Jesus to keep the Torah and remain faithful to their traditions. He was a descendant of David, he was betrayed, he defined a bread and wine ritual for his followers, and the Jews killed him. St. Paul the Apostle, original name Saul of Tarsus, (born 4 bce?, Tarsus in Cilicia [now in Turkey]died c. 6264 ce, Rome [Italy]), one of the leaders of the first generation of Christians, often considered to be the most important person after Jesus in the history of Christianity. For example, 1 Tim. His books such as "Misquoting Jesus" and "How Jesus Became God" challenge a lot of beliefs and common wisdom.