Christianity reached the non-Jewish world through the person
of Paul. Paul traveled the length and breadth of the Mediterranean, teaching
the gentile world about Jesus. Paul founded many churches throughout the
Roman Empire. The churches which Paul established were predominantly
gentile. The Christian scriptures end their narrative at this
point. They leave the reader at the historical point where there
are two churches; the Jewish church of James, and the gentile church
of Paul.
History tells us that the Jewish church of James did not survive as a separate entity. By the time Christianity became the established religion of the Roman Empire, there were almost no Jewish Christians left. The few Jewish Christians which still existed, were persecuted as heretics by the gentile church. All of Christianity as it exists today, was transmitted through the body of the gentile church. The books of Christian scripture were products of the gentile church. They may have included in these books, material which came from the Jewish Christians. But the gentile church was the editor of this material. It was the gentile church who determined the contents of the Christian scriptures, and who transmitted these texts to the future generations.
In order to be convinced that the gentile church is truly transmitting the original message of Jesus, one must determine that Paul’s teachings conformed with the teachings of Jesus. The gentile church only learned of Jesus through the teachings of Paul. If Paul’s teachings were not synonymous with the teachings of Jesus, then the gentile church does not possess the original message of Jesus.
To
determine Paul’s connection to Jesus, we will turn to the books of
Christian scripture. It is clear that the editors of these books were
strongly motivated to present Paul as one who is faithfully transmitting
the original message of Jesus. Yet even these biased writers, were not
able to do so.
The Christian scriptures describe the basis of Paul’s mission in the following manner. Paul never saw Jesus in real life. Neither did Paul learn of Jesus’s teachings through the disciples of Jesus. Paul emphatically states (in the 1st and 2nd chapters of Galatians) that no living person was involved in transmitting Jesus’s message to him. Paul only learned of the teachings of Jesus through a series of visions. In these visions, Jesus appeared to him and imparted his teachings. Paul’s entire message was the product of these visions.
The only way we can verify the truth of Paul’s claim, is by determining the reaction of Jesus’s disciples to Paul’s message. These men who lived with Jesus and heard him teach, could compare the teachings that they heard, to the prophecy of Paul. How did the Jewish following of James react to Paul’s claim to prophecy?
Paul
makes the claim (Galatians 2:9) that the leaders of the Jerusalem Church
acknowledged the fact that he was appointed (by the dead Jesus) as a
messenger to the gentiles. But Paul was lying. James and the Jerusalem
Church never acknowledged the validity of Paul’s visions. It is the
Christian scriptures themselves who contradict Paul’s claim.
The 15th chapter of the book of Acts, describes how the leadership of the Jerusalem Church disregarded Paul’s claim to prophecy. Paul had come to Jerusalem. He had been preaching to the gentiles that they are not required to practice the law of Moses. Some members of the Jerusalem Church disagreed with Paul. They felt that in order for a gentile to join their following, he should be required to observe the law of Moses. This question was brought before the leadership of the Jerusalem Church. The elders of the church discussed the question, and James handed down his decision. His judgment was that the gentiles were not obligated to observe the entirety of the law of Moses as a prerequisite to joining the Christian community. But he stipulated that the gentiles were obligated to observe certain dietary laws, and to avoid immorality.
If Paul was telling us the truth when he claimed that the leadership of the Jerusalem Church acknowledged him as a true prophet, then this story makes no sense. Here we have Paul, who was personally appointed by the dead Jesus as his emissary to the gentile world. Whatever Paul taught was personally revealed to him in these prophetic visions. One of the central teachings of Paul was that the gentile world is not bound by the law of Moses. Yet when the leaders of the Jerusalem Church are in doubt as to what Jesus would have said concerning the gentiles, they discuss the question, and look to James for guidance. If there was any truth to Paul’s claim, that these leaders acknowledged the truth of his prophecy, then they should have simply asked him “what did Jesus tell you?” The fact that they considered the question, and the method that they used to resolve the question, clearly tells us that these men did not believe that Jesus had ever spoken to Paul. The author of the book of Acts, his bias notwithstanding, could not hide this simple fact.
The difference between the gentile church founded by Paul, and the Jerusalem Church founded by Jesus, was not limited to the question of the authenticity of Paul’s prophecy. These two institutions espoused two totally different philosophies. The central teaching of Pauline Christianity is, that faith in the redeeming sacrifice of Jesus, is the only valid method through which atonement for sin can be achieved. The entire philosophy of Paul, revolves around this one teaching.
Evangelical
Christianity is founded upon this basic teaching of Paul. If you were to
ask an Evangelical Christian to sum up his belief system in one sentence,
he would respond with this point. That faith in Jesus is the only
redemption from sin. In fact the entire concept of the messiah-ship of
Jesus is basically limited to this one point. Jesus is the messiah of
Evangelical Christians, only because they believe that his death
provided atonement for sin.
But the
Jerusalem Church which was established by Jesus, and which was guided by
his disciples, did not believe in this teaching of Paul. They did not
believe that faith in Jesus could effectively atone for their sins. This
is demonstrated by the testimony of the Christian scriptures. The 21st
chapter in the book of Acts reports that the normal activities of the
members of the Jerusalem Church included the offering of animals
for the explicit purpose of the expiation of sin. The book of
Acts describes how four members of the Jerusalem Church had taken a
Nazirite vow. This means that they had voluntarily brought themselves into
a situation where they would be required (by the law of Moses) to bring an
animal as a sin offering. It is clear that these people saw in the
temple offerings a valid method for the expiation of sin. If
they believed as Paul did, that Jesus died for their sins once and
for all, then there would be no point in bringing a sin offering in the
temple. The fact that the Jerusalem Church still participated in the
temple offerings after Jesus had died, tells us that they did not see in
Jesus’s death an all atoning sacrifice. These people were not Evangelical
Christians.
The Christian scripture provides both the theological and the historical justification to the accusation that Christianity has failed in the transmission of its own message. The Christian scriptures tell us that the disciples of Jesus never believed the fundamental teaching of Evangelical Christianity.
These people who lived with Jesus and heard him preach did not believe, that with the death of Jesus, the world is redeemed of its sins. The Christian scriptures also tell us, at which historical point the break in the transmission occurred. These books tell us that Paul, the father of modern Christianity, had no connection to Jesus. Christianity is an edifice erected upon the testimony of one man. All of Christianity stands upon Paul’s word that Jesus appeared to him. The only people that were qualified to verify Paul’s claim, contradicted him to his face. This emerges from the pages of the very books which Christianity regards as true witnesses to its claims.
By Yisroel C.
Blumenthal
Did The Original Followers of Jesus Vanish Just As Rabb Gamliel Predicted
The Eastern Orthodox Church venerates Gamaliel as a saint, and he is commemorated on August 2
Gamaliel
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