The Truth Exposed
by rick2889
The Gospel Story
A Reconstruction Based on the Manuscript Evidence
The Author’s Forward
This story has taken me thirty years of research and the guidance of one unseen person often referred to as Holy Spirit, to uncover. It is the authentic story behind the Palestinian and Mediterranean Jesus movements and the advent of Christianity in the ancient world. This account of what happened in the first century is reconstructed from the manuscript evidence of the New Testament and certain other related documents. You will find the story contradicts much of what you have been traditionally told about Jesus. Nevertheless, the strength and cohesiveness of the narrative will witness to its own truth. It is likely that there is a good deal of supporting evidence that remains in held in secret, as well as, evidence not yet discovered. For the sake of the movement of the narrative, I have chosen not to give too much explanation regarding the supportive material. I trust that when I have ventured into the realm of explanation worth the momentary divergence from the narrative flow. Notes and definitions will appear at the end of the narrative. I am convinced beyond reasonable doubt that the narrative itself is reliable and quite close to the actual events in history. This account represents the significant developments relative to John the Baptist and the Apostle Paul and their individual roles in the history of Christianity. It is long past time to revisit person of Jesus in light of the events of history. As you read, many questions will occur to you - keep reading. Some of those questions will be answered as the narrative unfolds. Once you have read the complete story check the notes at the end. In addition, I will be happy to address personally any questions that remain. You probably won’t find many questions that I have not already dealt with over the course of my research. The answers are there for the diligent student to uncover. As the research behind this story has been my life long project, it will always be a work in progress. I anticipate many additions as I compile information, go through my notes, and seek the direction of the Holy Spirit. I believe it is without significant error as regards the narrative content. This being the case, I do not anticipate any changes to the present text in that regard. For several years now I have observed that additional evidence almost always corroborates my earlier findings indicating that the basic observations are sound and will be continually strengthened as time goes on. I look forward to the nay-sayers taking up the challenge debunking the information I have accumulated with great joy. Difficult questions will only move the research forward.
Grace and Peace
An Untimely Birth
The story begins with a young Jewish girl born and raised somewhere near the city of Jerusalem. A beautiful child, Mary was developing into a lovely young woman. Young men in the vicinity were beginning to take notice. Mary, however, was Jewish and her mate had already been chosen for her. His name was Joseph of Arimathea, an honorable man with a promising position among the esteemed men of Jerusalem and destined to be a member of the Sanhedrin. Joseph was pleased with the beauty of his promised bride and looked forward to the day she would come of age.
As often happens in the course of human events, things changed. A young Roman soldier called Pantera had taken interest in Mary and began to try to woo her. More practiced in the art of love, the young soldier soon won the naïve girl over. The relationship resulted in an unplanned pregnancy . Joseph was too busy with important matters to notice that Mary was spending a lot of time away from her home and Mary herself had not been completely honest with her parents concerning her whereabouts, as one might expect. After a couple of months Mary’s mother and father recognized signs of their daughter’s condition and forced her to explain the circumstances. Mary confessed her relationship to Pantera and the truth was revealed. To his honor, the young soldier admitted his indiscretion but made it clear that marriage was not in his plans. The parents were devastated on two counts: First the thought that Mary would conceive a child by a Roman was heartrending. Secondly, how were they going to break this news to Joseph, the groom to be, and how would he respond? Joseph could insist that Mary be punished for her indiscretion, even stoned. He was an influential man in the city and twenty years older than Mary. Her Parents decided they would plead with him to spare her the indignation.
When Joseph was told of Mary’s situation he responded in admirable fashion; as a Jewish gentlemen. Not wishing to make an example of Mary he was minded to send her away privately. Joseph had relatives in the province of Cilicia in the city of Tarsus and would send Mary there to have her baby, out of the reach of probing eyes and hateful attitudes. The child would be reared according to Jewish tradition, and when the time came it would be educated in the finest school at Jerusalem, Joseph would see to it. Pantera’s only contribution to the child’s future was to inadvertently bequeath to the child Roman citizenship, a prize that would one day save the child’s life.
Journey from Shame
The trip to Tarsus was long and arduous. Overland it took many months to complete and Mary’s baby was born during the long hard journey probably in dire circumstances, as is suggested by the Gospel of Luke; perhaps it was in a stable under the stars. The baby was a boy child with bright blue eyes like his father and the sweetest smile that only an infant can possess. Mary named him Saul, desiring to see him grow up strong and tall like his father. When the traveling party finally arrived in Tarsus, Joseph’s family made arrangements for living quarters and sent a letter back to Jerusalem appraising Joseph of the trip and birth of the baby boy named Saul. The child destined to be the right hand of God, grew up in a Jewish household where he spoke Aramaic like his mother and learned the Hebrew Scriptures. Joseph’s family were well to do and they would see that Mary was taken care of and that the boy would have all the advantages of growing up in the busy seaport of a Roman province. All of the shame he would have faced growing up in Jerusalem was far from him here in Tarsus. He was just another Hebrew boy adjusting to life in a flourishing Roman province, a trade rout between Asia Minor and Syria. Meanwhile Mary’s espoused husband would see to it that he had the opportunity to be educated by in the best Jewish school available in Jerusalem. Because travel between Tarsus and Jerusalem was overland, communication between Joseph and the family would not be difficult. Travelers were going back and forth on a regular basis and almost anyone would take along a letter for a coin or two.
Growing Up in Tarsus
Now Tarsus was the most significant city in Cilicia with a population exceeding half a million people. The common language on the street was Greek. Not the Greek of the Classics but Koine Greek of the sort we find in the New Testament today. A bright child wanting very much to be part of it all, Saul soon managed to master the slang form of Greek from his friends and neighbors. Mary nurtured the boy toward a strong sense of heritage among the people of God. On his twelfth birthday it was planned that Saul would travel to Jerusalem for his Bar Mitzvah with his mother, and meet the man who was benefactor to him and his mother in their far away home. Joseph wished to have the boy educated under Rabbi Simon ben Gamelial, the finest teacher of the day. It was as though Joseph felt some responsibility for the child and perhaps a little guilt for Mary’s ordeal in traveling to Tarsus. Saul shown well at his Bar Mitzvah and people took note that the boy was advanced beyond his years. Still some whispered tales circulated among the family and neighbors of Joseph’s kindness to the undeserving half-breed child and his unfaithful mother.
Saul never quite measured up to his namesake in stature; at age fourteen he had reached his full height at five feet six inches. Children imitating their parents, love to make word plays and as his companions grew tall around him, the boy was dubbed Paul in place of Saul which in the Roman tongue means “Little.” Saul was a Roman citizen and as such, given free education in the schools of the province where he learned both Latin and Greek as second languages. The provinces were keen on education and on exposing the young to a cosmopolitan, multi cultural way of life. The Romans emulated the Greeks in their love for Philosophy and Art.
Greek Theater and Culture
The young Saul must have become captivated with Homer’s Odyssey which was his textbook for reading and writing in Greek. Later writings indicate he was also familiar with Socrates, Plato and Aeschylus. He saw parallels in the ancient Greek rule of hospitality and his own Jewish traditions and imagined Athena as the Holy Spirit of the Old Testament. But more than anything else Saul loved the Greek Theater. The theater was to a child of the first century, like the invention of television today to the our children. In Cilicia he would have had opportunity to see the Odyssey but apart from that, the play that moved him most was “Prometheus Bound.” Hidden allusions to both of these works appear in latter productions connected to Saul and his disciples. A God who sacrificed everything for the sake of human beings, now that was a story to end all stories! Prometheus, an immortal, gave up his freedom to save human beings. According to the story, The wisest of the Gods brought fire and medicine to human beings preventing Zeus from destroying them. Such a hero was indeed the hero of all heroes. And his final end was to be crucified on a rock stretched out and fastened so that he could not move for all eternity by Zeus (his supposed end). Prometheus Bound and the Odyssey would one day influence Saul’s faith and his understanding of current events in the history of his own Jewish people. In everyday conversation Saul preferred the Koine Greek, which was the language of the streets where he played.
Saul was artistic at an early age and his love for the theater soon provided him with an occupation. His strong powers of observation served him well. He was fascinated with the stage props and scenery paintings and soon developed the skill needed to work on them. He would often hang around and talk to the artists who built and painted the scenery bringing those beautiful images to life. These folks were called “Skene” after the area of the theater on which they worked . When Greek plays first began between 600 and 500 B C, the skene was a tent that housed the actors and props. As Greek theater progressed so did the skene which became a more permanent structure that was modified each time a different play was performed. The skene provided a basic structure for the sake of creating buildings and scenery. The dressing rooms for the actors were behind the façade of the skene. Saul’s artistic skills won him early apprenticeship and the chance to develop a skilled trade to support himself. As his talent grew his opportunity to travel increased and that innate love of adventure was wonderfully fed by the opportunities that presented themselves to him. Saul would become a world traveler. Every major city around the Mediterranean sea had a theater for the Greek plays, and there were two major festivals every year which provided opportunities for the playwrights to compete and for the people called skene to work.
The shape of the Greek theater reminds us of the heal portion of a sandal which is highly symbolic in Egyptian, Hebrew and Greek culture. The Parados was made up of two ramps on either side of the theater that led down into the Orchestra. This is also the term applied to the song the chorus would sing as they entered the Orchestra by way of these ramps. The skene provided the basic structure upon which the buildings and scenery of the plays would be built. There was a device on wheels called a tableau, that would provide a kind of ancient billboard for any written text that might be needed in the performance. In addition, there was a crane like device used to simulate flying. This device was often used to simulate the decent of a God into the action to save the protagonist. The use of this machine is anticipated in the Gospel of Mark when bystanders at the crucifixion say: 35 And some of them that stood by, when they heard it, said, Behold, he calleth Elijah36 And one ran, and filling a sponge full of vinegar, put it on a reed, and gave him to drink, saying, Let be; let us see whether Elijah cometh to take him down.
the mechanê the tableau or eccyclema
The Palestinian Jesus Movement
Although he certainly loved theater, Saul never forgot duty to the God he served and when his Jewish education was completed and he had graduated at the top of his class. His fervor for his faith burned in him from the beginning. He had become a Pharisee the son of a Pharisee (Joseph of Arimathea) where faith was concerned. His quest for God was a glowing ember in his heart. In his early twenties he was granted a permanent post serving the Sanhedrin of Jerusalem. His benefactor, watched with joy as Saul advanced among his peers.
It was during his service to the Sanhedrin that an heretical movement began in and around Jerusalem calling itself “The Way.” The people of The Way were followers of a desert preacher that New Testament documents call John. John the Baptizer or Banus as he was known to the historian Flavius Josephus. John was the son of a priest. according to the Gospel of Luke his father had been assassinated in the Jerusalem Temple by Roman sympathizers.
This priest, referred to as John’s father in the Gospel of Luke, Zachariah by name, was an old school Pharisee. As temple politics became more and more corrupt, Zachariah sent his son into the desert to study Torah with the Dead Sea community of Essenes in hopes that he might serve God in a special way. After completing a course of study called, “Preparing the Way,” John the Baptist began to proclaim a revolutionary message at the Jordan River. John’s studies had given him a different understanding of the Kingdom of God; one that demanded he love his enemies. John’s preaching included a reinterpretation of the Law of Moses that has come down to us in two of the Gospels, Matthew and Luke. Scholars call it the Q Material and it includes most notably the sections called the “”the Sermon on the Mount” (Luke locates this event on the plane) with the “Beatitudes” and the “Lord’s Prayer.” This material was passed on by oral tradition until after the destruction of Jerusalem in 70 AD. The Didache also called the Teaching of the Twelve, is a document from forged from the period just after the death of the Baptist. It reflects the concept of a New Israel started by Twelve; recording some of the early doctrine of the Essenes and of the Way.
Preparing the Way
The charismatic preaching of John won thousands of followers, ushering in what came to be a Palestinian Jesus movement named after John’s main message, “Prepare The Way.” People who heard John were so moved by what he said that they began to believe he was the anointed one who would lead them in a successful revolt against the Romans. John’s message differed from that of the his Essene teachers, a fact which probably cost him their support. He taught his followers to love their enemies and “do good to those who persecuted them.” The Dead Sea community said that one should hate his enemies and classified everyone in terms of two groups: the sons of Darkness and the sons of Light. Word spread that John was preaching revolution and it reached the ears of Herod the Tetrarch who was the Roman appointed ruler of the district in which John was preaching. The actual message John was preaching was not about revolt so much as it was the about the coming Kingdom of God and the end of Roman oppression by divine intervention. Herod was clever and there are indications in the Gospel of Mark that he had infiltrated the followers of John with spies as had the more traditional Pharisees. At the height of his popularity John was arrested by the authorities and executed for sedition by Roman crucifixion. In the Gospel of Mark the manner of John’s death has been exchanged with that of Jesus’ death. Matthew and Luke follow Mark on this point. The transferal of the mode of death is tied to Herod’s recognition of John’s spirit at work in Jesus and is a literary device borrowed from the Odyssey. After John’s death a few of his disciples stole his body and claimed that God had miraculously raised John from the dead in an attempt to fuel the fires of revolution against Rome. There is an allusion to this deception in the Gospel of Mark. Matthew tells us plainly that the rumor about the stolen body had continued to the time he was writing. Paul refutes the resuscitated corpse teaching in his first letter to the Corinthians.
The People of the Way
The claim of resurrection and the testimony of followers that a risen John had actually appeared to some of them, succeeded in advancing the movement and The Way continued to gain momentum. The group was named after John’s preaching and the understanding he acquired while a student at Qumran. John’s views were compromised by the movements leaders after his death in favor of a more traditional Essene doctrine and a more imminent change of power. John’s brother James the Just, convinced the people of the Way to follow the Qumran community rule that sought to establish a New Israel based on twelve chosen men three of whom would be priests. This community rule included a common wealth held by one of the members of the twelve, a sacred memorial meal commemorating the death (sacrifice) of the Baptist. This meal is remembered as the “Lords Supper” but it was celebrated long before the supper we read about in the Gospels. Four of John’s disciples continued under the new Essene order: Simon, Andrew, James, and Levi a former tax collector. The Baptist was perhaps the first to try to lead a non-violent protest against his oppressors. It was John’s love of neighbor and enemy that set him apart from others who believed in the coming reign of God on earth. John had set a new goal contrary to his training; a goal of preparing the way for God’s messianic deliverer while loving the enemy, but his immediate successors abandoned that goal. John’s successors wanted to see a repeat of the Maccabean revolt throwing off the oppressive Romans as the Maccabees had thrown off the Greeks. The movement caught on fast with temple dissidents and other Essene communities that had withdrawn from temple worship. The high priest was being appointed by the pagan Roman procurator. A unifying belief of the people of The Way was that upon his death, John had become a resurrected “Jesus” a kind of spiritual incarnation of Joshua of the Old Testament, by calling the resurrected John, Jesus, the Greek for of Joshua, they were implying a warrior leader of the revolution. This belief provided momentum for the Palestinian Jesus movement in its early stages. The movement interpreted the crucifixion of John as an atoning sacrifice. His subsequent resurrection brought about the advent of a form of worship that went well with the Essene teaching and practices which included the ritual of daily sacrifice and the sacred meal outside and apart from the Jerusalem Temple. The Qumran community and the Way, regarded their form of worship as a return to the early days of wandering in the wilderness. The New Testament speech of Stephen recorded in Acts, reflects some of the Essene teaching on the subject of the former and improper role of the Temple in worship for the people of God. Notice that in Stephen’s speech there is no mention of a corporal resurrection only the death of Jesus and his heavenly position at the right hand of the father.
Aware of its revolutionary flavor, affluent Jewish leaders became increasingly alarmed at the astonishing growth of the Way and sought to stamp out what they considered a dangerous heresy. It was at the height of this messianic movement that Saul of Tarsus comes into our story again.
Breathing Threats: The Conversion of Paul
Returning to our narrative, Saul was an avid proponent of traditional Judaism and understood The Way as heresy of the most dangerous kind. The People of the Way were outside the tradition of temple worship and touting a resurrected heretic as the messiah. The young Pharisee received official papers from the Jerusalem authorities to arrest and bring the people of the Way to the Sanhedrin to stand trial for their heresy. Saul’s campaign against The Way was very successful and immediately struck fear into the hearts of members of this new Jewish sect. Acts records that Paul was a participant in the death of the movement’s second martyr. Stephen, a Greek who was prolific in spreading the beliefs of the movement. While Saul was about the business of stamping out the heresy, Stephen was caught and stoned to death. In the Acts account there is the implication that Stephen’s death weighed heavily on the heart of Saul and played a role in his conversion to the movement. It is most interesting that the expression kicking against the goads is drawn from Classical Greek literature. The people of the Way believed John to be the Jesus, – a risen messiah- and actual Spiritual presence among them. They were terrified of Saul the persecutor, terrified that is until they discovered that their greatest adversary had himself miraculously been won over to the movement.
During the execution of Saul’s commission to arrest the heretics, he experienced a divine encounter that changed his life forever. The Theophony on the road to Damascus left him forever convinced that the spirit of John had indeed been brought back from the dead and was present among the people of the Way. He actually believed that Holy Spirit had come into him. Saul’s encounter with the risen Spirit of “the Jesus” on the road convinced him beyond doubt that the hero of the Way was indeed a risen Spirit sent from God. This belief coupled with the way in which Saul who changed his name to Paul lived out the rest of his life, lend credence to his teaching and make this event unique in the annuls of History. Paul’s self understanding has many similarities to the God-Man philosophy in the Eastern hemisphere. Much of Paul’s thought has been preserved for 2000 years in the artifacts that are available for study. It is impossible to deny the reality of his revelation. For him it was genuine, he had tapped the creative source of the universe in a uniquely mysterious and wonderful way. The effect of his revelation was the creation of a movement that would last until this very hour, though highly modified by disparaging interests.
Saul of Tarsus Becomes Paul the Apostle
Saul’s understanding of this Spirit was not quite the same as the people of the Way. His honesty reveals that he did not encounter the risen Jesus in a physical body, but as a light and a voice from heaven. His writings indicate that he did not believe that the fleshly body of the messiah had been raised, but rather his Spirit had risen after his death. For Paul, John had become a son of God by adoption of some sort, a kind of spiritual re-birth that had allowed the Baptist to transcend the grave. Paul believed this re-birth to be a watershed event of divine origin which constituted a new covenant with the people of God.
The Apostle’s divine encounter was a new birth where he became the host for the spirit of “The Jesus,” or in Greek terms the spirit of “The Christ.” Paul did not understand himself to be a follower of the Way so much as an Apostle of the one called the Christ, sent to proclaim a new covenant superseding the law of Moses and inclusively available to all people. The new covenant was for both Jew and Gentile. Paul was now preaching with power and conviction the faith he once regarded as heresy. But his teaching was not quite the same. He believed that the Baptist had been raised and was now moving among the people of the Way as a Spirit being calling people into faith that would make them a new creation in Christ. Paul never mentions John by name because Christ superseded all other considerations, he said it this way:
“From this time forward we have knowledge of no man after the flesh: even if we have had knowledge of Christ after the flesh, we have no longer any such knowledge.”
Talking about John while he was in the flesh was no longer appropriate; upon his death by crucifixion he ceased to be John forever and was from that point on known only as the Jesus and the Christ. For this reason there is no mention of John the Baptist in any New Testament text outside the Gospels and Acts. It was held to be inappropriate to speak of his earthly life. The Jesus of the New Testament apart from the Gospels was in fact a resurrected spirit of John the Baptist. The same principal is applied to Paul in the Gospels, his deeds are recorded as the Jesus and the Christ. In all of Paul’s writing, John is referred to as the crucified savior, Jesus the Christ. After the destruction of Jerusalem and its Temple, there was a shift in the movement away from the belief that John was the messiah. The shift is presented in the Gospels in the form of a reassignment of the role of John to that of a kind of forunner to the messiah. This was due primarily to the failure of the revolt. John has indicated the end of Roman occupation was imminent yet it did not happen that way. The Way identified the Christ with the greater one who had come after the Baptist. One whose work dwarfed that of John in scope and historical impact. Many considered this human successor to have been John raised from the dead.
So dynamic was the teaching and preaching of Paul, that he quickly won over many times more followers than his predecessor John the Baptist. After the fall of Jerusalem Paul’s illegitimate birth was later turned into a virgin birth by the Jewish factions of the movement that were then based in Rome. The practice of turning infidelity into miraculous births had been common in Jewish mythology for centuries. The practice was first applied in the New Testament to John the Baptist who was born after the fashion of the first Hebrew prophet, Samuel. The tradition behind the Gospel of Luke originally held that John was the messiah and the Magnificat was not spoken by Mary but by Elizabeth, John’s mother. Very Old Latin manuscripts still have it that way.
Like Isaiah of old, Paul had found himself to be a man of unclean lips among a people of unclean lips, his Jewish brethren, but the risen Christ would cleanse him and send him forth as the Spirit had sent Isaiah forth. And after he had run his course like Isaiah, Paul would die, hewn in two by a Roman executioner. The temple of his body would become a curtain divided; the top from the bottom. The Gospel of those who followed Paul would begin by saying that it was the same good news found in Isaiah and the Tableau on the Greek stage would bear the text of the words of Isaiah:
Isaiah 40:9 O thou that tellest good tidings to Zion, get thee up on a high mountain; O thou that tellest good tidings to Jerusalem, lift up thy voice with strength; lift it up, be not afraid; say unto the cities of Judah, Behold, your God!
The Jesus of Paul
The Jesus that Paul had encountered on the Damascus road never left him. It had come to take up residence within his breast and he understood it as the indwelling presence of the Holy Spirit, messenger of Almighty God. It was his inspiration, his muse, his divine teacher and his comforter. He believed that the same spirit had abided in John the Baptist and that John’s death had provided the germinating seed of sonship. Like a fertile seed the Holy Spirit was now baptizing people into the family of God. John was the firstborn and Stephen and Saul followed soon after. They had been born of the spirit; new creature in Christ Jesus. Their body was the very temple in which God by his Holy Spirit had taken up residence. The Word had tabernacled in humans. While it was a new birth, at the same time it was they way God had always intended his creation to be. John was merely the firstborn of many brethren. The message that Paul felt compelled to preach was “Christ in You the Hope of Glory.” By telling the story of the crucifixion of John and witnessing to the resurrection of the quickening spirit that could come to dwell in humans, Paul changed the Mediterranean world. The Baptist had brought the knowledge of God’s unconditional love to the human heart and his death had provided the means for that indwelling spirit of love to spread. Paul was witness to the indwelling Holy Spirit. The Jesus he spoke of was the one inside him teaching him and directing his mission. He had very little interest in John’s human life. For Paul John was Prometheus bring fire to the human race in the form of the Holy Spirit. He had not known him while alive, but he knew the Spirit inside him and like Odysseus he was under the control and guidance of his Athena like Goddess. He was communicating with the creator spirit and reveling in his revelation. He could not get enough of the knowledge of God that was growing inside of him.
The Jewish factions had neither the conviction or the energy that such a divine experience brings; they could only watch and marvel. They had tried to sell the resurrection under false pretences and now one had encountered the risen Christ and was proclaiming that encounter with power and conviction because for him it was true. Not only was Paul witness to the power of the resurrection but he was teaching and writing these marvelous and timeless truths as. From where did this teaching with authority come. He offered sound reasoning for abandoning the traditions of Judaism where they fell short of love. When rules came in contact with genuine love the rules had to be abandoned in favor of the overriding goodness of unconditional love. “All the law is fulfilled in one word, Love your neighbor as yourself,” he said.
References to Jesus being John raised from the dead represent the belief that the same spirit that came from the Elijah figure, who was John, was active again in an Elisha heir in a double portion, that heir being Paul. The Greater than John having come after him had arrived in Paul. Some people thought that Jesus/Paul was John raised from the dead the statement is repeated twice in Mark. There is even a hint in Mark and in Galatians that Paul may have had the stigmata phenomenon and unintentionally convinced Agrippa II that he was the Baptist raised from the dead. The flashback story in Mark alludes to the scene in the Odyssey where Odysseus real identity is recognized by a scar. In Mark the King recognizes that the Jesus is John resurrected, apparently by his activities. The sending out of the disciples and their subsequent return brackets the story of John’s death. The twelve are intended to be seen as apostles of John the Baptist sent out when he was in spirit form among the people of the Way. According to the narrative the statement concerning Jesus and John is reliable. In Mark the King is a reliable witness who tells the truth. Like the king in the story of Esther, Herod is a man of his word. Mark establishes that by repeating the promise of King Ahasuerus from the book of Esther in the mouth of King Agrippa.
The Reputed Pillars
The traditional Jewish adherents to the Way continued to proclaim that John’s dead Body had been miraculously resuscitated. Simon Peter and James the Brother of John were leaders in the movement before Saul’s conversion. Saul/Paul, on the other hand, had experienced the risen messiah differently. In keeping with his vision, he believed that the Jesus had been raised as a “life giving Spirit” not a resuscitated corpse. Doubtless he would have been aware of the rumor that the disciples had stolen the body of their leader and were lying about it. Conveniently the resuscitated corpse of John only appeared to his staunchest followers. The early records indicate that the resurrected Jesus was not recognizable as the same person, evidence that it was not the same body, a resuscitated corpse. It was not long before the spirit and bodily appearances were mingled together in the legends that evolved. It was in the teaching of the word or as it is called symbolically “the breaking of the bread” that the risen Christ was manifested to his followers.
There can be no doubt that Paul had been indelibly marked by his encounter with the risen Christ. His letters indicate a kind of possession by that spirit. The persistent rumor that John’s body had been stolen coupled with his divine encounter helped to form Paul’s understanding and would later bring him into conflict with those who were apostles before him. He would be forced to defend his very calling as an apostle, and his right to share the material substance of those to whom he preached. His relationship with the Apostles at Jerusalem would be strained at first and later irreconcilably destroyed. He was constantly challenged by the Jewish factions and their leaders of reputation, but his unshakeable trust in the reality of his divine encounter and his cosmopolitan upbringing would take him in a different direction from the church in Jerusalem.
Obeying the Commission
As a skene Paul could travel, and his preaching prowess led to the planting of many churches among the Jewish Diaspora that inhabited the cities around the eastern half of the Mediterranean. The Apostle to the Gentiles always began his teaching in the local Jewish synagogues and branched out from there. The traditionalists of the Way considered his work the sowing of tares on top of God’s Diaspora wheat. But to Paul it only made sense; the people most apt to hear what he had to say would be those who worshiped the one true God. His arguments supporting a new form of Judaism were powerful and liberating to those who took him seriously, and many did. He “planted” churches in several cities that had huge Greek theaters: Corinth, Ephesus, Philippi, his homeland of Galatia, and he established his home base in Syrian Antioch where there was a 15000 seat Greek theater. He visited Macedonia Thessalonica and Athens, the seat of Greek Philosophy. Paul’s contact with the mother church at Jerusalem was sparse at best as his teaching differed dramatically from the Jewish version of the Way. He held a certain disdain for the disciples that had come before him most likely because of the reluctance to depart from the old ways of circumcision and adherence to the Law of Moses. There was also the issue of the empty tomb and how it had become empty. The Jewish factions of the Way soon became envious of Paul’s success and sought to turn his followers back toward the more traditional Essene form of worship, itself a new form of messianic Judaism. They did not overlook the fact that most of Paul’s followers were from a much more affluent culture and possessed of many worldly riches. Greed and the desire to control the movement led the Jewish leaders of the Way to visit the churches started by Paul. They sought to turn his work to their advantage. The letter to the Galatians is a primary example of this problem and records Paul’s attempt to counter this subversive activity. Jewish factions had come behind him to persuade the new believers to adhere to more traditional Jewish practices. The interlopers are not named but Paul’s response, but the letter makes it clear that he thinks they were connected to Peter, James and the circumcision party from which he had made a permanent split while Peter/Cephas was in Antioch.
The Confrontation in Antioch
The Major schism between Paul and the Jewish factions came in Antioch. For a time Cephas also called Simon Peter was visiting Paul and his companions. The Gospel of John tells us that Jesus called Peter Cephas, yet subsequent use of that name is found only in the writings of Paul. During the time he was there, Peter celebrated the customary daily agape meal of the Way without the temple rituals maintained by the Essenes and the Jewish church in Jerusalem. The rituals included dividing the service into two parts. The first part included those who were in training but had not yet been baptized. The second part of the service the mass of the faithful, included the sacred meal, the sacred bread and wine would be only for those who had been baptized into the community. This separation is evident in the Catholic mass liturgy to this day. The first part of the agape feast was held in the presence of those not yet initiated by baptism. One of customary rituals was the ceremonial washing before the re-enacted sacrifice of the sacred bread and wine and the distribution of these elements. When the brothers from James arrived Peter went over to their side to practice the ritual washing before the offering of bread and wine, as taught by the Essenes. Barnabas was also persuaded to join the circumcision party against Paul on this issue. Paul was aghast at Peter’s hypocrisy and confronted him publicly. It was then that an irreversible rift developed between Paul and the Jewish believers in Jesus. The incident is repeated in the Jesus tradition in Mark chapter seven in the point about washing before eating the loaves. Jesus disciples did not wash before eating the loaves. After the confrontation in Mark 7, The Jesus/Paul takes his message to the Greeks of Tyre and Sidon. The issue of Corban, an Essene practice, and eating meat offered to Idols was also part of the dispute. The common purse of the Essene rule had been used by some to excuse themselves from taking care of their parents in their old age.
Four Factions Four Gospels
In the first of Paul’s letter to the Corinthian church, the factions in the way have become more crystallized and we see that groups have formed around the major leaders in the movement. Paul, Apollos, Cephas and The Christ Party, another name for the circumcision party. These four messianic factions in Corinth formed the foundations of what came to be four major divisions among the people of the Way. Their subsequent manifestations are the four canonical Gospels that have come to be called the Gospels of Mark, John, Matthew and Luke/Acts.
To Paul, the divisions in Corinth amounted to a complete misunderstanding of the purpose of the Jesus event. Only Paul had a written Gospel at first. He had put together a presentation of the Passion Narrative in written form which he acted out on his missionary visits to various cities. He himself says his Gospel was not with rhetoric but one of demonstration and power. The people of the Corinthian assembly had misunderstood the very nature of the church and the role of its leaders. Paul saw himself and the other leaders in the Way, as servants through whom the people had come to believe. For the Apostle, the servant should not be exalted as the Corinthians had done. The Leaders had become the objects of party loyalty. This divided Christ is the theme of Leonardo’s painting, “The Last Supper.” Which in turn is based on the account Leonardo found in a earlier version of the Gospel of Luke. Try as he might Paul was unable to mend the schism and today these divisions are in evidence in the form of four Gospel accounts of the Jesus/Christ movement begun by John the Baptist. It should be said that our present day Gospels underwent a substantial amount of editing in the fourth and fifth century by Jerome directed by the bishop of Rome, Eusebius. The divisions of the church at Corinth are presented in Mark as a Jesus teaching concerning a debate about who was greatest “in the Way.” Like Paul sending his beloved Timothy to Corinth to settle the dispute, Jesus sets a child in front of the disputing disciples and tells them to receive the child. In the same way Paul tells the Corinthians to receive Timothy as though they were receiving the Apostle himself.
All four of the Gospel traditions borrow extensively from the primary writings of Paul which were obtained from him under false pretenses while he was a prisoner in Palestine. The Group that followed Paul produced the Gospel according to Mark, Cephas and the Christ party copy huge portions of the Mark word for word, modifying things along the way to suit their specific points of view and interests. The two imitations add much of the early teaching from the Baptist. These documents are Matthew and Luke/Acts respectively.
The Gospel Mark is in actuality, a trilogy of plays intended to be presented in competition at the two great festivals. Paul’s connection to Greek theater had served him well as he dictated the reproduction of his message in written form now called Mark’s Gospel. Penned by John Mark while Paul was in prison at Antipatris, the second letter to Timothy chronicles the events that led up to its production. Alterations in the Second letter to Timothy make it appear to have been sent from Rome to corroborate the trip that Luke/Acts says Paul took to Rome. The same type of addition has been made to the letter to Philemon which was also sent while Paul was imprisoned in Palestine. In Caesarea, Alexander the coppersmith had agreed to put Paul writings (including his teaching and memoirs) onto copper scrolls. This would make it more difficult for Paul’s enemies to change what he had written, a practice that had become common by his enemies. Alexander the son of Simon of Cyrene was a coppersmith and relative of Annas the high priest. He had once been part of an entourage that traveled with Paul. While in prison, Paul had given him all of his writings to reproduce in copper. In actuality, Alexander was working in concert with the Jewish leaders of the Way and turned the writings over to them as soon as he had them in hand. Thus all of Paul’s literary work fell into the hands of his enemies. There is an allusion to the stealing of Paul’s writings in the Gospel of John where Jesus “garments” are parted allegedly by Romans. The Garment woven throughout and without seam, refers to a papyrus manuscript which does not part evenly because it is made by weaving strips of papyrus together. The rest of Paul’s writings were on parchment where pages would have been joined by sowing the skins together. When the Apostle wrote to his favorite pupil, Timothy, he warned him to be careful of Alexander and to be sure and bring the scrolls and blank parchment with him when he made his journey to the prison with John, Mark. Paul’s adversaries could not reproduce the quality of his work (the trilogy of plays) nor were they able to make significant changes to the text. Text alterations of the Gospel of Mark were mostly unsuccessful do to a copy protection scheme that is outlined in code in chapter eight. By counting certain words in the document, the integrity of the text can be verified. This method of encryption provided people in the know a means for spotting forgeries and changes to the text.
The Apollos Tradition
The Apollos tradition was much more sympathetic to Paul’s teaching and comes down to us in a highly edited text of the Gospel of John. Evidently the writer did not possess a knowledge of copy protection and his work was subjected to copious changes by the Jewish factions. Even with the many changes made to the original several characteristics of the Gospel of John echo what we know about Apollos from acts. The text is not a flowing narrative like we have in Mark nor is a patchwork of sayings added to the Markan narrative, as we have with Matthew and Luke. John stands on its own as a separate tradition containing two main sources, one is a signs source and the other a collection of orations. The opening lines are a sample of the oration material. The use of the term “Logos” is found in the teaching of Philo of Alexandria, the hometown of Apollos. It is the kind of philosophical speech one would expect to be presented on the Greek stage; powerful, eloquent and typical of the first Christian century. The symbolic use of water in John also supports the words of Paul that he panted (the parable of the soils), and Apollos watered (turning water into wine, the water of life, the woman at the well). Suffering is a common theme in Mark and John. The lamb of God is a metaphor for the theme of the suffering messiah in John.
The Jewish Factions of Cephas and the Christ Party
The leaders of the Jerusalem church had been quick to charge Paul that he should remember the poor. Remembering his own beginnings in poverty, the Apostle already possessed a zeal for the poor that led him to put together a collection for the Jerusalem church garnered from among his more affluent congregations in the cities he had visited. It was this collection that finally brought Paul into Jerusalem for the visit that would lead to his death. When Paul had accumulated a large amount of money for the famine ridden Jerusalem church he determined to deliver it personally. His position on three important subjects made this a risky trip at best and his disciples and friends all tried to persuade him not to make the trip. Paul did not practice circumcision or teach it as did the church in Jerusalem. A second related point that raised objections on the part of his more traditional brethren was that he taught that adherence to the Law of Moses and the practice of circumcision was no longer necessary. A third aspect of Paul’s preaching directly opposed any form of revolt against the occupying Romans. Paul had said that Rome was in power by the will of God and to oppose the occupation was the same as opposing the will of God. These views would never be tolerated by a populous ripe for revolt; Jews and Jewish Christians in and around Jerusalem. For Paul to go there knowing that he was a marked man for his beliefs, was to put himself in the very mouth of Judah’s Lion. Before beginning the trip to Jerusalem, Paul called together the leaders of the churches he had founded. His message to those leaders is chronicled in the book of Acts from his memoirs and set on the isle of Miletus. The Gospel parallel to Paul’s message on Miletus is found in John chapter sixteen where he tells the disciples they will not see him again.
Paul arrived in Jerusalem with an entourage, and received a hero’s welcome by many. He was immediately informed of the union of Jews and Jewish Christians in their zeal for the Law and desire to end Roman occupation. Entering the Temple with a few companions Paul quickly discovered that even the temple offerings were being diverted to prepare for revolution. Offended by this subtle abuse of the Jewish Temple practice, he made a whip and drove out those who were selling animals for sacrifice knowing that the proceeds were going to support the revolution. The response to Paul by those who supported the revolution was to arrange his arrest by Jewish authorities and have him stoned. In their eyes he was an ever present threat to the revolt as he could expose them to the Roman authorities. Most of them were unaware of his Roman citizenship though they did know him to be sympathetic to the occupation. When the Jewish authorities arrested Paul and sought to drag him away he was able to save himself by addressing the crowd in Hebrew and offering an explanation for why he was being attacked. Paul made the point that it was the resurrection for which he was being persecuted which immediately brought the party of the Pharisees into the developing events. The question of the resurrection was hotly debated between Sadducees and Pharisees (much like the abortion issue today) and many of the authority figures among the Jewish men in Jerusalem were of the party of the Sadducees. The debate over the resurrection inflamed the crowd and a riot began to break out. The Roman officers intervened at that point and Paul was put into chains for his role in inciting the people to riot.
The Roman officials agreed to chastise Paul with flogging. It was at this point that Paul announced his Roman citizenship to the Centurion thereby avoiding the beating. This was by divine providence; his illegitimate birth had given him this citizenship. He was the son of a Roman by birth. Not even the Centurion who had him bound could say that. The three stage trial of Jesus mirrors Paul’s appearances before the chief priests, the governor and finally Herod Agrippa II. Note that in acts Paul is slapped by the servant of the high priest and in the Gospel of John, Jesus goes through the same experience. This is because the same historical account lies behind both narratives. The Jewish authorities could not stone him for blasphemy because he was a Roman citizen by birth.
Now the leaders of the Jews and Jewish Christians who supported revolution were in a real dilemma. Paul who knew of their plan was in the custody of the Romans and would most likely expose the plot to revolt along with the temple practices to the Roman authorities. Forty zealots made an oath not to eat or drink until they had killed Paul whereby an assassination plot was hatched. Paul’s nephew overheard the plot and revealed it to Paul. Paul immediately sent him to the Centurion with the news. The zealots meant to assassinate Paul enroot to Antipatris. When the Centurion received word of the plot he immediately changed plans and made the move to Antipatris by night, where Paul could be tried before the judgment seat of Caesar, thus avoiding any attempt at assassination. And so it was that Paul was taken in chains to Caesarea. The Jews both traditional and messianic, feared what Paul might do while in the company of the Romans. The fact that there had been no action taken against them indicated that Paul had up to this point, held his peace about the brewing revolt. But how long would he continue to do so, the information could easily buy his release. But the Jews sent emissaries to governor Felix hoping to make a case that would persuade Felix to turn Paul over to them. Felix had no particular interest in Paul himself, but sensing the urgency of the Jews to take him back to Jerusalem for trial gave him an idea. The governor thought he might be better served to keep Paul in custody for the eventuality that he might be offered a handsome bribe by the Jews for surrendering the Apostle. In addition their was the mater of his Roman citizenship which could cause problems if Felix allowed the Jews to take him. The bribe offer was never made, and the Jews began to accept that Paul was not going to betray their intentions to Rome as he had remained silent on this issue. Still, a dead Paul would be the best guarantee that their plan would not be exposed.
When Festus replaced Felix as governor, he was pressed upon by the Jews to bring Paul to trial before them. Festus asked Paul if he was willing to travel back to Jerusalem to answer their charges. The Apostle responded immediately knowing full well what was happening: “I am standing before Caesar's judgment-seat, where I ought to be judged: to the Jews have I done no wrong, as you very well know.” The Christ party amended this story to say that Paul’s appeal to Caesar meant that he would have to sail to Rome to be tried, which is an obvious attempt to hide the truth that Paul was beheaded in Palestine not Rome. As governor, Festus as the representative of Caesar had the power to make the decision to free or execute the Apostle. New to the position, the governor was not willing to risk executing Caesar’s subject without ample reason or charge. At the inauguration and arrival of Agrippa II, Festus saw another opportunity to settle the matter of Paul and his Jewish adversaries. He would simply put the decision in the King’s hands.
Now Agrippa II was in the company of his sister Berenice and many assumed it was an incestuous relationship. In point of fact this was not the case. Agrippa had no real desire toward women at all as he was given to a different orientation. It seemed better in his mind to be thought of as incestuous (not uncommon among the Roman leaders) rather than to admit the truth, and so it was that he maintained the ruse. It was at the celebration of Agrippa’s coronation that Festus mentioned his now famous prisoner. Wishing to hear him, the newly crowned monarch ordered Paul to be summoned on the morrow. Festus’ famous words of introduction to the King and company have come down to us in two sources. In Acts: “Behold this man, about whom all the multitude of the Jews made suit to me, both at Jerusalem and here, crying that he ought not to live any longer.” And from the Gospel of John we have it this way: “And he (the governor) saith unto them, ‘Behold the Man.’” And so it was that Paul told his story to King Agrippa II. At this point the Christ party makes the ridiculous pint that appealing to Caesar meant that Paul had to go to Rome to be tried. The Luke/Acts tradition promotes a fable about a fictitious journey to Rome borrowing a shipwreck story from Paul’s memoirs, the Acts journey to Rome actually never took place. The Story of the Death of the Baptist told in flashback reveals what really happened. At the behest of the wife of Felix, Drucilla by name, Paul was beheaded in Caesarea. While in prison Paul had preached to Felix and Drucilla about faith and morals. His message had not been well received and that same Drucilla was the sister of King Agrippa and Berenice. At her request Paul was executed in Roman fashion by beheading. The story is recounted in the Gospel of Mark concerning the connection between Jesus and John the Baptist. For the sake of controlling the wealthy churches founded by Paul, a cover-up story was created and appears in the Gospel of Luke/Acts. The cover-up included the creation of an historical figure from the Spirit Jesus that was based partially on the life of John the Baptist and partially on the life of Saul of Tarsus. Paul remained in prison for nearly two years before his execution. We have three letters from that time falsely connected to Rome, that indicate the progression of his conditions. While yet in prison and with the help of John Mark, Paul dictated part or all of the Trilogy of Plays we now call the Gospel of Mark.
After Paul’s death the revolution went forward. Peter, whose true identity was likely that of Josephus and later known as historian Flavius Josephus, turned traitor to his heritage and betrayed the movement. He was rewarded for his contribution to the Romans in putting down the revolt and when the base was moved to Rome he was placed in charge of the Jewish worship. It is Cephas/Peter who is advanced in the Gospel of Matthew as the one to whom Jesus gave all authority, a clever maneuver to gain control of the movement from Rome. Peter had been a young follower of the Baptist and promoted the advent of a new understanding: The kingdom of God became the Kingdom of Heaven fulfilling, in spiritual terms, certain prophecies recorded in Isaiah chapter 22 regarding a change of control for Israel. He saw himself as the high priest of the New Israel thus fulfilling the Essene prophesies. Peter was put in charge of the Jewish artifacts of the second temple which Titus brought to Rome after successfully putting down the revolt and sacking the city of Jerusalem. These artifacts have been kept secret for two centuries and housed in the Vatican to this very day. It is likely that the Pope acting as the high priest or Father (Papa) of the New Israel the continues to intercede for his flock donning the robes of the high priest once a year to celebrate the Day of Atonement. The so called successors of St. Peter, the Pope, and high ranking leaders of modern Catholicism are aware of these historic events while the Catholic people themselves are kept in the dark.
The Cephas faction held prominence and control among Christians for 1500 years. In the forth century many changes were introduced into the sacred writings overseen by Eusebeus and performed by his most famous contemporary, Jerome. Leonardo painted Jerome as a violator of his own heart. By keeping the sacred writings from the common people the leaders of the church at Rome were able to introduce many abuses of power and many doctrines foreign to the original movement, including priestly celibacy which was directly opposed to the practices of the Jewish priesthood. The teaching about not eating meat on Friday was also part of the changes to eventually evolve from the Cephas faction’s control. Before he died, Paul predicted both of these teachings would come. He new things about Peter/Cephas that others did not know.
Endnotes
1Joseph of Arimathea is associated with Mary here because his name is Joseph and more importantly, because he shows an unusual interest in Jesus at the end of his life. He goes so far as to obtain the body and provide a place of burial. It is also important to note that Paul must have had a strong connection to Jerusalem to be able to study in its best school under the teaching of its most noted Rabbi. Only a person of means could have provided that for Paul.
2 Paul tells us that he was “untimely born.” This comment reflects an illegitimate birth. It has to be about the physical circumstances of his birth as he makes clear the point that he was on time in the plan of God; “When it pleased God to reveal his son in me.”
Pantera was the name Jewish critics of the Christian Jesus gave as they told about Jesus’ paternity. This information is from very early in the Jewish literature. The same sources say that Pantera was a Roman soldier.
I am saying that what has been recorded in the Gospel of Matthew has it base in history on this point: Matthew 1:19 And Joseph her husband, being a righteous man, and not willing to make her a public example, was minded to put her away privily. It is the subsequent account of the appearance of the angel and related rationale that is made up to support the mythology of the virgin birth. The census trip recorded in Luke also has some basis in history though the time of the census cannot be correct. The trip reflects information about how Joseph sent the girl to have her baby and how the child got to Cilicia and the city of Tarsus.
There is no question that Paul was raised as a traditional Jewish boy, we have his own words to that effect. Luke gives us this information:
Luke 2:42-49 And when he was twelve years old, they went up after the custom of the feast; 43 and when they had fulfilled the days, as they were returning, the boy Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem; and his parents knew it not; 44 but supposing him to be in the company, they went a day's journey; and they sought for him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance: 45 and when they found him not, they returned to Jerusalem, seeking for him. 46 And it came to pass, after three days they found him in the temple, sitting in the midst of the teachers, both hearing them, and asking them questions: 47 and all that heard him were amazed at his understanding and his answers. 48 And when they saw him, they were astonished; and his mother said unto him, Son, why hast thou thus dealt with us? behold, thy father and I sought thee sorrowing. 49 And he said unto them, How is it that ye sought me? knew ye not that I must be in my Father's house?
When we filter out the mythological elements placed by the writer to maintain the self-awareness of divinity from childhood,
we are left with information that Jesus had to travel to participate in this Jewish right of passage. This same sort of exaggeration is presented in the autobiography of Josephus concerning the advanced development of his own intelligence. Josephus said he taught the rabbis when he was fourteen.
According to Acts, Paul said of himself, “I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamelial, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day Acts 22:3
Saul taking the name of Paul, he considered himself the least deserving of his commission because he had persecuted the true faith before his conversion. In addition he was short in stature, fact that lent itself to his name. In the Gospel of Mark there are two parables that describe the two stages in the kingdom of God. The first is the seed growing secretly which reflects the ministry of John the Baptist the second is the mustard seed which reflects the ministry of Paul in which the smallest seed, Paul, that became the great healing plant in the shade of which the birds of the air (gentiles) could make their nests. This parable takes its inspiration from Ezekiel.
Ezekiel 31:5-6 5 Therefore its stature was exalted above all the trees of the field; and its boughs were multiplied, and its branches became long by reason of many waters, when it shot them forth. 6 All the birds of the heavens made their nests in its boughs; and under its branches did all the beasts of the field bring forth their young; and under its shadow dwelt all great nations.
The Accusation against Jesus was written in three languages according to the Gospel of John, presumably so all that passed by could read it. Coincidentally it was written in the three languages Paul spoke. The Title King of the Jews, was obviously the content of the charge and the inscription is attested to by three of the four Gospels, Matthew adding the title Jesus to the text.
John 19:20-21 20 This title therefore read many of the Jews, for the place where Jesus was crucified was nigh to the city; and it was written in Hebrew, and in Latin, and in Greek. 21 The chief priests of the Jews therefore said to Pilate, Write not, The King of the Jews; but that he said, I am King of the Jews.
Skene: The skene (literally, "tent") was the building directly behind the stage. During the 5th century BC, the stage of the theater of Dionysus in Athens was probably raised only two or three steps above the level of the orchestra, and was perhaps 25 feet wide and 10 feet deep. The skene was directly in back of the stage, and was usually decorated as a palace, temple, or other building, depending on the needs of the play. It had at least one set of doors, and actors could make entrances and exits through them. There was also access to the roof of the skene from behind, so that actors playing gods and other characters (such as the Watchman at the beginning of Aeschylus' Agamemnon) could appear on the roof, if needed.
Acts 18:2-3 2 And he found a certain Jew named Aquila a man of Pontus by race, lately come from Italy, with his wife Priscilla, because Claudius had commanded all the Jews to depart from Rome: and he came unto them; 3 and because he was of the same trade, he abode with them, and they wrought, for by their trade they were “skene.”
The sandal reference in the first chapter of Mark is intended to remind us of the kinsman redeemer rule in ancient Judaism where the passing on of the sandal to the kinsmen marks the continuation of a man’s seed or linage. It also alludes to the nature of the message of John’s successor. The ministry of Paul was carried out as a presentation of the passion story in play format. A powerful demonstration of the spirit to those who heard Paul preach. A play would have been a thousand times more effective than simply telling someone the story. Not being able to loose the thong of the sandal was an admission to the power of Greek drama over simple preaching.
Galatians 1:13-14 13 For ye have heard of my manner of life in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted the church of God, and made havoc of it: 14 and I advanced in the Jews' religion beyond many of mine own age among my countrymen, being more exceedingly zealous for the traditions of my fathers.
Lif 1:11-12 Nor did I content myself with these trials only; but when I was informed that one, whose name was Banus, lived in the desert, and used no other clothing than grew upon trees, and had no other food than what grew of its own accord, and bathed himself in cold water frequently, both by night and by day, in order to preserve his chastity, I imitated him in those things, 12 and continued with him three years.
In the community of rule of the Dead Sea Scrolls, we have this expression “preparing the way” describing the course of study for prominent young men in the community. The sermon on the mount in Matthew, illustrates a host of reflections on the Law of Moses that run counter to traditional Judaism in many ways. There is a parallel and less modified presentation of John’s message in the Gospel of Luke that takes place on the plain. Matthew uses the mount to reenact the giving of the Law to
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