Did Ebionites, Early Christians reject Apostle Paul? | James Tabor | MythVision

Frequently Asked Questions

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1.Why did Apostle Paul preach a new religion?

When Rome adopted Christianity with the conversion of the Roman Emperor (4th Century) and his official campaign to repress anyone who refused to conform; to kill those Christians who refused to follow Romes 'Trinitarian Christianity'.
Paul knew that the victors wrote history and in order to win 'he had to be all things to all men' (I Corinthians 9:24-27).
Those who dig their heels in 'beat the air' and refused to compromise any detail of the true faith ended their days as martyrs.

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2.What did early Jewish-Christians think of Apostle Paul?

Paul's popularity was in decline between 55-66 CE because missionaries from the Church of Jerusalem publicly rejected his innovation and claim to be an Apostle.

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3.How did Saul become Apostle Paul?

A young man named Saul was bent on murdering all the Christians he could. He was a Jew, a Pharisee (well-versed in the Law of Moses), a man of knowledge, letters and spirit.

Following a dramatic experience, where according to Saul, Jesus Christ appeared to him on the road to Damascus.

Saul converted to Christianity and now became the beloved apostle, saint, evangelist, theologian, and pastor we call Paul.

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4.How was Apostle Paul's message different to Jesus?

Paul played an important role in the development of Christianity. In opposition to Jesus, Paul maintained Judaism was inadequate; and Paul taught a different theology to Jesus:

* Jesus was more than the long-awaited Messiah; he was divine incarnation.
* Jesus' crucifixion was not a political martyrdom, but a cosmic sacrifice intended as salvation from evil.
* The actual life of Jesus, his political persuasions and religious teachings were irrelevant and not important.

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5.How did Apostle Paul view Jesus?

According to Paul:

* Jesus was the 'image of the invisible God'
* The first-born of all creation
* In him were all things created in Heaven and Earth
* He is before all things and in him all things hold together
* He is the begining, the first-born from the dead
* In him, the fullness of God was pleased to dwell
* Through him reconcile all things in Heave and Earth
(Colossians 1:15-20)

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6.How did the Jews view Apostle Paul?

Paul's salvation theory was considered blasphemy by faithful Jews. The Jews knew Pauls teachings ridiculed all previous revelations from God as expressed through the Torah.

The Jews after all, were the one race of people in the world who were taught God was One, without form or substance, and did not bear the likeness of anything in the universe.

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7.How did Apostle Paul become the authority?

Initially, Paul violently opposed the growing Jewish-Christian movement right up to his dramatic conversion. After his dramatic conversion, Paul believed he had the authority to speak on behalf of God.

He preached that God's grace depended on believing that Jesus was part of the Godhead, and not a mere prophet or messenger.

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8.According to Apostle Paul, why did God give Jews the Torah?

Paul claimed God gave Jews the Torah so that they could be saved later on by believing in Jesus Christ. This was God's divine plan.

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9.How did Apostle Paul differ with the Jewish Rabbis?

The Jewish Rabbis preached a person was saved so long as their intention was to remain within the covenant, and one truly repented and seek forgiveness for their sins.

Paul preached that every person was 'damned' until they was offered salvation. Mans problem was that he was 'in the flesh' in bondage to the Law, sold under Sin, enslaved by the fundamental spirits of the universe (ie. dead).

Paul preached the only cure was liberation from slavery and death by union with Christ, who had conquered death and sin.

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10.What was the core message of Apostle Paul's teachings?

These verses explain the reason for the continuing opposition to Jewish theology. According to Paul, Jesus Christ had to die in order to be resurrected.

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11.What happened after Apostle Paul converted to Christianity?

After his conversion, Paul who was the enemy to Christians suprisingly did not go back to Jerusalem to meet learn from, or even apologise to the Apostles.

Instead he went to Arabia, and then returned to Damascus, Syria. After three years, Paul returned to Jerusalem when he spent fifteen (15) days with Peter and met James. He did not meet any of the other Apostles.

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12.What about Apostle Paul's writings?

Out of 27 books in the New Testament Bible, Paul wrote 13 book; this was the majority of writings, in spite of the fact his writings were in clear contradiction to the original teachings of Jesus Christ.

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13.What books did Apostle Paul write?

Romans
Paul explains how the gospel works and how to respond. Paul wrote this letter before he had visited the Roman church.

1 Corinthians
In 55 A.D., Paul admonished the local church that he had founded in Corinth.

2 Corinthians
Come 56 A.D., the Corinthian church had escalated and then resolved their conflict with Paul. Second Corinthians is Paul's a letter of forgiveness and reconciliation.

Galatians
Someone had misled the churches of Galatia�resubjecting them to the Law of Moses and devaluing God�s grace. Paul writes the Galatians an aggressive letter to set them straight on their freedom in Christ.

Ephesians
Paul outlines doctrines of grace, peace, and salvation, and then instructs the church to walk in a manner worthy of Jesus Christ.

Philippians
Even though he�s suffering in prison, Paul finds joy in Christ. He writes to the church at Philippi urging them to take on a Christlike attitude.

Colossians
This letter explains to the church at Colossae who they are in Christ.

1 Thessalonians
The church of Thessalonica is setting a great example for other churches, even though they�re being persecuted for their faith. Paul encourages them to �excel still more.�

2 Thessalonians
The affliction just won't let up on the Thessalonian church, so Paul coaches them on standing firm until Jesus� return.

1 Timothy
This is Paul�s guide to godliness and sound teaching for the young pastor Timothy at Ephesus.

2 Timothy
Paul's death is drawing near, and he charges Timothy to carry on his gospel work.

Titus
Paul had left Titus at Crete to set up order in the churches there. Now he writes Titus instructions for leading a counter-cultural church.

Philemon
It�s a message to Philemon, a leader in the Colossian church.

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14.Why is believing in Apostle Paul so wrong?

1. If Paul was right, then Jesus must have chosen the wrong individuals as his disciples.

2. If Paul's writings were true, a complete nonsense is made of the earthly life of Jesus and of his preachings to his disciples.

3. Paul never saw or met Jesus in person. Yet, Paul rejects the teachings of those who did meet, sit, learn from him and knew Jesus best.

4. The final range of New Testament gospels has been restricted. The gospels of Peter the Apostle, Barnabas and James (Jesus' brother) are strangely missing.

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15.What did Apostle Paul think of his fellow Gospel writers?

Paul would curse other gospel writers (James, Peter etc.) as if to say their was only one Christianity, one truth and that was his version.

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16.How did Apostle Paul break Gods Law?

Two of the most demanding requests made by God of all faithful Jews was:

1. Circumcision of males as a sign of covenant
2. Ritual Purity - Both physical purity and dietary, careful regulation of what foods passed the lips

By rejecting the Torah, Paul broke away from God's requests.

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17.How was Apostle Paul viewed in his time?

Paul's doctrine of justification by faith in Jesus alone had three effects:

1. It made Paul the implacableenemy of the Jewish people who refused to accept his arguement
2. Christians viewed Paul as an outsider, and even a threat at times
3. Paul caused the severance of Christianity from Judaism, and gave its first real independant theological basis

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18.Was Apostle Paul an Apostle?

An Apostle is one of the original 12 disciples called by Jesus to preach the gospel: Simon Peter, the brothers James and John, Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alpheus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Zealot, Judas Iscariot.

As Paul never met Jesus, many Galatians and Corinthian Christians actively challanged Pauls right to even teach, and his right to call himself an Apostle.

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19.What dramatic experience made Apostle Paul convert to Christianity?

Their are a number of varying versions of Paul�s vision as he describes it to various different people of different races.

In the above accounts, their are a number of obvious contradictions: 1. ACTS 9:4, it is stated that only Paul fell to the ground on seeing the light. Verse 7 says that others with him stood speechless.

2. ACTS 26:14 says they ALL fell to the ground.

3. ACTS 9:7 states that the people who journeyed with Paul didn't see anyone but heard a voice.

4. ACTS 22:9 says that those who were with Paul saw the light but DID NOT hear the voice of the speaker.

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20.How did Matthew (Gospel) support Apostle Pauline Christian doctrine?

It did not! Matthew (85 CE) was written for Jewish-Christians who observed the Law and did not wish to break away from Judaism. Matthew is in complete opposition to Pauline doctrine.

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21.Why was Apostle Paul superior to other Apostles?

Paul insists that even if an Angel from Heaven preached to you, reject them! Paul preached his Gospel was truly unique as it was delivered to him by Jesus himself; not Jesus the earthly man, but the risen Lord Jesus. According to Paul, he had the advantage of divine origin for his message, unlike the other Apostles, and this entitled him to act independently of their Jewish-Christian beliefs (and re-invent a new Christian doctrine?)

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22.Did Apostle Paul face any opposition. If so how?

John the Evangelist wrote:

John the Evangelist wrote: John of Patmos wrote: John of Patmos wrote: The above gospel writers warn against a dangerous heretic, a false Jew, a false Apostle and a false Gospel.

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23.What did Apostle Paul mean when he said that he became all things to all men?

It is known from Pauls mission that he sought to make the Christian faith more appealing to the Gentiles. The above statements show that Paul was flexible and aimed to please the masses.

Inevitably, Paul's new flexible approach meant the original Christian doctrine would have been modified and updated to please the population.

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24.What was the message preached by Apostle Paul?

To be members of God�s covenantal people, it is not necessary for gentiles to become Jews. They do not need to be circumcised, observe the Sabbath, keep kosher or any of the rest.

They need to believe in the death and resurrection of the messiah Jesus.

Prior to this, the followers of Jesus � the first Christians � were of course Jews who understood that he was the messiah who had died and been raised from the dead. But they knew this as the act of the Jewish God given to the Jewish people.

Certainly gentiles could find this salvation as well. But first they had to be Jewish. Not for Paul. Jew or gentile, it didn�t matter. What mattered was faith in Christ.

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25.Why did Apostle Paul choose to preach to the Gentiles?

In Paul�s time there were two primary groups of to whom he could have preached; the Jews and the Gentiles.

Paul chose the gentiles and quickly won favour among their peoples and entitled himself as the �Apostle of the Gentiles�.

Why did Paul choose to preach to the gentiles over the Jews?

After all, Paul was a Pharisee and would have been familiar with the knowledge, teachings, methodologies and mistakes of his Pharasaic brothers. Thus, he would have been the best person to preach to them his interpretation of soteriology. Yet he chose not to; leaving this task to James, Peter and the rest, dubbing them as the �super apostles�.

The real reason why Paul preached to the gentiles is because they were ignorant. They did not know the Torah. They did not possess intimate knowledge of Judaism, its scripture or its doctrine.

Therefore Paul was not presenting his new religion to his own brethren because they would be able to debunk him. Due to this, logically speaking, he preached to those who would find his new faith appealing.

The gentiles would not argue about Christ�s deity, or about the new doctrine of salvation, but the Jews would and vehemently so. Thus the path of least resistance is among the gentiles who would eventually see him as an authoritative figure, as opposed to the Jews who would see him as a heretic and shame him.

Yet with the gentiles, he is able to avoid these problems and ascend to power and authority very quickly.

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26.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

Although, Paul was of the Jewish background, the Jewish-Christian followers of Jesus rejected Paul and wanted to kill him.

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27.What did Apostle Paul achieve by his Christian conversion?

1. Paul managed to defeat Jesus' Jewish-Christian followers whom he was persecuting by establishing a new version of Christianity which preached exactly what the high priest suggested; that murdering Jesus was not a bad idea after all

2. He defeated Jesus and Peter, the rock on whom Jesus promised to build his church and so became himself the rock of a new church (and Christianity later)

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28.What did Apostle Paul say about the other gospels?

Paul rebuked other gospel writers.

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29.How was Apostle Paul viewed by the Jews?

The Jews and early Jewish-Christians who observed Mosaic Law constantly harassed Paul. They even followed him around and stirred the people against him. To the extent he was often beaten and threatened with death.

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30.How important was Jesus' crucifixion to Apostle Paul?

Paul does not show any interest in the life and career of Jesus'. Instead his writings depict someone fixated on the death and resurrection of Jesus, the man he calls 'the Lord'.

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31.Was Apostle Paul a disciple of Jesus?

No, Paul never met Jesus in the flesh. Influenced by Greek Hellenism and various religious mystical cults, Paul turned Jesus into a deity for worship.

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32.What life did Apostle Paul lead before his miraculous conversion to Christianity?

Paul was known as Saul was a prosecutor and law enforcer for the Romans, the Caiaphas. He was hostile towards Judaism.

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33.Why did James allow Apostle Paul to preach a new religion?

James accepted Paul and his missionary activities as the money he raised from wealthy gentiles helped to support the Jerusalem church (?)

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34.How did Apostle Paul view Jesus' teachings?

According to Paul, Jesus' Jewish teachings are not relevant to salvation. While Jesus is regarded by Christians as the founder of the faith. Paul's role in defining Christianity is absolutely fundamental.

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35.What did Apostle Paul do after his miraculous conversion to Christianity?

After his vision, Paul in his own words went into the desert of Arabia for a period, seeking no instruction. These accounts reflect a change in Paul's status: in his own view, he had received a revelation from Jesus/God directly and that elevated his status far higher than Jesus' twelve disciples.

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36.What was the main difference between Apostle Paul's religion and the message of Jesus?

Paul's religious creed fundamentally is in his concept of the death of Jesus as saving mankind from sin. Instead of seeing Jesus as a messiah of the Jewish human savior, he saw him as a God-like diety whose atoning death by violence was necessary to release his devotees for immortal life and attain salvation. This view of Jesus' death seems to have come to Paul in his Damascus vision.

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37.How did Apostle Paul convince the Gentiles?

Paul's new religion had the advantage over other salvation-cults of being close to Hebrew Scriptures, which Paul now re-interpreted as forecasting the salvation-death of Jesus. This gave Pauline Christianity an authority that proved attractive to the Gentile masses.

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38.How did James, leader of the Jerusalem Church, view Apostle Paul?

Paul's new doctrine met with disapproval from the Jewish-Christians of the Jerusalem Church, who regarded the substitution of Jesus' atoning death for the observance of the Torah as a lapse into paganism.

Paul was duly summoned to Jerusalem by the leaders James, Peter and John to explain his doctrine in 50 AD.

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39.What was Apostle Paul's view on circumcision?

Paul did not consider the practise of circumcision as important. According to him, keeping the commandments through faith was more important.

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40.What did Apostle Paul do after he converted to Christianity, on the road to Damascus?

According to historical records, Paul converted to Christianity between 1 to 3 years after Jesus' crucifixion. Following this mystical encounter, Paul disappeared from the scene to emerge 13 years later (47-60 CE) as Paul, a missionary to the gentiles.

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