Longfellow
Well-Known Member
In this first post I'll just give a brief summary. At the beginning of the century, the same Old Testament passages that are being read in the far diaspora as features of many different heavenly figures are being read in the homeland as features of Israel and of a king who will restore its power and glory in the world. Growing up in the diaspora and trained as a Pharisee, Paul is well informed about all of that.
Jesus is baptized by John and goes to live and work as a carpenter in Capernaum. In the course of His work he builds friendships with some fishermen including Peter. He gives talks in the synagogue and spends time at Peter's house healing and teaching. From the very beginning there are people writing down what He says and does and what is happening around Him. Later there are people recopying that as needed, until late in that century or early in the next, on the instructions of some successors to emissaries of the apostles, some skilled story writers use those as sources to write four gospels: one for the churches radiating from Antioch, one for the churches radiating from Rome, one for the Roman diaspora, and one for the Greeks.
After a few weeks or months in Capernaum, Jesus begins calling His twelve and training them to spread His message. Part of it is that the OT passages about a promised king are about Him, as God's regent on earth. Also, he plays the role of the suffering servant, representing Israel in a way similar to the way Ezekiel did. Ezekiel's actions represent Israel being subjugated by foreign powers. Jesus's actions represent a ransom being paid to redeem Israel from bondage.
After His death and resurrection, as the discipleship spreads across the empire, Jewish disciples are interpreting the OT passages that He applied to Himself in the ways that they are understood in the diaspora, as being about a heavenly redeemer and intermediary. Paul starts persecuting them, and in his interrogations of them hears these interpretations and the ones about Jesus being the suffering servant and the promised king. At first Paul rejects what they're saying, but it starts nagging him until he's ready for Jesus to reveal to him on the road to Damascus that it's all true. The significance of the resurrection and ascension for him is its association with the Day of Judgment, and as a link between the homeland beliefs about the suffering servant and the promised king and the diaspora beliefs about heavenly redeemers and mediators. He hears about Peter baptizing gentiles and starts doing the same. Because they don't have the Jewish context for the OT passages that apply to Jesus, he re-imagines everything in terms of their ways of thinking.
Later in that century, because Paul claims that he learned everything about Jesus by revelation and not from the twelve or their emissaries, people use his example to argue against the authority of the successors to emissaries of the apostles. Part of the purpose of Acts is to show that Paul subordinated himself to the twelve.
Jesus is baptized by John and goes to live and work as a carpenter in Capernaum. In the course of His work he builds friendships with some fishermen including Peter. He gives talks in the synagogue and spends time at Peter's house healing and teaching. From the very beginning there are people writing down what He says and does and what is happening around Him. Later there are people recopying that as needed, until late in that century or early in the next, on the instructions of some successors to emissaries of the apostles, some skilled story writers use those as sources to write four gospels: one for the churches radiating from Antioch, one for the churches radiating from Rome, one for the Roman diaspora, and one for the Greeks.
After a few weeks or months in Capernaum, Jesus begins calling His twelve and training them to spread His message. Part of it is that the OT passages about a promised king are about Him, as God's regent on earth. Also, he plays the role of the suffering servant, representing Israel in a way similar to the way Ezekiel did. Ezekiel's actions represent Israel being subjugated by foreign powers. Jesus's actions represent a ransom being paid to redeem Israel from bondage.
After His death and resurrection, as the discipleship spreads across the empire, Jewish disciples are interpreting the OT passages that He applied to Himself in the ways that they are understood in the diaspora, as being about a heavenly redeemer and intermediary. Paul starts persecuting them, and in his interrogations of them hears these interpretations and the ones about Jesus being the suffering servant and the promised king. At first Paul rejects what they're saying, but it starts nagging him until he's ready for Jesus to reveal to him on the road to Damascus that it's all true. The significance of the resurrection and ascension for him is its association with the Day of Judgment, and as a link between the homeland beliefs about the suffering servant and the promised king and the diaspora beliefs about heavenly redeemers and mediators. He hears about Peter baptizing gentiles and starts doing the same. Because they don't have the Jewish context for the OT passages that apply to Jesus, he re-imagines everything in terms of their ways of thinking.
Later in that century, because Paul claims that he learned everything about Jesus by revelation and not from the twelve or their emissaries, people use his example to argue against the authority of the successors to emissaries of the apostles. Part of the purpose of Acts is to show that Paul subordinated himself to the twelve.