The Early Tradition of the True Prophet and Menahem in Jewish Christianity

I find that 'proof' tenuous?

The Henrichs article says:
(7) The doctrine of the “True Prophet.” The Pseudo-Clementines and Elchasai coincide in that they propagate the cyclic incarnation of the
True Prophet. For Elchasai, however, the series of incarnations did not culminate in Christ, but included Elchasai and continued even
beyond him. The Cologne Codex has a clear reference to this doctrine. Some of the baptists were so impressed by Mani's performance as a theologian that they regarded him as the True Prophet and the incarnation of the Living Logos. This doctrine, which lies at the root of
Mani’s own conception of his apostleship as the concluding stage in a series of incarnations, forms, in combination with the docetism of
Marcion and Bardaisan, the basis of Mani’s christology."

But the text goes on:
"These parallels are overwhelming. Henceforth, the fact that Mani grew up in, and was influenced by, Jewish-Christian baptists must be
reckoned with. This new insight into the religious environment in which Mani had lived for twenty years is quite a revelation in its own
right and will provide fertile soil for future studies.

"And yet the early history of Mani’s baptists is totally in the dark. The moment we consider their origin, we indulge in speculation, a tendency which has proved particularly dangerous in these studies. Nevertheless, it should be pointed out that the Elchasaite connections of the Babylonian baptists may be secondary and superimposed, perhaps through the adoption of Elchasai’s book of revelation, on an original Palestinian substratum. Two factors support such a hypothesis. In the first place, there is strong evidence for missionary activities of Elchasaite groups, in the late second and early third centuries, in places as different as Coele Syria (Apameia), Rome, and Palestine. It is conceivable, therefore, that another wave of this missionary tide reached southern Babylonia and mingled with existing currents, thus producing the special blend of Mani’s baptists. In the second place, Mani’s baptists led a communal life in isolated villages and emphasized manual labor, especially agriculture. There is no recorded precedent for such a form of organization in Jewish-Christian sects. But there are the Essenes and the Qumran sect of Palestine which provide analogies."
(Mani and the Babylonian Baptists: A Historical Confrontation, Albert Henrichs, pps 54-56, emphasis mine.)

Henrichs uses the term 'Babylonian baptists' throughout. Ebionites are mentioned only once, as being vegetarians, as were the Manichæan 'elect' – the 'hearers' were not under the same rule. Yet the Elkasaites were not vegetarian.

Where problems arise is highlighted above, and as primarily-gentile Christianity changed over the first centuries, so did the doctrines of the Jewish-Christian groups. To assume they remained pure whereas others did not is a step too far and is belied by what records we have.

No original doctrines survived, whole and entirely unchanged, from their founding.

It's more than likely that 'Ebionite' ideas contained in the pseudo-Clementine literature is the result of 'Ebionite' redactors, whilst clearly elements of the literature contradict what we assume to be early Ebionite belief.

In the lack of firm evidence to the contrary, I would suggest that the "Ebionite ideas of the cyclical successions of revelators" is not authentically Ebionite, if indeed ever part of their doctrine, but rather a later incorporation under the influence of Elchasaite and Manichæan groups, if not an erroneous assumption attributing to them ideas which were not theirs by their patristic critics.
 
No man cometh to the Father, but by me" (John 14:6), and that has been true from the foundation of the world.
I don't think so. I think you'll find that the "Jewish Messiah" has not been sent to the world
before that of 2000 years ago.
Many other messengers were sent, yes. Some of them are named in the Bible.
 
Actually I'm saying it is exactly of the same kind in that the first advocate is Jesus, and the second advocate is the Spirit of Christ, two divine persons of the same substance and nature.

This is no different than the pro-Nicene consensus regarding the co-equality and consubstantiality of the Son and the Spirit. You are forcing a later developed Trinitarian theology onto the text. A co-equal Trinity was not the original Christian understanding. This is historically false. Early Christians were “‘subordinationist’, as the Son and Spirit are always in some sense derivative of, less than, and subordinate to their source, the one God, that is, the Father.

No theologian in the first three Christian centuries was a trinitarian in the sense of believing that the one God is tripersonal, containing equally divine 'Persons', Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
-Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy


My simple proposal is that multiple distinct human persons (such as Jesus and Baháʼu’lláh) reflect the one eternal Logos.

I really don't think it does.

My reading employs the same logic. The word allos, as you say, is (often) "another of the same kind", whereas an alternative Greek term is heteros (ἕτερος), which means "another of a different kind".

Yes, Thomas, you do apply the dictionary definition of the word allos (another of the same kind), but there is a problem: you apply the definition anachronistically. You basically want us to believe "same kind" means "two divine persons of the same substance and nature."

The text, however, defines this sameness as functional (John 12.49, 16.13). Why should I give ear 👂 to fourth century proclamations?

The implication then, in announcing this "other" paraclete of the same kind, is to do with mission and its completion.

Yes, the sameness is about the mission, and that mission is the specific function of a human prophet (John 12.49, 16.13). The sameness in mission is the sameness in prophetic function. Hearing and speaking is the literal role of a "Person Who wilt be inspired . . . Further, the Holy Spirit doth not have ears with which to hear."

Jesus is a paraclete as per 1 John 2:1-2: "... And if anyone sins we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ, the righteous one; and he is an atonement for our sins: and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world."

So if we read the sense of paraclete in 1 John, then the emphasis is on Jesus as our intercessor before God, who not only speaks on our behalf, but takes the burden of sin on Himself for our sakes.

This means that "another of the same kind" (allon Paraklēton) must not only be a hearer and speaker but must also be a human intercessor, acting as a human High Priest. All the Prophets are “one soul and one body, as one light and one spirit” (to quote Baha’u’llah), and as one High Priest. An abstract Holy Spirit cannot perform a Yom Kippur-style atonement. This proves to me that "another of the same kind" must be another human Prophet-Priest, just like Jesus.

In John's Gospel, the Holy Spirit, 'the Spirit of the truth', is sent from the Father at the Son's request (14:16), and although this advocate cannot be seen or known by the world, can be known by the ones to whom it is sent because they receive it inwardly (14:17).

And a few verses later Jesus uses the exact same indwelling language for himself and the Father. This is not a literal, internal indwelling: “Jesus answered and said to him, ‘If someone loves me, he will keep my word, and my Father will love him, and we will come to him and will make our home with him.’” (John 14.23) The Father and the Son are not literally indwelling. It is clearly a metaphor for the believer's heart being filled with the teachings, influence, and spiritual reality of the True Prophet. The eternal True Prophet is “present with us at all times... [and] he appears and corrects us" in a cycle of human prophets.

This advocate, the Holy Spirit (14:26), whom the Father sends in Jesus' name, will "teach you everything and will remind you of everything I have told you," (14:26) and furthermore "he will testify concerning me", that is, the Son (15:26).

So the mission of the paraclete seems somewhat different, even though the function is the same.

The disciples already had Jesus and the Holy Spirit present with them, yet they "could not bear" the full truth. This promise requires a new, external teacher to reveal new revelation. “I still have many things to tell you, but right now you cannot bear them... when that one comes, the Spirit of the truth, he will guide you on the way to all truth...” (John 16.12-13) The idea that the Holy Spirit alone would suddenly make them able to bear it is not plausible.

So whereas the function of parakletos in 1 John 2, speaking of the Son, is one of advocacy and intercession on behalf of humanity, the function of parakletos in John's Gospel... is that of the Holy Spirit who stands with us...

Translation: not allon Paraklēton ("another of the same kind"). You have created a false separation between the first Paraklētos who advocates to the Father by atonement and the second Paraklētos who advocates to us by teaching and indwelling. The True Prophet inherits the full role. The sameness (allon) is the full role of the Tsaddiq - both teaching as a prophet and atoning as a priest.

James’ job was to prepare the way for the next coming of the Lord: James 5.8: “Fix firmly your hearts: for the coming of the Lord draws near.” He acts as the Tsaddiq and Opposition High Priest and performed the Yom Kippur-style atonement. He delivers the ta'wil, the spiritual interpretation.
 
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