Corpus-Paul

["Bill Ross" <wross AT farmerstel.com>]

>{Bill}
>"Supplanted" is not an appropriate description of the relationship.

{Jim}
It is because Christians today are far more "Paulinists" than they are
"Jesusites".  For example- think of the matter of "justification".  In
Jesus, justification comes about by repentence and behavior.  For Paul it
occurs when one "believes".  For Jesus it is by works- whereas for Paul it
is faith....  hmmmmm....  no wonder the Church has argued about these two
ways of salvation for so long...

{Bill}
This distinction is imaginary. Jesus taught justification by faith:

Mark 1:
14  Now after that John was put in prison, Jesus came into Galilee,
preaching the gospel of the kingdom of God,
15  And saying, The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand:
repent ye, and believe the gospel.

Mark 16:
15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel
to every creature.
16  He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that believeth
not shall be damned.

Luke 8:
11  Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
12  Those by the way side are they that hear; then cometh the devil, and
taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be
saved.

John 3:
14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up:
15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life.
16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.

>In the Gospels, Christ said "I am the Way, the Truth and the Life, I am the
>Bread of Life, the Door, the Shepherd, the Resurrection, the Light of the
>World."

{Jim}
actually you would have a difficult time demonstrating that Jesus said any
of these things.

{Bill}
Do you reject the veracity and authority of the Gospel of John??

>In Paul we have "He is the Way, the Truth and the Life, the Bread of Life,
>the Door, the Shepherd..."

{Jim}
I would like to know precisely where we have this in Paul........  I have
never seen it.

{Bill}
I did not intend the literal phrases, but rather the same principles. For
example:

"the Way"
Colossians 2:
6  As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him:

"the Truth"
Eph 4:
21  If so be that ye have heard him, and have been taught by him, as the
truth is in Jesus:

"the Life"
Romans 8:
2  For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from
the law of sin and death.
(see also 2 Cor 4:10-12)

"the Bread of Life"
1 Cor 10:
16  The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood
of Christ? The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of
Christ?
17  For we being many are one bread, and one body: for we are all partakers
of that one bread.

"the Door"
Eph 3:
12  In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.

"the Shepherd"
Paul apparently did not use this imagery, but obviously he taught of Christ
as being the Head of the Church, he gave shepherds (pastors - Eph 4) and He
laid down His life for the Church, just as Jesus said He laid down His life
for His sheep. Works for me.

>
>In Paul, however, the principle of justification by faith, which is the
>essence of the Gospel, is revealed in greater clarity than was revealed in
>the prophets or the Gospels, and we are told that God chose to reveal this
>through Paul:

{Jim}
Yup- you are right here- because Justification by Faith doesnt appear in the
Gospels.  Anywhere.

{Bill}
You are a pastor of a Baptist church and a professor of theology?!

14  And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the
Son of man be lifted up:
15  That whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal
life.
16  For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that
whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life.
17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but that
the world through him might be saved.
18  He that believeth on him is not condemned: but he that believeth not is
condemned already, because he hath not believed in the name of the only
begotten Son of God.

>Also we need to be clear that the Gospels are the account of how the NT was
implemented

{Jim}
I have no idea what you mean by this.  How are the Gospels the account of
how the NT was implemented???  There was no NT until the 4th century.

{Bill}
I was referring to the "death of the testator" - the New Testament being the
"New Covenant in my blood":

Matthew 26:
28  For this is my blood of the new testament, which is shed for many for
the remission of sins.

(See also Mark 14:24, Luke 22:20)

>but the writings of Paul occur in the context of the fledgling
>Church. Christ's atoning death has been accomplished, he has risen and
>ascended to the Father and the Spirit and apostles given. Paul is writing
to
>an NT church - Jews and gentiles. It is a whole new day.

{Jim}
Indeed it is.  The proclaimer has become the proclaimed at the hand of Paul.

{Bill}
Are you ignorant of all of the "I am" passages in the Gospels?? Or the "the
Son of Man" references to Himself?? Or the proclamations of the Gospel
writers centering not only on these teachings concerning Him but on His
divinity, birth, life, death, resurrection, ascension and return??