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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT comcast.net>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Paul's persecution of the Church
  • Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 10:01:11 -0500


on 5/23/02 3:06 PM, Vince Endris at vince_endris AT hotmail.com wrote:

> Dear Corpus-Paul list,
> As I was reading through a book on Paul I noticed something that I thought
> was curious and hope you can explain to me. It seems to me to be widely
> thought that Paul did not persecute the followers of the Jesus movement
> because of their take on who the Messiah was. A lot of groups had their own
> opinions about that. According to Leander Keck (and many others I've read
> agree), "It is more likely that Paul saw the developing freedom with regard
> to the Law, especially among the Hellenistic Jewish Christians, as a threat
> to Judaism and as an affront to God." However, wasn't Paul's later dispute
> with the Jerusalem Church because they wanted to follow Torah (dietary laws,
> circumcision, and such)?

Vince,
Two comments in Galatians are of interest for a minimal discussion of this
issue. In 1:13, Paul writes of his formerly persecuting "the assembly of
God," but he does not tell the readers why he did so. (He also writes in
that context of his former way of living as a very zealous member of the
Jewish groups championing the traditions of the fathers, i.e., the
Pharisees). In 5:11 he writes of his being persecuted. Here "the stumbling
block of the cross," his way of understanding the significance of the matter
at issue, is related to his policy of no longer "still preach[ing]
circumcision."

It is interesting to note that he does not indicate it is for either his
confession of Jesus as Messiah or for failure to observe or teach the
observance of Torah, but for his policy of how the Gentile believers in
Jesus are to be not re-identified as proselytes. (This would go against the
views of his former group, which he apparently championed, and most if not
all other Jewish groups of which we are aware, that Gentiles seeking full
membership within Jewish communities would become proselytes to accomplish
this re-identification). So I would suggest that the evidence on this issue
does not suggest Paul was at "dispute with the Jerusalem Church because they
wanted to follow Torah," but that, although he observed Torah, he (and
they?; cf. 2:1-10) was (were) at dispute with the prevailing Jewish
authorities outside of this coalition of Jesus-believers about how the
Gentile members of these groups were to be (re)identified.

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT comcast.net





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