Corpus-Paul

[criticaltom AT juno.com]

I hope this doesn't sound too amateur.  I appreciate your tolerance if
so.

Anyway, is it too far off to theorize--if only for that sake--that some
of Paul's opponents, either in Galatian and/or in Corinth, are actually
believers in Jesus who proclaim the gospel in a manner similar to the
mysteries?  What I mean is, could it be that circumcision, kosher food
laws, and the other "works of the law" were seen as rites of initiation
or fuller expressions of faith?  I guess this sounds something like a
Jewish/Gnostic, or protognostic thing.  Has it already been discussed,
refuted?

Tom Edmondson