PAUL AT ANTIOCH

 

Imagine with me that we are Jews living in Antioch. We have the Jewish paradigm of YHWH, creator of heaven and earth. We recite the great creed of Israel daily - "Hear O Israel the Lord our God is one Lord." We have the typical Jewish understanding of the Messiah - born from the line of David, even as the Law and the Prophets foretell.

 

We are in synagogue every Sabbath as is our custom. On a certain Sabbath, after hearing the Law and the Prophets read aloud, the rulers of the synagogue greet some strangers that have attended this meeting and ask them if they have any word of exhortation for the people. One of the men, a Pharisee named Paul, stands and begins to speak (Read Acts13:13-43).

 

This man rehearses the history of YHWH's dealings with our nation, Israel. He tells of the bondage in Egypt and how God, through Moses, delivered the people. He led the nation to triumph in Canaan, raised up judges and prophets, and kings, one of which, David, of whom YHWH testified and said, "I have found in David the son of Jesse a man after my own heart, who will do all my will."

 

We are very familiar with everything that this man, Paul, is saying. We know the story very well. We then hear him say,

 

"Of this man's [David] posterity God has brought to Israel a savior, Jesus, as he promised."

 

Paul refers to Psalm 2: "Thou art my son, today I have begotten thee." We know this refers to the Messiah. We understand completely what Paul is saying. We know the Messiah comes from the linage of David. We hear Paul's argument that Jesus, the Messiah, was raised from the dead and his flesh did not see corruption. Among other things, we hear,

 

"Let it be known to you, therefore, brethren, that through this man [Jesus] forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you..."

 

Once again, no hint, no implication, nothing, that Jesus is YHWH. That idea never occurs to us from anything Paul has said. The opposite is explicitly stated; "...through this MAN forgiveness of sins is proclaimed to you..."

 

PREACHING AT LYSTRA

 

There is an interesting story of Paul and Barnabas that, while it doesn't refer to our main thesis, serves to illustrate the apostle's view of the possibility of God coming to earth as a man. There was a crippled man who was healed through Paul (read Acts 14:8-18). When the people saw it they said,

 

"The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!" Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul, because he was the chief speaker, they called Hermes."

 

The priest of Zeus wanted to offer sacrifice to them. This would have been a wonderful opportunity to explain that God HAD come down in the likeness of a man, that Jesus was fully God and fully man, that he was the incarnation of God, God in human form.. But when Paul and Barnabas heard of it they tore their garments and rushed out into the multitude and, among other things, said,

 

"Men, why are you doing this? We also are men, of like nature with you, and bring you good news, that you should turn from these vain things to a living God who made the heavens and the earth and the sea and all that is in them."

 

Notice: God, who made the heavens, the earth, the sea, and everything in them. This is the monotheistic Jewish conception of YHWH:

 

• Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is ONE LORD. (Deut 6:4).

• Thou art YHWH, even thou alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth and all things that are thereon, the seas and all that is in them, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee. (Nehemiah 9:6)

• I am the Lord, and there is no other, besides me there is no God (Is 45:5)

• ...who alone stretched out the heavens and trampled the waves of the Sea (Job 9:8)

 

The idea that God would come to earth as a man was what the apostles were AGAINST!

 

PAUL AT THESSALONICA

 

The main argument that Paul had with the Jews was not over whether Jesus was God or not, but whether or not Jesus was the Messiah. Most Jews believed that Messiah would come, throw off the Roman yoke from Israel, and establish YHWH's kingdom on earth. They conceived of him as a great (human) and righteous warrior-king. His suffering, death, and resurrection, was something that was not generally understood. Whenever and wherever Paul engaged the Jews, he went to great lengths to prove these things from the Jewish scriptures; that Messiah would suffer and die, that he would be raised, and his flesh would not see corruption. One example out of many is Acts 17:1-4:

 

"And Paul went in [to the synagogue], as was his custom, and for three weeks he argued with them from the scriptures, explaining and and proving that it was necessary for the Christ to suffer and to rise from the dead, and saying, "This Jesus, whom I proclaim to you, is the Christ."

 

Another example is Acts 18:5:

 

"When Silas and Timothy arrived from Macedonia, Paul was occupied with preaching, testifying to the Jews that the Christ was Jesus."

 

The same is said of Apollos in Acts 18:28:

 

"...for he powerfully confuted the Jews in public, showing by the scriptures that the Christ was Jesus."

 

"Christ" is the Greek term for the Hebrew word meaning, "Anointed." That was one of the titles for the Messiah. The Messiah was to be King. The Kings of Israel were ritually anointed with oil. Christ = Anointed = Messiah = King.

 

See again Psalm 45:1-7:

 

"My heart overflows with a good theme; I address my verses to the King; My tongue is the pen of a ready writer. You are fairer than the sons of men; Grace is poured upon Your lips; Therefore God has blessed You forever. Gird Your sword on {Your} thigh, O Mighty One, {In} Your splendor and Your majesty! And in Your majesty ride on victoriously, For the cause of truth and meekness {and} righteousness; Let Your right hand teach You awesome things. Your arrows are sharp; The peoples fall under You; {Your arrows are} in the heart of the King's enemies. Your throne, O God, is forever and ever; (or; "God is your throne forever and ever") A scepter of uprightness is the scepter of Your kingdom. You have loved righteousness and hated wickedness; Therefore God, Your God, has anointed You with the oil of joy above Your fellows."

 

There was trouble between Paul and the Jews in Thessalonica and notice the issue; "These men [Paul and the other disciples] who have turned the world upside down have come here also...and they are all acting against the decrees of Caesar, saying that there is another king, Jesus" (Acts 17:6,7).

 

Not, "Jesus is God" but, "Jesus is King." Which means that Jesus is the antithesis to Caesar.

 

PAUL AT ATHENS

 

In Acts 17:16-33 we have Paul's sermon in the Areopagus of Athens. Most of his audience were educated Greeks, many of them professional philosophers. Their concept of God would be along the lines of Plato and Aristotle. Among other things, Paul says,

 

"The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in shrines made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all men life and breath and everything...he is not far from each one of us, for 'In him we live and move and have our being'; as even some of your poets have said, 'For we are indeed his offspring."

 

Yet again, this is the Jewish conception of YHWH, maker of heaven and earth, who is one and only one. And also, Paul, like Peter at the house of Cornelius, makes all-inclusive statements about all men being children of God, not just the Jews. Paul continues,

 

"The times of ignorance God overlooked, but now he commands all men everywhere to repent, because he has fixed a day on which he will judge the world in righteousness by a man whom he has appointed, and of this he has given assurance to all men by raising him from the dead."

 

The idea that God would incarnate himself as a human being was something that the Greeks could believe. They had many stories of gods coming to earth as men. They would have been receptive to the idea. But Paul gives no hint, no suggestion, no implication, nothing, that this is what happened. He explicitly states the opposite; Jesus is the MAN whom God has appointed.

 

SOME CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

 

It seems to me, from the overview of apostolic sermons that I've given, that the main concept the Jews lacked was not that Jesus was somehow God Himself or that Jesus was part of a triune God, but that the Messiah would suffer, die, and be resurrected. Peter and Paul didn't just testify to Jesus' resurrection. They had to prove to the Jews from their own scriptures that the Messiah would suffer, die, and be resurrected. Therefore, the resurrection of Jesus is one of the proofs that he is the Christ, the Messiah. It seems to me that with the exception of the issue of the Messiah's suffering, death, and resurrection, the apostles had the same Jewish concept of the Messiah as the Jews they argued with, who he was - the son of God, and where he came from - the tribe of Judah, descended from David.

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I've actually heard a man, a Jewish priest and scholar, who believes that God raised Jesus from the dead - he believes that - but he still maintains that Jesus is not the Jewish Messiah. He doesn't see death and resurrection as necessarily indicating the Messiah. So, first it must be proved to this man that the Messiah has to suffer and die, and be resurrected, and it must be proved from the Hebrew scriptures. This is exactly, what Peter, Paul, and Apollos did - they confounded the Jews in public by proving from the scriptures that it was necessary for the Messiah to suffer, die and be raised - and since Jesus did exactly that, among other things - he is the Christ, that is, the Messiah. 

 

The lack of any explicit "Jesus-is-God" statement in any of the apostolic sermons in the Book of Acts as well as the explicit statements wherein Jesus is spoken of as a man leads to the conclusion that the apostles did not conceive of Jesus as God. Their main concern was testifying as eyewitnesses to the resurrection, and proving that Jesus was the Messiah.

 

Next: The Silence is Deafening