The Jesus Puzzle Pt 3 Paul and the Epistles Sept 18

In many ways we have already discussed point 3 in many of the comments on earlier posts. Here is point 3 stated:

In many ways we have already discussed point 3 in many of the comments on earlier posts. Here is point 3 stated:

3) The early epistles, such as Paul and Hebrews, speak of their Christ Jesus as a spiritual, heavenly being revealed by God through scripture, and do not equate him with a recent historical man. Paul is part of a new "salvation" movement acting on revelation from the Spirit.

Evaluation:

This point ignores texts that show the humanity of Jesus (Romans 1:2-4; Gal 4:4-5). The first is especaily significant, because it speaks of Jesus as of the seed of David. Hebrews is also important in this discussion because it speaks of a sympathetic High Priest and Jesus being a human like us except being without sin See the end of Hebrews 2). This qualifies Jesus to be our representative in his ministry.

Part of the problem with this discussion is setting the topic up as an either/or discussion. Jesus is either human or spiritual-heavenly. Of course, the writers of the New Testament see him as both. 1 John is very clear that Jesus is seen as human (1 John 1:1-4). Paul is part of a setting he shares with these other writers. Remember Doherty is arguing about what these writers believed, so their testimony does count.

The tensions Paul had with other leaders involved the relationship of Jewish practice to Gentiles in the faith, not who Jesus was.

For more interaction, see some of the comment strings in earlier posts as they treat this theme as well.

In sum, point 3 is simply incorrect, especially in how it tries to force one to choose between Jesus’ humanity and his spiritual-heavenly dimension.