Loading...I now provide a bullet point list that summarizes “at a glance” Paul’s very first surviving letter (and therefore the earliest Christian writing of any kind that we have!), along with some questions to reflect on based on this very interesting text. It’s a short but fascinating letter; if you don’t remember it very well, give it a re-read; and do see what I’ve said about it in this “Nutshell” series, see the posts here:
Here now is a quick overview/summary of key points:
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Hi Bart, I’m really sorry to ask a random question again but I do truly appreciate you taking the time to respond. I know it’s not strictly your area of expertise, but given you have previously written posts about Marian apparitions I wanted to get your thoughts on the alleged apparition at Zeitoun in Egypt (1968-1971). Try as I might I really struggle to come up with any reasonable explanation for this: there is widespread testimony to bright lights appearing over one specific church for 3 years, and photos to back this up. Although I’m sure the most prominent images are probably doctored, I find it hard to believe that all of them are fakes. Whilst it is probably that the witnesses were just interpreting vague blobs of light to be Mary, this still doesn’t explain why the blobs of light were appearing in the first place. I can’t find any case in nature of light phenomena being so geographically restricted (I.e to a single building). What are your thoughts on this? Many thanks for taking the time
Yes, it’s an intriguing case, and there are scores of others. Not just Mary, of course, but Jesus as well. And saints. And so on. I talk about all this in my book How Jesus Became God, and give some bibliography.
If, of course, they are not fakes, then Mary is appearing to people in some physical manifestation. OK then. I don’t think so!
Off topic but…
You’ve shown that the Hebrew word ‘Messiah’ and the Greek word ‘Christ’ both meant “Anointed One”.
What was the Greek word for ‘Savior’, and did it have a different meaning from how we think of it today?
Thanks.
You said “virtually all of his converts were pagans….”. That’s not accurate.
Paul himself repeatedly said his mission was to Israel’s “lost sheep” scattered among the nations (cf. Romans 9:24–26, Hosea 1–2). The label “gentiles” in his letters often pointed not to random pagans but to estranged Israelites who had become indistinguishable from the nations. That’s why Paul cites Israel’s prophets about regathering, not about evangelizing outsiders. For example, Romans 9:25 applies Hosea’s prophecy (“those who were not my people”) to his audience, showing covenant estrangement, not foreign descent.
Paul didn’t need to “convince pagans of the Jewish God.” His letters presuppose an audience already acquainted with the Scriptures and synagogue life. Acts itself shows Paul going first to synagogues, where both Judeans and “God-fearers” (proselytes and diaspora Israelites) gathered (Acts 13:14, 14:1, 17:1–4). His converts weren’t random idol-worshipers pulled from the streets—they were people connected to Israel’s covenant world, but cut off from full status until restored by faith in Christ.
Also, Paul preached Jesus’ death and resurrection not as a new philosophical idea to Greeks, but as the fulfillment of Israel’s promises (1 Corinthians 15:3–4: “according to the Scriptures”). He framed it in covenantal terms: redemption from the Law’s curse, reconciliation of the two houses, and restoration of the seed of Abraham. This message only makes sense to those under that covenant story.
Finally, the claim that Paul warned pagans of Jesus “coming back soon in judgment” ignores his context. Paul’s letters consistently tie the impending judgment to Israel’s story—the end of the Old Covenant age (1 Thessalonians 2:16; Romans 2:9–10). The coming wrath was directed at covenant-breakers, not random pagans outside the Law who were never under the covenant to begin with.
Your view appears to be based on later theological assumptions being imposed onto the text and universalized soon after Israel’s redemptive narrative came to an end.
Wait, what? Paul did not start in the local synagogue? I know the Acts writers got things wrong about Paul, but is this were the tent maker comes from? This is interesting because all we see here are big box churches popping up after “rallies for Christ” and street preachers streaming out of mega churches. Is this idea expanded in one of your books?
(PS – Can’t wait for your book on Creating the Cannon.)
Acts certainly says that Paul started in the local synagogue when evangelizing in Thessalonica; but the striking thing about his first letter to them is that he indicates he turned them (all) from worshiping idols. And yes “tentmaker” is from Acts, but gien his repeated claims that he works with his hands and the mobility of his profession, being a leather worker makes sense (tents were made from animal skin)