The Making of the New TestamentBacon, Benjamin Wisner
Religion
The Making of the New Testament
Bacon, Benjamin Wisner
Bible. New Testament -- Introductions
In the Christological Epistles accordingly it is apparent that the
Pauline churches are learning to think of the coming Kingdom in a widely
different way from the 'apostolic.' The Greek doctrine of mystic union,
not the rabbinic of a "share in the world to come," is the basis. In due
time we shall see how difficult the process of reconciliation became
between Greek and Semitic thought in this field also. For the present we
can only note how in the great theme of the Unity of the Spirit in Eph.
iv. 1--vi. 9 it is not the 'apostolic' ideal of a restoration of the
kingdom to Israel according to the oath sworn to Abraham (Luke i. 68-75;
_cf._ Acts i. 6) that dominates, but an enlargement of the figure of the
body and members, a figure commonly employed by Stoic writers, to apply
to the unity of the church in Corinthians and Romans. In the Epistles of
the Captivity the doctrine of the Kingdom is a social organism permeated
and vitalized by Christ's spirit of service. Personal immortality is
union with the life of God.
In view of the notoriety of Ephesus as the very centre of the trade in
magic (so much so that spells and incantations were technically known as
"Ephesian letters") and of what Acts tells us of the enormous
destruction there of "books of magic" effected by Paul's preaching, it
is not surprising that Asia and Phrygia should appear a few years after
Paul's departure as the hot-bed of a "philosophy and vain deceit, after
the tradition of men, after the 'elements' of the world, and not after
Christ." Acts xx. 29 makes Paul predict the heresy.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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