The Origin of Paul's ReligionMachen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Religion
The Origin of Paul's Religion
Machen, J. Gresham (John Gresham)
Bible. Epistles of Paul -- Theology; Paul, the Apostle, Saint
But it is by no means clear that "mind" in I Cor. ii. 16b is the
same as "spirit." If a man has the Spirit of Christ, he also has
the mind of Christ; the Spirit gives him an understanding of the
thoughts of Christ. Conversely, the possession of the mind of
Christ is a proof that the man has the Spirit of Christ; it is only
the Spirit who could have given him his understanding of Christ's
thoughts. But it does not follow by any means that the term "mind"
means the same thing as the term "spirit." Moreover, the passage is
entirely isolated; and the choice of the unusual word "mind" may be
due to the form of the Septuagint passage which Paul is citing.
At any rate, the plain fact is that the terminology in Hermes
Trismegistus and related sources is strikingly different from that
of Paul. Reitzenstein finds himself in the peculiar position of
proving that Paul is dependent upon pagan sources by the fact that
the Pauline terminology does not occur in the pagan sources. It will
not do for him to say that the terminology is of little importance
and that the ideas of Paul, if not the terminology, are derived from
the pagan mysteries. For it is just Reitzenstein who insists upon
the importance of words as the vehicle of ideas. His fundamental
argument is that Paul used the terminology of the mystery religions,
and with the terminology received also the ideas. It is therefore
important to observe that Reitzenstein's lexical parallel utterly
breaks down.
But if the Pauline doctrine of the Spirit was not derived from
the pagan mystery religions, whence was it derived? The answer
is perfectly plain. It was derived ultimately from the Old
Testament.[207] Unquestionably, indeed, it goes far beyond the
Old Testament, and the enrichment of its content may conceivably
be explained in various ways. The Gospels and Acts explain the
enrichment as due partly to the teaching of Jesus Himself and to
the coming of the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. This explanation
will be rejected for the most part by naturalistic criticism. Paul
explains the enrichment as due partly to the experience which he
had of the presence of Christ. This explanation is regarded as no
explanation at all by the school of comparative religion. But it is
not necessary in the present connection to discuss these matters.
All that needs to be observed now is that the basis for the Pauline
doctrine of the Spirit is found in the Old Testament.
[207] Bousset (_op. cit._, p. 141, Anm. 2) admits that the
terminology of Paul, especially his use of the term "Spirit" instead
of "mind" and his use of the terms in the contrast between "Spirit"
and "flesh" may possibly be due partly to the Old Testament, but
insists that such terminological influence does not touch the
fundamentals of the thought. Such admissions are important, despite
the way in which Bousset qualifies them.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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