-- History & Chronology --

/ Newsgroups > alt.religion.christian.biblestudy, alt.bible.prophecy, alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, alt.christnet.bible / Date > 15 Feb 2000 / Topic >

 Now I urge you, brothers and sisters, bear with my message of exhortation, for in fact I have written to you briefly. You should know that our brother Timothy has been released. If he comes soon, he will be with me when I see you. Greetings to all your leaders and all the saints. Those from Italy send you greetings. Grace be with you all. -- Hebrews 13:22-25 / NETbible

Now many Bible students are well and wisely aware that the current canonical (and idolized) format did not spring forth full bloom (ie. perfect and complete) prior to the beginning of the second century C.E. They know very well indeed that the original MSS were caught up (very early on) in the process of transmission; and often were profoundly transformed by the dynamic changes that the texts were subject to in the centuries prior to the Episcopal standardization of the texts (some might say, with some justification, 'the fossilization of the texts') that occurred during the Constantinian revolution in the early fourth century of the Common Era.
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 These changes are many and various, and are everywhere to be found in the Hebrew and Greek scriptures. Most of these changes are minor, and of small consequence; eg. a verse or two displaced from its original position in the text. Other changes are major, and of great significance for biblical interpretation; eg. the creation of the two books 'The Gospel According to Luke' and 'Acts of Apostles' out of the author's original, unified, and unnamed "history" of the early church (in two parts). Paul's *authentic* epistles, being the earliest Christian documents, underwent many changes (both big and small) over the course of the pre-Constantinian centuries. Minor additions and alterations exist alongside of major editorial revisions; eg. the four original Thessalonian letters were *carefully* edited into their current canonical format well before the end of the first century.
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 The point of all this is that the texts "naturally" accumulate changes over time, and an awareness of this plastic or fluid nature of the early texts is essential to the Bible student who genuinely seeks to understand and appreciate the full depths of the sacred scriptures. Now these changes occurred in many and various ways, and for various different reasons; and the significance of this growth or development of the canonical format is often missed by those who foolishly imagine that the current canonical format is perfect and divine, and by those who deny (or ignore) the meaning and importance of this complex process of canonical formation.
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 4X: The early churches were not entirely happy with the ending of the original version of the Gospel of Mark; and indeed the original text created some serious problems for its earliest readers. One of these is the prominence of the 'fear' theme. Thus in the Gospel of Matthew (which was deliberately designed as an improved and corrected version of Mark) the theme of fear is taken up and given a theological makeover (see Matthew 10:26-31). In the same way, the early Greek churches were not content with the fact that Mark ended on a note of fear (see Mark 16:8), and so some scribe composed an ending deemed more appropriate (see Mark 16:9-20), and this was added to the text, and later became part of canonical Mark. The wise reader will note this fact, and make a clear distinction between the authority owed to the original gospel of Mark and Peter, and the far lesser authority owed to this anonymous (and very unnecessary) addition.
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 Now I have brought this matter of Mark's false ending before the reader here because the same sort of thing has also happened to the book called 'Hebrews'. But here the false ending (ie. Heb.13:22-25) was not added because of a perceived fault or deficiency in the original text (ie. seeking to alleviate possible misunderstandings, as it were), but rather came about from far less worthy (ie. more politically inspired) motivations. Please allow me to explain. It is my view that the book of Hebrews is an important element in the prophetic traditions of the early Greek churches (which flourished especially in Egypt c.50-150CE). So the prophetic tradition formed the backbone of proto-orthodoxy [and consequently gave us many important early Christian scriptures; both canonical (eg. James, Jude, 2Peter) and non canonical (eg. Barnabas, Hermas, etc)], but after about mid-2C began to gradually decline, and was thereafter co-opted by the rising tide of the priests (who would soon declare themselves to be the means and measure of all Orthodoxy).
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 Let us be quite clear about all this. In order to establish their supreme authority over all the churches, the priests found it necessary to assume for themselves the fruits and authority of the early apostles and prophets. Thus the so-called 'First Epistle of Clement' was altered (ie. corrupted) to give the false impression that it originated from Rome by the hand of a "pope", when (in fact) it came from an Egyptian prophet (quite possibly from the same author who wrote the book of James; that is, the "authority" of 1Clement is the authority of the prophet, *NOT* the then non-existent authority of the then non-existent pope).
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 In the same way, the legend that Peter and Paul were martyred in Rome allowed the priests to foster the illusion that these apostolic heroes approved and supported the priestly corruption of the Faith that would later flourish as Roman Catholicism. Thus we see that the false ending of Hebrews is not only pointless and superfluous, but serves no other purpose than to foster the lie that this epistle was written by the *Roman* Paul. Hence comes the foolish notion that Paul wrote Hebrews; a false and misleading idea that many readers even today suffer from, and one that inevitably leads to grave misunderstandings, and a very distorted view of the meaning and message of Hebrews.
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 The funny (ie. ironic) thing about all this is that the false ending itself clearly recognizes the prophetic nature of the book of Hebrews when it makes mention of "my word of exhortation" (13:22). Thus, in many ways, it is most unfortunate that verses 22-25 were admitted into the canon. And not least of the sad results of this corrupting addition is the plain fact that this false ending mars and distorts the beauty and finality of the original conclusion:
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 "Now may the God of peace who by the blood of the eternal covenant brought back from the dead the great shepherd of the sheep, our Lord Jesus Christ, equip you with every good thing to do his will, working in you what is pleasing before him through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory forever. Amen." -- Hebrews 13:20-21 / NETbible

/ Newsgroup > alt.religion.christian.biblestudy / Date > 18 Aug 1999 / Topic > 

  Dear CyberSaints, they say that we live in interesting times. Some take this for a blessing. Others for a curse. As for myself, I find that one of the most interesting features about our high-tech global village is that this current generation of believers bears an uncanny resemblance to the Christians of the 2C. That is to say, their universal, pluralistic, and multi-cultural social environment has many characteristics and features in common with us. I would even go so far as to say that no period in history is as important and relevant to today's post-modern Christians then this "Wild Age" of a distant and forgotten past ...
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 Now most church-historians would (I think) agree with me in describing the second century of the Common Era as an age of heterodoxy (rather than an age of orthodoxy 4X). But this characterization can be both confusing and misleading. It suggests a situation where one-true-apostolic-church is beset with the horrible calamities of schisms and heresies. In other words, the great and mighty Romish Church seeing the People of God suffering such terrible pains and evils didst (in her great wisdom) write all the New Testament documents, collected and edited them, and forthwith canonized them; thereby preserving the purity of the apostolic faith and so forth.
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 Now this approach, overlooking many facts and realities of that era, is grossly inadequate to the nature of those days, to the peoples of those days, and to the churches of those days. The best way to view all of the abundant unorthodoxy of the first and second centuries is as growing pains. Look at it this way: the faith in, of, and about the Anointed One, Jesus of Nazareth, could not become a major world religion without breaking out of all the ancient paradigms, all the old ways and traditions, and all the set patterns of life and thought and being. This meant breaking free of Palestine, Judaism, and Israel; and then finding a way through the equally powerful limits and restraints imposed by the wider Greco-Roman world.
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 When we look at the early history of the Faith, we can easily see the broad outlines of this movement from past to future, from Judea and Palestine to Europe and Africa and the East, from oral to written traditions, from isolated and persecuted heroes to urban house-churches of many and various flavors and divergent traditions. Out of all of this dynamic growth, and heated conflict, and difficult battles for the apostolic faith ... the canon of Christian holy books didst slowly and gradually emerge.
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 As far as the distant future of the Faith is concerned, it was this remarkable achievement (ie. to preserve the authentic early traditions by collecting and creating a unique group of sacred books) that constitutes the triumph and glory of all the early Greek churches (and their enduring legacy to us). Thus the formation of the canon cannot be viewed as something that was finished and completed before the start of the second century of the Common Era; as if what happened afterwards were incidental and of little or no consequence (since all of the documents had already been written etc) ...
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 The only problem is that such an unscientific and unhistorical approach to our shared past does great violence to the Word of God. And to the People of God also. ... Let us instead show due respect for the Word of the Lord, and to the history of God's People, by placing the early Christian scriptures within the whole sweep of social growth and spiritual development that occurred between c.48CE (Paulos and Silvanus) and c.140CE (2Peter).
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P.S.   "Wisdom is a communicative and philanthropic thing." -- Clement of Alexandria

/ Newsgroup > alt.religion.christianity / Date > 23 Aug 1999 / Topic >

   In the second century of the Common Era these alien Christians exploded into the Greco-Roman Empire, and at once aroused great confusion and hostility against them. Sporadic and feeble attempts to eradicate them by persecution and violence only added gasoline to an already raging fire. Literate believers were growing in numbers and proportion, and avidly reading the 'memoirs of the apostles'. They remained hungry for more; and their demand was met by an ever growing body of Christian literature (much of which was of dubious value).

   Christian philosophers also exercised their minds and pens on behalf of the Faith: defending and explaining it to a pagan world in terms that they could understand and follow. Many eclectic cultural, religious, and spiritual customs and traditions entered into the varying traditions of the churches; changing, and sometimes even deliberately distorting, the faith and thinking of previous generations.

   Gnosticism, dualism, and asceticism dived into the volatile mixture, such that the practice of the faith took on new and strange forms; thus compelling a conservative reaction by way of centralizing authority in the threefold priestly system of overseer, presbyter, and deacon. In Rome (and elsewhere), the church was split in two over the question of the place and value of the Jewish scriptures; while in Egypt the prophets and sages labored to unite the LXX with the written 'memoirs' of the Holy Ones.

   And while the prophetic traditions would continue in Alexandria (through the likes of saints such as Clement of Alexandria and Adamantius (aka Origen)), it would be the bishops who would ultimately determine the path that the churches would follow (ie. by protecting and preserving the early traditions and writings, and solidifying the necessary traditions and beliefs by means of canon and creed).

/ Forum: TheologyOnLine - Bible Study / 26Nov2000 / Ngz: alt.religion.christian.biblestudy, alt.bible.prophecy / Topic >

 "... at which however he was present and so he has set it down.
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 The third Gospel book, that *According to Luke*. This physician Luke after Christ's ascension (resurrection?), since Paul had taken him with him as an expert in the way (of the teaching), composed it in his own name according to (his) thinking. Yet neither did he himself see the Lord in the flesh; and therefore, as he was able to ascertain it, so he begins to tell the story from the birth of John.
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 The fourth of the Gospels, that *of John*, (one) of the disciples. When his fellow-disciples and bishops urged him, he said: Fast with me from today for three days, and what will be revealed to each one let us relate to one another. In the same night it was revealed to Andrew, one of the apostles, that, whilst all were to go over (it), John in his own name should write everything down. And therefore, though various rudiments (or: tendencies?) are taught in the several Gospel books, yet that matters nothing for the faith of believers, since by the one and guiding (original?) Spirit everything is declared in all: concerning the birth, concerning the passion, concerning the resurrection, concerning the intercourse with his disciples and concerning his two comings, the first despised in lowliness, which has come to pass, the second glorious in kingly power, which is yet to come.
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 What wonder then if John, being thus always true to himself, adduces particular points in his epistles also, where he says of himself: What we have seen with our eyes and have heard with our ears and our hands have handled, that have we written to you. For so he confesses (himself) not merely an eye and ear witness, but also a writer of all the marvels of the Lord in order.
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 But the *acts of all apostles* are written in one book. For the 'most excellent Theophilus' Luke summarizes the several things that in his own presence have come to pass, as also by the omission of the passion of Peter he makes quite clear, and equally by (the omission) of the journey of Paul, who from the city (of Rome) proceeded to Spain.
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 The epistles, however, of Paul themselves make clear to those who wish to know it which there are (i.e. from Paul), from what place and for what cause they were written. First of all to the Corinthians (to whom) he forbids the heresy of schism, then to the Galatians (to whom he forbids) circumcision, and then to the Romans, (to whom) he explains that Christ is the rule of the scriptures and moreover their principle, he has written at considerable length. We must deal with these severally, since the blessed apostle Paul himself, following the rule of his predecessor John, writes by name only to seven churches in the following order:
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 to the *Corinthians* the first (epistle),
 to the *Ephesians* the second,
 to the *Philippians* the third,
 to the *Colossians* the fourth,
 to the *Galatians* the fifth,
 to the *Thessalonians* the sixth,
 to the *Romans* the seventh.
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 Although he wrote to the Corinthians and to the Thessalonians once more for their reproof, it is yet clearly recognizable that over the whole earth one church is spread. For John also in the *Revelation* writes indeed to seven churches, yet speaks to all.
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 But to *Philemon* one,
 and to *Titus* one,
 and to *Timothy* two, (written) out of goodwill and love, are yet held sacred to the glory of the catholic Church for the ordering of ecclesiastical discipline.
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 There is current also (an epistle) to the Laodiceans, another to the Alexandrians, forged in Paul's name for the sect of Marcion, and several others, which cannot be received in the catholic Church; for it will not do to mix gall with honey. Further an epistle of *Jude* and two with the title (or: two of the above mentioned) *John* are accepted in the catholic Church, and the *Wisdom* written by friends of Solomon in his honour.
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 Also of the revelations we accept only those of John and Peter, which (latter) some of our people do not want to have read in the Church. But Hermas wrote the Shepherd quite lately in our time in the city of Rome, when on the throne of the church of the city of Rome the bishop Pius, his brother, was seated. And therefore it ought indeed to be read, but it cannot be read publicly in the Church to the other people either among the prophets, whose number is settled, or among the apostles to the end of time.
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 But we accept nothing whatever from Arsinous or Valentinus and Miltiades (?), who have also composed a new psalm book for Marcion, together with Basilides of Asia Minor, the founder of the Cataphrygians."
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Note to Reader: the so-called 'Muratorian Fragment' is generally thought to come from Rome round about c.200CE.

/ Newsgroups >  alt.religion.christian.roman-catholic, alt.bible.prophecy, alt.religion.christian.biblestudy / Date > 29 Feb 2000 /
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 Introduction: Dear cyber-saints, sometimes these old books really do quite surprise me, you know. Usually these surprises tend to be of an unpleasant nature; especially when we are dealing with biblical studies and the immense mountain of secondary literature that has recently grown up around the Word of God. However, on rare occasions  we are joyfully surprised by the visions and insights offered by those dedicated Bible scholars who have so fearlessly laid down the roads and byways that the current generation of Bible students must, of necessity, tread. And this recently acquired Bible-study aid from 1960 promises to be a useful source (says the eternal optimist (who ought to know better by now)) for New Testament studies in general.
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 This book is the last volume in 'The Biblical Expositor: The Living Theme of the Great Book (with General and Introductory Essays and Exposition for each Book of the Bible in Three Volumes)'; Volume III, Editor: Carl F.H.Henry. This third volume on the New Testament (Matthew to Revelation) offers one essay for each of the 27 books (by various big-shot scholars such as Bruce, Henry, Morris, Ellis, etc), and it begins with an interesting introductory essay entitled "New Testament Backgrounds" by J.R.Mantey. It is the very beginning of this latter essay (ie. the start of the book) that I would like to share with you, because it speaks of a moment in history that is nowhere mentioned in the scriptures, but which may well be the single most pivotal moment marking the decisive turn away from the ancient  world toward what would soon be (ie. a mere 20 centuries later) the modern (and now post-modern) world.
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 It begins with the name of the single most influential warrior in all history before or since; a man who became, in many ways, the archetype of what a Messiah "should" be (or rather, what most people *expected* the Messiah to be). But some of you may be asking: Is it *really* important or necessary to have a considered knowledge of this man? Well, it's true that he's not explicitly *in* the Bible; but he is everywhere *behind* the Bible (and also lurking between the lines). Think of it this way: the Great One set in place the conditions that began the process of translating the Hebrew scriptures into Greek. And it was that translation (ie. the LXX) that became the basis of those sacred scriptures that would one day become the Holy Bible:
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 ALEXANDER THE GREAT began the Greek invasion of the Near East in 334 B.C.; that same year he defeated the Persian army at Granicus in Asia Minor, and again the following year at Issus. In 332 B.C. he reached the Phoenician coast (Lebanon) and captured Sidon and Tyre after a long siege. Proceeding south, he was welcomed in Jerusalem without resistance and with regal reception. The Jewish priests were in ceremonial costumes and the citizens were dressed in white garments (Josephus, Antiquities, Book XI, VIII, 5). This friendly demonstration influenced Alexander to offer the Jews generous terms. No one was taken into slavery; they were permitted free enjoyment of their laws and religious liberties; they were exempted in sabbatical years from paying taxes. Thousands of young Jews enlisted in Alexander's army and marched south to help him conquer Egypt, and then helped subdue what remained of the Persian army in the Near East. Seventy cities were colonized and settled by people friendly to Alexander and became centers of Greek culture, including Antioch, Jerusalem and Alexandria. Greek sports became so popular that Jewish priests were accused of neglecting duties to participate in them. Greek philosophy and culture were generally received and entered into dynamic competition with Jewish concepts and culture. -- From the essay 'New Testament Backgrounds' by Julius Robert Mantey, in 'The Biblical Expositor', Vol.III, page 3.

P.S. Note to Reader: The above article should NOT be taken as an endorsement of 'The Biblical Expositor'. In fact, as commentary on the scriptures it is horrible beyond measure. The bits on Luke and 2Peter are particularly loathsome to the cyber-prophet; but maybe that's just me. In any case, this commentary is actually suitable *ONLY* for foolish Fundies who falsely fancy that the shape and course of canonical history is determined solely by an irrational and misguided piety!

/ Newsgroup > alt.religion.christian.biblestudy / Date > 7 Jan 2000 /

 "Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the earth. I have not come to bring peace but a sword. For I have come to set a man against his father, a daughter against her mother, and a daughter-in-law against her mother-in-law; and a man's enemies will be the members of his household." -- Matthew 10:34-36 / NETbible

 The long history of the Faith is a history of ceaseless conflict and confrontation. The escape of the slaves from Egypt arose from the conflict between the prophet-prince Moses and the demi-god Pharaoh. The Promised Land was taken by force, and protected by strong walls. It was also lost to invading forces that mere walls cannot stop.
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 Faith in the Son of Man likewise gained its earliest traditions from the conflict with the Jewish religious establishment in and around Jerusalem. The Christian persecution tradition began in earnest with the forced exodus (from the Holy City) of the Greek-speaking Jewish-believers, and later found expression in the early letters of Paulos and Silvanus (so beautifully preserved in the Thessalonian letters) as they carried the word of God into alien pagan lands:

 "Because of this we for our part unceasingly thank God that when you received from us the Word of the message of God you accepted not a word of men, but what it really is, a word of God (which works in you who believe). For you brothers and sisters became imitators of the assemblies of God in Christ Jesus which are in Judea. You suffered the same treatment from your own countrymen as they did from the Jews who killed both the Lord Jesus and the prophets, and also drove us out." -- First Thessalonians 2:13-15 / Prophet Version

 Alas, conflict between these two prophets of the Lord Jesus Christ split them apart even as they together created the Christian epistles that sparked the formation of the new Christian scriptures (only much later to be canonized by the Emperor's bishops as the New Testament).
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 In the second century (of the Common Era) the ongoing conflicts with Judaism and paganism were compounded by the internal threat of Gnostic-Christians who were all the more dangerous by presenting themselves as orthodox believers. The prophets of Egypt confronted them with the true Christian gnosis, and assured the place of the Jewish/Hebrew scriptures among the holy books of the new and thriving religion. The sporadic conflicts with the Roman Empire ended with the conversion of the Emperor Constantine; but the conflict between the bishops and the churches of the great cities continued (as they fought for ownership of the Faith). And when the Empire and its new religion finally merged, the West was quickly ripped apart by barbarian invaders.
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 In the East, the Faith found itself confronted by Mohammed and the rising tide of Islam; and that battle would eventually be lost. But in Europe, a new civilization emerged on the ruins of the old, built around the religion of the priests and bishops and monks. When new Christian nations formed around the great cities, Christian kings made war on each other, and Christian soldiers died on all sides. Conflict exploded like gunpowder when the corruption of the Faith became unbearable to noble and peasant alike; and bloodshed followed after the war of words created by the new and remarkable printing press.
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 Ever since then, this dismal legacy of conflict and confrontation between individual Christians, between the many and various theologies, sects, and denominations, between Christian people's, nations, and cultures, etc, has repeated itself and repeated itself and repeated itself ...
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 And nowhere more so than in cyber-space! ... BYTE ME!

P.S. "Whoever, then, acknowledges me before people, I will acknowledge before my Father in heaven. But whoever denies me before people, I will deny him also before my Father in heaven." -- Matthew 10:32-33 / NETbible

/ Newsgroups > alt.bible.prophecy, alt.religion.christian.biblestudy / Date > 8 Jan 2000 / Topic >

 Dear Cyber-Saints, now you may think that reading is a simple and easy thing to do. For most pomo cyber-literates this is obviously true. But when you consider that writing began as nothing more than counting dots and numbering lines, many thousands of years ago (when there were no such things as cities), and was only very slowly developed into wedge-shaped symbols and pictographs, it seems clear that we all tend to forget the true value and power of the written language. Post-modern urban dwellers of the 21st century are constantly bombarded by symbols and texts by way of dozens of various media. Literacy abounds in the information age, oh yes. But the same cannot be said for education. Newspapers, TV, the WWWeb, and advertising in general, have cheapened and degraded the value and meaning of the written word to the point where very few Christians are able to appreciate that twas not so for the believers that came before us.
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 The sages and prophets of olden times were fierce in the living word, and spoke directly to living ears (able, but not always willing, to hear); but they likewise knew the meaning and power of the written text. Thus the Torah developed slowly over the generations, drawing heavily from the oral traditions of the storytellers and rememberers (and then feeding back into them). Thus words beget more words; and scripture generates more scriptures. The history of Buddhism can hardly be understood without long reference to literally thousands of holy books spanning 25 centuries or more. The history of the Faith likewise cannot be understood apart from the writings of the great saints and teaches and fathers of the church; but Christians today are curiously reluctant to suppose that anything non-canonical could actually be worth reading (let alone worthy of prolonged study).
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 Perhaps this is a sign of the widespread corruption of the Faith among this arrogant and faithless generation? Or maybe it is a sign of the End-Times? Certainly the early Christian prophets of Egypt were learned men who read widely the sacred and profane books that their world had to offer. It is this love of learning combined with a strong respect for the written text (in all its various forms) that energizes the Christian prophetic tradition from Paulos of Damascus to the author of Hebrews (in the first century CE) to Jacob, Judas, and 2Peter (in the second century CE) to Clement and Origen of Alexandria (in the third century CE). In the fourth century the Christian-gnosis of the prophets dies an abrupt and painful death; and is (more or less) never heard from again ...

/ Topic was > Re: Alleged NT Discrepancies? / Date > 13 Oct 2002 / Forum > TheologyOnline: Philosophy ~ Religion /
/ Newsgroups >  alt.religion.apologetics, alt.religion.christian.biblestudy, alt.bible /

 The problem with *alleged* NT discrepancies is, you see, that many are by no means merely alleged. But these real discrepancies are only problematic in a serious way if we are unable to handle scriptural authority in a flexible and sensible manner. One way to do this is to be very clear on the necessity of being able to distinguish between the inerrant and infallible SPIRIT of the Sacred Text, and the often errant and fallible LETTER of the Text!
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 Everyone knows that Jesus told us to worship God in "spirit and truth", but few are willing to concede that this means we must also read the bible in exactly the same way: in spirit and truth. The failure to do so (chiefly for simplicity's sake) has led many believers to handle various textual problems by simply denying and/or ignoring them. In this way the truth of things gets shoved aside in the pressing need to maintain an illusory authority in the *letter* of the text!
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 Must believers hold to the idea that every book in the bible is equally inspired and therefore equally authoritative and binding over the hearts and minds and lives of believers? Does each verse have the same power and authority as all the others? Is the authority of the Word bound to the idea that inspiration is evenly distributed throughout this library of books such that each word, nay, each letter, contains exactly the same amount of inspiration and authority as any other?
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 Oh surely not! Surely this idea of "quality by the numbers" is sheer lunacy brought on by the unfortunate inability to distinguish between the letter and the spirit of the Word?! But if we exercise a little common sense by maintaining the necessary philosophical and theological and methodological distinctions between the spirit and letter of the texts, then lo and behold, all of these pesky little discrepancies either solve themselves or fade into insignificance once their alleged destructive power has been thus drained away.
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 In order to illustrate the functional utility of this insight into the nature of scriptural authority, let us now attempt to apply it to a rather nasty contradiction within the gospels. This contradiction is doubly potent and troubling because it concerns the teachings of Christ on a rather important matter: "Do not stop him," Jesus said. "No one who does a miracle in my name can in the next moment say anything bad about me, for whoever is not against us is for us" (Mark 9:39-40).
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 "He who is not with Me is against Me; and he who does not gather with Me scatters" (Mt.12:30).
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 Here we have two contrary views of what the Christian attitude toward unorthodox believers (and even, by implication, other religions) should be. The first text advocates tolerance and acceptance of religious pluralism, whereas the second urges rejection and separation. Which one of these verses correctly expresses the Lord's actual thinking?
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 One popular way of dealing with such problems is to place them within the context of the scriptures as a whole; but the problem here is that there is abundant scriptural support for both positions, such that not even the Holy Bible itself can resolve this nasty literary dilemma. But if we recall that the reason why the bible supports both positions is because they were both needed (although not both at the same time), then we are at least in a position to understand that such little paradoxes are not faith-breakers at all, but merely the expression of the various stages of growth that the early churches went through as they struggled for the destiny of souls and empires.
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 Thus for the author of Matthew's gospel it is perfectly consistent for Christ to say 'If you're not with me then you're against me'. It is consistent and logical within the context of Mt, within the context of the author's life and times, within the context of the author's hopes and fears and intentions for his own church (and for other churches as well). If we now recall that Mt is also a revision, expansion, and commentary on Mark's gospel, then the significance of Mk's literary and historical priority becomes clear. It is the author of Mt who has modified the older tradition to meet the pressing needs of his churches. Accordingly, it is the Markan tradition that more faithfully reflects the Lord's teachings and person.
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 In other words, the authority and truth of Mark 9:39-40 logically, historically, and necessarily supercedes the doctrinal force of Mt.12:30. Thus what once appeared to be a horrifying logical contradiction is now seen to be no contradiction at all. And what once appeared to be a mysterious paradox is now seen to be no paradox, no problem, no inconvenience at all! It is only those who cannot comprehend the distinction between the spirit and letter of the Word that are unable to deal with the text as it is "in the raw".

P.S. "For that Spirit which had taken this fresh step in history is the inmost soul of all individuals; but in a state of unconsciousness which the great men in question aroused. Their fellows, therefore, follow these soul-leaders; for they feel the irresistible power of their own inner Spirit thus embodied." -- from Hegel's 'Philosophical History'

textman
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