My apologies ─ I neglected to proofread again after I'd hit 'Post'. (Now sorted.)
2 Corinthians 5:19 says (NRSVue) ─
19 that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself,[x] not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting the message of reconciliation to us. 20 So we are ambassadors for Christ, since God is making his appeal through us; we entreat you on behalf of Christ: be reconciled to God. 21For our sake God made the one who knew no sin to be sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.
but footnote [x] gives an alternative reading for verse 19 :
Or, God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.[/i]
As I said, the Jesus of Paul and the Jesus of John have Gnostic features, not shared with the synoptics. The Gnostic God was exquisitely pure spirit and thus would never entertain the idea of a material world, so it fell to the Jesus of Paul and the Jesus of John to create the material world (the role of the Gnostic 'demiurge' (craftsman)). For Paul, note ─
1 Corinthians 8:6 yet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist.
and for John ─
John 1:2 He was in the beginning with God; 3 all things were made through him, and without him was not anything made that was made.
The Gnostic God (being absolutely pure) was also incredibly remote. That's why the Jesus of Paul and particularly the Jesus of John think of Jesus as the bridge between man and God. This is most clearly, but not only, found in John 17 eg
20 “I ask not only on behalf of these but also on behalf of those who believe in me through their word; 21 that they may all be one. As you, Father, are in me and I am in you, may they also be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. 22 The glory that you have given me I have given them, so that they may be one, as we are one, 23 I in them and you in me, that they may become completely one, so
that the world may know that you have sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. 24 Father, I desire that those also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory, which you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world. (NRSVue)
But they definitely differ. The problem with trying to reconcile the disagreements between the five versions of Jesus into a single model is that all you end up with is a sixth model that disagrees with the other five.
See the quotes above.
Yes, but Paul is very sketchy if we're looking for a biography of Jesus. Paul's Jesus pre-existed in heaven, made the material world, was born of a woman and was a descendant of David, he was crucified by the Romans, was buried, and was seen by "the 500" after his death ─ I don't think I've left much out.
But for Paul, the God of Jesus is NOT the God of the Tanakh ─ the glaring difference being Paul's willingness to discard the covenant of circumcision (on the grounds that it was getting in the way of sales, as no doubt it would).
Because the authors of the gospels drew on the Tanakh for their 'life of Jesus' and moved him, as authors can, through various scenes so that he "might fulfill prophecy". They all do it, but the author of Matthew is as blatant as any eg (Matthew 21:2-5) he absurdly sits Jesus across a foal and a donkey to ride into Jerusalem “to fulfill prophecy” in Zechariah 9.9.
The NRSVue version of Acts 20:28 instead reads ─
28 Keep watch over yourselves and over all the flock, of which the Holy Spirit has made you overseers, to shepherd the church
of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
though with the footnote: "Or, with his own blood; Gk with the blood of his Own." (The Greek is 20:28 προσέχετε ἑαυτοῖς καὶ παντὶ τῷ ποιμνίῳ ἐν ᾧ ὑμᾶς τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ ἅγιον ἔθετο ἐπισκόπους ποιμαίνειν τὴν ἐκκλησίαν τοῦ θεοῦ ἣν περιεποιήσατο διὰ τοῦ αἵματος τοῦ ἰδίου.of God that he obtained with the blood of his own Son.
But God being crucified and God's son being crucified are two very different theologies, and it makes inexplicable the Jesus of Mark and the Jesus of Matthew, on the cross, crying out "Me, me, why have I forsaken me?" and all four gospel Jesuses saying in the garden, "If it be my will, let this cup pass from me."
and how is it that you do not understand that Lord Jesus can be both obedient and disagree ? whats the problem ? you were told where Jesus disagrees at least a couple of times now ? Jesus does not want to go through with the Human Sacrifice... Jesus ends up obeying the command .. but this is not his Will .. showing us these are two separate minds .. that do not always agree .. just like another "Son of God" who is subordinate to "The Father" but does not always agree .. "Pleased to meet you .. don't forget my name" is the name of this God .. Chief God over the earth .. tester of souls .. until such time as Jesus takes over .. seated at the right hand of the Father .. until such time as the "Son of Man" come .. to give poor Sataniel long awaited and well deserved rest . babysitting these humans ..no easy task.
