Paul the Ambassador: The Antioch Incident, Alcohol and Peter’s “Gentilizing”

Ending the last section, we set up the issues surrounding the so-called Antioch incident, mostly because it occurred in that early hub of Christian activity. For the next few posts, I will include the text under commentary above the comments I make below. For the next few posts, we will be focused on Gal. 2:11–14.

Paul the Ambassador: Paul in Arabia

One of the more intriguing passages in Paul’s valuable autobiographical statements in Galatians is his explanation of his activities after receiving the revelation of Christ. He states that, after these visions, “I did not go to ask advice from any human being, nor did I go up to Jerusalem to see those who were apostles

Paul the Ambassador: What kind of Man was Paul of Tarsus?

Much can be said about a person based on their underlying character qualities. With Paul, we have access to a rather unfiltered version of him in that the evidence that remains is from his own hand (or, more realistically, the hands of his enslaved secretaries), and is written to people he knew. This means that

Paul and the Historical Jesus: Pauline Priority in Historical Jesus Studies

In general, I am not interested in the historical Jesus. I agree with Meier’s characterization of him as a marginal Jew, meaning, in common terms, a nobody. So much of a nobody that it really doesn’t matter who the historical Jesus was, because Christianity isn’t based on him, nor any other modern movement. However, if

Paul the Ambassador: What does Paul Mean by “Judaism” in Galatians 1?

The content of Gal 1 is the origin of Paul’s announcement (incorrectly translated ‘gospel’ in most translations). This is the proclamation of Jesus’ messianic candidacy and the remedy to the spiritual death of the Gentiles through the reception of his life-breath (pneuma, incorrectly translated as ‘spirit’ in most translations), which has the capacity to revive

Paul the Ambassador: Paul’s Response to the Antioch Incident

Paul responds sharply to the halakhic position of the agitators, Peter, and the men from Jacob for the sociological implications of their position vis-a-vis the religious identity of his followers. Here is my modified NRSVue rendering of Paul’s words. I have modified the Greek Christ for the Semitic Messiah. Following the suggestions of many scholars,

Mark and the Rabbis: Reading the Sabbath Pericopae in Context

Two pericopae in Mark 2 and 3 deal with the issue of the Sabbath and reflect the halakhah of the Jesus movement. This was a mark of Jewish identity then as much as now. In this story, Jesus’ disciples seemingly break one of the laws of the Sabbath, according to rabbinic understanding of the nature

Paul the Ambassador: Galatians as a Halakhic Letter

Considering Galatians to be a halakhic letter is something that has been proposed before but might be somewhat surprising for the average reader. How could a letter so famously associated with the idea of “justification by faith alone” be considered a Jewish legal opinion? The problem is that “justification by faith alone” is an incorrect

My Thoughts on Messianic Judaism

Messianic “Judaism” is a branch of syncretistic Evangelicalism that combines elements of Rabbinic Judaism, mostly ritual, with Evangelical theology. That is, a Messianic will pray with a siddur and perhaps wear a tallit but believe in the Trinity, original sin, substitutionary atonement, and the inerrancy of Scripture. This makes the endeavor, ultimately, appropriation of Jewish

Paul the Ambassador: Halakhah in the Second Temple Period

Halakhah is the Hebrew word, derived from the root for “walking” used to describe Jewish law, because it governs all aspects of life for the observant Jew. It has evolved over the centuries and, in certain moments, Jews of various sects have had oppositional interpretations of how the Torah is to be interpreted in a