The Apostle Paul was, for much of his life, an abject failure who never knew the success of his Christianizing mission. From his letters, written 50-60 A.D., we know that most of his relationships deteriorated in the midst of his overbearing personality, Jesus' original 12 disciples could hardly tolerate the man. Paul had to constantly fight to see that the congregations he started stayed true to his teachings, and he failed on numerous occasions to complete his missionary journeys because of disputes back in Judea. And yet, Paul was incredibly talented in one key measure: being divisive.
Interlaced within his Epistles, and other New Testament texts, lies a challenging narrative concerning the founding of the Christian Church. A narrative that leads up to one event that shaped the religion for generations to come, that led to Paul's violent death, and set forth an understanding of Jesus, the Christ, which was a far cry from the underclass, largely unlettered, first-century Palestinian Jew. The event, occurring between 58-60 A.D., was the supposed third Jerusalem Council, where Paul expected he could finally make amends with Jesus' original followers. Yet, as Gerd Ludemann flatly states, "Paul miscalculated this situation."
It did not go as planned.
First some background: Paul, a self-professed Hebrew among Hebrews, was rarely at peace with his original followers back in Jerusalem. James the brother of Jesus, Peter and the other remaining disciples were keen on keeping the movement -- then known as The Way -- as a Temple-based, ethnically Jewish, messianic mission. They were suspect of Paul, and understandably so. He had once been their chief persecutor prior to his conversion, around 36-39 A.D.
"He was not one of those disciples up in Galilee. He was Johnny-come-lately to this movement," says Pauline Scholar Richard Horsley. He was a lone man with a vision that insisted on the equal inclusion of Gentiles, without any Jewish regulation. And at times, because of his insightful visions, he considered himself a superior Apostle to those who had been with and followed the living Jesus. At best he was a nuisance, at worst he was a threat.
In Galatians, 51-53 A.D., where Paul offers something of an autobiography, we read that when he sought this lot's endorsement for his mission, an important endorsement for an evangelist claiming to be an "Ambassador of Christ," one thing was required of him in return -- that he continue his monetary collection which has started with Barnabas in Antioch and expand it into the Gentile congregations in Asia Minor and Eastern Mediterranean, and that he deliver it back to the Church in Jerusalem.
The gift was the crux of Paul's bargain. "Had he not brought a collection, he would have welched on the agreement and it would be off," according to Union Theological Seminary's Paul Achtemeier. Paul could have his mission to the Gentiles, and with it the sanctioning of those Jesus left in charge of the movement, but as part of the deal he needed to collect money from the Pagans to support the Christians -- known as "the Poor" -- still worshiping in the Jerusalem Temple. Paul, in a sense, bought his commission. It was, as some 20th century Pauline scholarship has come to term the moment, a Polite Bribe.
This moment stands as an entre to the sub-plot for much of the New Testament. That is the conflict between Paul, who viewed Jesus' message as a law-ending, ethnicity breaking, license to missionize the Gentiles, and the Judean Church who very much viewed the Jesus movement as part-and-parcel with the Jewish faith, Temple life and their ethnicity. For the apocalyptic Paul, all was passing away and there was no need for man-made laws or temples, only a spiritual relationship with soon returning Christ.
The collection conflict narrative is one that Christians, shortly after Paul, attempted to paint-over. This was not a challenging task as after the sacking of Jerusalem, in 70 A.D., the Pauline congregations are effectively all that was left of Christianity, because the Romans eliminated the Judean Church. Following later writers, such as the author of Luke-Acts (written around 90 A.D.), would present something of a rosey picture of unity in the early Church. Acts, in particular, conflicts with a number of Paul's own statements in his epistles as to his relationship with the Judean Church.
We learn that Paul's visionary mission and message was not only a spiritual battle, but also a socio-political and even ethnic struggle that involved more than questions of the Torah and circumcision. It involved money, power, questions of who spoke for Jesus, and what were the correct barriers of Jewish ethnicity. Agreeing to return a collection to Jerusalem gave Paul the chance to find the support that would allow the fulfillment of his missionary journey.
And yet, it is not until he decides to turn back from that journey, reluctantly early in 58 A.D., that we witness the full consequence of the collection. In the years he was on the mission field Roman oppression had surged in Jerusalem and the Jews responded by increasingly asserting their chosen identity. Soon, the Temple banned gifts from Pagans. According to Princeton's Early Church Historian Elaine Pagels there was, understandably, "a lot of anxiety about how he is going to be received."
So when Paul, with his collection and Gentile believers from each of the churches in tow, returned to Jerusalem, he was in for a rude welcome. Jesus' brother James a Nazarite and daily visitor of the Temple, suggested he go there to offer the gift and complete his ritualistic duties as proof of being a faithful Hebrew. It's possible that James wanted, dreadfully, not be associated with Paul. According to Dominic Crossan, there was an opinion about that "this is a renegade. Don't have anything to do with him. Don't take a gift from him." Predictably, according to Acts, Paul's presence at the Temple sparked a riot.
He was beaten to within inches of his life. And, in a moment of terrifying irony, he was rescued from the stones of his own people by pagan Roman guards. Acts says he claimed he was a Roman Citizen and was rescued. This collection, this pay-off, which was to allow his mission to continue, would ultimately lead to the end of Paul. "Paul final days end up being just deeply pathetic, filled with pathos," says to Duke University's Douglas Campbell. Years later tradition has it that he died a prisoner of Rome.
The story of Paul's collection exposes a character who could hardly have imagined that the men he worked so hard to impress, an ultimately appease with money, would be little more than footnotes in the story of his founding of the Christian religion.
WATCH a trailer for "A Polite Bribe":
For more information about A Polite Bribe visit www.thepaulstory.com.
Greg Carey: The Power and Presence of Women In The Earliest Churches
Know ye not that the unrighteous shall not inherit the kingdom of God? Be not deceived: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor abusers of themselves with mankind,
Nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor extortioners, shall inherit the kingdom of God.
NASB
Or do you not know that the unrighteous will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived; neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor effeminate, nor homosexuals, nor thieves, nor the covetous, nor drunkards, nor revilers, nor swindlers, will inherit the kingdom of God.
NIV
9 Or do you not know that wrongdoers will not inherit the kingdom of God? Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor men who have sex with men[a] 10 nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God.
Remove the word homosexuals from the Bible, it does not belong in there. It is not even a close translation to what Paul said. nor is men who have sex with men. These gross mistranslations are only doing harm to children and millions of people. They have played a big part in why countless of good people have commit suicide, been beaten, been abused, and been murdered.
The same goes for ( 1 Timothy 1:9-10 )
Anyone that calls themselves a good Christians will do all they can to correct this.
Thank you, and God bless.
I have kids who Q-tech these guys............It is discussed over Holiday dinner with friends.
I love it.
Sounds like those D republicans.
Get a rope.
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"He was not one of those disciples up in Galilee. He was Johnny-come-lately to this movement," says Pauline Scholar Richard Horsley. He was a lone man with a vision that insisted on the equal inclusion of Gentiles, without any Jewish regulation. And at times, because of his insightful visions, he considered himself a superior Apostle to those who had been with and followed the living Jesus. At best he was a nuisance, at worst he was a threat."
Acts 11:1- "And the apostles and brethren that were in Judaea heard that the Gentiles had also received the word of God.  And when Peter was come up to Jerusalem, they that were of the circumcision contended with him, Saying, Thou wentest in to men uncircumcised, and didst eat with them. But Peter rehearsed the matter from the beginning, and expounded it by order unto them, saying..." (Read the full Acts chapter 11 here, to see for yourself what Peter, one of the "pillars" of the Jerusalem Jewish-Christians, said to the other Jews who contended with him, not just Paul, re preaching to Gentiles): http://biblegateway.com/passage/index.php?search=Acts+11&version=KJV
    30 Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye strive together with me in your prayers to God for me; 31 That I may be delivered from them that do not believe in Judaea; and that my service which I have for Jerusalem may be accepted of the saints; 32 That I may come unto you with joy by the will of God, and may with you be refreshed. 33 Now the God of peace be with you all. Amen."
http://www.middletownbiblechurch.org/romans/romans15.htm
Then scroll down to the blue subheadings of: ROMANS 15:25-26; ROMANS 15:27; & ROMANS 15:28-29, for a fuller discussion & a breakdown of the individual events & circumstances re this relief contribution Paul was then planning to carry from the Gentile believers in Macedonia & Achaia to the poor Jewish believers down in Jerusalem/Judea (too many words to post here).
Of course it is call mans SPIRIT.
All we have to do is listen.
Problem......... we have been getting info from another person instead of God.
It was not Jesus-when-here-in-the-flesh who said our bodies were the temple of the Holy Spirit. Â It was PAUL who wrote that (& Paul received all his many revelations of truth directly from the RISEN, glorified Lord):
•1 Corinthians 3:16-17:  "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are."
Â
•1 Corinthians 6:19:  "What? know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God, and ye are not your own?"