THEME II PAUL & LUKE

SESSION 2.1The Future of Roman Christianity

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SESSION 2.1 THE FUTURE OF ROMAN CHRISTIANITYIn Theme 2, Session 1, Dr. Crossan wants us to understand that Luke is writing The Acts of the Apostles nearly 50 years after the death of Paul, which is about three generations later. It is important to understand what we should take and what we should not take as Lukan information about Paul. It is also important to recognize that Luke is actually writing a two-volume Gospel which we call Luke and Acts. Dr. Crossan suggests Luke would be surprised to find somebody called John right in the middle of his two volumes.

Dr. Crossan also makes clear that ancient scrolls were pages of papyrus glued together at the seams and were about 30 feet long. A 30-foot long scroll works fine for Matthew, Mark and John. But, Luke has planned his Gospel to be twice that length and so needs two scrolls for his two volumes. Luke did not foresee his Gospel separated by John’s Gospel. In fact, Dr. Crossan says that we have ruined Luke’s twin-volume Gospel by separating Luke-Acts. You cannot stop at Luke 24 and think you have the Gospel of Luke; you have only half the Gospel of Luke.

1 Try this exercise. Someone in the group read The Gospel of Luke, Chapter 24: 1-50. Now, skip The Gospel of John and begin reading Acts 1:1-11. Now, skip to Acts 7:54-8:1.

2 How do you think Saul referred to himself, as Saul or as Paul? When people asked him, “What’s your name, kid?” How do you think he responded? If you saw Paul on the streets of Damascus and you shouted, “Hey, Paul!” Saul would look around for some Roman, named Paul. Why is this important?

3 Why does Luke move the holy city from Jerusalem to the city of Rome?

4 How does Luke solve his problem of moving the holy city from Jerusalem to Rome? How does Paul fit into Luke’s vision?

5 Since Romans did not think much of Judaism and they certainly did not like new religions, how does Luke persuade the Romans to accept Christianity? What impact does this have on Judaism?

Suppose you are Roman. Everything you have ever heard about Christianity equals trouble. Luke cannot deny that there does seem to be a trail of riot, execution, and crucifixion, following closely behind Christianity. He can’t deny that. But Luke can assert that it is not we Christians who are causing it. Dr. Crossan very clearly establishes Luke’s persuasive argument with the Romans that the riots are caused by the Jews. For example: “Paul and Barnabas spoke out boldly saying, it was necessary that the word of God should be spoken first to you, to the Jews, since you reject us and judge yourselves to be unworthy of eternal life, we are now turning to the Gentiles” (Acts 23:46).

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THE CHALLENGE OF PAUL 2PAUL & JESUS: SESSION 2.1

That represents Luke’s manifesto for the future as Christian Judaism becomes Christian Romanism. But, says Luke, that makes “the Jews” jealous and it is they who cause riots against the Christians. Here are two examples:

• At Pisidian Antioch, in western Turkey, “When the Jews saw the crowds, they were filled with jealousy; and blaspheming, they contradicted what was spoken by Paul.” (Acts 13:45).

• At Thessalonica, in northern Greece, “The Jews became jealous and with the help of some ruffians in the marketplaces they formed a mob and set the city in an uproar” (Acts 17:5)

6 What profound impact does Luke’s manifesto for the future of Christian Judaism becoming Christian Romanism have on the future of the Jewish community?

7 Luke goes to a lot of trouble declaring Jesus’s innocence. Why?

• “I find no basis for an accusation against this man” (Luke 23:4). Then he repeats it a second time: “You brought me this man as one who was perverting the people; and here I have examined him in your presence and have not found this man guilty of any of your charges against him. Neither has Herod, for he sent him back to us. Indeed, he has done nothing to deserve death” (Luke 23:14-15). Notice that, for Luke alone, both Pilate and Antipas agree on Jesus’ innocence.

• “A third time he said to them, ‘Why, what evil has he done? I have found in him no ground for the sentence of death.’” (Luke 23:22). As far as Roman law is concerned, Jesus is completely exonerated—by Luke.

8 Turning from Jesus to Paul, Paul spends a lot of time in prison. Why does Luke insist on Paul’s innocence? What is his point?

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THE CHALLENGE OF PAUL 3PAUL & JESUS: SESSION 2.1

THEME II PAUL & LUKE

SESSION 2.2Vision and Vocation in Damascus

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SESSION 2.2 VISION AND VOCATION IN DAMASCUS1 Why does Dr. Crossan caution the reader to always be very careful with Luke when Luke is referring to the Jews?

Dr. Crossan suggests that we consider the following comparison between the historical Paul’s account of his escape over the wall of Damascus and the Lukan Paul account:

• 2 Corinthians 11:32-33: “In Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in order to seize me but I was let down in a basket through a window in the wall and escaped from his hands.”

According to Paul’s own account it was Aretas IV, King of the Nabateans, with his capital city in Transjordanian Petra, who was the one trying to arrest Paul.

• Compare that with how Luke tells the same story in Acts 11:19-25: “In Damascus … the Jews … were watching the gates day and night so that they might kill him; but his disciples took him by night and let him down through an opening in the wall, lowering him in a basket.”

2 For Paul, as he describes the story of his escape over the wall in Damascus, it is a political conflict with the King of the Nabataeans. For Luke, it is a theological conflict with the community of the Jews. Paul’s information is historically very possible while Luke’s is inherently implausible. Why?

3 Dr. Crossan invites us to focus on the most famous scene in all of Paul’s life; famous, however, only due to Luke. This is the scene “On the Road to Damascus.” As an image, it is usually depicted with Paul prostrate on his back, having been knocked from his horse —as if Paul could ever have afforded a horse! Dr. Crossan points out that the story of Paul’s vocation is told three times in the Acts of the Apostles. In Acts 9:15-16, Luke tells it in the third person about Paul; in Acts 22:15-15, Paul tells his fellow Jews about it; in Acts 26:16-18, he tells his Roman captors about it. But, here is the crucial question. Does Paul simply hear a voice or see a vision? Why is this distinction important?

4 Dr. Crossan is very clear about Luke’s description of what happened to Paul on the road to Damascus. As far as Luke is concerned, here is what happened: “Suddenly a light from heaven flashed around him. He fell to the ground and heard a voice” (Acts 9:3-4); “A great light from heaven shone around me, I fell to the ground and heard a voice” (Acts 22:6-9); “I saw a light from heaven, brighter than the sun, shining around me and my companions. When we had all fallen to the ground, I heard a voice” (Acts 26:13-14).

5 Now, here is what authentic Paul says in 1 Corinthians 1:1-2. “Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are you not the result of my work in the Lord? Even though I may not be an apostle to others, surely I am to you! For you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord.” Who is Paul if he had not seen the Risen Lord? What authority does he have? Why does Paul insists that he is equal to the Twelve as one called directly by Christ? Why is this important? Consider reading (Romans 11:13; 1 Corinthians 4:9; 9:1,2,5; 2 Corinthians 12:12; Galatians 1:17; 2:8; 1 Thessalonians 2:7).

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THE CHALLENGE OF PAUL 5PAUL & JESUS: SESSION 2.2

THEME II PAUL & LUKE

SESSION 2.3The Long-Distance Apostle

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SESSION 2.3 THE LONG-DISTANCE APOSTLEDr. Crossan recognizes that there are three major missions for Paul that he calls the Arabian Mission, the Anatolian Mission and the Aegean Mission. Look at each one of Paul’s missions.

1 Dr. Crossan indicates that Paul went into Arabia, the Arabian Mission, because he had been told by God, by Christ, to go to the Gentiles. Why does Luke have Paul always talking first to his fellow-Jews? Is this once again Lukan interpretation and not Pauline information?

2 Paul has been divinely ordered to the Gentiles. He is in Damascus. Where are the closest Gentiles? Invite someone to locate Damascus on an ancient map. Where is Damascus in relation to the Kingdom of the Nabateans?

3 King Aretas IV ruled Nabatea from Petra in the southern desert of trans-Jordan. Paul’s first and obvious mission to Gentiles is to the Nabatean Arabs of Transjordan. Why is Paul’s Arabian Mission a disaster? (It had, by the way, nothing to do with circumcision since Nabateran males were already circumcised as Arabs.) What happened?

Dr. Crossan offers the following historical facts:

• Dr. Crossan observes that around the year 36, right about the time Paul is in Nabatea, Herod Antipas, ruler of both Galilee west of the Jordan and Perea east of the Jordan, got involved in a war with Aretas IV of the Nabateans.

• The reason is because Antipas’ wife, Phasaelis, was the daughter of the Nabatean king and Antipas rejected her to marry Herodias. Phasaelis fled to her father who declared war on Antipas and was defeating him until the Romans intervened and stopped the war. Try and imagine a Jewish missionary (i.e., Paul) in Nabatea, in the mid 30s, in that situation. If ever a mission was doomed to disaster from the very beginning, it was Paul’s Arabian mission. No wonder he gives it no more than half a verse, “I went to Arabia.”

4 Saul (not yet “Paul”) under the guidance of Barnabas, sails to Salamis on the eastern coast of Cyprus. This is Paul’s second mission or The Anatolian Mission. From the eastern coast of Cyprus, they go all the way around the southern coast to the capital city, Paphos, on the western coast (Acts 13:5-6). That was the seat of the Governor, “the proconsul Sergius Paulus” (13:7) and that was where Luke for the first time changes the name Saul to Paul. Why does Luke make this name change?

5 Paul’s third mission, The Aegean Mission, begins with Paul having a major row (break up) with Jesus’ brother, James of Jerusalem, along with Peter, and “even Barnabas” (Galatians 2:13) in Antioch, on the Orontes River in Roman Syria, around the year 50. In order to stay out of the way of James, Peter and Barnabas, Paul heads westward to the Aegean. There, Paul focuses on the capital cities of the Roman provinces: Thessalonica, Corinth, and Ephesus. Why does Paul focus on the provincial capital cities near the Aegean Sea?

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THE CHALLENGE OF PAUL 7PAUL & JESUS: SESSION 2.3

THEME II PAUL & LUKE

SESSION 2.4The God-Worshippers

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SESSION 2.4 THE GOD-WORSHIPPERSIf you walk into a Jewish synagogue in any major first-century Roman city on the Sabbath, you certainly find there both Jews and Jewish converts. But would you also find a lot of non-Jewish pagans as Jewish sympathizers called, variously, “God-worshippers” or “God-fearers” or even “God-lovers”?

1 Given your background and your experience in Christianity what does the term “God-worshipers” suggest to you?

2 What is your understanding of Paul’s focus on the “God-worshipers?”

3 In Session 2.4, Dr. Crossan introduces us to Lydia, a serious business-woman and a “God worshiper.” Consider yourself as a faithful Jew, a member of the Jewish community. You belong to a community that welcomes gentiles. It is the morning of Sabbath and you are looking forward to the gathering of the Sabbath by the river. You look forward to being with your friends, some of whom are God-fearing gentiles. While there, this guy, Paul, shows up. What happens? What happens when the stranger shows up?

4 Why were Paul’s fellow-Jews so furious with Paul’s mission? Were Paul’s fellow-Jews in conflict with Paul because of some theological dispute about Jesus the Messiah or was the conflict because of the social implications of their “God-worshippers” becoming Christian Jews?

5 If what Dr. Crossan is saying is true, what does that mean for people who want to understand the historical roots of Christianity. What was really going on in the first century? What was Luke really up to? Was it really about salvation? Was Paul really concerned about justification by faith? (“Justification by faith” reminds many of Martin Luther’s theology, but Paul meant something entirely different by it.) What did Paul mean when he used it?

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THE CHALLENGE OF PAUL 9PAUL & JESUS: SESSION 2.4