Paul and Jesus

Do not be of two minds or speak from both sides of your mouth, for speaking from both sides of your mouth is a deadly trap. (2.4)

Do not be one who reaches out your hands to receive but draws them back from giving. (4.5)

Do not shun a person in need, but share all things with your brother and do not say that anything is your own. (4.8)

Following the ethical exhortations there are four chapters on baptism, fasting, prayer, the Eucharist, and the anointing with oil, which remind one very much of the kind of instruction one finds in the teachings of Jesus preserved in the Q source. The Eucharist is a simple thanksgiving meal of wine and bread with references to Jesus as the holy “vine of David.” It ends with a prayer: “Hosanna to the God of David.” The Davidic lineage of Jesus is thus emphasized. Absent is Paul’s idea that the bread represented Jesus’ flesh and the wine his blood, shed for the sins of the world.

There are final chapters on testing prophets and appointing worthy leaders. Again the instructions seem to reflect a Palestinian context, similar to that we see in the Q source, where wandering teachers and prophets are operating within the various communities. The last chapter contains warnings about the “last days,” the coming of a final deceiving false prophet, and the resurrection of the righteous who have died. It ends with language similar to that used by the New Testament letter of Jude, the brother of Jesus and James. The key phrases are taken from Zechariah and Daniel: “The Lord will come and all of his holy ones with him” and “Then the world will see the Lord coming on the clouds of the sky.” Both references to the “Lord” here are to Yahweh, the God of Israel.

The entire content and tone of the Didache reminds one strongly of the faith and piety we find in the letter of James, and teachings of Jesus in the Q source. The most amazing thing about the Didache in terms of the two types of Christian faith—that of Paul and that of Jesus—is that there is nothing in this document that corresponds to Paul’s “Gospel”—no divinity of Jesus, no atonement through his body and blood, and not even any direct reference to Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. In the Didache Jesus is the one who has brought the knowledge of life and faith, but there is no emphasis whatsoever upon the figure of Jesus apart from his message. Sacrifice and forgiveness of sins in the Didache come through good deeds and a consecrated life (4.6). What we have surviving in the Didache is an abiding witness to a form of the Christian faith that traces directly back to Jesus and was carried on and perpetuated by James, and the rest of the twelve apostles.

As we turn to Paul and begin to examine the elements of his understanding of the Christian message, it is important that we place him within this world of Jesus and the form of Christianity that he first encountered when he joined the movement. As we will see, Paul had his own fiercely independent “Gospel,” which contrasted sharply to the Christianity of Jesus, James, and their earliest followers. Paul completely transformed everything from earth to heaven, and the largely untold story of how that happened is preserved in his own words within the New Testament itself.

Paul occupies a unique place historically in that he not only sets forth his own independent version of what he calls “the Gospel,” but he is our earliest witness to faith in Jesus’ resurrection from the dead. Since Paul’s letters all date to the 50s A.D., and are thus our earliest Christian documents, they can provide us with some important historical clues as to how Christians might have understood Jesus’ resurrection in the very earliest years of the movement—even before there were written gospels, and for that matter, even before Paul joined the movement. Before examining Paul’s understanding of his own mission and message it makes sense to probe as far back as possible, using him as our earliest source, in trying to grasp what happened immediately after Jesus’ death. As we will see, his view of Jesus’ resurrection differs substantially from that of the later gospel accounts.

TWO

RETHINKING RESURRECTION

OF THE DEAD