A Pagan Novel, Jesus, and a Tomb

A Pagan Novel, Jesus, and a Tomb

Brett A. Todd

We have mentioned in the past how the stories of Jesus were passed down by word of mouth and possibly even in written texts, whether Jewish or Christian.  Eventually, these stories ended up becoming resources for the authors of the New Testament to help them write their own stories, however, we also know many of these Gospel stories found their sources in Greek and Roman literature.  To put it more plainly, the Gospel stories did not get their inspiration only from other Jewish and Christian stories but also from pagan stories.

Among scholars, this idea has at times become contentious.  Basically, what you have are two sides to this debate.  You have those who believe all the stories of the Bible came from pure oral traditions passed down from one Christian to another and those who believe the stories of the Bible come from Greek and Roman pagan stories.  Truth be told, it is actually a mix of both.  This will be something we will talk about in another study.  Notwithstanding, it is certain, that many of the Bible stories make allusions to Greek and Roman literature.  Not word for word, but the inspiration seems obvious.  

The story of Jesus’ tomb and his resurrection is one example.  Although we cannot go into depth, we can at least give you a sense of how the Gospel stories do make allusions to Greek and Roman stories.  Here is one from an ancient novel, Chariton’s novella Chaereas and Callirhoe, Book 3, Section 3 (1 CE-100 CE):

At the crack of dawn, Chaereas turned up at the tomb, apparently to offer wreaths and libations…he found that the stones had been moved and the entrance was open. He was astonished at the sight and overcome by fearful perplexity at what had happened…It seemed incredible that even the corpse was not lying there…Chaereas looked toward the heavens, stretched up his arms, and cried: “Which of the gods is it, then, who has become my rival in love and carried off Callirhoe?

There are other similar pagan stories as well, however, this one is quite pronounced.  

In light of this particular allusion, what can we learn?  If you were an educated Gospel writer, you were more than likely aware of these pagan stories and would use them to help create your own stories.  Here I cannot stress enough that all of these authors, not just Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John, but other Gospel writers whose books didn’t make it into the Bible, were in competition with each other to get their books on the ancient bestseller list (the Bible).  So they borrowed material from other Christians, made stories up, and used Greek and Roman writings as a way to make their Gospel, the best Gospel.

In our next study, we will study marriage: polygamy and the Bible.

Straddling Two Donkeys?

 

Straddling Two Donkeys?

Brett A. Todd

Every year on Palm Sunday, churches around the world celebrate Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem, “Hosanna; Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord!”  Some churches even have Palm Sunday pageants with people in costume waving their palms, and a real donkey walking down the aisle of the church.  But never have I heard or seen two donkeys walking down the church aisle, it’s always one donkey.  Makes sense, doesn’t it? How could Jesus ride two donkeys at one time?

All four of the Gospels in the Bible tell the story of Jesus riding into Jerusalem as the crowds laid down their coats and/or palm branches (John 12:13) for Jesus to ride over as he made his way to Jerusalem (Matthew 21:1-9; Mark 11:10; Luke 19:28-48; John 12:12-19).  But in Matthew’s story, we are told he rode not only on a donkey but also on a colt, two donkeys at the same time.  This is how it reads, Matthew 21:7:

they brought the donkey and the colt, and put their cloaks on them, and he sat on them.

What is going on?  Certainly, Jesus was not riding the donkey and the colt at the same time, was he?

Some attempts have been made to reconcile and harmonize Matthew’s reading with the other three Gospels (Mark, Luke, and John).  Let me share a couple of interpretations with you.  First, some believe when Matthew said Jesus “sat on them”, he was actually using a loose form of speech to mean “one of them”.   An example of this loose form of speech would be, “he jumped off the cliffs”, but in reality, he only jumped from one cliff.  

Another interpretation goes like this: when Matthew said, “sat on them” what he was referring to was the cloaks they put on the donkeys.  So when Jesus sat on one donkey, he was actually sitting on several cloaks (them).   Mistakenly, some Bible translators have taken it upon themselves to make their translations read as though there was only one donkey when the New Testament Greek is clear, there are two donkeys.  

I know, I know, this all gets quite confusing, doesn’t it? Let me offer you what I believe is a much more accurate and simpler interpretation.   Instead of doing a “song and a dance”, let’s just admit that Matthew messed up.  In his zealous attempt to make Jesus’ victorious entry into Jerusalem a fulfillment of Scripture (Zacheriah 9:9), Matthew botched up the story.

For many Christians, it is difficult to admit that the Bible is not perfect.  The image they have in their mind is God manually guiding the hands of the authors of the Bible so there would be no mistakes.  Well, guess what, there are mistakes and a lot of them.  There is also a good reason for these mistakes: God was not the one with a reed pen and parchment in hand, it was men, men who make mistakes.

In our next study, we will discuss another source the Gospel writers used in writing their stories.  For some, it is surprising to find out that they used pagan literature.

How Many Times Did The Cock Crow?

 

How Many Times Did The Cock Crow?

Brett A. Todd

Perhaps the most well-known contradiction in the Bible is found in the story of Peter’s denial of Jesus.  Did the cock crow one or two times?  This might seem quite an insignificant question, who cares if the cock crowed once, twice or a zillion times–the cock crowed.  For others, however, it is not insignificant, it is a very important question.  For them, there can be no contradictions in the Bible, it is the Word of God.  Our approach, again, from a historical perspective is: what can we know historically about the Bible?

All four Gospels contain this story of Peter’s denial and the Cock crowing, but as you will see, they don’t all agree.  Matthew, Luke, and John tell us that the cock crowed one time while the Gospel of Mark tells us it crowed two times.  The reason this is significant is that we know other Gospels used Mark as their main source for writing their own stories, this is especially true of Matthew and Luke.  We will talk more about John’s source later.  For now, note the four readings below:

At that moment the cock crowed. Then Peter remembered what Jesus had said: “Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times.” And he went out and wept bitterly (Matthew 26:74b-75). 

At that moment, while he was still speaking, the cock crowed. The Lord turned and looked at Peter. Then Peter remembered the word of the Lord, how he had said to him, “Before the cock crows today, you will deny me three times” (Luke 22:60b-61).

Again, Peter denied it, and at that moment the cock crowed (John 18:27)

At that moment the cock crowed for the second time. Then Peter remembered that Jesus had said to him, “Before the cock crows twice, you will deny me three times” (Mark 14:72).  (emphasis added)

If Matthew and Luke used Mark to write their own story, why didn’t they follow Mark and say the cock crowed two times rather than three?  To answer this question, we must first remember that these Gospels were using other sources than Mark as well to write their stories.  For example, both Matthew and Luke used “Q”. but they had other sources they were using as well.  Knowing this, I think the answer to this question is pretty straightforward: when Matthew and Luke were writing their stories of Peter’s denial, they were using a different source (oral traditions?) than Mark. It is possible that Matthew and Luke were using a similar source as John in telling their story of Peter’s denial.

In our next study, we will look at Jesus’ triumphal entry into Jerusalem by asking: Was Jesus riding one donkey or two?

Judas’ Kiss: The Gospel of Judas

 

Judas’ Kiss: The Gospel of Judas 

Brett A. Todd

We have talked several times about other Gospels that did not make it into the Bible.  The Gospel of Judas is one of those Gospels.  Yes, you heard me correctly, The Gospel of Judas.  We are talking about none other than Judas Iscariot, the disciple who betrayed Jesus with a kiss for thirty pieces of silver.  However, in this Gospel story, it is not so much about betrayal, as it is about a kiss of love and obedience. In this story, Judas is not the villain, he is the hero.

The Gospel of Judas emerged in the ‘70s in Egypt.  It is a leather-bound papyrus manuscript written in the ancient Egyptian Coptic language and may have been originally written in Greek.  There are 16 chapters, and all-in-all, most people would not understand what the author was writing about because it is a Gnostic book filled with secrets that only the enlightened would understand.  However, it might intrigue you to know that in 2006, National Geographic produced the first English translation of The Gospel of Judas, which is easily available to those who would like to read it.

This 2nd-century Christian Gnostic gospel contains the conversations between Jesus and his disciples before the celebration of the Passover.  In these conversations, Jesus revealed his secret revelation to his disciples that only Judas seemed to understand.  We will not spend time unraveling this secret revelation until another time. 

Different from the four Gospels found in the Bible, in the Gospel of Judas, Jesus gives Judas the honored charge to betray him.  This is what Jesus said to Judas, “But you will exceed all of them. For you will sacrifice the man that clothes me.”  The words sound strange, but basically what Jesus was referring to was his death on the cross, the death of his material body.  By Judas handing Jesus over to the Jewish religious leaders, Judas was faithfully executing the true God’s plan which freed Jesus from his body.

Indeed, the Gospel of Judas stands in stark contrast to the four Gospels found in the Bible.  In the Bible, Judas is a traitor, who betrays Jesus because of his greed and the evil (Satan) inside him.  But in The Gospel of Judas, Judas is a faithful servant of God.

Bible scholars agree that The Gospel of Judas, holds no relevance to the teaching of the historical Jesus, but what it does reveal to us is the great diversity found in early Christianity.  Scattered about, there were many Christian groups with different perspectives and different beliefs.  There was no one true orthodox faith.

In our next study, we will ask the question: How many times did the cock crow when Peter denied knowing Jesus?

Butt Naked He Ran

 

Butt Naked He Ran, Mark 14:51:52

Brett A. Todd

There are two odd sentences found in the Gospel of Mark that come out of nowhere, leaving the readers sputtering with eyes crossed, asking, what was that?  Hello?  This is how these two sentences read, “A certain young man was following him, wearing nothing but a linen cloth. They caught hold of him, but he left the linen cloth and ran off naked.”

These two sentences are found in the story of Jesus’s betrayal and arrest in Mark 14:43-52.  Here, Jesus and his disciples are set to leave the Garden of Gethsemane where Jesus was praying and his disciples were dispassionately sleeping.  At that moment, Judas, the chief priest, scribes, elders, and a crowd with swords and clubs show up, and Judas betrays Jesus with a kiss.  Oddly, the story ends with a “certain” young man running off butt naked.

Many Bible readers have never heard these two lines and you may be one of them, so open up your Bibles and take a look–it’s true, there is a young man who runs off naked leaving his linen cloth behind.  What is this all about?

In 1958, a Bible scholar by the name of Morton Smith revealed an ancient Greek letter he discovered that gave context and some explanation as to who this young man was and why he was with Jesus.  According to this ancient Greek letter discovered by Smith, Jesus and this young man may have been in a homoerotic relationship. Part of this ancient letter reads:

But the youth, looking upon him, loved him and began to beseech him that he might be with him. And going out of the tomb they came into the house of the youth, for he was rich. And after six days Jesus told him what to do and in the evening the youth came to him, wearing a linen cloth over his naked body. And he remained with him that night, for Jesus taught him the mystery of the kingdom of God.

As it turns out, this ancient letter may be a forgery.  Some scholars believe that Smith himself created this letter and falsely claimed that the letter was real.  

So, where does this leave us as Bible readers?  My guess is that it is describing a disciple fleeing for his life who was sleeping while Jesus was praying, but honestly, we don’t know.  All we can do is make an educated guess.

In our next study, we will look at another ancient Gospel that didn’t make it into the Bible called, “The Gospel of Judas”.  This Gospel brings a surprising twist to Judas’ kiss.

Anti-Semitic Elements And The New Testament

 

Anti-Semitic Elements And The New Testament

Brett A. Todd

“...our history, the history of European Jews...they will never forgive us for the evil they've done to us”

― Marceline Loridan-Ivens

It is troubling for some to accept the idea that there may be anti-semitic elements in the Bible, but in fact, there are a few here and there. However, before we look at one of these Bible passages, we will first need to take a step back and talk about Jesus and his disciples.  

From a historical perspective, there is one thing that is particularly evident about Jesus and his disciples: they were Jews from the Galilean region, located in northern Israel.  They attended synagogue, followed the traditions and teachings of the Hebrew scripture, and more.  In Matthew 23:1-3, Jesus tells the crowds and disciples to obey the Laws of Moses, it reads, “Then Jesus said to the crowds and to his disciples, ‘The scribes and the Pharisees sit on Moses’ seat; therefore, do whatever they teach you and follow it; but do not do as they do, for they do not practice what they teach.’”  In Matthew 5:17 he tells his followers that he did not come to destroy the words of the prophets, but to fulfill them.  

Nevertheless, when we get to the Gospel of John (8:37-47), we discover some disturbing words communicating the idea that the Jews were responsible for the crucifixion of Jesus.  Not the Romans, mind you, it was the Jews.  Here, Jesus tells a group of Jews that their father was not God, but the devil because they wanted him dead (John 8:44).  Verse 47 supports this notion by saying that the Jews do not belong to God.  Now, we must not forget, that Jesus never actually said these words, as we have discovered in past articles, Jesus did not say a lot of things the Bible says he said.  This is certainly true of the Gospel of John.  Rather, the author of the Gospel of John put these words into the mouth of Jesus, so to speak. 

 

Curiously, as you look at this story closely, these were Jews who sincerely believed in Jesus but would later turn on him, like Judas calling for his crucifixion. (John 19:15).  How did Jesus know these Jews would turn their back on him?  For the author of the Gospel of John, Jesus is God and God knows everything (John 16:30).  It was the Jews who were to blame for the death of Jesus. They are children of the devil.

As you can imagine, this passage from the Bible has had and continues to make a huge impact on the church.  From John Chrysostom to Martin Luther, and on to this present day, for some Christians, Jews are Christkillers.  Luther once wrote:

Therefore be on your guard against the Jews, knowing that wherever they have their synagogues, nothing is found but a den of devils in which sheer self-glory, conceit, lies, blasphemy, and defaming of God and men are practiced most maliciously and veheming his eyes on them.

In our next study, we will talk about a rather strange story found in the Bible where a young man flees from Jesus' presence butt naked.

What Bible Did The Early Christians Use?

 

What Bible Did The Early Christians Use?

Brett A. Todd

John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, once said, “I want to know one thing, the way to heaven—how to land safe on that happy shore. God himself has condescended to teach the way: for this very end he came from heaven. He hath written it down in a book. O give me that book! … Let me be homo unius libri.”

Christians have long been known as the people of the Book.  But which book are we talking about? The one that makes up 66 books of the Bible?  Or, are we talking about the book(s) that the early Christians used, or perhaps what Jesus and his disciples used?   There is a difference.  So, what Bible did the early Christians use?

There is an assumption among Christians in this modern era that early Christians, even the twelve Disciples, and Jesus used the same Bible as Christians today.  But this is not correct.  Actually, the Bible we use today was not officially adopted by the Church until the Council of Trent (1545–1563) in the 16th century.  This helps explain why Martin Luther (1483-1546), the Reformer, could be so openly critical about the book of James which he believed should not be in the Bible.  The Bible had not been officially authorized.

Christians have always had a Bible (Scripture), although different from what we use today.  For Jesus and his disciples, they viewed the Hebrew Scriptures, what we call the Old Testament, as their Bible. Throughout the Gospels, Jesus quotes or refers to the Hebrew Scriptures.  In Mark 9:48, for example, Jesus quotes Isaiah 66:24, almost verbatim, word for word, “for their worm shall not die, their fire shall not be quenched”.

Almost from the very beginning of Christianity, early Christians saw a need for additional scriptures–with the words of Jesus.  Out of this need, the four Gospels were born. 1 Timothy 5:18 shows this development when the author not only quotes the Hebrew Scriptures, but also, a saying from Jesus, “‘You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain,’ and, ‘The laborer deserves to be paid.’”  The words, “You shall not muzzle an ox while it is treading out the grain” are from Deuteronomy 25:4, and “The laborer deserves to be paid” is a saying of Jesus found in Luke 10:7.  Soon, not only were the Gospel stories part of the Bible, but also the writings of Paul and others.  (See Ehrman, Hurtado, and Kümmel). And don’t forget, there were other early Christians using other books that are not found in our Bible today.

Obviously, there is no easy answer to the question: What Bible did the early Christians use?  The birth of Christianity was also the birth of new sacred books and the Bible as we have it today that seems to be evolving and changing, with new manuscripts and manuscript fragments and new Bible translations.

In our next article, we will talk a little bit about anti-Semitism in the Bible.