11. Paul's Contribution

Ananda: That was a wonderful introduction to Jesus, his teachings, and to the literary work about him. Now I like to know about something else. I happened to see a collection of epistles written by a man called Paul. As he has written such a large number of epistles, I guess he was a very influential person in the church. Could you tell me who he was, what he did, and what he has written?

John: I must say that Paul was the most influential person in the church after Jesus. He made it grow both in quality and number. He opened new ways of thought to present the good news of Jesus to the people of various cultural backgrounds. Also he took the good news to every major city around the Mediterranean. He was a citizen of the Roman Empire, which helped him travel everywhere in the Empire without fearing anybody. He had a good educational background, which helped him to interpret the Jewish scriptures very profoundly. He had the quality of being sincere to what he believed to be true. First, when he believed that our movement was in the wrong way, he was against it, and he set out to get rid of it. He even obtained letters from the high priest in Jerusalem authorizing him to arrest anybody following Jesus.  But he was transformed by a vision of Jesus. Then slowly he began to realize the greatness of Jesus’ teachings.   

He visited the Jewish communities living scattered all over the Roman Empire with the good news of Jesus, and everywhere a group of people believed in Jesus, and formed a church. The transition from the old way of life to the new proved difficult for people everywhere. They wanted to know what was really important in life. They were not sure whatever in the old way of life was to be kept, and whatever had to be abandoned. This is the general context of Paul's letters. Most of the letters address the specific problems of the churches to which they were sent.

Paul proclaimed the same good news Jesus preached-- the ever-present reality of the kingdom of God. He challenged people to believe Jesus to be the king appointed by God although he was crucified like a criminal. To accept the crucified Jesus as Christ involves accepting a radically new perspective of God. Those who believe in a judge-like God cannot accept Jesus as Christ. To accept Jesus as Christ, one needs to realize that God’s love is unconditional. Those who believed the good news formed small communities at different places, and Paul’s letters were written to them. Therefore, we do not read the good news Paul preached explicitly in any of his letters. What we read is the clarification of certain concepts, and the solution of certain practical concerns and problems in those communities.  

Andanda: Can you explain to me the basic teaching of Paul?

John: Paul understood the basic problem of the humanity as an enmity between God and Man. This enmity is exhibited in our enmity with our fellow beings. When the enmity between God and Man gets replaced by a friendship, that is salvation for Man. Thus salvation is our reconciliation with God and with our fellow beings.

This leads to more questions such as what is the nature of this enmity and what causes this enmity?

The enmity between God and Man is a one-way enmity. God has never had any enmity to Man; only Man has had enmity to God. Man has enmity to God because of a certain misunderstanding Man has had about God. Man’s misunderstanding is that God has enmity to Man. Jesus Christ came from God’s side as a mediator with the good news that God has no enmity toward Man. If Man believes this good news, Man’s enmity will be replaced by a friendship toward God. In his letter to the church in Corinth, Paul wrote:

If anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation; the old has gone, the new has come! All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation.

According to Paul, the means of salvation is not our good deeds, but our faith in Jesus Christ. Its meaning is plain and simple. The only way to attain salvation, that is a friendship with God, is to believe the good news proclaimed by Jesus, that God has no enmity to us. The attempt of those who do good deeds in order to change the enmity of God will be futile simply because God has no enmity to us.  

St. Paul was actually expanding upon what Jesus himself taught using parables. In the parable of the prodigal son, we see a father who has no enmity toward his sons. Among the two sons, we see the younger one who understands his father and reconciles with him, while the older one keeps himself away from his father and his brother unwilling to reconcile. He has a misunderstanding of his father, which keeps him in enmity.  

The parable of the Pharisee and the tax collector also exemplifies what Paul taught. According to the Pharisee, there are two kinds of people in the world: the righteous and the sinners. The righteous try to please God and change God’s enmity by doing good deeds, whereas the sinners do not do so. According to the tax-collector, there is only one kind of people in the world: sinners. All are sinners compared to God, and God has no enmity to people.  

I have emphasized the same idea in one of my letters in different words.  

This is the message we have heard from him and declare to you: God is light; in him there is no darkness at all. If we claim to have fellowship with him yet walk in the darkness, we lie and do not live by the truth. But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus, his Son, purifies us from all sin.

 If we claim to be without sin, we deceive ourselves and the truth is not in us. If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just and will forgive us our sins and purify us from all unrighteousness. If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.

I present here the problem as the lack of fellowship (friendship) between God and Man, and among one another. Because God is light, God’s side is clear and open. Man is the one who walks in darkness. The solution is to come out into the open light of God, and reconcile with God.  

This reminds us of the one central thing Jesus asked us to do: repent. Know that God has no enmity toward us, feel sorry for our being an enemy of God, and reconcile with God. When we reconcile with God, we will also reconcile with our fellow beings. We will be willing to forgive and seek forgiveness in all our relationships. This is the good news of Jesus Christ, pure and simple. Also as the summary of the Bible of his time, Jesus stated two rules: Love God and love our fellow beings, which is the opposite of enmity.

Ananda: Thus Paul understood salvation as our reconciliation with God. Once this happens, we will also reconcile with our fellow beings and with the subhuman beings. The means of salvation is to understand that God has no enmity toward us. The good news Christianity proclaims to the world is that salvation is available to us simply by believing that God has no enmity toward us.

This central message of Paul raised more questions, and more details were added to support the central message. One question was this: How did the enmity start between God and man originally? The story of Adam and Eve was used to answer this question. Another question was regarding the role of Jesus in reconciliation? Paul explained the role of Jesus by relating him to Adam by calling him the second Adam. Paul stated that all people in the world became sinners through the first Adam, and through Jesus, the second Adam, God opened the way for all people to become righteous.  

Relating Jesus to Adam was just one of the numerous metaphors he employed to proclaim the good news. The most popular metaphor was the one that related Jesus to a sacrificial lamb. Thus Jesus’ death on the cross was related to a sacrifice. This lead to several questions such as:

1. If Jesus was the lamb, who was the priest that sacrificed him.

2. What was the need of such a sacrifice?

3. What was the result of that sacrifice?

Another popular metaphor related God to a judge who had to pronounce death sentence to Man, and then out of love, had to take upon himself the punishment.  

Ananda: It seems that when more details were added, the focus shifted from the central message to the details. Also, the metaphors began to be interpreted literally as historical events.

Can you tell me more about the specific issues that the letters of Paul addressed?  

John: Observance of various laws to remain holy and clean is the most important thing in the Jewish tradition. When people believed in Jesus and came to church, they found that law was no more at the center of their life. Law was replaced by love, which they could attain by faith. They needed some clarification in this issue, and that is what Paul does in his letters to Romans and Galatians. Paul has used several concepts, terms and images to clarify this issue. But, now I shall tell you just the main lines of his argument in a few words.   

Laws are given by God, and so, they are good. All the laws can be summarized in a single word-- love. We recognize that laws are good, and also we wish to observe them perfectly because we are also basically good. But there is a problem. Though we want to observe the laws, we find ourselves unable to do it. Why? In addition to our basic good nature, we have a sinful nature which makes our good nature powerless. Though law helps us to see what is good and right, it doesn’t give us the power to overcome our sinful nature. Is there any way to overcome our sinful nature? Yes. It is faith. Through faith we receive the spirit of God, which strengthens our good nature. Thus, we will be able to overcome our sinful nature, and observe God's laws truly.

Hence, obeying God’s laws is not the means of salvation from the sinful nature, but its result. The means of salvation is faith.   

As we made it clear earlier, love is not lawlessness. Where there is love, there is no need of law. Law is something forced on me from outside. If I have a criminal mind, I might commit a crime any time, and laws are necessary to control me from hurting others. But if my mind is a fountain of love, I do not do any crime at all, and my activities will not be harmful to anyone, and so, I need not be controlled by law.

Then Paul goes on to prove that faith is not the invention of Jesus or of the followers of Jesus. It is at the very foundation of Jewish religion. The Jewish community received God’s laws through Moses. Then, how was Abraham, the father of the Jewish community, considered righteous? Not by observing the laws given through Moses because he lived hundreds of years before Moses. But he was considered righteous by faith. Paul quotes a sentence from the scriptures: "Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness."

Paul understands that it is the grace of God that saves us from our sinful nature. "Grace" seems to be Paul's word for God's power springing from His unconditional love. He is never tired of saying that salvation is a free gift of God. It is not something we can buy paying a price, nor is it something we can attain working hard. It is something that happens in us when we realize that God is a God of grace. We inherit all the richness of God’s blessings simply by accepting them. Just realize the depth and width of God’s love that accepts us as we are without any condition. That was the good news Paul preached. It was the good news about the power of God, and God’s power was the power of love-- of unconditional love.

Ananda:  It seems Paul had a great power of imagination.   

John: The best example of his power of imagination is in picturing the death of Jesus as a sacrifice. Paul's idea of sin and sacrifice radically differ from those of the Jewish religious leaders. Their idea is somewhat like this:  If someone happens to commit a misdeed, God, the judge, immediately hates him and condemns him for eternal damnation. Then, if he offers a sacrifice, God will immediately cancel the judgment. Thus, those who frequently offer sacrifices are lucky enough to keep themselves righteous before God. This made those who strictly followed the religious rules call themselves righteous, and the others sinners. Paul realized that this idea of sin and sacrifice is contradictory to the idea of unconditional love. He was wise enough not to deny the validity of sacrifices, for he would have been accused of rejecting the Jewish religious faith and tradition. Therefore, he adhered to the belief that sacrifice is needed for God to forgive our sins. However, he claimed that the self-sacrifice offered by Jesus, the anointed one, was the only effective sacrifice, by which all the sins of all people of all times and places are forgiven.

Moreover, Paul compares us to the perfection of God, and claims that all people are equally sinners before God, which makes it impossible for anybody to claim to be righteous, and look down upon others as sinners. Though all people are sinners, God loves all unconditionally, and all are made righteous before God by the sacrifice of Christ. Those who believe this do not claim to be righteous, but humble themselves as sinners, and they will be able to love God and fellow beings unconditionally.

When Paul spoke about the sacrifice of Jesus Christ, he made it clear that it was not at all like the traditional sacrifices. It was not a ritual representing some meaning, but a real self-sacrifice. Paul calls it a spiritual sacrifice. It was a natural expression of his love toward God and fellow beings. 

I would say that Jesus literally put the blame of all the evil deeds of mankind on himself. Jesus knew that evil comes from misunderstanding and ignorance. That is why Jesus could forgive even those who crucified him. In contrast to the others, Jesus was someone who could see the truth. Therefore, he took upon himself the responsibility of all the misdeeds of all the people. From misunderstanding originates selfishness, and it makes one blame others.  From understanding originates love, and it makes one put all the blame on him/herself. It must have been in this sense that Jesus was called "the lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world."  

Ananda: What was Jesus’ approach to sacrifice?

John: Jesus himself didn't believe in sacrifice. I remember him quoting prophet Hosea: "I desire mercy, not sacrifice." Sacrificing an animal or a bird might have had some symbolical value in ancient times. However, Jesus refused to attach any meaning to that ritual. Jesus made it clear over and over again what God wants from us: Love toward God and fellow beings.  

Jesus didn't attach forgiveness of sins to any sacrifice at all. I have heard numerous times Jesus saying to people, "Your sins are forgiven." In none of these occasions did he demand a sacrifice. Jesus knew that people are crippled and incapacitated by terrible guilt feelings of the misdeeds committed in the past. They are even more incapacitated by the fear of God’s wrath which might befall on them.  Jesus’ solution was simple: A positive affirmation which, when they accept, will work a miracle in their minds and body. Freed of all the burden of guilt feelings, and the fear of God’s wrath, they will become capable of a meaningful life.

Ananda: Let us come back to Paul.

John: The way Paul responded to a hot issue has saved the church from splitting into two groups. It was regarding circumcision, the ritualistic removal of the foreskin of the penis of male children. This ceremony has been a part of the Jewish culture for centuries. When non-Jews began to become members of the church, some people strongly argued that they must accept the ceremony. Some others argued that the church has nothing to do with circumcision. Without joining either side, Paul assumed a third position. He declared that it is a shame to fight on such silly matters, neglecting the basic things we stand for. It is a question of priorities. I shall quote his words: "Neither circumcision nor uncircumcision means anything; what counts is a new creation." Compared to the issue of the transformation of human beings from the stage of self righteousness to that of God's righteousness, the issue of circumcision is unworthy of any consideration at all.

Circumcision is a symbol. In Jewish tradition, it represents an agreement with God. If the members of the church were exclusively Jews, we could use that symbol to represent the new birth. However, the church happened to grow beyond the limits of Judaism, and we simply can't force the people who are out of the Jewish tradition to accept a Jewish symbol. Therefore, we use the ceremony of baptism to represent the new birth, and it is agreeable to people of non-Jewish background as well.

Ananda: Whenever people over-emphasize symbols, disregarding their meanings, they disagree among each other and split into different groups. On the other hand, whenever people see the meaning of the symbols they use, they unite. A symbol depends on its meaning. A meaning can perhaps exist without any symbol at all, but no symbol can exist as a symbol without some meaning. Also, the same meaning can be represented by different symbols. As Paul says, it is certainly foolish to fight over symbols, disregarding their meaning.

John: Paul has created a variety of beautiful symbols. His idea that Jesus is the second Adam is thoughtful. Adam is the first human being according to the scriptures. By calling Jesus the second Adam, Paul means that in him, a new creation or a new human race begins. Some of the metaphors Paul uses are my favorites. Paul compares us to soldiers. We fight against the forces of evil wearing the armor of God, which includes the shield of faith, the helmet of salvation etc. Paul also compares us to the runners in a marathon race. Forgetting what lies behind, and moving forward to attain the goal is the key to success. Paul compares our body to a temple in which God dwells. He compares the church to a body, in which all the members think, feel and act in unison like the different organs, following the orders that come from Jesus, the head.

Paul dared to take the good news of Jesus outside the Jewish culture into the world in the west. He realized that the good news of Jesus is universal, relevant to the whole of human race irrespective of all cultural variations. Jesus preached about a God who loves everybody without any condition. It doesn't matter whether someone is a Jew or a non-Jew, a man or a woman, a slave or a master, a sinner or a righteous person. The new birth Jesus preached about is something all human beings need. All people need to develop from the stage of self righteousness to that of God's righteousness.

We preach the good news of Jesus to all kinds of people. It is the good news of the unconditional love of God. When they accept it, they become a new creation, and begin to practice unconditional love in their own lives. The church is a group of people who practice unconditional love. It is an open community. In fact, depending on the perspective, the term "church" has two meanings: From the perspective of the church members, who practice unconditional love, church is an open community that includes all human race of all time. But from the perspective of others, it is a closed community of a few people who follow the teachings of Jesus.  

As Paul knew this, he took the good news of Jesus to most of the major cities of the Roman Empire. The classic example of how he preached the good news in those places is the speech he made in Athens, the stronghold of Greek civilization. Luke has recorded a summary of the speech. Paul begins the speech by praising the people for being very religious, for he happened to see a large number of objects of worship all over the city. Someone else in his place would have condemned them openly for worshiping idols, an abomination in the Jewish culture. Then he invites their attention to a particular altar, sanctified to "the unknown God," and offers to tell them what he knows about that God. If Paul had started preaching about Jesus, and the God Jesus preached about, they wouldn’t even have listened to him. But they were willing to listen to Paul because they realized that he was not importing a foreign God, but was telling them about a God they themselves worship. He told them that the unknown God is the creator of the heaven and the earth, and the one who gives life to every human being. He quotes a line from a Greek poet: "We are his offspring." It is noteworthy that Paul doesn’t quote from, or even mention from the Jewish literature, but he quotes from the Greek literature.

We have learned from Paul that preaching the good news of Jesus is not a cultural invasion. We do not want all the people in the world to get converted to the Jewish culture. That is why Paul was reluctant to make circumcision obligatory for non-Jews. It is true that the church began within the Jewish culture, but it is no more Jewish. It is an open community which welcomes people from all cultures and races.  

As long as we emphasize the essential matters, we are in the right track. Transformation of human beings from the stage of self righteousness to that of God's righteousness is our goal. It doesn’t matter what makes that transformation. Faith in the unconditional love of God is certainly a proven way to achieve that. I am a witness to that. There could be other ways developed in other cultures. In fact, I don't even care if someone believes in the Jewish God or not because most of the people we see around remain in the stage of self-righteousness though they believe in God. In one of my letters to the church, I have written that he who claims to love God but hates his brother is a liar. I don't care what someone believes, but I do care how his attitude is toward his fellow beings. I know many people who believe that Jesus is the savior of the world and the son of God, but don’t have unconditional love toward their fellow beings. I would say anywhere and always that no system of beliefs has even the value of a piece of straw unless it transforms people. There is a very beautiful song of love written by Paul, and included in his letter to the Corinthians. He sings that love is the single most important thing in our lives. Whatever marvelous abilities I may have, whatever grand beliefs I may have, however great I may be in a variety of ways, if love, the essential thing, is lacking in me, I am worthless. Jesus himself emphasized the centrality of love in strong language. He made it clear that the only criterion that distinguishes the citizens of the kingdom of God from others is whether they love their fellow beings or not. Jesus stated with emphasis that believing in him, doing mighty works in his name, or praying to him would not qualify anyone to enter the kingdom of God.    

Well, my dear friend, I use this occasion to proclaim the good news of Jesus to you. It is the good news of God, the God who created you and me, and keeps us alive. Your God loves you unconditionally. It doesn't make any difference what you are or how you are, God accepts you as you are. It is also the good news of Jesus Christ because he became the visible manifestation of the unconditional love of God. We saw the crucified God on his cross. It is also the good news about this world. The world in which we live now is God’s world. It is, thus, the good news about you. You are a dear lovely child of God, and you are already in God’s care.   

Ananda: Thank you very much, my brother. I believe the good news. How can I refuse to accept it! It is an expression of your love for me. In fact, your attitude toward me, and the way you are treating me speak the good news more loudly and clearly than your words. You accept me as I am without any condition at all. You are willing to understand me and to listen to what I have got to say.

  

John: Thank you, my brother. As you have realized, I told you the good news as an expression of my love for you. It is the most precious treasure I have got with me, and I share it with you. I know that you are a person who has already transformed from the stage of self righteousness to that of God’s righteousness. Would you like to tell me what kind of faith or beliefs or practices helped you to become a new creation?


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