Paul's Imaginary Jesus | The Unspoken Bible

Paul's Imaginary Jesus | The Unspoken Bible

"In Bible history, the further away from the supposed
time of events, the more embellished the story gets. The Book of Mark
treats Jesus as a man. In Matthew and Luke, he is half man half God. By
the time of John, he was God at creation. It took the Catholic Church
300 years to graft Jesus onto the Old Testament God at the Council of
Nicea"

To make a contented slave, it is
necessary to make a thoughtless one.

It is necessary to darken his moral and mental vision, and,

as far as possible, to annihilate the power of reason.

-Frederick Douglass

While Christians refuse to believe that Jesus' did
not exist, there is no argument about Paul's historicity. We have his
epistles from Romans to Philemon to confirm that fact. By searching
through the epistles to find out what Paul knew about Jesus, we find
that he knew hardly anything.




He didn't know about: (1) virgin birth (2) place of
birth (3) time of birth (4) parents names (5) childhood (6) John the
Baptist (7) Jesus' baptism (8) the devil's temptation (9) moral
teachings (10) miracles (11) apocalyptic views (12) transfiguration (13)
Judas (14) Peter's denial (15) his arrest and trial (16) twelve
disciples (17) the women who came to his tomb (18) Son of Man (19)
travels (20) parables. I may have left something out, but that covers
most of the gospels.




Some apologists argue that Paul had no need to go
into the details of Jesus' life because they were commonly understood.
No so! Paul positively renounced any knowledge of Jesus through human
sources.

¹¹For I
would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by me
is not man's gospel.

¹²For I did not receive it
from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus
Christ. (Gal. 1:11-12)

He felt unique in having been set apart through
grace to have Christ revealed to him.

¹⁵But
when he who had set me apart before I was born, and had called me
through his grace,

¹⁶was pleased to reveal
his Son to me, in order that I might
preach him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood,


¹⁷nor did I go up to
Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me,
but I went away into Arabia; and again I returned to Damascus.
(Gal. 1:15-17)

He was placing his bets on the unseen because, to
him, they are eternal. Things that can be seen are transient. -It is
fair to say that if there had been a walking talking Jesus, Paul would
not have accepted him.

²⁴For
in this hope we were saved. Now hope that is seen is not hope. For who
hopes for what he sees?

²⁵But if we hope for what we
do not see, we wait for it with patience. (Rom. 8:24-25)

¹⁸because
we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are
unseen; for the things that are seen are transient, but the things that
are unseen are eternal. (2 Cor. 4:18)

So when he says he saw Jesus, he means in his mind,
not with his eyes.

¹Am I
not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord?
Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? (1 Cor. 9:1)

The Galatians, to whom he says they saw Christ
publicly portrayed as crucified, he does not mean they witnessed an
historical event. It was either a reenactment or a commonly shared
vision.

¹O
foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you, before whose eyes Jesus Christ
was publicly portrayed as crucified? (Gal. 3:1)

He even says that they began with the Spirit.

³Are
you so foolish? Having begun with the Spirit, are you now ending with
the flesh? (Gal. 3:3)

This is where we get into the definition of faith
as the conviction of things not seen. If there had actually been a real
Jesus, his physical existence would have annulled the definition of
faith.

¹Now
faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not
seen. (Heb. 11:1)

So as Paul proclaims, it is only through faith in
Christ that one can become a son of God. The whole idea of faith in
Christ negates actual knowledge. It means as much then as it does today.

²⁶for
in Christ Jesus you are all sons of God, through faith. (Gal.
3:26)

This brings us to the matter of the original
disciples. Though Paul did not claim to know Jesus personally, he did
know the people who were supposed to have known Jesus personally: James,
Peter and John. ⁹and
when they perceived the grace that was given to me, James and Cephas
[Simon Peter] and John, who were reputed
to be pillars, gave to me and Barnabas the right hand of fellowship,
that we should go to the Gentiles and they to the circumcised;
(Gal. 2:9)

The letters of James, Peter and John tell us even
less about Jesus. That there was a Jesus cult before Paul came into the
fold could lead to the presumption of an actual Jesus. All this proves
is that the
Messianic Prophecies
had an earlier following. It was on matters of
interpretation where they parted company. (See

Paul's Schism) If it had not been for Paul, the Jesus cult would
have been snuffed out by the Roman Empire or fizzled out on its own.
(See

Paul's Mythology) If it did survive, Christians would have been
practicing within the Jewish tradition.




For these reasons and because of Paul's prominence
in defining Christianity, we are forced to ask, how can he claim to know
the nature of Jesus' mission, when his letters show he knew so little?




Give the man credit for his zeal. He learned about
Jesus from his job of

persecuting Christians. The rest he got from revelation and
Scripture, and he denies learning anything from Jesus' apostles. What
else is left to think, except that Jesus was a phantom?

⁶And
because you are sons, God has sent the Spirit of his Son into our
hearts, crying, "Abba! Father!" (Gal. 4:6)

¹⁵He is
the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation;
(Col. 1:15)

Dating Paul and the Gospels

I'm going to state what appears to be a general
consensus among scholars, that Paul's epistles were written
approximately between the years 55-60 CE. Readers who have the New
International Version can find those dates on the first page of 1
Corinthians and Ephesians. These dates are approximations.


The official
reasoning is as follows:




His encounter with Herod fixes his birth at the end
of Herod's career at 4 BCE. According to Luke, his ministry began when
he was thirty years of age. They figure his ministry lasted a few years
which brings the end of his life to about 30 CE.

²³Jesus,
when he began his ministry, was about thirty years of age, (Luke
3:23)

The Arabian King Aretas tried to arrest Paul
shortly after his conversion. Aretas IV was known to rule Damascus from
9 BCE to 40 CE as a subject of Rome. So Paul would have had to start his
ministry sometime around 35 CE.

³²At
Damascus, the governor under King Aretas guarded the city of Damascus in
order to seize me, (2 Cor. 11:32)

From the time of his conversion, he spent seventeen
years incommunicado. Within that time he waited three years before going
back to Jerusalem to meet Peter for fifteen days. Then fourteen years
later he went back to Jerusalem again to meet with Barnabas. Besides
telling us how little contact he had with the apostles, this seventeen
year period takes us to about 55 CE.

¹⁶was
pleased to reveal his Son to me, in order that I might preach him among
the Gentiles, I did not confer with flesh and blood,


¹⁸Then after three years
I went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas [Peter],
and remained with him fifteen days.


¹Then after fourteen years
I went up again to Jerusalem with Barnabas, taking Titus along with me.
(Gal. 1:16, 18, 2:1)

As to the Gospels, scholars estimate they were
written about 70-110 CE, with Mark being the first and John the last.
Readers who have the New International Version can find the date of 70
CE on the first page in the Gospel of Matthew.



The sequence in the New Testament gives the
impression that the gospels were written first and the epistles last. If
that was true, Paul would have had the gospel writers or the gospels
themselves to work from. No one even knows who the gospel writers were.




So while Luke tells us he wrote his gospel based on
eyewitness and ministers, none of it came from anybody Paul knew.

¹Inasmuch
as many have undertaken to compile a narrative of the things which have
been accomplished among us,


²just as they were delivered
to us by those who from the beginning were eyewitnesses and ministers of
the word, (Luke 1:1-2)

A catastrophic event helps explain these dates. In
the year 66 CE, the Jews revolted against Roman rule. The city lay in
siege until it was captured and destroyed in 70 CE. Paul's writings show
that they were written before the revolt, because Jerusalem was still a
thriving city. Because Paul shows no awareness of the Gospels, they had
to be written after Paul after the revolt.



It is for this reason that the Jesus character says
and does things with no explanation behind them. Because of Paul's
influence, the Gospels are best understood through Paul. As a case in
point, Jesus talked about not judging lest you be judged measure for
measure.

¹"Judge
not, that you be not judged.


²For with the judgment you
pronounce you will be judged, and the measure you give will be the
measure you get. (Matt. 7:1-2)

Paul wrote about not judging outsiders for they
will be judged by God.

¹²For
what have I to do with judging outsiders? Is it not those inside the
church whom you are to judge?


¹³God judges those outside.
"Drive out the wicked person from among you." (1 Cor. 5:12-13)

In real history, the most reliable information and
detail comes from the actors themselves and witnesses closest to the
time of events. In Bible history, the further away from the supposed
time of events, the more embellished the story gets. The Book of Mark
treats Jesus as a man. In Matthew and Luke, he is half man half God. By
the time of John, he was God at creation. It took the Catholic Church
300 years to graft Jesus onto the Old Testament God at the Council of
Nicea.

How Paul came to know Jesus

While Christians continue to defend Jesus as a
person who actually walked the earth, Paul says his knowledge of Jesus
came exclusively from visions, revelation and OT Scripture. Considering
his brief ties with the Jesus cult, it is equivalent to saying them
ignored them entirely.



What the below passages show is that Paul did not
claim to be authorized by Jesus. He claimed to be graced by God to
preach of Jesus. This severely opposes what Jesus supposedly told his
disciples.

¹⁸And
Jesus came and said to them, "All
authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. (Matt.
28:18)

The mystery was made known to him by revelation.
-Or shall we say, by intuition.

³how
the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written
briefly. (Eph. 3:3)

His knowledge did not come through other men, but
through revelation. -The gospel he refers to was not the written gospel.
"gospel" means "good news."

¹¹For I
would have you know, brethren, that the gospel which was preached by
me is not man's gospel.


¹²For I did not receive it
from man, nor was I taught it, but it came through a revelation of Jesus
Christ. (Gal. 1:11-12)

He appeared to Paul in a vision. -Paul's untimely
birth implies it was after the alleged time of Jesus.

⁸Last
of all, as to one untimely born, he appeared also to me. (1 Cor.
15:8)

He relies on visions and revelations.

¹I must
boast; there is nothing to be gained by it, but I will go on to
visions and revelations of the Lord.

(2 Cor. 12:1)

What he knows, he learned through the Spirit.

⁸To one
is given through the Spirit the utterance of wisdom, and to another the
utterance of knowledge according to the same Spirit,


⁹to another faith by the same
Spirit, to another gifts of healing by the one Spirit, 

¹⁰to another the working of
miracles, to another prophecy, to another the ability to distinguish
between spirits, to another various kinds of tongues, to another the
interpretation of tongues.


¹¹All these are inspired by
one and the same Spirit, who apportions to each one individually as he
wills. (1 Cor. 12:8-11)

According to Scripture, Christ died for our sins,
and was buried and raised on the third day.

³For I
delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that
Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures,


⁴that he was buried, that he
was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures, (1
Cor. 15:3-4)

The scriptures were written for our instruction.

⁴For
whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction,
that by steadfastness and by the encouragement of the scriptures we
might have hope. (Rom. 15:4; 1 Cor. 10:11)

As it is written, God calls into existence the
things that do not exist.

¹⁷as it
is written, "I have made you the father of many nations"-in the presence
of the God in whom he believed, who gives life to the dead and calls
into existence the things that do not exist. (Rom. 4:17)

It was written that the first Adam became a living
being and the last Adam became a life giving spirit.

⁴⁵Thus
it is written, "The first man Adam became a living being"; the last Adam
became a life-giving spirit. (1 Cor. 15:45)

Paul's scriptural source

To make my point that whatever Paul knew about
Jesus came artificially from Hebrew Scripture, I've compiled a list of
anything that suggests Jesus was a real person. I'm ignoring the Book of
Acts because it was not written by Paul.



The scriptural sources come from either Bible
footnotes or a table of
Messianic Prophecies from Holman's Bible Dictionary.
The report on
Messianic Prophecies
shows that passages were taken out of context
and have no bearing on Jesus. Their method of interpretation is explained in

Paul's Mythology. So if the OT references don't make sense, this is
the fault of the interpreters and the point of this exercise. If they do
make sense, then I recommend the two above links for clarification. It
still doesn't take away my point about Paul's artificial knowledge of
Jesus.



He was a descendant of David according to the
flesh. -Rom. 1:3/Ref. 2 Sam. 7:12-13

³the
gospel concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to
the flesh (Romans 1:3)

¹²When
your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will
raise up your offspring after you, who shall come forth from your
body, and I will establish his kingdom.

¹³He shall build a house for
my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom for ever.
(2 Sam. 7:12-13)

He became the Son of God at the time of his
resurrection. -Rom. 1:4/Ref. Jeremiah 23:5-6

⁴and
designated Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by
his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord,(Romans 1:4)

⁵"Behold,
the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall
reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and
righteousness in the land.

⁶In his days Judah will be
saved, and Israel will dwell securely. And this is the name by which he
will be called: 'The LORD is our righteousness.' (Jer. 23:5-6)

He was promised to Abraham. -Gal. 3:16/Ref. Gen.
3:3; 12:7

¹⁶Now
the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say,
"And to offsprings," referring to many; but, referring to one, "And to
your offspring," which is Christ. (Gal. 3:16)

³I will
bless those who bless you, and him who curses you I will curse; and by
you all the families of the earth shall bless themselves." (Gen.
3:3)

⁷Then
the LORD appeared to Abram, and said, "To your descendants I will give
this land." So he built there an altar to the LORD, who had appeared to
him. (Gen. 12:7)

He was born of
a woman. -Gal. 4:4/Ref. Isaiah 7:14 and Gen. 3:15

⁴But
when the time had fully come, God sent forth his Son, born of woman,
born under the law (Gal. 4:4)

¹⁴Therefore
the Lord himself will give you a sign. Behold, a young woman shall
conceive and bear a son, and shall call his name Immanuel (Isaiah
7:14)

¹⁵I
will put enmity between you and the woman, and between your seed and her
seed; he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel."
(Gen. 3:15)

He was meek and
gentle. -2 Cor. 10:1/Ref. Isaiah 42:1-16

¹I,
Paul, myself entreat you, by the meekness and gentleness of Christ.
(2 Cor. 10:1)

¹Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have
put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.


²He will not cry or lift up his voice, or
make it heard in the street;

³a bruised reed he will not break, and a
dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth
justice. (Isaiah 42:1-3)

He had apostles, one whose name was Peter. He had a
brother named James. -That Paul knew some apostles is not in dispute.
The term "brother" implies brotherhood, not blood brother.

⁵as
the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas
[Simon Peter]?
(1 Cor. 9:5)

¹⁷nor
did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were apostles before me ..(Gal. 1:17)

¹⁹But
I saw none of the other apostles except James the Lord's brother.
(Gal 1:19)

He came into
the world to save sinners. -1 Tim. 1:15/Ref. Mal. 3:3 (Timothy was
written pseudonymously.)

¹⁵The
saying is sure and worthy of full acceptance, that Christ Jesus came
into the world to save sinners. And I am the foremost of sinners;
(1 Tim. 1:15)

³he
will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver, and he will purify the
sons of Levi and refine them like gold and silver, till they present
right offerings to the LORD. (Malachi 3:3)

He became a servant to Jews according to promises
given to the patriarchs. -Rom. 15:8/Ref. Psalm 18:49

⁸For
I tell you that Christ became a servant to the circumcised to show God's
truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to the patriarchs,
(Romans 15:8)

⁴⁹For
this I will extol thee, O LORD, among the nations, and sing praises to
thy name. (Psalm 18:49)

He was betrayed. - 1 Cor. 11:23/Ref. Psalm 55:12-14

²³For
I received from the Lord what I also delivered to you, that the
Lord Jesus on the night when he was betrayed took bread,
(1 Cor 11:23)

¹²It is
not an enemy who taunts me- then I could bear it; it is not an adversary
who deals insolently with me- then I could hide from him.


¹³But it is you, my equal, my companion,
my familiar friend.

¹⁴We used to hold sweet converse
together; within God's house we walked in fellowship. (Psalm
55:12-14)

He said "This is my body for you. Do this in
remembrance of me." -1 Cor. 11:24/Ref. Lev. 17:11

²⁴and
when he had given thanks, he broke it, and said,
"This is my body which is for you. Do this in
remembrance of me." (1 Cor 11:24)

¹¹For
the life of the flesh is in the blood; and I have given it for you upon
the altar to make atonement for your souls; for it is
the blood that makes atonement, by reason of the life. (Lev.
17:11)

He made a new covenant. -1 Cor. 11:23-25/Ref. Jer.
31:31-34.

²⁵In
the same way also the cup, after supper, saying,
"This cup is the new covenant in my blood. Do
this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of me." (1 Cor
11:23-25)

³¹"Behold,
the days are coming, says the LORD,
when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and the
house of Judah,

³²not like the covenant
which I made with their fathers when I took them by the hand to bring
them out of the land of Egypt, my covenant which they broke, though I
was their husband, says the LORD.


³³But this is the covenant
which I will make with the house of Israel after those days,
says the LORD:
I will put my law within them, and I will write it upon their hearts;
and I will be their God, and they shall be my people.

³⁴And no longer shall each
man teach his neighbor and each his (Jer. 31:31-34)

He testified
before Pontius Pilate. -This is the only passage with an historical
name. By the writing style, scholars are certain Timothy was written
pseudonymously.

¹³In
the presence of God who gives life to all things, and of Christ Jesus
who in his testimony before Pontius Pilate made the good confession,
(1 Tim. 6:13)

He was reproached. -Romans 15:3/Ref. Psalm 69:9

³For
Christ did not please himself; but, as it is written, "The reproaches of
those who reproached thee fell on me." (Rom. 15:3)

⁹For
zeal for thy house has consumed me, and the insults of those who insult
thee have fallen on me. (Psalm 69:9)

He was obedient to the time of his death. -Phil.
2:8/Ref. Isaiah 42:1-16

⁸And
being found in human form he humbled himself and became obedient unto
death, even death on a cross. (Phil. 2:8)

¹Behold
my servant, whom I uphold, my chosen, in whom my soul delights; I have
put my Spirit upon him, he will bring forth justice to the nations.


²He will not cry or lift up his voice, or
make it heard in the street;

³a bruised reed he will not break, and a
dimly burning wick he will not quench; he will faithfully bring forth
justice. (Isaiah 42:1-3)

He died by being crucified. -1 Cor. 2.2; Gal.
2.20/Ref. Isaiah 53:12

²For
I decided to know nothing among you except Jesus Christ and him
crucified. (1 Cor. 2:2)

²⁰I
have been crucified with Christ. (Gal. 2:20)

¹²Therefore
I will divide him a portion with the great, and he shall divide the
spoil with the strong; because he poured out his soul to death, and was
numbered with the transgressors; yet he bore the sin of many, and made
intercession for the transgressors. (Isaiah 53:12)

He was cursed on a tree. -Gal. 3:13/Ref. Deut.
21:23

¹³Christ
redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us-for
it is written, "Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree" (Gal.
3:13)

²³his
body shall not remain all night upon the tree, but you shall bury him
the same day, for a hanged man is accursed by God; you shall not defile
your land which the LORD your God gives you for an inheritance.
(Deut. 21:23)

He was buried and raised on the third day. -1 Cor.
15:4/Ref. Psalm 16:8-10

⁴that
he was buried, that he was raised on the third day in accordance with
the scriptures, (1 Cor. 15:4)

⁸I keep
the LORD always before me; because he is at my right hand, I shall not
be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my soul
rejoices; my body also dwells secure.

¹⁰For thou dost not give me up to Sheol,
or let thy godly one see the Pit. (Psalm 16:8-10)

He appeared to Peter and the twelve apostles.
-Peter was one of the eleven. (Matt. 28:16; Mark 16:14; Luke
24:9)

⁵and
that he appeared to Cephas [Peter], then
to the twelve.

⁶Then he appeared to more
than five hundred brethren at one time, most of whom are still alive,
though some have fallen asleep. (1 Cor. 15:5-6)

Then he appeared to James and all the apostles. -In
the Gospels and Acts, James is not mentioned by name at Jesus'
reappearance.

⁷Then
he appeared to James, then to all the apostles. (1 Cor. 15:7)

He was raised
from the dead and sits at the right had of God. -Rom. 8:34/Ref. Psalm
110:1, 5

³⁴who
is to condemn? Is it Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised from
the dead, who is at the right hand of God, who indeed intercedes for us?
(Rom. 8:34)

¹The
LORD says to my lord: "Sit at my right hand, till I make your enemies
your footstool."

⁵The Lord is at your right hand; he will
shatter kings on the day of his wrath. (Psalm 110:1, 5)

Final thought


Paul put a lot of faith in things unseen and it
shows.



Related Articles


Any other article under "Paul the Mythmaker"


To get a real picture of the timing of Jesus'
birth, see

When was Jesus Born

For the length of his ministry, see
Gospel Zodiac