The Middle of the Bridge (2)
But even if we, or an angel from heaven, should preach to you a gospel contrary to what we have preached to you, he is to be accursed! As we have said before, even now I say again: if anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to what you received, he is to be accursed! Galatians 1:8-9 NASB
Contrary – So we’ve learned that the power elites in both Judaism and Christianity invented the respective religions in about the middle of the second century in order to secure their authority and exclude those who did not subscribe to their doctrines. Probably initiated by Justin, but soon followed by the Rabbis, the theological discourse created heretics as we understand the term today, that is, those who are excommunicated from authorized religious systems because of their false beliefs. Before Justin the religious world wasn’t organized around what you believed. It was defined by the lifestyle you adopted. That meant that there were many different collections of beliefs but none were considered grounds for rejecting the adherent as long as the practice remained relatively the same. You prayed to YHVH. You honored the Shabbat. You participated in the Festivals. You went to the Temple. You studied Torah. You tried to live according to the commandments (whatever versions of the texts you happened to have). That was enough. IF you disagreed about the resurrection or the application of a particular Torah law, well, that was just subject for debate, but no one thought you were outside the fold.
Until Justin.
Christianity is a religion that depends on difference. It would not have survived as a “sect” of Judaism, or perhaps more importantly, those men who wanted power in the faith could not get it if they had to fall in line with the contemporary plurality of Jewish practice. They needed a separate identity, and to get that identity, they had to define who was not in the group. Of course, the number one target was the Jew. Why? Because the religious practice of the Jews allowed incredible diversity. Remember, this is before the destruction of the Temple and the dominance of post-Temple Pharisaic Rabbis. Justin needed a foil, an enemy that could be used to define Christian orthodoxy as something other than Jewish practice and thought. He created the ”heretic,” now not a matter of choice but a label of false belief. Whether or not there actually were “heretics” as he defined them was irrelevant. The borderline was drawn. Now he could legitimately exclude everyone who didn’t hold his views, and that meant the Jews. After Justin, Christianity was defined as “not Jewish,” and it has survived as such ever since. Power was now vested in the self-proclaimed authoritative body of priests and bishops in the “Church.”
The Rabbis reacted, basically following the same political-theological path by proclaiming themselves the authorized spokesmen of God, claiming historical legitimacy back to Sinai. The two camps were now established—and they have remained so, opposing each other, ever since. There is no longer any room for those who don’t bend the knee to either the Church or the Rabbis. One must wonder which camp has God’s approval. Maybe neither?
Topical Index: Justin Martyr, Rabbis, religion, Galatians 1:8-9
Thanks Skip. Yes, one should wonder which camp has God’s approval but to each of the camps, that wondering in itself would be heretical. How ironic.
I think Skip’s final paragraph serves reasonably well as a descriptive summary, but the actual history that played out over time goes very far beyond (and is much too complex) to allow us to accept such a broad and simplistically presented summary of events.
The real dichotomy finds its actual point of division on the basis of only one principal, regardless where (and with whom) we ultimately “set up camp.” It is, “Who do you say that I am?”
If we say, truthfully, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God,” then there is no dichotomy… for then the order of God’s own self-revealing is found in correspondence with the objective reality of that one person who is himself the principal, and who said of himself, “Do you think I have come to grant peace on the earth? No, I tell you, but rather division!”
He is the objectively given reality of God’s own self-revelation by which all true theological statement is established firmly on it own true (and real) foundations, fully set forth in Jesus Christ. He is the one whose defensive and offensive weapon is a sharp sword that proceeds from his mouth to so as to divide and separate, as it is the very Word of God… ”piercing even to the division of soul and spirit… and able to judge the reflections and thoughts of the heart.”
The waters of an overwhelming flood are raging! Get off the bridge and flee to Christ Jesus for sanctuary—and do not merely run to one camp or another for refuge!