Chris JW

This is based upon two of Paul's "sales techniques", and some backgrounding from the Wikipedia article on Paul. This solution has not been mentioned in any of my unextensive readings. It's not likely to be mentioned by Christians, because it has unflattering implications.

Paul states (roughly) "I come to the weak as a weak person", "I come to the strong as a strong person", "I come to the outlaws as an outlaw".

Messiahtruth.org calls this plain dishonest, but it's a common sales tactic amongst various revolutionaries, to pretend to be one of the folks, before foisting your new theory upon them. You could go into any church today and spout "Jesus Christ, power of the cross and resurrection", and the folks would think you were one of them, no matter how shallow your knowledge was about their own parochial turf.

Presumably, Paul could have said further, "I come to the Christians as a Christian", "I come to the Mithras worshippers as a Mithrasian", but that would be giving the game away, wouldn't it?

Paul's objective is to get his point across, not engage various sects on trivial matters such as where Jesus was born, or what he said. He could have gone into a village to preach about Jesus of Nazareth, only to find himself bogged down in a stupid argument about whether Jesus came from London. This would erode his authority, and take time.

Far better to be the originator of a concept, so you encounter no opposition to it, because you are the supreme authority on it. :notworthy: Stay pathologically away from any earthly contradiction to you, and remain respected. It's the way all the slimiest survivor politicians work.

Paul travelled (and maybe persecuted) extensively. He figured out that in all the Christian churches he visited, not one of them had a common belief about Jesus. Quite simply, all that was left was the mantra "Jesus Christ Resurrection Cross". If you got more specific, you'd end up running afoul of one of the churches, and getting bogged in pedantic details.

Paul's objective was to unite as many churches as he could, under his idea. He was pragmatist enough not to care what any of their other ideas were. Hence "If you come to god circumcised, he will not require you to become uncircumcised".

To Paul, 10% of a conversion was better than 0% of a conversion. He was not a zealot, and did not require his converts to suicide if they looked at a graven image. His general philosophy was "don't rock the boat" - encounter no challenges, whether they be from churches, or legal authorities. So he had nothing to say about slavery, when he perhaps should have. :blush:

And, do you know what? He succeeded!!! His writings cover half the New Testament. His writings could have been put next to 4 other gospels, and people would still think they harmonised. People would look at the gospels, and see all the contradictions and political machinations, and then look to Paul for meaning. In the end, he wins.

Apparently, Paul's opinions object to the Judaised Jesus we see in most of the Gospels. Would he mind? Hell no. He got his unique revolutionary opinion splattered across half the NT. It's better that a priest marry than "burn". It's better that I get my point across than not.

There are two unflattering implications for Christianity, here.

(1) The founder of the "Christian" church (Paul) regarded the reported life of Jesus as irrelevent, and misleading; the 4 gospels as so much dross to ignore. Any gospel except his should be ignored.
(2) Even in 60AD, the Christian church was in such disarray, that an observer could find no common thread to any of it, besides a mantra of "Jesus Christ Resurrection Crucifix."

If the writings of Paul are genuine, he is testament to the fact that Christianity had no discernable substance, even by the year 50AD.

Was he talking about a mythic Jesus? Perhaps to some. Perhaps not to others. He didn't care. If the mantra had been "Sweaty Pig Dogs, and bent Fish", he would have gone with that instead.

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Failing that explantion, I have another.

Paul was talking about a production car called "The Jesus Christ", with an engine called "The Resurrection", with a crucifix cam configuration.

In this model, the power of the resurrection can be measured in kW or Nm or torque.
"In Christ" becomes much easier to understand. "Love in Christ" is even easier to understand if you have a girlfriend.