FRDB Archives

Freethought & Rationalism Archive

The archives are read only.


Go Back   FRDB Archives > Archives > Religion (Closed) > Biblical Criticism & History
Welcome, Peter Kirby.
You last visited: Yesterday at 03:12 PM

 
 
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Old 11-22-2006, 02:36 PM   #1
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8,674
Default The Book of Hebrews key to understandig JM?

I've been reading the Book of Hebrews lately and it just seems like such an obvious piece of the JM puzzle. It provides all of the theological arguments for why "Jesus must be flesh and blood".

It seems that Hebrews is thought that have been written between Paul and the gospels, and it discusses a flesh and blood Jesus, but no details of that Jesus. It is also notable that no resurrection is mentioned, and indeed it talks about need proof that the sacrifice is dead.

My question is, is there really a JM argument to be made here, or can we just look at this and read our own JM views into it?


Here are some examples:

Quote:
Hebrews 2

14Since the children have flesh and blood, he too shared in their humanity so that by his death he might destroy him who holds the power of death—that is, the devil— 15and free those who all their lives were held in slavery by their fear of death. 16For surely it is not angels he helps, but Abraham's descendants. 17For this reason he had to be made like his brothers in every way, in order that he might become a merciful and faithful high priest in service to God, and that he might make atonement for[f]the sins of the people. 18Because he himself suffered when he was tempted, he is able to help those who are being tempted.
Quote:
Hebrews 3:

1Therefore, holy brothers, who share in the heavenly calling, fix your thoughts on Jesus, the apostle and high priest whom we confess. 2He was faithful to the one who appointed him, just as Moses was faithful in all God's house. 3Jesus has been found worthy of greater honor than Moses, just as the builder of a house has greater honor than the house itself. 4For every house is built by someone, but God is the builder of everything. 5Moses was faithful as a servant in all God's house, testifying to what would be said in the future. 6But Christ is faithful as a son over God's house. And we are his house, if we hold on to our courage and the hope of which we boast.
If Moses was a person as people believed, then Jesus would have to be a person.

Quote:
Hebrews 5:

14Therefore, since we have a great high priest who has gone through the heavens, Jesus the Son of God, let us hold firmly to the faith we profess. 15For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but we have one who has been tempted in every way, just as we are—yet was without sin. 16Let us then approach the throne of grace with confidence, so that we may receive mercy and find grace to help us in our time of need.
What is with all the high priest talk?

Quote:
Hebrews 5
7During the days of Jesus' life on earth, he offered up prayers and petitions with loud cries and tears to the one who could save him from death, and he was heard because of his reverent submission. 8Although he was a son, he learned obedience from what he suffered 9and, once made perfect, he became the source of eternal salvation for all who obey him 10and was designated by God to be high priest in the order of Melchizedek.
Quote:
Hebrews 6

4It is impossible for those who have once been enlightened, who have tasted the heavenly gift, who have shared in the Holy Spirit, 5who have tasted the goodness of the word of God and the powers of the coming age, 6if they fall away, to be brought back to repentance, because[b]to their loss they are crucifying the Son of God all over again and subjecting him to public disgrace.
Quote:
Hebrews 9

11When Christ came as high priest of the good things that are already here,[b] he went through the greater and more perfect tabernacle that is not man-made, that is to say, not a part of this creation. 12He did not enter by means of the blood of goats and calves; but he entered the Most Holy Place once for all by his own blood, having obtained eternal redemption. 13The blood of goats and bulls and the ashes of a heifer sprinkled on those who are ceremonially unclean sanctify them so that they are outwardly clean. 14How much more, then, will the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered himself unblemished to God, cleanse our consciences from acts that lead to death,[c] so that we may serve the living God!

15For this reason Christ is the mediator of a new covenant, that those who are called may receive the promised eternal inheritance—now that he has died as a ransom to set them free from the sins committed under the first covenant.

16In the case of a will,[d] it is necessary to prove the death of the one who made it, 17because a will is in force only when somebody has died; it never takes effect while the one who made it is living. 18This is why even the first covenant was not put into effect without blood. 19When Moses had proclaimed every commandment of the law to all the people, he took the blood of calves, together with water, scarlet wool and branches of hyssop, and sprinkled the scroll and all the people. 20He said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you to keep."[e] 21In the same way, he sprinkled with the blood both the tabernacle and everything used in its ceremonies. 22In fact, the law requires that nearly everything be cleansed with blood, and without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.


23It was necessary, then, for the copies of the heavenly things to be purified with these sacrifices, but the heavenly things themselves with better sacrifices than these. 24For Christ did not enter a man-made sanctuary that was only a copy of the true one; he entered heaven itself, now to appear for us in God's presence. 25Nor did he enter heaven to offer himself again and again, the way the high priest enters the Most Holy Place every year with blood that is not his own. 26Then Christ would have had to suffer many times since the creation of the world. But now he has appeared once for all at the end of the ages to do away with sin by the sacrifice of himself. 27Just as man is destined to die once, and after that to face judgment, 28so Christ was sacrificed once to take away the sins of many people; and he will appear a second time, not to bear sin, but to bring salvation to those who are waiting for him.
Quote:
Hebrews 10

1The law is only a shadow of the good things that are coming—not the realities themselves. For this reason it can never, by the same sacrifices repeated endlessly year after year, make perfect those who draw near to worship. 2If it could, would they not have stopped being offered? For the worshipers would have been cleansed once for all, and would no longer have felt guilty for their sins. 3But those sacrifices are an annual reminder of sins, 4because it is impossible for the blood of bulls and goats to take away sins.

5Therefore, when Christ came into the world, he said:
"Sacrifice and offering you did not desire,
but a body you prepared for me;
6with burnt offerings and sin offerings
you were not pleased.
7Then I said, 'Here I am—it is written about me in the scroll—
I have come to do your will, O God.' "[a] 8First he said, "Sacrifices and offerings, burnt offerings and sin offerings you did not desire, nor were you pleased with them" (although the law required them to be made). 9Then he said, "Here I am, I have come to do your will." He sets aside the first to establish the second. 10And by that will, we have been made holy through the sacrifice of the body of Jesus Christ once for all.

11Day after day every priest stands and performs his religious duties; again and again he offers the same sacrifices, which can never take away sins. 12But when this priest had offered for all time one sacrifice for sins, he sat down at the right hand of God. 13Since that time he waits for his enemies to be made his footstool, 14because by one sacrifice he has made perfect forever those who are being made holy.

15The Holy Spirit also testifies to us about this. First he says:
16"This is the covenant I will make with them
after that time, says the Lord.
I will put my laws in their hearts,
and I will write them on their minds."[b] 17Then he adds:
"Their sins and lawless acts
I will remember no more."[c] 18And where these have been forgiven, there is no longer any sacrifice for sin. 19Therefore, brothers, since we have confidence to enter the Most Holy Place by the blood of Jesus, 20by a new and living way opened for us through the curtain, that is, his body, 21and since we have a great priest over the house of God, 22let us draw near to God with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and having our bodies washed with pure water. 23Let us hold unswervingly to the hope we profess, for he who promised is faithful. 24And let us consider how we may spur one another on toward love and good deeds. 25Let us not give up meeting together, as some are in the habit of doing, but let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.

26If we deliberately keep on sinning after we have received the knowledge of the truth, no sacrifice for sins is left, 27but only a fearful expectation of judgment and of raging fire that will consume the enemies of God. 28Anyone who rejected the law of Moses died without mercy on the testimony of two or three witnesses. 29How much more severely do you think a man deserves to be punished who has trampled the Son of God under foot, who has treated as an unholy thing the blood of the covenant that sanctified him, and who has insulted the Spirit of grace? 30For we know him who said, "It is mine to avenge; I will repay,"[d] and again, "The Lord will judge his people."[e] 31It is a dreadful thing to fall into the hands of the living God.
Malachi151 is offline  
Old 11-22-2006, 05:22 PM   #2
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 5,714
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malachi151 View Post
I've been reading the Book of Hebrews lately and it just seems like such an obvious piece of the JM puzzle. It provides all of the theological arguments for why "Jesus must be flesh and blood".

It seems that Hebrews is thought that have been written between Paul and the gospels, and it discusses a flesh and blood Jesus, but no details of that Jesus. It is also notable that no resurrection is mentioned, and indeed it talks about need proof that the sacrifice is dead.

My question is, is there really a JM argument to be made here, or can we just look at this and read our own JM views into it?
I think it would depend on what MJ model you are proposing. Doherty's model -- that "the average pagan believed in a fleshly sublunar realm" in which these actions take place -- is simply unsupportable IMHO, at least from pagan literature. Perhaps there may be another MJ model that does fit such texts, however.
GakuseiDon is offline  
Old 11-22-2006, 05:35 PM   #3
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Jul 2003
Location: Colorado
Posts: 8,674
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GakuseiDon View Post
I think it would depend on what MJ model you are proposing. Doherty's model -- that "the average pagan believed in a fleshly sublunar realm" in which these actions take place -- is simply unsupportable IMHO, at least from pagan literature. Perhaps there may be another MJ model that does fit such texts, however.
Well, I see it as a progression.

Paul talks about a heavenly Jesus.

Hebrews talks about a flesh and blood priestly Jesus.

Mark gives a narrative story of an earthly Jesus.

I see Hebrews as proving the theological justification for the story of an earthly Jesus.
Malachi151 is offline  
Old 11-23-2006, 03:14 AM   #4
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 5,714
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Malachi151 View Post
Well, I see it as a progression.

Paul talks about a heavenly Jesus.

Hebrews talks about a flesh and blood priestly Jesus.
FWIW, Paul also talks about Jesus being born of a woman, seed of David, etc. True, they both talk about a heavenly Jesus as well.
GakuseiDon is offline  
Old 11-23-2006, 06:39 AM   #5
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: San Bernardino, Calif.
Posts: 5,435
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GakuseiDon View Post
FWIW, Paul also talks about Jesus being born of a woman, seed of David, etc.
If Paul had explicitly stated anywhere in his writings that Jesus was not a man of this world, would you be claiming that he contradicted himself?
Doug Shaver is offline  
Old 11-23-2006, 11:22 AM   #6
Contributor
 
Join Date: Mar 2003
Location: London UK
Posts: 16,024
Default

What translation are you quoting from?
Clivedurdle is offline  
Old 11-23-2006, 12:09 PM   #7
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Australia
Posts: 5,714
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Doug Shaver View Post
If Paul had explicitly stated anywhere in his writings that Jesus was not a man of this world, would you be claiming that he contradicted himself?
Well, no. Flesh-and-blood before crucifixion, heavenly afterwards.

Which texts did you have in mind?
GakuseiDon is offline  
Old 11-24-2006, 08:05 AM   #8
Veteran Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: San Bernardino, Calif.
Posts: 5,435
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by GakuseiDon View Post
Which texts did you have in mind?
None. That is why I wrote in the subjunctive mood.
Doug Shaver is offline  
 

Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -8. The time now is 06:04 AM.

Top

This custom BB emulates vBulletin® Version 3.8.2
Copyright ©2000 - 2015, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd.