mark9950

With all the inferences of jesus being a lawbreaker and being a criminal sentenced to death for blasphemy.

Who did paul believe jesus was and how did this jesus dupe paul especially if paul had the torah and knew the jews.

The jews have a strong arguement about jesus being a false prophet as it is.

GakuseiDon

Paul was a Jew. According to Acts, he learned about Jesus after his conversion and "confounded the Jews in Damascus, proving that Jesus was the Christ" (Acts 9:22). So he thought that Jesus was the Messiah and also (somehow) the Son of God.

How did Jesus do it? Through a vision is the Biblical answer.

SLD

Paul claims to be a Jew. But his claim makes little sense. He was not a Judaic Jew, but from Tarsus - in modern day Turkey. He claimed Roman citizenship, and his parents, IIRC, were tentmakers - whose primary customers may well have been the Roman Army. I would venture to guess that he came from a family of "God-fearers" or Roman/Greek citizens who sort of converted to Judaism; although there were indeed true Jews throughout the Roman empire.

I don't think he viewed Jesus as "the Messiah" - most true Jews of that time period had a much different concept of a Messiah then is expressed in the New Testament (although the concept might fit more into how non-Judean Jews viewed the Messiah). The Judeans were looking for a Messiah who would come and throw the Romans out of Palestine and restore the Davidian line of Kings. Paul, the Roman citizen, was not looking for that. Paul's Jesus seems more like the idea of a greek/platonic view of God and his alleged son. God is too pure to come down from the heavens to us lowly earthlings, and so sends his son to be some sort of benefactor/go-between for us and God. Paul barely (if at all) mentions the earthly Jesus. Nothing about what he said or how he led his life.

SLD