Paul's Mystery Jesus

Pray: To ask that the laws of the universe be annulled in behalf of a
single petitioner confessedly unworthy. -Ambrose Bierce

Faith, revelation and supernatural: To a believer, those words inspire awe, hope and maybe fear. But practically, they bespeak of a person who is willing to believe another who claims to have special insight on things that don't exist and can't happen in the real world. It is on those grounds that the Christian Church promises mortality can be defeated by following their special prescription. If only it was that easy.

Paul holds a special place in Christianity. Most Christians are not aware of it, but if we were to trace through the generations, their faith rest on Paul's shoulders. It was because of faith in this one man that Christianity swelled to what it is today. It was because of Paul that Christians believe in Jesus. How and why it happened is beyond the scope of this report. (See Paul's Mythology)  Certainly they rest on the willingness to believe without material evidence.

The heart of the matter seems to be the common belief that Jesus was an incarnated God who actually roamed the streets of Palestine preaching to real people. The miracle of his crucifixion and resurrection paved the way for believing Christians to have eternal life. To find out if there is truth to this we have to look to Paul. There are no outside sources to corroborate Jesus' existence. There is only Paul whose letters where so important to the NT editors that they gave him 55 percent as much space as the four Gospels combined.

It turns out that Paul gives us enough information to conclude that there was no real Jesus. In the report on his Ignorance, when probing for what he knew about Jesus, we find out that he knew hardly anything. He even made a point of telling others that he knew Jesus strictly by Scripture, visions and revelation.

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)

¹⁶All scripture is inspired by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, (2 Tim. 3:16)

If there had been a real Jesus, he wouldn't have accepted him because his faith was based on things unseen.

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)

This report will focus on his description of Jesus' first advent as a supernatural event. The mystery, as Paul calls it, gives us a perspective on time. Considering that there was supposed to be a walking talking Jesus before Paul's time, he maintains that he was the first to be graced by God to reveal the secret of his coming. Considering his questionable Character, there is no reason to believe 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, (Gal. 1:15-16)

Supernatural Jesus

I've been in contact with Christians who have built fortress walls around the Gospels. Criticism of the OT and Paul doesn't faze them; some are critical themselves. Regardless, Paul set the intellectual framework from which the Gospels were written. The gospel writers personified Jesus in an historical setting with varying results. Likewise, Christian theology stems from Paul's thinking, so Christians can't disparage him without undercutting their faith. Paradoxically, if they really understand him, it will also undercut their faith. That is, unless they want to follow the standard interpretations without critical examination.

So while the Gospels treat Jesus as a real person, Paul treats him as a phantom. This is a critical contradiction for which Christians will have to sort out for themselves.

1. God sent his Son in the likeness of sinful flesh to condemn sin in the flesh.

³For God has done what the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do: sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and for sin, he condemned sin in the flesh,
⁴in order that the just requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not according to the flesh but according to the Spirit. (Rom. 8:3-4)

He makes a distinction between likeness of flesh and actual flesh.

2. To set the mind on flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit brings life and peace. Those who are in the flesh cannot please God.

⁵For those who live according to the flesh set their minds on the things of the flesh, but those who live according to the Spirit set their minds on the things of the Spirit.
⁶To set the mind on the flesh is death, but to set the mind on the Spirit is life and peace.
⁷For the mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God; it does not submit to God's law, indeed it cannot;
⁸and those who are in the flesh cannot please God. (Rom. 8:5-8)

In Paul's mind, if Jesus came in actual flesh, he would be tainted by sin. This gets into semantics: By coming in the likeness of flesh, he transcends human weakness and is therefore free of sin.

3. Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures.

³For I delivered unto you first of all that which I also received, how that Christ died for our sins according to the scriptures;
⁴And that he was buried, and that he rose again the third day according to the scriptures: (1 Cor. 15:3-4)

Paul doesn't mean that the scriptures predicted a real event. He means that it happened because the scriptures say it happened. The referenced passage comes from Isaiah, which he misinterprets. Isaiah is addressing his contemporaries about the state of Israel's exile. The "he" in Isaiah is a metaphor for Israel.

⁵But he was wounded for our transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
⁶All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
⁷He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth; like a lamb that is led to the slaughter, and like a sheep that before its shearers is dumb, so he opened not his mouth.
⁸By oppression and judgment he was taken away; and as for his generation, who considered that he was cut off out of the land of the living, stricken for the transgression of my people?
⁹And they made his grave with the wicked and with a rich man in his death, although he had done no violence, and there was no deceit in his mouth.
¹⁰Yet it was the will of the LORD to bruise him; he has put him to grief; when he makes himself an offering for sin, he shall see his offspring, he shall prolong his days; the will of the LORD shall prosper in his hand;
¹¹he shall see the fruit of the travail of his soul and be satisfied; by his knowledge shall the righteous one, my servant, make many to be accounted righteous; and he shall bear their iniquities.
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 53:5-12)

4. They drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.

¹I want you to know, brethren, that our fathers were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea,
²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea,
³and all ate the same supernatural food
⁴and all drank the same supernatural drink. For they drank from the supernatural Rock which followed them, and the Rock was Christ.
⁵Nevertheless with most of them God was not pleased; for they were overthrown in the wilderness. (1 Cor. 10:1-4)

The cloud Paul refers to is the Milky Way (See Pillar of Cloud.) The word "sea" also has astrological significance. (See "Deep" in Garden Tour.) For a take on Moses' supernatural career, see Moses' Sun Signs

5. The first Adam became a living being; 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)

Though, in other places, he blames Adam for causing death. Bible footnotes on the above, reference a passage which unequivocally describes Adam as a mortal being.

⁷then the LORD God formed man of dust from the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man became a living being. (Gen. 2:7)

6. The rulers of this age are doomed to pass away. If they understood a secret and hidden wisdom of God, they would not have crucified the Lord.

⁶Yet among the mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not a wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, who are doomed to pass away.
⁷But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, which God decreed before the ages for our glorification.
⁸None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Cor. 2:6-8)

The word "rulers" refers to demonic forces. Paul had a high regard for human authorities, claming they were appointed by God to carry out his judgment. So what the above passage means is that Christ's crucifixion was a supernatural event.

¹Let every person be subject to the governing authorities. For there is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God.
²Therefore he who resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment.
³For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of him who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you will receive his approval, (Rom. 13:1-3)

This passage below maintains that the rulers were satanic angels who will meet their demise when the end comes.

¹⁴And no wonder, for even Satan disguises himself as an angel of light.
¹⁵So it is not strange if his servants also disguise themselves as servants of righteousness. Their end will correspond to their deeds. (2 Cor. 11:14-15)

Neither angels, nor principalities or powers shall separate us from the love of Christ.

³⁷No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us.
³⁸For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor things present, nor things to come, nor powers,
³⁹nor height, nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Rom. 8:37-39)

The ruler of this world is judged. -John mirrors Paul's attitude precisely.

¹¹concerning judgment, because the ruler of this world is judged. (John 16:11)

7. He is the image of an invisible God.

¹⁵He is the image of the invisible God, the first-born of all creation; (Col. 1:10)

8. God sent the Spirit of his Son.

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

The mystery

Suppose there was a real Jesus who preached and died according to the Gospels. With a religion named after him, it is a reasonable assumption that his followers would preach under his authority. Especially with the two passages below in which Jesus passes his earthly authority on to his disciples. The Catholic Church even maintains that its authority comes through Peter whom it classifies as its first pope.

¹⁸And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the powers of death shall not prevail against it.
¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth shall be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven." (Matt. 16-18-19)

¹⁸And Jesus came and said to them, "All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me.
¹⁹Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,
²⁰teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you; and lo, I am with you always, to the close of the age." (Matt. 28:18-20)

Forrrr-get about it! Paul went around preaching under his own authority which he said came by grace of God. There was a Jesus cult led by Peter. For the story on how it fizzled out, see Paul's Schism.

¹⁵But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, because of the grace given me by God
¹⁶to be a minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles in the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that the offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. (Rom. 15:15-16)

So what this next group of passages demonstrates is that Jesus' crucifixion was not an actual historical event. It was a supernatural event which Paul claims was a mystery until he was graced by God to reveal it.

The mystery of Jesus Christ was kept secret for long ages until now, through the prophetic writings.

²⁵Now to him who is able to strengthen you according to my gospel and the preaching of Jesus Christ, according to the revelation of the mystery which was kept secret for long ages
²⁶but is now disclosed and through the prophetic writings is made known to all nations, according to the command of the eternal God, to bring about the obedience of faith-
²⁷to the only wise God be glory for evermore through Jesus Christ! Amen. (Rom. 16:25-27)

God has entrusted to us the message of reconciliation.

¹⁸All this is from God, who through Christ reconciled us to himself and gave us the ministry of reconciliation;
¹⁹that is, in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation. (2 Cor. 5:18-19)

God has made the mystery of his will known to us.

⁹For he has made known to us in all wisdom and insight the mystery of his will, according to his purpose which he set forth in Christ
¹⁰as a plan for the fullness of time, to unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth. (Eph. 1:9-10)

The mystery of Christ was made known to Paul, and was not made known to other generations.

¹For this reason I, Paul, a prisoner for Christ Jesus on behalf of you Gentiles-
²assuming that you have heard of the stewardship of God's grace that was given to me for you,
³how the mystery was made known to me by revelation, as I have written briefly.
⁴When you read this you can perceive my insight into the mystery of Christ,
⁵which was not made known to the sons of men in other generations as it has now been revealed to his holy apostles and prophets by the Spirit;
⁶that is, how the Gentiles are fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus through the gospel. (Eph. 3:1-6)

Through Paul, the Laodiceans will have the knowledge of God's mystery.

¹For I want you to know how greatly I strive for you, and for those at Laodicea, and for all who have not seen my face,
²that their hearts may be encouraged as they are knit together in love, to have all the riches of assured understanding and the knowledge of God's mystery, of Christ,
³in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. (Col. 2:1-3)

The mystery was hidden for ages but now made manifest, because God chose to make his glory known to Gentiles.

²⁶the mystery hidden for ages and generations but now made manifest to his saints.
²⁷To them God chose to make known how great among the Gentiles are the riches of the glory of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:26-27)

We who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live.

¹²we who first hoped in Christ have been destined and appointed to live for the praise of his glory. (Eph. 1:12)

Paul was entrusted with the secret of eternal life, which God promised ages ago.

¹Paul, a servant of God and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to further the faith of God's elect and their knowledge of the truth which accords with godliness,
²in hope of eternal life which God, who never lies, promised ages ago
³and at the proper time manifested in his word through the preaching with which I have been entrusted by command of God our Savior; (Titus 1:3)

Final thought

This report focuses on Jesus' nonexistence from one direction. Readers who are still unconvinced can read more about Paul on this website. Better yet, the astrology section gets to the heart of the matter. Or they can continue to defend their fortress walls around the Gospels.