[23] M. Brückner’s opinion also is “that the Pauline account of the scene at the Last Supper is in all probability not a purely historical one, but is a dogmatic representation of the festival.” And he adds: “In any case just on account of its religious importance this scene cannot be cited to prove Paul’s acquaintance with the details of Jesus’ life” (“Die Entstehung der paulinischen Christologie,” 1903, 44). Cf. also Robertson, “Christianity and Mythology,” 388 sq. [↑]
[24] Holtzmann has, as a matter of fact, in an essay in the “Christliche Welt” (No. 7, 1910) recently attempted to prove the contrary, citing from Paul a number of moral exhortations, &c., which are in accord with Jesus’ words in the Gospels. But in this argument there is a presupposition, which should surely be previously proved, that the Gospels received their corresponding content from Jesus and not, on the contrary, from Paul’s epistles. It is admitted that they were in many other respects influenced by Pauline ideas. Moreover, all the moral maxims cited have their parallels in contemporary Rabbinical literature, so that they need not necessarily be referred back to an historical Jesus; also, such is their nature, that they might be advanced by any one, i.e., they are mere ethical commonplaces without any individual colouring. Thus we find the Rabbis in agreement with [Rom. xiii. 8] sq. and [Gal. v. 14], which Holtzmann traces back to [Matt. vii. 12]: “Bring not on thy neighbour that which displeases thee; this is our whole doctrine.” [Rom. xiii. 7] has its parallel not only in [Matt. xxii. 21], but also in the Talmud, which runs: “Every one is bound to fulfil his obligations to God with the like exactness as those to men. Give to God his due; for all that thou hast is from him.” [Rom. xii. 21] runs in the Sanhedrin: “It is better to be persecuted than to persecute, better to be calumniated by another than to slander.” So that the remark need not necessarily be based on [Matt. v. 39]; in fact, the last-named passage is not found at all in the standard MSS., in the Codex Sinaiticus and Vaticanus. The phrase, “to remove mountains” ([1 Cor. xiii. 2]). is a general Rabbinical one for extolling the power of a teacher’s diction, and so could easily be transferred to the power of faith. So also the phrase, [Mark ix. 50], “Have salt in yourselves, and be at peace one with another”—which [Rom. xii. 18] is supposed to resemble—is a well-known Rabbinical expression. [Matt. v. 39] sq., which is supposed to accord with [1 Cor. vi. 7], runs in the Talmud: “If any one desires thy donkey, give him also the saddle.” [Matt. vii. 1–5], on which [Rom. ii. 1] and xiv. 4 are supposed to be based, equally recalls the Talmud: “Who thinks favourably of his neighbour brings it about that fair judgments are also made of him.” “Let your judgment of your neighbour be completely good.” “Even as one measures, with the same measure shall it also be measured unto him.” [Rom. xiv. 13] and [1 Cor. viii. 7–13] need not necessarily be an allusion to Jesus’ tender consideration for those who are ruined by scandal, as we find in the Talmud: “It would have been better that the evil-minded had been born blind, so that they would not have brought evil into the world” (cf. also Nork, “Rabbinische Quellen und Parallelen zu neutestamentlichen Schriftstellen,” 1839). And does Paul’s usual phrase of greeting, “from God our Father and the Lord Jesus Christ,” really contain the avowal of the “Father-God” preached by Christ? For the connection of the divine Son and bearer of salvation with the “Father-God” is a general mythological formula which occurs in all the different religions—witness the relation between Marduk and Ea, Heracles and Zeus, Mithras and Ormuzd, Balder and Odin. What then does it mean when Paul speaks of the “meekness and humility of Christ,” who lived not for his own pleasure, who made no fame for himself, but was “submissive,” assumed the form of a servant, and was “obedient” to the will of his “father,” even to the death of the cross? All these traits are reproduced directly from the description of the suffering servant of God in Isaiah, which we know had a great part in shaping the personality of Jesus. Meekness, humility, charitableness, and obedience are the specific virtues of the pious of Paul’s time. It was a matter of course for Christ also, the ideal prototype of good and pious men, to be endowed with these characteristics. Abraham was obedient when he sacrificed his son Isaac; and so was the latter to his father, being also submissive in himself bringing the wood to the altar and giving himself up willingly to the sacrificial knife. And we know what a significant rôle the story of Isaac’s sacrifice has always played in the religious ideas of the Jews. Moreover, the heathen redeemer deities—Marduk, of the Mandaic Hibil Ziwâ, Mithras and Heracles—were also obedient in coming down upon earth at the bidding of their heavenly father, burst the gates of death, and gave themselves up, in the case of Mithras, even to be sacrificed; and Heracles served mankind in the position of a servant, fought with the monsters and horrors of hell, and assumed the hardest tasks at the will of others. [↑]
[25] Kalthoff, “Die Entstehung d. Christentums,” 1904, 15. [↑]
[26] P. Wernle, “Die Quellen des Lebens Jesu, Religionsgesch. Volksbücher,” 2 Aufl., 4. [↑]
[27] Gunkel, op. cit., 93. [↑]
[28] Gunkel also takes the view “that before Jesus there was a belief in Christ’s death and resurrection current in Jewish syncretic circles (op. cit., 82). Now we have already seen (p. 57) that the term “Christ” is of very similar significance to “Jesus.” So that it is not at all necessary to believe, as Gunkel asserted in the Darmstadt discussion, that Paul in speaking of “Jesus” testifies to an historical figure, because Jesus is the name of a person. “Jesus Christ” is simply a double expression for one and the same idea—that is, for the idea of the Messiah, Saviour, Physician, and Redeemer; and it is not at all improbable, as Smith supposes, that the contradictions in the conception of the Messiah in two different sects or spheres of thought found their settlement in the juxtaposition of the two names. [↑]
[29] “Not the teacher, not the miracle-worker, not the friend of the publicans and sinners, not the opponent of the Pharisees, is of importance for Paul. It is the crucified and risen Son of God alone” (Wernle, op. cit., 5). [↑]
[30] “Indeed, the historical Jesus in the sense of the Ritschlian school would have been for Paul an absurdity. The Pauline theology has to do rather with the experiences of a heavenly being, which have, and will yet have, extraordinary significance for humanity” (M. Brückner, “Die Entstehung der paulinischen Christologie,” 1903, 12). Brückner also considers it settled “that Jesus’ life on earth had no interest at all for Paul” (op. cit., 46). “Paul did not trouble himself about Jesus’ life on earth, and what he may here and there have learnt concerning it, with few exceptions, remained indifferent to him” (42). Brückner also shows that the passages which are cited to contradict this prove nothing as to Paul’s more detailed acquaintance with Jesus’ life on earth (41 sqq.). He claims “to have given the historical demonstration” in his work “that the Christian religion is at bottom independent of ‘uncertain historical truths’” (Preface). And in spite of this he cannot as a theologian free himself from the conception of an historical Jesus even with regard to Paul, though he is, nevertheless, not in a position to show where and to what extent the historical Jesus had a really decided influence over Paul. [↑]
[31] Movers, op. cit., 438 sqq.; Fraser, “Adonis, Attis, Osiris,” 42, 43, 47, 60, 79 sq. [↑]
[32] Cumont, “Textes et monuments,” &c., i. 240; Pfleiderer, “Urchristentum,” i. 29 sqq. [↑]