#thegospels

Brutal Crucifixion

Crucifixion was a gruesome form of punishment used by ancient cultures, most famously by the Roman Republic and Empire. It involved hanging or suspending individuals on a cross, often lasting days until death occurred. This method is historically significant due to its role in Christian theology, particularly the crucifixion of Jesus, which transformed the lives of believers through its powerful symbolism of suffering and redemption.

Key Facts

Historical Use: Crucifixion was used by several ancient cultures, including the Romans.

Physical Torture: It involved hanging individuals on a cross, causing a slow and agonizing death.

Christian Significance: The crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus are pivotal events in Christianity.

Historical Context

Crucifixion was one of the most feared punishments in ancient times, often reserved for serious crimes like rebellion against Roman rule. Its use peaked during the Roman Empire, where it symbolized the Roman state's power and authority.

Historical Significance

Crucifixion holds profound historical significance due to its central role in Christian theology, where it represents both immense suffering and redemption. Additionally, it serves as a testament to the brutal practices of ancient civilizations, highlighting the complexity and harsh realities of historical societies.

Sermon on the Mount

The Sermon on the Mount in the Gospel of Matthew (chapters 5, 6, and 7) became a foundational element of the religion of Christianity. The sermon is based on the traditions of Judaism and the Law of Moses, but with added interpretations of the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. Matthew placed it at the beginning of Jesus' ministry, and its themes continued throughout the gospel.

Sermon on the Mount

Carl Bloch (Public Domain)

Background & Setting for Matthew

Like the other gospels, there are no internal dates in Matthew. The 2nd-century Church Fathers placed Matthew as the first gospel in the New Testament, but we know that Mark was the earliest, c. 70 CE or beyond. Matthew (c. 85 CE) and Luke (c. 95 CE) contained almost verbatim stories from Mark, so the consensus is that they had a written copy of Mark. The sermon is not in the Gospel of Mark. Scholars have concluded that Matthew and Luke had additional sources for Jesus beyond Mark, known as the "Q" source. It has not survived independently but was named "Q" for the German Quelle ("source") because German Bible scholars were the first to categorize these additional teachings. Luke had a similar version, in his Sermon on the Plain.

The provenance for Matthew is understood to be Galilee. This is derived from several factors, one of which is that the gospel ends with the resurrected Jesus telling the disciples to go to Galilee and meet him there. He then appeared and commissioned them "to make disciples of all nations", the Gentiles (Matthew 28:19).

When the Romans destroyed Jerusalem and the Temple complex in 70 CE, some Jews, which may have included some Pharisees, survived by escaping the city and establishing formalized schools for the study of their scriptures now that the sacrifices in the Temple cult were no longer possible. Some of these schools were located in Galilee and centered in the synagogues. This became the beginning of what is known as Rabbinic Judaism over the next centuries.

Throughout Matthew's gospel, the vitriol against the Jews increased. His Jesus consistently taught against doing things the way the Jews do it in their synagogues. We have an image that Christians may have literally moved out of the synagogues and established their own version, which became the early churches.

Christians claimed that Jesus was the messiah predicted by the prophets in the final days. God would then establish his kingdom on earth. But as the decades passed, the kingdom was not manifest. Early Christianity rationalized this with the concept of parousia, or second appearance. Resurrected and exalted to heaven, at a future time, Jesus would return and fulfill everything the prophets had predicted. The overall purpose of the sermon was twofold:

to state that Christians have the correct understanding of the Laws of Moses as opposed to the Jews

to teach believers how to live in the interim while awaiting the return of Jesus.

Mary, Mother of Jesus

Mary of Nazareth, the mother of Jesus Christ, is one of the most venerated women from the ancient world. Her most common epithet is "the virgin Mary." She is celebrated by Eastern Orthodox Churches, Catholicism, and various Protestant denominations as "the mother of God." In Islam, Surah 19 of the Quran, the surah of Maryam, is devoted to her.

Stories of Mary evolved over time. Our earliest source for Christianity are the letters of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles. Written before the canonical gospels, Paul did not name her. We have only: "But when the fullness of time had come, God sent his son, born of a woman, born under the law" (Galatians 4:4).

Mary in the Gospels

Ancient cultures shared a conviction that great people often had a miraculous birth, usually with the mating of a god with a human woman.

The gospels of Mark, Matthew, Luke, and John (70-100 CE) are our sources for Mary. Confusing at times, there are many women named Mary in the gospels. Then (as now) people named their children after famous figures. The name Mary derived from the Aramaic Mariam, in koine Greek, Maria. Miriam was the sister of Moses.

The earliest gospel, Mark (c. 70 CE), began in medias res, with the adult Jesus beginning his ministry in Nazareth:

On the Sabbath he began to teach in the synagogue, and many who heard him were astounded. They said, "Where did this man get all this? What is this wisdom that has been given to him? What deeds of power are being done by his hands! Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary and brother of James and Joses and Judas and Simon, and are not his sisters here with us?" And they took offense at him.

(Mark 6:2-3)

Although not described as a follower in the earthly ministry, we know that his brother James was a historical figure because Paul visited with him twice, and he is referred to as "James, the Lord's brother" in Galatians 1:18. In Acts, James is one of the leaders of the new movement in Jerusalem. Early Christianity understood the siblings as other children of Mary after the birth of Christ.

Matthew and Luke both began their gospels with a nativity story (a birth story) of Jesus. The motivation was most likely to convince people that Jesus was the messiah, predicted by the prophets of Israel. They did this through references to the books of the prophets in the Jewish scriptures. At the same time, ancient cultures shared a conviction that great people often had a miraculous birth, usually with the mating of a god with a human woman.

Matthew's gospel describes the birth of Jesus as follows:

Now the birth of Jesus the messiah took place in this way. When his mother Mary had been engaged to Joseph, but before they lived together, she was found to be pregnant from the holy spirit. Her husband Joseph, being a righteous man and unwilling to expose her to public disgrace, planned to divorce her quietly. But just when he had resolved to do this, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said, "Joseph, son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary as your wife, for the child conceived in her is from the holy spirit." All this took place to fulfill what had been spoken by the Lord through the prophet: "Look, the virgin shall become pregnant and give birth to a son, and they shall name him Emmanuel," which means, "God is with us." When Joseph awoke from sleep, he did as the angel of the Lord commanded him; he took her as his wife but had no marital relations with her until she had given birth to a son, and he named him Jesus."

(Matthew 1:18-23)

The holy spirit at this point was not the third entity of what became the Trinity in 325 CE. It was a reference to the spirit of God, which animated Adam when he "breathed into his nostrils the breath of life, and the man became a living being" (Genesis 2:7). It was the spirit of God that possessed the prophets with the ability to speak in God's name and perform miracles.

Readers are sometimes confused with a reference to divorce, as they were not married yet. Both betrothals and marriages were done through a legal contract, exchanging the property of the father to the new husband. To undo an original contract, another contract, that of divorce, was required.

New Testament

New Testament is the name for the second half of the Christian Bible, compiled from the 2nd century CE, after the separation of Christianity from Judaism. The Christian Bible retained books of the Jewish scriptures, the Old Testament, as "proof" to support the new system of belief formed around Jesus Christ. The New Testament consists of four gospels, the Acts of the Apostles, the letters of Paul the Apostle to the Gentiles, and the Book of Revelation.

Etymology

"Testament" became the English translation for a shared religious and cultural concept in the ancient world, that of "covenant." A covenant was a legal contract upheld and sworn to by oaths and rituals. We have examples between overlords and constituents.

All ancient religions had contracts between their gods and humans. The contract detailed the relationship between society and the divine. Covenants had two essential elements: 1) the god's promise to help the community to prosper in return for worship, which meant sacrifices, and 2) law codes that detailed behavior and gender roles. Law codes were manifest in forms of governing, originally through kings, and were validated by the fact that they were given by the gods. The Jewish scriptures have detailed covenants between God and his people.

The Hebrew for covenant (beriyth) meant a promise or a pledge. In the Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures, beriyth became diatheke, a Greco-Roman concept of jurisprudence that described a last will and testament. The King James version used "testament" as a description of the eternal covenants of God.

Origins of Christian Anti-Semitism in the Gospels

Anti-Semitism is a modern term that describes prejudice and hostility to Jews and Judaism. The term is derived from the later social scientific categorization of the subfamily of the Afro-Asiatic languages of Hebrew, Aramaic, Arabic, and Amharic. It is also a descriptor of the peoples of these regions, from the list of nations descended from Noah's eldest son Shem, in Genesis 10. The most common use of Anti-Semitism, however, relates to Jews and Judaism.