Some Early Christians

• We assume that the gospels reflect the early Christian communities in which they were written, but for direct accounts of them we must go to the letters of Paul and the book of Acts. Not all of the letters attributed to Paul may have been written by the apostle himself, but they do give us a picture of the development of the form of Christianity which traced itself to his missionary work. Whether or not the author of Acts was a companion of Paul, as is the tradition, Paul is its hero, so that it too reflects Pauline Christianity.

• GALATIANS
  Paul's epistle to the Galatians is certainly one of those by the apostle himself, and some believe it is among the earliest. It is almost certainly earlier than any of the gospels. In our effort to understand early Christianity, it is of special interest because it shows Paul's form of Christianity coming in contact and conflict with Jewish Christianity. We have in this epistle Paul's own account of his calling and of his relations with the original disciples.
  • 1.11-17: Paul's Conversion Experience. Paul's point is that he teaches on the basis of a direct revelation from the risen Christ, not on the basis of human instruction. After his call from God, he did not go to Jerusalem or even immediately to the Christian community in Damascus but went off into the desert of Arabia. This does not mean that he was previously unfamiliar with the teachings of Jesus and his followers; he had been, by his own account, persecuting those followers. The issue is one of authority.
  • 1.18-2.14: Paul's Contacts with the Jerusalem church. Paul goes on to say that it was three years before he visited any of the Jerusalem congregation, and that on that occasion, although he stayed 15 days with Peter, he saw no other apostle except for James, the brother of Jesus. It was 14 more years before he returned with Barnabas, and he asserts that in private meetings the so-called leaders of the Jerusalem congregation recognized his mission as an apostle to the Gentiles and his practise of not requiring circumcision of converts like Titus, whom he took with him. Circumcision may have been a principle issue, but verses 11-14 report a conflict with Peter (and Barnabas) on table fellowship. (Compare this with contemporary struggles between denominations on sharing communion etc.)
  • The Life of the Faithful. On the issue of circumcision, Paul's language in this epistle becomes almost violent, warning his readers that circumcision will actually negate their rescue by Christ (5.2 and wishing that those who trouble them might castrate themselves (5.12. They are called to freedom and commanded to love each other.

• ACTS OF THE APOSTLES
  . Written a least a generation later than Galations, the book of Acts includes a less combative account of the same material. The author generally minimizes the differences among the followers of Jesus.
  • Call Him Luke. The author of Luke/Acts nowhere identifies himself by name or as the physician said to have accompanied Paul on his travels, though both books name a Theophilus as their intended reader. It is customary to call the author Luke, following the tradition of the early church, which identified the author as Luke the physician.
  • 9.1-30: Luke's Account of Paul's Conversion. In his letters, Paul tells us that Jesus appeared to him, but our fullest account is in Acts 9.1-30, an account which Luke substantially repeats in 22.1-21 and 26.2-23. The initial withdrawal to Arabia mentioned in Galatians 1.17 is not mentioned in this account, according to which Paul is stricken blind by the experience and is taken immediately to Damascus. "After some time had passed" (9.23--cf. "three years" in Galatians 1.18) he goes to Jerusalem, where he seems to have met more disciples than suggested by the account in Galatians. In general, Luke's account also gives more details on Saul's role as a persecutor of the early church; these are not always convincing, as in the suggestion that he could have been delegated authority to bind and carry off Christians from Damascus to the high priest in Jerusalem.
  • 15.1-35: Luke's Account of the Circumcision Discussion. In Acts Paul and Barnabas are welcomed by most to Jerusalem. The issue of circumcision is raised only by believers who were also Pharisees (15.5), not generally a favorable label in the Christian gospels. Peter is pictured as vigorously defending the mission to the Gentiles, and James also speaks and acts in favor of Paul.
  • Peter and the Gentiles in Acts. In Galatians 2.7, Paul says that he had been "entrusted with the gospel for the uncircumsized, just as Peter had been entrusted with the gospel for the circumsized." This division of labor does not suit Luke's purpose in Acts. The first Gentile convert recorded is the centurion Cornelius (10, and Peter is led to recognize that God intends all nations to receive his message. He then baptizes both Jews and Gentiles, who speak in tongues (10.46). Peter must then (11.1-18) defend himself against the same accusation of eating with the uncircumsized raised later against Paul.
  • From the Passion to Pentecost and Beyond. If one reads Luke's account of the passion and resurrection and the Acts, one can see that the notion of a mission "to all nations" (Luke 24.17 is assumed to have been part of the commission of the disciples from the beginning. The events of Pentecost (2), when the disciples are given the power to speak in many tongues and to work signs, fulfills the promise of Luke 24.47-49. At Pentecost, however, the nations are still comprised of Jews and proselytes (2.10) who have come to celebrate the Passover. The disciples remain a small group, living together and sharing all things in common--poor Ananias and his wife are struck dead for holding something back (5.1-10).

• 1 THESSALONIANS
  Not all of Paul's early letters, though, give us any insight into other forms of early Christianity. Perhaps the earlier of all, Addressed to a group of Gentile Christians who were Paul's own converts, 1 Thessalonians mentions other churches only to assure his readers that they are "imitators of the churches of God in Christ Jesus that are in Judea" (2.14), even in facing persecution--and even that reference occurs in a passage (2.14-16) widely regarded as a later insertion. The letter's assurance about the imminence of the Second Coming reflects both its early date and the Pauline interpretation of Jesus's teaching about the Kingdom of God.

• 2 THESSALONIANS
  The second letter to the same church has a later eschatology and a rather non-Pauline style. The apocalypse will be characterized by the vengeance of the Lord and a rebellion led by an anti-Christ who is now under restraint. The important point of the letter is that it has not come yet. Those who stay idle, perhaps thinking the day is at hand, should be put to work. It is possible that what the letter is really opposing is a kind of "realized eschatology" in which the advent of Jesus is seen as having ushered in the Kingdom. [Note for example, Luke 17.20-21: "20 Once Jesus* was asked by the Pharisees when the kingdom of God was coming, and he answered, ‘The kingdom of God is not coming with things that can be observed; 21 nor will they say, “Look, here it is!” or “There it is!” For, in fact, the kingdom of God is among you." The "among" can also be translated "within," and a stress on the internal character of the Kingdom seems to have been part of the teaching of the non-canonical Gospel of Thomas.]

• EPHESIANS
  . Ephesians is also widely regarded as non-Pauline, a later product of those who believed they were carrying on his teaching. Burton Mack writes, "Paul may not always have been convincing in his letters to the churches, but he was always passionately engaged and intellectually sharp. The letters to the Colossians and Ephesians are flaccid and, to tell the truth, quite boring." The vision of the church it offers is built on a hierarchical household of utmost respectability and lacks the excitement of the more egalitarian free community bound by love one finds in Galatians.