Throughout history societies have created numerous religions and belief systems (Christianity being one of these). In the years that followed the death of Jesus Christ, a man named Paul believed he had been “… sent neither by human commission nor from human authorities, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father…” ( NRSV, Galatians 1:1) to spread the gospel of salvation (or ‘Paul’s Euangelion’). Paul’s Euangelion stated “…we believe that Jesus died and rose again and… the Lord himself, … will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise ...” (NRSV, 1 Thessalonians 4:14-16). During this time, the belief systems within regions influenced the content, …show more content…
Paul’s tone in his letters to the Corinthians is one of warmth, connection, and endearment as he refers to the congregation as “those who are sanctified in Christ Jesus, called to be saints” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 1:2). Apocalyptic Christianity believes that one did not need to be circumcised in order to become a follower of Christ and receive salvation. Proof of this is found in Paul’s letter B when he states “…Was anyone at the time of his call already circumcised? Let him not seek to remove the marks of circumcision. Was anyone at the time of his call uncircumcised? Let him not seek circumcision. Circumcision is nothing, and uncircumcision is nothing … Let each of you remain in the condition in which you were called” (NRSV, 1 Corinthians 7:18-20). They follow the example of Jesus who died for their sins, not Jesus the Jew, and therefore the only requirement to become a follower of Christ was “baptism and resurrection, dying to oneself and becoming alive in Christ … identifying oneself with Jesus and the resurrection” (Ford). Paul clearly speaks this message in his letter to the Romans, “Do you not know that all of us who have been baptized into Christ Jesus were baptized into his death? … we have been buried with him by …show more content…
This group is addressed in some of Paul’s letter including Galatians (which carries a cold, and corrective tone). Paul sees this group of Christians as ‘traders’ since their belief is Torah observant, and Paul Euangalions is not. In Paul’s letter to the Galatians he asks “You were running well; who prevented you from obeying the truth” (NRSV, Galatians 5:7), which shows Paul had delivered his Euangalion, but it was not carried out according to his command. TOC believes that circumcision (“… if you let yourselves be circumcised, Christ will be of no benefit to you …every man who lets himself be circumcised … is obliged to obey the entire law…” (NRSV, Galatians 5:2-3)), as well as be baptized, dietary guidelines, and other Torah traditions (“You are observing special days, and months, and seasons, and years” (NRSV, Galatians 4:10)) are necessary in order to become a follower of Christ. Paul sees Torah observance as slavery requiring freedom, which can be found in following his Euangalion (“…we were imprisoned and guarded under the law … now that faith has come, we are no longer subject to a disciplinarian [the law] … As many of you as were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ” (NRSV, Galatians 3:23-28)). Paul tries to relate to TOC in stating “If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: circumcised on the eighth day … a Hebrew born of