{"id":2879,"date":"2023-04-23T19:44:35","date_gmt":"2023-04-23T19:44:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/elbespurling.com\/salvation\/?page_id=2879"},"modified":"2024-10-09T18:22:44","modified_gmt":"2024-10-09T18:22:44","slug":"15-the-first-gospel","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/elbespurling.com\/salvation\/?page_id=2879","title":{"rendered":"Chapter 15: The First Gospel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Chapter 15<\/mark><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The First Gospel<\/mark><\/h1>\n\n\n\n
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Lord Jesus Brought Down to Earth<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Oldest known fragment of the first gospel, coming from a copy dated to the late 100s or early 200s CE<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Few writings in the history of the world have had as much impact as the first gospel, originally simply titled The Gospel of Jesus Christ<\/em> as its first line makes clear.1<\/a><\/sup>Mark 1:1<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> (It was published anonymously, as was often the case with religious writings of the time. The familiar but false attributions to Mark, Luke, Matthew, and John were adopted later in an attempt to tie each gospel to an early figure from Christian history.)2<\/a><\/sup>Ehrman, B. (2014). Why Are the Gospels Anonymous? The Bart Ehrman Blog. https:\/\/ehrmanblog.org\/why-are-the-gospels-anonymous\/<\/a><\/span> Most likely written in the 80s CE,3<\/a><\/sup>Note: Most secular scholars date the first gospel after 70 CE, but not long after. I have seen no compelling argument that it could not be as late as approximately 80 CE, as the only constraint is that it must have been published and disseminated before the second gospel which uses great amounts of material from it.<\/span> it is the first known writing to present Jesus as having lived among humans on earth, and the first to attribute his crucifixion to earthly agents rather than Satan and his demons in the firmament.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The events are set about 50 years before the author\u2019s time, in the era when the existence of Lord Jesus was first revealed in visions to the first apostles like Peter and James. It\u2019s hard to be certain just what motivated the author to take the heavenly Son of God and mythologize him with a recent life on earth full of stupendous miracles and wonders.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Likely Motivations<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of suckling infants, an analogy for initiates in the faith who cannot handle the “solid food” of higher level church teachings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

One possible motivation that has been suggested is that the author\u2019s writing wasn\u2019t intended by him to be taken as a factual report of history, but rather as an allegory\u2014a fable, or an extended parable meant to impart important lessons to its readers.4<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span> There is good evidence for this notion in the New Testament itself. The book of Hebrews speaks plainly of tiered levels of doctrinal teachings used among the earliest Christians. As in the salvation religions of the day, initiates are likened to infants \u201cneeding milk, not solid food.\u201d  The author goes on to explain that \u201csolid food is for the mature, whose perceptions are trained by practice to discern both good and evil.\u201d He urges his hearers to \u201cprogress beyond the elementary instructions about Christ.\u201d5<\/a><\/sup>Hebrews 5:11-14<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> Likewise, Paul, in one of his letters clearly states that there is a teaching he can\u2019t impart to his Corinthian readers because they are not of sufficient rank in the church. He too uses the particular terminology of the salvation religions, distinguishing “newborn babes\u201d from the \u201cperfected\u201d. The truth that the perfected are taught, he explains, is a secret and \u201chidden in a mystery\u201d.6<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ancient mosaic depicting the symbols associated with the seven grades of initiation in the salvation religion known as the Mithraic Mysteries, each tier granting adherents higher level teachings<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Consider also the contemporary fellow dying-and-rising Osiris, an ancient member of the traditional Egyptian pantheon. By the time of the advent of Christianity, Osiris had also been co-opted as the central figure of a Graeco-Roman salvation religion. (This fit a general pattern in which a foreign deity, like Mithra from Persia, was removed from its original religious context, imported into a new \u201cmystery cult\u201d, and molded to the needs of a new people7<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span>\u2014a form of ancient cultural appropriation, we might say today. Even Christianity itself can easily be seen this way, with Paul and his followers taking the Jewish god and his heavenly messiah out of their original context and making them the focus of a new Graeco-Roman anti-Jewish salvation religion.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Ancient depiction of mourners for the (temporarily) dead Osiris<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Each of the dying-and-rising salvation religions\u2019 gods had a particular public story (akin to a \u201cgospel\u201d) set in a particular point in history on earth. Each of these gods (often characterized as a \u201cson of god\u201d) underwent a \u201cpassion\u201d in which they suffered and died, and each achieved a victory over death–a return to life that secured the eternal life of their followers.8<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Plutarch<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

We don\u2019t have details of the teachings of many of these religions, but because the famous ancient writer Plutarch was, for a time, a devotee of Osiris, we do have one surviving letter–written around the same time that the First Gospel was being penned–in which he candidly describes the faith. Osiris, we learn, was presented to initiates as a historical Pharaoh who lived a real life on earth, with named family members, who announced various teachings, and performed many exploits.9<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plutarch goes on to explain that, while this fabricated story is taught to initiates in the faith, those showing true devotion are eventually taught the higher-level teachings. To those ready for such revelations, it is explained that the story of Osiris living on earth is merely a myth. The actual Osiris, they learn, was killed by demons  in the \u201cfirmament\u201d between the sky and the moon. A startlingly familiar idea, as we have seen. And of course, no one today is arguing that Osiris was an historical figure.10<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Jesus explaining his use of parables to his inner circle of disciples<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A later Christian patriarch named Clement of Alexandria would write that such a distinctly tiered system of teachings was a good and necessary practice. He even outright says that there is a secret understanding of the gospel that he is forbidden to tell his readers.11<\/a><\/sup>Carrier, R. (2015). On the Historicity of Jesus. Sheffield Phoenix Press.<\/span> Even within the pages of the first gospel we find a scene in which disciples question Jesus in private about why he uses parables rather than straightforward teachings when speaking to crowds. Jesus responds, \u201cThe secret of the kingdom of God has been given to you. But to those on the outside everything is said in parables so that they may see and see but never perceive, hear and hear but never understand.\u201d12<\/a><\/sup>Mark 4:10-12<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> So the first gospel may have been written as an allegory\u2014specifically, an entry level doctrine for initiates to the faith. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of Paul talking with his “fellow brother and fellow soldier” Epaphroditus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

If, on the other hand, the author of the first gospel did <\/em>intend for his story of Jesus on earth to be taken as factual history, another possible motivation would be the assertion of control over doctrine. Putting the supernatural Lord Jesus on earth allowed the author to choose which teachings to put in the mouth of the messiah, thereby establishing them as divinely-ordained; and which to ignore or disparage. Beyond that, it gave the author the opportunity to deeply influence the reputations of the founders of the religion, deciding who to portray heroically, who to malign, and who to studiously avoid mentioning. We have seen that Christianity was deeply divided from its earliest days between the fanatical Essene Jews who founded the religion and began the Jerusalem church, and those who followed their \u201cenemy\u201d Paul whose communities of Gentile believers dotted Asia Minor, Greece, and beyond. It was Paul\u2019s successors who gained an upper hand by avoiding the utter destruction of the recent war. And it seems that it was also a follower of Paul who penned the first gospel13<\/a><\/sup>Eisenman, R.H. (1998). James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Penguin.<\/span>\u2014what we know today as The Gospel of Mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Possible Setting and Authorship<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of the writer of the first gospel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Scholars generally believe that the first gospel was composed by a Gentile writing in Greek (using occasional Latinisms), that he used a Greek translation of the Hebrew scriptures as a reference, and that he was writing for a Gentile audience. Although its place of composition can\u2019t be known with certainty, many have suggested Rome.14<\/a><\/sup>Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, January 25). Gospel According to Mark<\/em>. Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Gospel-According-to-Mark<\/a><\/span> The identity of the author can only be speculated at, though one intriguing possibility is that it was composed by the same Epaphroditus who was a \u201cfriend and fellow-worker\u201d15<\/a><\/sup>Philippians 2:25<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> of the apostle Paul, had been the secretary of letters under emperor Nero, and then was the publisher of the works of Flavius Josephus. As a Gentile Christian author connected at the highest levels of imperial power, he is certainly a good candidate.16<\/a><\/sup>Eisenman, R.H. (1998). James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Penguin.<\/span><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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John and Baptism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
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Artist depiction of Jesus coming from the village of Nazareth<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The first gospel says nothing whatsoever of Jesus\u2019s birth. We are introduced to him as an adult who is said to come from Nazareth in Galilee.17<\/a><\/sup>Mark 1:9<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> This choice of a hometown for Jesus is possibly a corruption of the term \u201cNazirite\u201d, which, as we have seen, described a kind of vow that was popular among the Essene Jews and early Christians. Or it may have been an interpretation of the term \u201cNazorean\u201d which was a self-designation used among certain early Christians in Judah and surrounding areas for centuries18<\/a><\/sup>Eisenman, R.H. (1998). James the Brother of Jesus: The Key to Unlocking the Secrets of Early Christianity and the Dead Sea Scrolls. Penguin.<\/span>. Years later, the writer of the third gospel seems to interpret it this way, claiming that Jesus being from Nazareth is the fulfillment of a scriptural prophecy stating \u201cHe will be a Nazorean\u201d19<\/a><\/sup>Matthew 2:23<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span>\u2014though there is no known scriptural passage which states this \u201cprophecy\u201d. The placement of his hometown in the region of Galilee may have been inspired by Isaiah 9 which includes the phrase \u201cin the future he will honor Galilee of the Gentiles\u201d. This same phrase \u201cGalilee of the Gentiles\u201d is used by the author later on in the gospel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Artist depiction of the baptism of Jesus by John as described in the first gospel<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before Jesus himself is introduced, however, the first character we meet in the first gospel is John the Baptist. John is said to be preaching to the crowds that have come to see him and receive his baptism. To introduce him, the writer quotes the same passage from Isaiah that was of such importance to the Essene writers of the Dead Sea Scrolls, about preparing a way for the Lord in the desert. In his only other line of dialogue, John plays down his own importance by saying that someone more powerful and important is coming who will baptize people with the holy spirit. This is when Jesus himself arrives on the scene and is baptized. As he comes out of the water, Jesus sees the skies split apart and the Holy Spirit descend on him like a dove while a voice from heaven says, \u201cYou are my beloved son. And I am pleased with you\u201d\u2014a quote mixing lines from Psalms 2 and Isaiah 42.20<\/a><\/sup>Mark 1-11<\/a>. The Bible. New International Version.<\/span> The function of this scene appears to be threefold:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Present day Mandaeans in Iran carry on the ritual of water immersion they trace back to John the Baptist21<\/a><\/sup>Britannica, T. Editors of Encyclopaedia (2024, January 26). Mandaeanism<\/em>. Encyclopedia Britannica<\/em>. https:\/\/www.britannica.com\/topic\/Mandaeanism<\/a><\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n