Wisdom Studies,
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John Genyo Sprague, M.A.
An Introduction to Christianity
Written Fri, 2010-12-17
Introducing Christianity: The teachings of Jesus and of St. Paul
Jesus was a Jewish spiritual teacher, whose life and teachings were the inspiration for Christianity. Early Christianity arose within the context of Jewish history, culture and religion. The Jewish scriptures – both the books of Moses, and those of the later prophets – were important in the mind-set of the people Jesus and his apostles taught to, and constitute the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Throughout the Gospels we read about Jesus teaching in synagogues. The Jewish yearning for a promised Messiah was clearly a major factor in Jesus’ life story—both for those who believed he was the messiah, and for those who rejected that idea.
Thus, Christianity was initially a movement within Judaic world. Did Jesus himself believe he was the messiah? Christianity certainly teaches that Jesus was the messiah, the promised savior, and the Bible has many passages that suggest that Jesus was a supernaturally divine being who fulfilled Jewish prophecy. On the other hand, many New Testament scholars question this aspect of the Christian teachings, arguing that large portions of the New Testament are elaboration, stemming from an attempt by the Gospel writers to give Jesus divine status, and to show how he fulfilled Jewish prophecy. If we examine the portions of the Bible that everyone, after careful and honest scholarship, agrees are authentic, we discover a picture of a man who was a truly great, even radical teacher, but who did not promote himself as a supernatural being, or the promised messiah.
My own view is a little different from both of these perspectives. I do think the scholarly arguments are important, and I do not feel the need to regard every word in the Bible as being equally factual or inspired. On the other hand, I think it is important to consider two things: first that Jesus was a very enlightened being, one of the great exemplars of wisdom and compassion and sacred purpose in human history. Second, I think that Jesus himself must have been aware of the expectations of Jews, particularly the possibility that he might be seen as the promised messiah (whether he thought so himself). One aspect of the messianic expectations of Jews was the anticipation of a great king who would liberate them from bondage and make them great, both spiritually and secularly, like back in the days of King David. In my view, Jesus clearly grapples with these expectations, and tries to redirect them. A prime example is his teaching about the Kingdom of God, or Kingdom of Heaven, which offers a radically new spiritual / mystical understanding of what such a kingdom is. (See Stephen Mitchell, The Gospel of Jesus, p, 104-105)
Thus I suggest that when we read Jesus’ core teachings, we are encountering a truly wise and illumined being, who at the same time, was negotiating the tricky terrain of Jewish expectation. However, no matter the cultural context in which Jesus lived and taught, his teachings are also universal. They are also truly radical in questioning the value of material wealth, power, and status, and his remarkable inclusion of the marginalized and downtrodden in his ministry and teaching.
Teachings of Jesus:
* The Beatitudes:
"Blessed are the poor in spirit,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.
Blessed are they who mourn,
for they shall be comforted.
Blessed are the meek,
for they shall inherit the earth.
Blessed are they who hunger and thirst for righteousness,
for they shall be satisfied.
Blessed are the merciful,
for they shall obtain mercy.
Blessed are the pure of heart,
for they shall see God.
Blessed are the peacemakers,
for they shall be called children of God.
Blessed are they who are persecuted for the sake of righteousness,
for theirs is the kingdom of heaven."
Sayings:
* The kingdom of God is like a mustard seed, which a man sows in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it grows up it is the largest of shrubs, and becomes a tree so that the birds of the air come and shelter in its branches.
* The kingdom of God is like a treasure buried in a field, which a man found and buried again, then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.
* The Kingdom of Heaven will not come if you watch for it. Nor will anyone be able to say, ‘It is here’ or ‘It is there.’ For the Kingdom of God is within you.
* Ask, and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you.
The Lord's Prayer:
* When you pray, go to your inner room and shut the door and pray in secret to your Father, and your Father, who sees what is in secret, will reward you. . . Pray like this:
Our Father in heaven,
hallowed be your name.
May your kingdom come,
may your will be done,
on earth as it is in heaven.
Give us today our daily bread.
Forgive us our sins,
as we forgive those who sin against us.
Lead us not into temptation,
but deliver us from evil.
For yours is the kingdom, the power and the glory.
Now and for ever. Amen
The two greatest commandments from the Jewish scriptures according to Jesus:
-- The Lord our God is one and you should love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind and with all your soul."
-- Love your neighbor as your self.
More sayings:
* For if you forgive others their wrongs, your heavenly Father will also forgive you.
* Let the one without sin cast the first stone.
* Don’t judge, and you will not be judged. For in the same way that you judge people, your yourself will be judged.
Why do you see the splinter that is in your brother’s eye, but don’t notice the log that is in your own eye? First take the log out of your own eye, and then you will see clearly enough to take the splinter our of your brother’s eye . . .
If you forgive, you will be forgiven, if you give, things will be given to you . . . For the measure by which you give is the measure by which you will receive.
* Therefore, whatever you want others to do to you, do to them. This is the essence of the Law and the prophets.
Click here for my commentary on Jesus' teachings. (forthcoming)
The Mystical Vision of St. Paul: Christianity as we know really stems from the teachings and life of two men: Jesus and St. Paul. Paul never met Jesus. He initially opposed Christianity, until he received a profound mystic vision of Christ. For Paul, Christ was less an individual than the divine nature available to all people, which he experienced as a living presence within his own consciousness and life. Christianity as we know is to a large degree shaped by Paul’s interpretation of Christ in his letters.
The following excerpts are from “The New Aeon has dawned: Letters of St. Paul,” a chapter in Coming Home, by Lex Hixon. The later excerpts in italics are quotes from Paul’s letters. Those in regular type at the beginning (and some later) are Hixon’s commentary. Hixon uses poetic language, inspired by his own spiritual experiences, to describe the heart of Paul's experience and perspective.
* Paul was an ecstatic rabbi for whom the Messiah had actually come.
* On the road to Damascus, Paul’s resistance finally dissolved and the boundless radiance of the Messiah, or Christ Nature, opened before his inner vision . . . This inner voice revealed to Paul that Jesus of Nazareth had indeed been a full expression of the Christ Nature, the Divine Radiance which abides secretly at the core of human nature . . . . Paul was empowered to transmit Christ as Divine Power and Presence, not to preach Jesus as a human being. . . Paul’s spiritual transmission leads outside history into the Divine Radiance at the core of our conscious being. We are as close to this Christ Nature now as Paul was in his lifetime. . . The Kingdom of God is amongst us.
* The open secret of Paul’s teaching is the mystical union with Christ. . . . The Messiah, or Christ . . . lives secretly in all hearts.
* We will not be able to appreciate the nature of this secret teaching, however, until we understand Christ to be the Divine Radiance at the core of our being rather than simply the historical person, Jesus of Nazareth.
* Our intrinsic mature is the Christ Nature. . . This inner Christ has been made accessible to all by the flood of Divine Grace focused through Jesus . . . . This gift of Christ nature is offered equally to all.
* Life in Christ.
* God’s mystery of Christ, in which all the jewels of Wisdom and Knowledge are hidden.
* Know the Truth and the Truth will set you free. . . .
Knowing the truth about our own ultimate nature as Divine Nature.
* I live not with my own life but with the life of Christ who lives in me.
* In Christ lives the fullness of divinity, and in Him you find your own fulfillment.
* You together are Christ’s body.
* Since Spirit is our life, let us be directed by Spirit.
* The Messiah’s Coming (is) an inner secret, mystical transfiguration of Being. . . Be rooted in Christ. Be built upon Him.
* Human suffering and conflict are created by ignoring our rootedness in the Divine Ground. For this chronic condition of ignorance Paul uses the word sin . . . In the New Aeon (in which the Kingdom of God has already dawned) sin disappears as mist is burned away by the rising sun, the Grace of Divine Radiance. Paul writes to his disciples. . . We are dead to sin, so how can we continue to live in it.
* (Mystical) death is the disappearance of the human into the divine. . .
Baptism in the Fire of Spirit.
* Christ is the principle through which God manifests as all life. . . Before anything was created, He existed, and He holds all things in Unity.
* Just as a human body, though it is made up of many parts, is a single unit because all these parts, though many, make up one body, so it is with Christ . . . You together are Christ’s Body. . . The Mystical Body of Christ. . . All of you are one in Christ.
* The goal of Spiritual life in all its forms is that the individual should disappear gracefully into his or her intrinsic nature, which is the Divine Nature.
* Life and Peace can come only with concern for the Spirit.
* If you are guided by the Spirit you will be in no danger of self-indulgence, since self-indulgence is the opposite of the Spirit. . .
Self-indulgence, or concern for our limited self, springs from the illusion of separateness. As long as we remain open at the level of Spirit there is no separation between self and the Christ Nature.
* What the Spirit brings is . . . love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, trustfulness, gentleness.
* Where a man sows, there he reaps: if he sows in the field of self-indulgence, he will reap a harvest of corruption . . . If one sows in the field of the Spirit, he will reap a harvest of eternal Life.
* The Spirit reaches to the depths of everything. . . Where the Spirit is, there is freedom.
* (In Paul’s teaching and vision) we experience each other to be parts of one Mystical Body. . . This Mystical Body is universal, embracing all lives.
* Paul anchors his mystical teaching safely in the tangible daily life of the community. . . (How to become) sensitive to the guidance of Spirit is learned from the genuinely ecstatic members of the community.
* Paul preached to everyone without distinction. (He perceived) no more distinctions between Jew and Greek, slave and free, male and female, . . . between Jew and Christian, Hindu and Buddhist, theist and nontheist, believer and nonbeleiver. There is only one inclusive Spiritual family, the Mystical Body, the secret of Divine Life lived fully through the planetary life of conscious beings.
Click here for commentary on Paul's teaching (and on Hixon's approach to it) forthcoming
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