Ortho v Gnostic Ep4: The Long Arm of the Law

Xwan

Xwan

21 September 2024 • 1 min read

The oldest Roman Literature, going back to the 5th Century B.C. is the Twelve Tables. A brass plate engraved with these laws. There is very little recorded there, but concerning religious are two points:

X. 4 “Women must not tear cheeks or hold chorus of `Alas!’ on account of a funeral.”

X. 6a “Anointing by slaves is abolished, and every kind of drinking bout….there shall be no costly sprinking, no long garlands, no incense boxes.”

It’s apparent there was a concern for appropriate religion to be exercised by the community, which at the time, was a far cry from the political powerhouse the Republic would formulate in later centuries.

Ortho v Gnostic Episode 3 - Simon Magus: The Father of Heretics

The concensus among scholars surrounding the details of the dating of the earliest source material surrounding the Gospels is well within the first century, with origins to Greek speaking Jews from the Levant. There is some debate only surrounding only the exact dates, being on the conservative end in the 90s, all the way back to the mid 50s, where is supposed to be the missionary season for Paul the Apostle. Widespread traditions rose up very early on, across the world in just such areas as are recorded to have been the destinations of the likes of Gamaliel’s Pharisee, Saul of Tarsus, or Mark, Peter, John, Phillip, Thomas, Matthew, Lazerus, Mary Magdalene and the rest of the cast of characters described by the Gospel text of the Christian New Testament.

One

“[Jhn 20:30-31 NASB20] 30 So then, many other signs Jesus also performed in the presence of the disciples, which are not written in this book; 31 but these have been written so that you may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that by believing you may have life in His name.”

A pair of apologists debate another pair of detractors, who have doubts about the quality and intent of the Gospels. They’re dissatisfied with the historical requisites they would hope to expect from a truly historical record, as a sort of ancient Roman biography. But that totally misses the forest for the trees. They’re looking for all of the wrong features, and not finding them because what the Gospels are is not a series of biographical documents strictly, but are instead, very blatantly Evangelical, in the most technical sense of the term. This is not merely a dry recording of some facts for later generations to read, and obtain some level of satisfaction from. The Gospels are a project directly addressed to every human who will contemplate its subject matter, with the desired result being, as stated by the author of John’s Gospel, after having processed the material, is to convince the reader, or the hearer, to believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, for which the reward of such a believer will have life in His name.