04-30-2023, 02:52 AM
(04-29-2023, 09:40 PM)jaybreak Wrote: I would think that the act of God becoming a man would be understandable while not being very describable. We could get a sense of what in the incarnation is, but not in very many human terms. I think maybe the gnostic-leaning folks in the Corinth church bristled too much at concepts they couldn't grasp, and gnosticism provided them with a way to make God more describable. Plus, they get the added bonus of being able to brag about how they figured out the secrets. Maybe that wasn't the bonus but the main course. Boastful pride is a beast.
No doubt, Jay. From what I can see, virtually every pagan mythology east and west made room for someone to be born from a mixed heritage of god and man, but none of them have room for the notion that one person could be fully both. From what I understand, the basic objection was rabbinical, not pagan. I can't account for what influences pushed them to that point, but the rabbinical traditions and mythology by the time of Jesus had already precluded a literal "Son of God". Instead, they had split up the figure of the Messiah into multiple Messiahs; I've heard mention of at least two or three. At least one would be a human figure supposedly manifesting miracles in support of the Talmud, and another that would be a divine spiritual figure.
My understanding was that, when Gallio protected Paul and the church at Corinth from the Jews, this was just too much for them. In collaboration with rabbis from elsewhere, they searched for anything they could do to undermine the Christian gospel. This is where the Judaizer project was born, and with the likes of Athens so very close by, it wasn't hard to find really bright intellectual minds to come up with varying intellectual attacks. It would not be the first time Jewish leaders went to the pagan community to outsource their attacks on Christians. Then, they would have done their best to seduce the minds of known church members.
It's for sure the roots of Gnosticism were already there in the pagan community, but the specific issue of Jesus and His nature brought it into focus. I honestly believe that we can say the broad Gnostic movement was born in Corinth.