The Beginning of the Gospel

Paul, Philippi, and the Origins of Christianity

Joshua D. Garroway

• Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
• Year: 2018
• Print ISBN:
  9783319899954
• eBook ISBN:
  9783319899961
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Middle Eastern History

In this innovative study, Joshua D. Garroway offers a revised account of the origin of the all-important Christian word "gospel, " yielding significant new insights into the development of early Christian history and literature. Long thought to have originated on the lips of Jesus or his disciples, "gospel" was in fact coined by Paul midway through his career to describe his controversial new interpretation of Jesus' death and resurrection. For nearly a decade after the crucifixion, the thoroughly Jewish Jesus movement demanded circumcision and Law observance from Gentile converts. Only in the early 40s did Paul arrive at the belief that such observance was no longer necessary, an insight he dubbed "the gospel, " or good news. The remainder of Paul's career featured clashes with authorities over the legitimacy of the gospel, debates that continued after his death in the writings of Mark, Matthew, and Luke-Acts. These writings obscured the original context of the gospel, however, and in time the word lost its specific association with Paul and his scandalous notion of salvation outside the Law.

© The Author(s) 2018

Joshua D. GarrowayThe Beginning of the Gospelhttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-89996-1_1

Begin Abstract

1. Introduction

Joshua D. Garroway¹

(1)

Hebrew Union College–Jewish Institute of Religion, Los Angeles, CA, USA

Joshua D. Garroway

End Abstract

In the late spring of 43 CE (Common Era), a ship arrived in the harbor of Neapolis on the north shore of the Aegean Sea. Its passengers included Paul of Tarsus and his Cypriot colleague, Barnabas, two Jews on a peculiar mission. They alighted at midday and began the ten-mile trek along the Via Egnatia northward to the Roman colony of Philippi. A few days after their arrival, they set up in a stall of the Philippian marketplace offering services in tent repair and manufacture.

But the two were not there to make tents.

The business provided food and shelter while they went about pursuing the real reason for being there: to meet people and to share their astounding news. Within a few weeks, word spread through the market of the Jews at the leather stall who ramble on enthusiastically about what they call the euangelion, the “good news” or “gospel.”¹ Paul and Barnabas told anyone who would listen about the God of the Jews, whom they called the only living God. Someday soon, they said, this God would bring the world as it was known to an end. God promised to redeem his people of Israel centuries ago, and now, at long last, it was time. To prepare for the end, however, God had to deal with the problem of sin. How, after all, could God redeem people who were anything less than perfect? God therefore sent his own son into the world, in the form of a Jewish man called Jesus, to perform an extraordinary feat. This Jesus was killed—crucified, no less—but then raised from the dead to everlasting life, which in turn gave Jews the hope for eternal life in the wake of Jesus’s return. By trusting in the God who resurrected Jesus, and by reenacting the death and resurrection by immersing themselves in water, Jews would be able to withstand judgment when Jesus, the anointed son of God, returns to judge the world.

To Philippians wondering why this good news for Jews had anything to do with them, what came next rang the bell. Philippians too, said Paul and Barnabas, could survive the impending judgment, as could Thessalonians, Romans, Ephesians, Parthians, or any of those whom the Jews called the nations, or Gentiles, of the world. The God of the Jews, they said, was also the God of the Gentiles, and thus for Jews and Gentiles alike baptism into the death and resurrection of the anointed Jesus ensured salvation.

For Philippians understandably reluctant to cast their lot with the Jews and their God, there was further good news. Gentiles could join the Jews without becoming Jews. They would not have to adopt the infamously quirky Jewish rites such as Sabbath observance, abstention from pork, and, most famous of all, circumcision. Faith in the Jewish God and baptism into the death and resurrection of God’s son, the anointed Jesus, would suffice to pass the judgment. Judgment was nigh, however, so Philippians who ignored the invitation to baptism did so at their own peril.

Most Philippians opted to chance peril, probably chuckling at what they dismissed as ballyhoo. Not infrequently did representatives from this god or that exasperate marketgoers with promises of prosperity or salvation. At times, kicks and punches might even have accompanied the jeers.² Nevertheless, at least a few Philippians found Paul and Barnabas compelling. Initiates persuaded by the proofs adduced from Jewish scripture, or perhaps by wonders they saw performed, submitted to baptism and to a whole new way of understanding the world. Among them was a pair of wealthy matrons, Euodia and Syntyche, who provided a safe space to congregate for Paul, Barnabas, and their new peers. A Philippian congregation was born.

After a year or so, Paul and Barnabas left the fledgling congregation to its own devices. With a bit of treasure provided by their new Philippian friends, they set off once more on the Via Egnatia. One hundred miles to the west lay Thessaloniki, where they would start all over again.³

* * *

The premise of this book is, in the simplest sense, the vignette just described. I will be arguing that Paul and Barnabas introduced the euangelion, or gospel, in Philippi around the year 43 CE. On the face of it, this proposal seems ordinary. It has been said many times before. Historians might disagree with the date selected for the arrival of Paul in Philippi, preferring instead a date later in the 40s or even the early 50s; or with the inclusion of Barnabas, who may have parted ways with Paul before the journey to Macedonia; or with the specific rendering of Paul’s presentation of the gospel. But responding to such objections hardly requires an entire book.

Naturally, there is a twist. I will not be arguing simply that Paul preached the gospel in Philippi in the early 40s. More importantly, I contend that Paul’s introduction of the gospel to the Philippians represents a watershed moment in the development of Christianity. Why so? Because Paul’s arrival in Philippi marked not merely the first opportunity for the Philippians to hear the gospel, it marked the first time the gospel was ever preached.⁴

The gospel itself, this book contends, was born in Philippi in the year 43 CE.

The Origin of the Gospel in Philippi

Preaching about Jesus traced back a decade earlier, of course. Others had proclaimed salvation through Christ long before Paul and Barnabas stepped foot in Philippi. I intend to show, however, that this earlier preaching never included the term “gospel,” or the message about salvation for Gentiles that Paul’s gospel would eventually proclaim.

Following his crucifixion in the year 33 CE, the disciples of Jesus came to believe that he had been resurrected, that he was God’s Messiah, or Christ, and that in this capacity he would return to redeem Israel in a grand consummation of history.⁵ Hastening to spread the word among fellow Jews, these disciples drew upon the language of Isaiah 52:7 and 61:1, in which the prophet praises messengers who bring glad tidings about peace, consolation, salvation, and the reign of God—all the things Jesus would soon restore for Israel, the disciples said.⁶ To bring good news, in Hebrew, is the verb lĕbaśēr. The Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, renders it with the verb euangelizomai. When the followers of Christ first spread into the Jewish communities of Greek-speaking realms—Antioch, for example—this Greek verb was used to describe their ministry. Followers of Christ were “bringing good news” this way and that, but the noun euangelion, “gospel,” was not a part of their lexicon.

Within a short time, certain followers determined that their tidings about Christ should be preached among Gentiles as well, especially among the so-called God-fearers who participated in Jewish communities without joining in the capacity of proselytes. If ever there was a time for these hangers-on to become circumcised (if male) and to take on the yoke of Jewish Law, the preachers said, it was now. By joining the Jewish people and submitting to baptism, these erstwhile Gentiles would be saved alongside their baptized Jewish companions.

Following his dramatic change of heart in the year 34 or 35 CE, when he switched from persecuting the followers of Jesus to joining their ranks, Paul of Tarsus became a participant in these earliest overtures to Gentiles. He may even have initiated them. Over the course of the late 30s and early 40s, he and his partner, Barnabas, trekked further and further west, from Syria ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Front Matter
• 1. Introduction
• Part I. Paul and the Gospel
• Part II. The Gospel After Paul
• Back Matter