Paul, Rome, and the Invention of Christianity About Jesus

Jesus begins as one of the great spiritual geniuses, close to the Buddha in the structure of the teaching. Source trail 0:001:29 Okay, good morning. So last class we talked about the central paradox in Christianity. What Jesus believes is different from what Christianity teaches us about Jesus. Okay, so let's go over, let's review what Jesus beli...If you're rich, if you want to follow him, then you must abandon all your wealth. And he demands self -sacrifice from all his apostles. Okay? And then there's a secret leer, which is the philosophy that underpins all th... There is a public layer of mercy, generosity, and goodness; an inner demand to abandon worldly possessions; and a secret teaching in which the visible world is false and the divine spark within us connects to true reality.

That is why wealth is not merely immoral. Source trail 1:292:47 If you're rich, if you want to follow him, then you must abandon all your wealth. And he demands self -sacrifice from all his apostles. Okay? And then there's a secret leer, which is the philosophy that underpins all th...So you drink more and more salt water, and eventually you will poison yourself, right? So that's how he feels about the pursuit of wealth. It is poisonous. It will only lead to your ultimate demise. And that's why it's... It is poison. The rich are not to be hated; they are to be pitied, because the pursuit of wealth works like salt water. Desire answers thirst by deepening thirst. The more you drink, the more convinced you become that you have not drunk enough.

The Christian story about Jesus is different. Source trail 3:445:08 In the Bible, Jesus is the Son of God. And there's a conflict between God and humanity. Remember, we humans committed the original sin. We disobeyed him. And ate from the fruit of the tree of knowledge and good and evil...And this is an extremely powerful story, but it's also very complicated and in many ways contradictory, okay? So if Jesus is the Son of God, then what is God's role in this? And how does a Son of God, a God, actually di... Now Jesus is the Son of God who must die, resurrect, ascend, return, destroy evil, and build eternal paradise. The lecture's question is how the kingdom of God within becomes a doctrine of divine sacrifice and future second coming.

The crucifixion story is clever because it pulls two older prestige forms into Jesus. Source trail 6:217:39 These are two very different worldviews. So how did we get from here to here? Okay. So a lot of the clue lies in the Bible. And the story of Jesus. In the Bible. So what's interesting about the Jesus story is, Jesus get...And so, Pontius Pilate had to eventually crucify Jesus, in order to satisfy the will of the Jewish people. Okay? Now, this story is constructed in a way that's very, very clever. In history, who was also persecuted by h... Socrates is the truth-teller killed by his own people. Julius Caesar is the great figure betrayed by followers. Jesus is made to carry both charges at once: persecuted wisdom and betrayed founder.

Only a Hellenized Jew in the Roman Empire has all the materials for that synthesis: Hebrew Bible, Greek philosophy, and Roman history. Source trail 8:5310:11 you have a very nuanced understanding of Greek history, Roman history, and the Jewish Bible, the Hebrew Bible. Right? And in fact, at this time, there are individuals who possess all three sets of knowledge, and they ar...Okay? Christianity, again, is not by Jesus, it's not a religion by Jesus, it's a religion about Jesus. And there's a difference. Okay. Now, let's talk about the life and times of Paul, because it's a very interesting st... That is why Paul enters as more than a later missionary. In this reading, not Jesus but Paul is the real founder of Christianity, because Christianity is not a religion by Jesus. It is a religion about Jesus.

The Jerusalem movement after Jesus' death also matters. Source trail 10:1111:32 Okay? Christianity, again, is not by Jesus, it's not a religion by Jesus, it's a religion about Jesus. And there's a difference. Okay. Now, let's talk about the life and times of Paul, because it's a very interesting st...is important because the Ebionites will eventually leave Jerusalem, where they are now, and go to Arabia, where they will help found the religion of Islam. Okay? So, I want you guys to keep this in mind. Okay. So, James... James the Just and the poverty-focused Ebionites remain in Jerusalem. If the Jewish elite had killed Jesus, Jiang argues, the followers would not still be protected there. The contradiction points back to Rome.

Paul is not presented as marginal. Source trail 12:3135:36 He himself is Jewish. He's a Roman citizen. And that's pretty rare for a Jewish person. And you only get citizenship by doing three things. The first thing is, you're born of citizens, which is probably the case with Pa...And also, guys, remember. If he's a Roman citizen. And his parents are Roman citizens, then he's probably wealthy himself. He doesn't really need this money. Also, what's important for us to understand is Paul comes fro... He is Jewish, a Roman citizen, probably born to citizen parents, wealthy, Greek-educated, and rhetorically trained. That background makes him unusual among Jews and also gives him the exact social equipment needed to move between worlds.

The Damascus conversion is strange because it makes Paul a fanatical follower of a Jesus he never met and whose followers he never really knew. Source trail 13:4614:4816:18 And as a Pharisee, he was tasked with destroying the Jesus movement. And that kind of makes no sense. Because we just said that if James is just. And the followers of Jesus are in Jerusalem, that means they are being pr...Okay? The Damascus moment is a very famous metaphor in English. It means to see the light and to change your opinion. Okay? And to convert into the true belief. And at this point, Paul becomes a fanatical follower of Je... From there the doctrine changes. Jesus teaches salvation through good works and inner transformation. Paul teaches salvation through belief in Jesus as savior. Good works become secondary to faith.

Organization follows doctrine. Source trail 16:1817:2618:43 This is very different from what Jesus himself taught. It is through good works that you will achieve salvation. But Paul teaches us, nope. It is belief in Jesus as a savior that will offer you salvation. The good works...So we have a duty to save as many people as possible. Okay? So it's important to make compromises. For example. Circumcision. So there were many in the Jewish diaspora around the Roman Empire who weren't circumcised. Wh... If belief in Jesus saves, then conversion becomes urgent; if conversion is urgent, hierarchy and churches become necessary; if Gentiles and diaspora Jews are to be included, circumcision and Jewish law must be softened. Paul can call this the spirit of the law, but James the Just sees the danger: Paul is teaching people that they do not have to remain Jewish in order to belong.

The comparison with Jesus becomes political. Source trail 20:4121:52 Everyone's leaving me. That I have to go to Jerusalem and sort things out with James. Okay? So he goes to Jerusalem. And he meets with James. And at first, the meeting goes well. But then, in Jerusalem, the people who d...But there's a Jewish mob out there who want to kill him. Okay? So now, Paul says to the governor, let me talk to the Roman emperor. I will make my case before the Roman emperor. And the governor is like, well, then I ha... Jesus is mobbed and dies. Paul is mobbed, invokes Roman citizenship, and is protected. The same story shape produces the opposite ending because Paul has a legal relation to Rome that Jesus lacks.

Acts ends strangely. Paul is supposed to be accused, yet in Rome he can summon Jewish leaders to his house. Source trail 23:5025:0026:04 This makes no sense. The Jews consider him a criminal. Yet, he has the power and authority to call all the major Jewish local leaders of Rome into his house for a meeting. Who gave him this power? From the perspective o...So, circumcision is core to what it means to be Jewish. In fact, it's the main feature of being Jewish. And here, Paul tells people, oh, you don't have to circumcise yourself. So, he's clearly breaking the customs and l... He denies wrongdoing even though the circumcision issue strikes at the covenant itself. Then he reverses the accusation: if they move against him, they are not simply disciplining a religious deviant. They are attacking a Roman citizen.

That is the strange ending: Paul has money, access, and protection. Source trail 27:1128:16 So, gee, Paul is accusing the Jews of committing a crime, whereas before, the Jews were accusing Paul of committing a crime. And what Paul is saying is, like, I'm right because I have access to the emperor, and you don'...And they leave him alone. And some even convert. Who is this guy, Paul? Alright? So that's the question. So, any questions so far? Alright. So, again, there are a lot of questions in the story of Paul that don't make an... He can preach in Rome with boldness and without hindrance. No one can touch him. The evidence raises the real question of the lecture: who is this guy?

The Christian explanation is that Paul is the organizer God needed. Source trail 30:3432:0133:15 All right. The other question then is why is he focusing on organization? Okay? Why is he focusing on organization? The heart of religion is spiritual truth. Right? But Paul doesn't really care about that. He cares abou...So an analogy or a comparison is the story of McDonald's. McDonald's. You guys all know McDonald's, right? Well, guess what? In the 1950s, McDonald's was one restaurant. It was the best restaurant in California. It had... Jesus brings truth; Paul builds the structure that lets it spread. Jiang makes the analogy deliberately commercial: Paul is Ray Kroc to Jesus' McDonald's, the franchiser who scales one restaurant into an empire.

But the analogy also breaks. Source trail 33:1534:32 Right? Paul said to everyone, if you believe in Jesus, you will achieve salvation. And because Ray Kroc was such an amazing salesperson, McDonald's eventually became the largest restaurant empire in the world. Same thin...he was doing business. It was our own individual responsibility to discover our own truths through him. Okay? So what are some other explanations for Paul? Okay. All right. So, I mean, the most basic answer for people w... Jesus is not selling hamburgers; Jesus hates hamburgers. His teaching attacks wealth, business, hierarchy, and the whole world of scalable organization. So the business-manager defense explains Christianity's success while exposing its betrayal.

Jiang rejects the lazy opportunist theory. Source trail 34:3235:3636:50 he was doing business. It was our own individual responsibility to discover our own truths through him. Okay? So what are some other explanations for Paul? Okay. All right. So, I mean, the most basic answer for people w...And also, guys, remember. If he's a Roman citizen. And his parents are Roman citizens, then he's probably wealthy himself. He doesn't really need this money. Also, what's important for us to understand is Paul comes fro... Paul works too hard, travels too much, and believes too intensely. The explanation he prefers is more dangerous: Paul may have been a spy, collaborator, or strategist for the Roman Empire.

The Roman problem is Jewish fanaticism. Source trail 36:5038:0639:22 He's wealthy. His parents are wealthy. All right? So another explanation, which, by the way, I've never heard before, but which I do believe. All right? So take this with a grain of salt. But I believe he was a spy for...Okay? And then there'll be the Romans and the Jews will fight three major wars. From 166 to 173 CE. And this is around the time of Paul. The first war. Right? The first war will be fought. The Romans will burn the templ... Pagan empires can tolerate many gods, but Jewish monotheism refuses the authority of pagan gods and therefore refuses the sacred authority of empire. Fanaticism scares Rome because it cannot be destroyed by burning one city. Diaspora, persecution, and suffering make it grow.

The fanaticism has three supports: purity through obedience to the law of Moses, a persecution complex that binds the chosen people together, and a messianic expectation of final victory over Rome Lens point eschatology-script Messianic victory is recoded as adaptation when a final-battle expectation is defused by declaring the savior already arrived, moving the enemy from empire to inner evil, and making survival inside empire feel like the faithful way to save the people. Source trail 42:03 They hated these people. Because they were traitors to the nation of Israel. Alright? Second belief. And then there's a third belief. Which is the coming of the Messiah. Don't worry about today. Okay? This pain. This su... . Paul attacks each support. Circumcision no longer has to mark the boundary. Roman citizenship becomes protection rather than contamination. The Messiah has already come as Jesus, a prophet of peace fighting evil rather than Rome. Lens point eschatology-script Messianic victory is recoded as adaptation when a final-battle expectation is defused by declaring the savior already arrived, moving the enemy from empire to inner evil, and making survival inside empire feel like the faithful way to save the people. Source trail 45:35 Right? And the last thing is. The coming of the Messiah. Right? Jews believe the Messiah is going to come. And lead them into final victory against all their enemies. Especially the Roman Empire. But what Paul is saying...

This message is not for the most fanatical Jews. It is for diaspora Jews like Paul: mixed, educated, Roman-facing, stuck between Jewish faith and imperial life. You can still be Jewish if you believe in Jesus, and once you believe in Jesus you can assimilate into Rome. Lens point eschatology-script Messianic victory is recoded as adaptation when a final-battle expectation is defused by declaring the savior already arrived, moving the enemy from empire to inner evil, and making survival inside empire feel like the faithful way to save the people. Source trail 46:53 His message was for Diaspora Jews like him. Who were stuck between the Roman Empire. And the Jewish faith. Right? They were part of the Jewish Diaspora. Maybe their fathers were Greek. And their mothers were Jewish. Oka... That is the Roman solution hidden inside religious language.

The sympathetic version of Paul is still radical. He may sincerely want to save his people. But saving them means teaching adaptation to Rome: do not wait for the Messiah to rescue you; save yourself by learning to live inside the empire Lens point eschatology-script Messianic victory is recoded as adaptation when a final-battle expectation is defused by declaring the savior already arrived, moving the enemy from empire to inner evil, and making survival inside empire feel like the faithful way to save the people. Source trail 47:36 So. This is. Paul. His message. Paul's mission. Now look then the question then is. Why is Paul doing this? Why would Paul do this? And I think the answer is this. I don't want to say Paul is opportunist. Or he's evil.... .

The cost is a new religion. Source trail 48:3850:00 his writings he himself believes he's really the Messiah who has come to save his people and that's why he's so fanatical about building a church of Christianity the church that will eventually become Christianity okay...is a new idea that didn't really didn't exist before and the use of miracles is to explain the contradictions or the inconsistencies in the story of the Bible okay so that's one major revolution of Paul's teachings anot... Faith used to be what you experience; now faith is something you must believe. Miracles become the way contradictions are explained. Tradition becomes more important than the Bible because interpretation belongs to authorized priestly power.

The Q&A sharpens the point. Source trail 52:0053:1054:10 we save Islam for later on yeah yeah but I'll answer it when we get to Islam okay that'll be like next week okay that's a great question like who wrote the Acts of Apostles all right so um we don't know who wrote the Ac...And Paul might still be alive at this time. What we also know is this Acts of the Apostles is very pro -Paul. So what's important to understand is the story I'm telling you is a story that comes from individuals who are... Acts is pro-Paul, probably continuous with Luke, and written decades after Jesus. If many Jews hated Paul as the man who corrupted their religion and Jesus' teachings, then Acts can be read as a cleanup operation, an apology that tries to make Paul safe.

The next lecture will move from Paul to monotheism. Source trail 54:10 Remember, the Bible started out as an apology for King David. So this is extremely sympathetic towards Paul. And again, what we're showing you is that through a close reading, you can see how problematic it is. So, does... That transition matters because monotheism is not being treated as a simple count of gods. It is a radical reconception of reality. Paul, in this episode, is the hinge: the organizer who turns spiritual truth into a portable imperial form.