From: tom@portland.mdc.unisys.com (Tom Albrecht)
Newsgroups: alt.messianic
Subject: Re: Paul (was Re: (Breaking the) Sabbath)
Date: 8 Apr 92 19:15:57 GMT
Article-I.D.: portland.1992Apr8.191557.2979
Organization: Unisys - Applied Technology

In article <1992Apr08.041110.32269@watson.ibm.com> strom@watson.ibm.com (Rob Strom) writes:
>
>Many Jews believe that the teachings of Paul, more so than the
>teachings of Jesus, contributed to the separation of Christianity
>from Judaism.

You may be correct.  After all, Paul was called to be the apostle to the
gentiles.  In God's plan it seems that it was his call in life to
universalize the gospel message first preached by Jesus to the Jews.  As
you pointed out the message of the prophets was that the knowledge of the
Lord would reach out into all the world.  I don't think they were speaking
of the spread of Judaism per se.  I believe they were pointing to the final
establishment of God's kingdom over the kingdoms of the earth (cf. Daniel
2:44).  In Daniel 7 we read:

  I saw in the night visions, and, behold, one like the Son of man came
  with the clouds of heaven, and came to the Ancient of days, and they brought
  him near before him.
  And there was given him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom, that all
  people, nations, and languages, should serve him: his dominion is an
  everlasting dominion, which shall not pass away, and his kingdom that which
  shall not be destroyed.

Christians believe this vision was fulfilled when Jesus rose from the dead
and was seated at the right hand of the Father following His ascension.  He
is the son of man who received the kingdom from His Father, and who will
one day deliver it back to the Father after all His enemies have been
conquered.  Jesus is conquering those enemies today.

With Jesus seated on His throne, the messengers of the kingdom can go out
to gather together the elect from the four corners of the earth.  As more
and more people become converted to Messiah, the knowledge of Yahweh
becomes more and more established on earth.

>What was the basis for assuming that the letters of Paul
>were "revelation"?  Suppose they were just "letters" ---
>wouldn't Christianity be vastly different?  Paul certainly
>doesn't qualify as a prophet by any criterion.

What is the basis for assuming that the writings of Moses are revelation? 
God spoke to Moses and the prophets at various times and in various ways. 
In these "last days" God has spoken to us through His Son, Jesus Christ. 
Jesus spoke to Paul just as He spoke to the other twelve.  With the
outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the apostles, the fuller revelation of the
new covenant made known by them.  Other apostles besides Paul contributed
to what we call the New Testament, but since the majority of the newly
emerging Church would eventually be gentile, the apostolic ofiice to the
gentiles figured promimently in the new covenant revelation.

>Incidentally, speaking as a member of that "small, insignificant nation",
>I believe that we Jews have reached out into all the world, as promised
>in the writings of the prophets.  All the world has been touched
>by our deeds.

Indeed, the lasting effect of Our Father Abraham has been felt throughout
the world.   The world has been blessed through his Seed, the Lord Jesus,
just as God had promised.  I am personally blessed as a child of Abraham
because of his faithfulness as the "father of many nations."

-- 
Tom Albrecht