Rejecting Paul’s Explanation of The Crucifixion
Rethinking Jesus, Paul, and Original Sin
In a couple of his letters, Paul explained how we became sinners through one man, Adam, and how we were redeemed through another man, Jesus. But was this congruent with Jesus’ idea of God as unconditional love?
The allegory of the original sin
Everyone knows the allegorical story of Adam and Eve, resulting in what Judeo-Christianity calls the original sin. The punishment of Adam and Eve for having disobeyed God was to be banished from Paradise for a harsh life on Earth, followed by death.
In addition to the concept of the original sin, there was the Hebrew belief that all subsequent generations of humans carried the burden of the sin of disobedience by Adam and Eve.
That notion stuck since most Christians are still taught that they were born sinners regardless of Paul’s idea of redemption.
The idea of redemption by the sacrifice of Jesus
Paul explained the Crucifixion of Jesus with the idea that Jesus, by his suffering and death, had redeemed humanity of the original sin.
This doctrine was outlined by Paul in a couple of his letters, in particular:
Ø From 1 Cor. 5:7: “For Christ, our Passover lamb, has been sacrificed.”
Ø From Rom. 4:25: “He was delivered over to death for our sins and was raised to life for our justification.”
Ø From Rom. 5:9: “Since we have now been justified by his blood, how much more shall we be saved from God’s wrath through him!”
The agreement from the early bishops
The 4th-century bishops fully embraced Paul’s explanation of Jesus’s crucifixion. They were the group that formalized the concept of the Holy Trinity — i.e., Jesus as the only Son of God and the Holy Spirit joining God in oneness.
The dogma of the Holy Trinity essentially deified Jesus, who conversely preferred to refer to himself as the “Son of Man.”
Jesus never claimed deity.
Paul’s justification of the Crucifixion and the concept of the Trinity are two ideas that became central to original Christian dogma.
Were these decisions and concepts correct, and did they deserve to be part of the core of Christianity?
The role of Paul
Before his spectacular conversion, Paul was a Pharisee pursuing and killing Early Christians. He was at the service of the Sanhedrin, the highest council of Hebrew Rabbis who were also responsible for the arrest and condemnation of Jesus.
After his conversion, Paul spent a few years in isolation before he was able to teach the message of Jesus. At that time, there were no official writings concerning the life and message of Jesus.
Most of Paul’s interpretation of Jesus’ teachings came through inner revelation and contemplation but was still filtered through and heavily influenced by his Pharisaic background.
Paul contributed some significant clarifications in explaining what Jesus had taught. However, Paul was also a trailblazer who went out on a limb in several instances and introduced ideas that we should reject.
The worst of Paul’s false ideas was the reference to Jesus as a sacrificial lamb, sending Christianity on a false path from which it has not yet recovered.
The bias of Paul
Paul became one of the most significant early teachers of what became Christianity. However, his bias forces us to reject some of his propositions.
Even after his conversion, and ironically after his physical sight was restored, Paul had some significant blind spots in terms of his beliefs and concepts of God.
Paul’s former Pharisaic beliefs influenced him to accept a God of rewards and punishments.
This false idea of God surfaced several times when Paul spoke of Jesus’ doctrine. Especially, and specifically when referring to Jesus as the “sacrificial lamb,” Paul implies a God that is not the God of unconditional love of Jesus.
Paul’s explanation
Paul needed to explain to his audiences of Jews in the diaspora and also to the Gentiles why the Son of God would be condemned and crucified.
His explanation was based on an alleged “trade” whereby the suffering of Jesus would erase the sins of humanity initiated by Adam. Of course, this notion was accepted by those who still saw God in the image of the Lord God of the Old Testament and were accustomed to animal sacrifices.
However, Paul’s explanation is unacceptable to anyone who embraces the God of Jesus.
Jesus described a God of unconditional love, grace, and forgiveness. It is the God to whom he addressed his prayer on behalf of his tormentors, “Forgiving them Father, for they know not what they do.”
Unfortunately, however, Christianity, by and large, has accepted Paul’s unacceptable explanation.
To this day, Christian dogma, as taught by the majority of churches and schools, has been significantly encumbered and effectively derailed by this most erroneous of interpretations.
Another explanation
I believe that Jesus was a man, not a divinity.
Already, as a child, Jesus showed that he was very gifted. He was given a great education. There is evidence that he followed the spiritual training of the Essenes, the most mystical of the Hebrew tribes.
By age thirty, he had risen to Christhood, the highest level of consciousness achievable by a human. He perceived that his mission in life was to elevate the spiritual awareness of the Hebrews, who had followed the law of Moses for almost a millennium and a half.
But Jesus had no intent to create a new religion.
Jesus’ first sermon, the Sermon on the Mount, was a departure from and refinement of the teachings of the Ten Commandments. It was a turning point in elevating the Hebrews’ state of consciousness.
Jesus saw that the purpose of a spiritually focused life is to rise in consciousness. He understood that what the Hebrews were doing in performing religious rites and rituals while refraining from committing sinful acts was insufficient.
Something more was needed.
Jesus was convinced that we must develop an awareness of our intent, thoughts, beliefs, and emotions. That is the way to a conscious life, the life of believers in the one and only God.
Although many followed Jesus, his teachings were not well received by the Pharisees and Sadducees. These two tribes were most attached to Moses’ religious tradition. Their jobs and social standing depended on maintaining the status quo.
For this reason, the religious establishment did all they could, including using the Roman authorities, to have Jesus arrested and condemned.
The Crucifixion was not a trade involving God
I believe that there was no “trade” between Jesus and God. There was no divine plan to sacrifice Jesus to allegedly redeem humanity from the so-called and allegorical original sin.
Although there was a time when the Hebrews thought that the sins of the fathers would carry over into the next generations, subsequent prophets later dismissed this idea as utterly ungodlike.
Therefore, Paul’s proposition that all men and women of his time were still partaking in the original sin should have been rejected from the outset.
Jesus knew the consequences of his message and actions. He was ready to accept the authorities’ condemnation and predicted his resurrection.
Jesus was not unlike Socrates, who, before him, would not recant from his truth to avoid the poison of his unfair condemnation.
In conclusion
As an essential part of his revelatory teachings and message, Jesus also wanted to demonstrate the nothingness of death to those who deeply understand our true spiritual reality and identify as God’s offspring.
In other words, Jesus perceived the Crucifixion, followed by the Resurrection, as his greatest demonstration of the unreality of the appearances that define the human condition.
In final consideration, the idea of Jesus as a deity, incarnating as a human but born of a virgin, brings no hope to humanity. A deity in a human body remains an immortal entity with no human characteristics.
To have any value to us, Jesus had to be a human so highly raised in consciousness that his life became an inspiration for the world. Therefore, the concept of the Trinity is faulty as well.
As I have stated in several of my previous articles and continue to emphasize, reading the Bible with discernment instead of literalism is critically important.
Although Paul’s voice stands out in the New Testament, recognizing its flaws and errors substantially corrects and clarifies the gift of Christianity’s gospel message.
Jon Canas
Debunking false creeds. Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity.
Site: https://bio.site/ChristicSoul
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My book: Religion, Politics, and Reclaiming the Soul of Christianity: A Spiritual Imperative for Our Time and Our Nation
