battig1370: "What was Jesus mission as written the gospels?" AND
"What was Saul/St.Paul's Mystical Jesus' mission?" The answer to these two question are much different. Would you any insight to the two question I have asked?
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M*W: I'll try to explain with my own thoughts and words. Jesus did not write the gospels as you know, nor did Jesus, himself, directly influence the gospels. One exception to that would be the gospel of John. Scholars now believe the gospel of John was written by Mary Magdalene as was Revelations. So, as far as the gospels go, Jesus didn't technically have a personal mission in what was written in Matthew, Mark and Luke. Jesus was a Rabbi who preached the Jewish scriptures.
Now if you're talking about what the gospel writers' mission for Jesus was about, that I would have to look up.
So to answer your first question, I would say that Jesus' mission was to be a Jewish Rabbi who loved and married Mary Magdalene and had a family as was required by Judiaic 'Law' when a Jewish man reached the age of 30.
What was Saul/St. Paul's mystical mission of Jesus? Paul wanted to create a dying demigod savior who redeems humankind, not by his Rabbinical teachings, but by his virgin birth, his betrayal by one of his disciples, his horrible scourging ala Mel Gibson, his death on a tree or crucifix, his resurrection on the third day (but in reality, it was only 1 and 1/2 days, not 3), his bodily ascension into heaven to be seated at the right hand of God. Paul created Jesus to be a deity, but Jesus wasn't officially given divinity until much later after it was voted on by early church fathers sometime between 325-381 AD.
Further, Paul never knew Jesus nor had ever met him except during an epileptic seizure that he succumbed to on the Road to Damascus. So to ask what Paul's mystical mission of Jesus was would be like asking me to write the life story of my Great-great-great-great-Grandfather who was a Rebel hero in the Civil War. Of course, I would embellish it more than what I actually knew about my ancestor through others whose yarns were handed down. I would surely have my hero ancestor saving the South through his valiant deeds! And, you know, it would probably be a best seller just like Paul's books are! Paul doesn't talk about a real man, he created a myth.
I recommend The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity, by Hyam Maccoby. It's excellent in answering these type questions.
