Leo Volont
Registered Senior Member
Mathew vs. Paul: True Vs. False Apostles
Often the attack on Pauline Doctrine focuses on the heretical nature of the arguments coming from Paul’s own letters; however, besides the refutations of paulist doctrines found in the Apostolic Letters of John, James, Jude and Peter, we have an entire Gospel that argues against Paul -- the Gospel of Mathew.
First we can establish Mathew’s credentials. It is supposed that Mathew was the Tax Collector mentioned in Mathew Chapter 9. But this ‘Mathew’ was spoken of in the distant third person. If we refer to Acts Chapter 1 we find that that the Apostles had selected a New Apostle to replace the dead traitor Judas, the criteria being that it had to have been a person who had been a disciple since the time of Christ’s Baptism by John, that is, somebody who had been with Christ from the very beginning of the Messianic Ministry… not one of the twelve, but one who had been with the 12 throughout the entire time. We already know that Paul could not have met such a criteria and so would have been then and forever disqualified to be an Apostle. The New Apostle selected was named ‘Mathias’, which is only an alternate spelling for the name “Mathew”. We can suppose this Mathias was interviewed by the Selection Committee and was able to impress all present with a detailed knowledge of Christ’s Ministry… an extensive knowledge that could have later aided him in writing what would become the Gospel of Mathew. Of course, it would be written years later, after the death of Paul, and with the purpose, in part, to refute the surviving false doctrines that Paul had advanced.
First we notice that all of Christ’s Three Prophecies of the False Apostle come from Mathew. In Chapter 7, side by side, we have Christ speaking of the Wide Way to Destruction that would be opposed to His Own Narrow Way of Righteousness, and then we are told that it would be brought to us by a False Apostle who would come as a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. In Chapter 13 we would be given the Parable of the Tares – in which we are told that an Enemy would sow False Doctrines into the body of Teachings presented by The Church.
We know what the Paulist “Wide Way” Doctrines are. They are the Doctrines of Salvation – the idea that the Crucifixion would bring some automatic Forgiveness of Sins. So we need to differentiate these False Doctrines from what Christ had actually taught. In Chapter Five, in the Sermon of the Mount, we have Christ affirming the Law for All Eternity. Paul’s later assertions that the Crucifixion would abrogate The Law are simply antichristical when viewed in context of Christ’s defense of the Law.
Then in Chapter 7 we find Christ differentiating between “True Disciples” and those who are “Evil Doers” who would claim to be Christians. Certainly this appellation of “Evil Doer” must refer to the Paulists, for only they, with their doctrines of Salvation, Forgiveness, and Original Sin not only allow for Sin but even require Sin as a necessary component in their Confession of Faith – defining themselves not by their Righteousness but by their Sins.
The Gospel of Mathew also, time and again, defines the Crucifixion, not in terms of a Sacrifice that would bring Salvation, but as a Crime against God that would be punished. We have the Three Prophecies of the Crucifixion in which Christ presages to His Disciples that He will be murdered. See Chapters 16, 17 and 20. There is no hint of Salvation given here by Christ, but quite to the contrary, in Chapter 21, we have the Parable of the Wicked Tenants who are Punished for murdering “the Master’s Son”, and that the Master would seek out New Tenants among a New People. This must certainly had to have been a refutation of Paul’s Doctrine that Humanity would be rewarded for Murdering the Christ. Those who had any participation or connection to the Crucifixion would be treated as transgressors and criminals.
And if that ‘Parable of the Murders of the Son being Punished by the Master’ is not clear enough, in Chapter 23 we have Christ declaring that those who Crucify such as who are Prophets, Wise Men and Scribes will be condemned to Hell. Christ here describes His Own End not as a Sacrifice that will be Rewarded, but as a Crime that would be met with Punishment. This leads directly into Chapter 24 where Christ speaks of the Desolation of Jerusalem as the consequence of the Messianic Murder, never supposing for a moment that this Crime against Christ could be an instrument for Salvation or any other benefit accruing to the perpetrators.
We also have Mathew’s Christ positively rejecting the Doctrine of Personal Salvation, in Chapter 10, Verse 39 where it says unequivocally “He who seeks his own Salvation will lose it”. The True Disciples are clearly directed to Re-Center their lives around Christ, even at the price of an entire self-renunciation, and in this it must be certain that individuality, self-identity, and even the continuity of the individual soul would no longer have the least priority. To “lose our Life” for Christ means more than just physical martyrdom. To lose our life for Christ implies the total extinction of the personal self. This can be contrasted to the Paulist/Protestant Vision which projects that Individuals will attain to an Equality with Christ through some Personal Relationship. Salvation Theology presents a doctrine that focuses entirely upon Self-Interested Personal Survival, even to the extent of supposing the survival of Sins that could be carried into God’s Heaven through the mechanisms of Salvation and Forgiveness. But to this Paulist Doctrine, Christ replies “those who would seek to be Saved will be damned”. The Wide Way, which admits to any other surviving Being besides just The One Christ, can lead only to destruction.
Often Protestants argue that if Paul is all wrong, then Christianity, limited to only Christ, would offer them nothing. Protestants go to the extent of defining every Religion in terms of how they seem to provide Individual Souls with what they call “Salvation”, that is, excuses for Sin, rather than how Religions should be considered: as Systems for maintaining Society’s compliance to the Will of God, and for establishing Institutions for attaining True Mystical Knowledge of God and Things Divine. Stripped of Paul and his excuses for Sin, Protestants can scarcely imagine that the Christian Gospel has anything remaining. So let us now take a look. Consult Chapters 5 through 7 – the Sermon of the Mount Chapters. We are taught the sense of Righteousness. In Chapter 19 we are told that to enter into the Life of Christ we need only obey the Commandments. No Salvation by Murder but a Conversion of Being through compliance with the Law. And then in Chapter 25 we are told on what Criteria the Last Judgment will be conducted. Those who would refrain from Evil and actively do Good, in charity and in love, would be taken into the Presence of God. Those who committed sins and who have omitted to act in Love and Charity will be cast off. No Salvation. No Forgiveness. Only Justice and Merited Reward. Only those who succeed in transacting that arduous and demanding Narrow Way of Christ’s Righteousness will become One in the Vine of Christ. Such is the Lesson of the Gospel of Mathew, which one can hardly heed if one still gives the least credence to the Doctrines of Paul’s Wide Way to Destruction
References:
Mathias Acts Ch 1
Sermon on Mount. Upholding the Law Ch 5
Wide Way Vs. Narrow Way Ch 7
False Apostle Ch 7
True Disciples not Evil Doers Ch 7
Anyone seeking Salvation will lose it. Ch 10
Parable of the Tares Ch 13
Enter life, obey the Commandments Ch 19
Prophecy of Crucifixion Ch 16,17, 20
Parable of wicked Tenants Ch 21
Crimes to be Punished Ch23
False Prophets will arise who will advance lawlessness Ch24
Last Judgment Ch 25
Often the attack on Pauline Doctrine focuses on the heretical nature of the arguments coming from Paul’s own letters; however, besides the refutations of paulist doctrines found in the Apostolic Letters of John, James, Jude and Peter, we have an entire Gospel that argues against Paul -- the Gospel of Mathew.
First we can establish Mathew’s credentials. It is supposed that Mathew was the Tax Collector mentioned in Mathew Chapter 9. But this ‘Mathew’ was spoken of in the distant third person. If we refer to Acts Chapter 1 we find that that the Apostles had selected a New Apostle to replace the dead traitor Judas, the criteria being that it had to have been a person who had been a disciple since the time of Christ’s Baptism by John, that is, somebody who had been with Christ from the very beginning of the Messianic Ministry… not one of the twelve, but one who had been with the 12 throughout the entire time. We already know that Paul could not have met such a criteria and so would have been then and forever disqualified to be an Apostle. The New Apostle selected was named ‘Mathias’, which is only an alternate spelling for the name “Mathew”. We can suppose this Mathias was interviewed by the Selection Committee and was able to impress all present with a detailed knowledge of Christ’s Ministry… an extensive knowledge that could have later aided him in writing what would become the Gospel of Mathew. Of course, it would be written years later, after the death of Paul, and with the purpose, in part, to refute the surviving false doctrines that Paul had advanced.
First we notice that all of Christ’s Three Prophecies of the False Apostle come from Mathew. In Chapter 7, side by side, we have Christ speaking of the Wide Way to Destruction that would be opposed to His Own Narrow Way of Righteousness, and then we are told that it would be brought to us by a False Apostle who would come as a Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing. In Chapter 13 we would be given the Parable of the Tares – in which we are told that an Enemy would sow False Doctrines into the body of Teachings presented by The Church.
We know what the Paulist “Wide Way” Doctrines are. They are the Doctrines of Salvation – the idea that the Crucifixion would bring some automatic Forgiveness of Sins. So we need to differentiate these False Doctrines from what Christ had actually taught. In Chapter Five, in the Sermon of the Mount, we have Christ affirming the Law for All Eternity. Paul’s later assertions that the Crucifixion would abrogate The Law are simply antichristical when viewed in context of Christ’s defense of the Law.
Then in Chapter 7 we find Christ differentiating between “True Disciples” and those who are “Evil Doers” who would claim to be Christians. Certainly this appellation of “Evil Doer” must refer to the Paulists, for only they, with their doctrines of Salvation, Forgiveness, and Original Sin not only allow for Sin but even require Sin as a necessary component in their Confession of Faith – defining themselves not by their Righteousness but by their Sins.
The Gospel of Mathew also, time and again, defines the Crucifixion, not in terms of a Sacrifice that would bring Salvation, but as a Crime against God that would be punished. We have the Three Prophecies of the Crucifixion in which Christ presages to His Disciples that He will be murdered. See Chapters 16, 17 and 20. There is no hint of Salvation given here by Christ, but quite to the contrary, in Chapter 21, we have the Parable of the Wicked Tenants who are Punished for murdering “the Master’s Son”, and that the Master would seek out New Tenants among a New People. This must certainly had to have been a refutation of Paul’s Doctrine that Humanity would be rewarded for Murdering the Christ. Those who had any participation or connection to the Crucifixion would be treated as transgressors and criminals.
And if that ‘Parable of the Murders of the Son being Punished by the Master’ is not clear enough, in Chapter 23 we have Christ declaring that those who Crucify such as who are Prophets, Wise Men and Scribes will be condemned to Hell. Christ here describes His Own End not as a Sacrifice that will be Rewarded, but as a Crime that would be met with Punishment. This leads directly into Chapter 24 where Christ speaks of the Desolation of Jerusalem as the consequence of the Messianic Murder, never supposing for a moment that this Crime against Christ could be an instrument for Salvation or any other benefit accruing to the perpetrators.
We also have Mathew’s Christ positively rejecting the Doctrine of Personal Salvation, in Chapter 10, Verse 39 where it says unequivocally “He who seeks his own Salvation will lose it”. The True Disciples are clearly directed to Re-Center their lives around Christ, even at the price of an entire self-renunciation, and in this it must be certain that individuality, self-identity, and even the continuity of the individual soul would no longer have the least priority. To “lose our Life” for Christ means more than just physical martyrdom. To lose our life for Christ implies the total extinction of the personal self. This can be contrasted to the Paulist/Protestant Vision which projects that Individuals will attain to an Equality with Christ through some Personal Relationship. Salvation Theology presents a doctrine that focuses entirely upon Self-Interested Personal Survival, even to the extent of supposing the survival of Sins that could be carried into God’s Heaven through the mechanisms of Salvation and Forgiveness. But to this Paulist Doctrine, Christ replies “those who would seek to be Saved will be damned”. The Wide Way, which admits to any other surviving Being besides just The One Christ, can lead only to destruction.
Often Protestants argue that if Paul is all wrong, then Christianity, limited to only Christ, would offer them nothing. Protestants go to the extent of defining every Religion in terms of how they seem to provide Individual Souls with what they call “Salvation”, that is, excuses for Sin, rather than how Religions should be considered: as Systems for maintaining Society’s compliance to the Will of God, and for establishing Institutions for attaining True Mystical Knowledge of God and Things Divine. Stripped of Paul and his excuses for Sin, Protestants can scarcely imagine that the Christian Gospel has anything remaining. So let us now take a look. Consult Chapters 5 through 7 – the Sermon of the Mount Chapters. We are taught the sense of Righteousness. In Chapter 19 we are told that to enter into the Life of Christ we need only obey the Commandments. No Salvation by Murder but a Conversion of Being through compliance with the Law. And then in Chapter 25 we are told on what Criteria the Last Judgment will be conducted. Those who would refrain from Evil and actively do Good, in charity and in love, would be taken into the Presence of God. Those who committed sins and who have omitted to act in Love and Charity will be cast off. No Salvation. No Forgiveness. Only Justice and Merited Reward. Only those who succeed in transacting that arduous and demanding Narrow Way of Christ’s Righteousness will become One in the Vine of Christ. Such is the Lesson of the Gospel of Mathew, which one can hardly heed if one still gives the least credence to the Doctrines of Paul’s Wide Way to Destruction
References:
Mathias Acts Ch 1
Sermon on Mount. Upholding the Law Ch 5
Wide Way Vs. Narrow Way Ch 7
False Apostle Ch 7
True Disciples not Evil Doers Ch 7
Anyone seeking Salvation will lose it. Ch 10
Parable of the Tares Ch 13
Enter life, obey the Commandments Ch 19
Prophecy of Crucifixion Ch 16,17, 20
Parable of wicked Tenants Ch 21
Crimes to be Punished Ch23
False Prophets will arise who will advance lawlessness Ch24
Last Judgment Ch 25