Part Two: The Progression of the Message

In the earliest years of Christianity no written materials were necessary. They did not expect to be around long. The message that Paul taught, and quite likely the message other apostles were teaching was that the day of judgement was close at hand. Jesus' return was expected at any moment. Both Jesus and Paul were teaching an apocalyptic message with the imminent end. Jesus is quoted in reference to the end times as saying his generation would not pass before these things had occurred. Whether Paul knew of these statements or whether they were written well after Paul's message was established is unclear but even more than Jesus, Paul's message was one of preparation for the end times.

Gradually, though, moments turned into days and months into years. Questions and frustration began to arise among these earliest adherents. The earliest writings; Paul's letters, demonstrate both Paul's frustration with the doubt that crept into these early communities plus his ability to rally the faithful. Paul seemed quite skillful at walking the tightrope between admonishment and encouragement.

This skill was highlighted with the first major theological crisis. Followers began to die off. This caused both confusion and doubt among the early believers who were waiting for the end of times. It prompted Paul to write his first letter to the Thessalonians, somewhere between AD 47 and 52. In it Paul explains that the dead will be raised first and not left behind, followed shortly by the rest of the living believers who would meet the Lord in the clouds. While Paul was preaching this message it is unclear what was his basis for such a claim. Paul may have cherry picked some stories from the Hebrew scriptures but there was no real basis for applying them to these former pagans turned Jesus followers.

Paul continues this message through the balance of his ministry to his death in the early to mid 60s. With Paul's death it must have quickly become apparent that the resurrection message needed revision. By this point many had been practicing this new religion for twenty years or more and they were not about to abandon it. Thus, they became desperate to learn more about the traditions and life of Jesus.

This early search found many voids. Aside from Paul's letters they only had some circulated sayings of Jesus plus a few manuals such as the Didache, which was an instruction manual on how gentiles should practice their religion. Recent scholarship has shown the Didache to predate the gospels and it appears to be one of the sources used for the Gospel of Matthew (scholars originally thought it was the other way around). It was also a competitor to Paul's teaching.

The Didache specified that the Divine that will return to gather up the people of Israel AND righteous gentiles was God, the Father (in Christian terms). This squares much more closely with a Jewish/Christian interpretation of events, and what Jesus taught. It is also in direct contrast to the teaching of Paul, who taught that it would be Jesus (God, the Son) that returned.

When the earliest Gospels of Mark and Matthew were written, probably in the mid 60s to early 70s Jesus was depicted as very much a man. This would have been crucial to the early Christians who were understanding Christ in very human terms. They were still living in the same generation and still had a connection to his life and death. It was also during this time that Jesus' Jewish roots were still emphasized particularly in the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and the Didache.

By the 80s and 90s the first generation of Christians were dying off and Jesus was becoming less human in the writings and far more divine. With the Gospel of Luke the Jewish traditions are being pushed aside and with the Gospel of John Jesus has become more divine than human. In Luke Jesus is no longer predicting an end date. He is stating that "the Kingdom of God is among you." With John, Jesus is fully aware of his divinity. Where the previous Gospels were primarily concerned with the process that lead to Jesus death and resurrection (the key's to Paul's ministry), John's Gospel is much more concerned with Jesus life of miracles and revelations that he is divine.

By the time of John's Gospel in the mid 90s Christianity had become much less apocalyptic and was settling in as a religion for the long haul. It's founder had become God, in form of his son. The secret Messiah of the earlier Gospels is now openly declaring himself to be the way, the truth, and the life. Jesus is being distanced from his Jewish traditions and the anti-Jewish perspective which began with Luke's Gospel is expanded upon in John's. Christianity is beginning to stand on its own without a need to lean upon its Judaic traditions. The apocalyptic teacher John the Baptist is no longer Jesus' mentor but has become his humble servant waiting to fulfill his role in launching the Christ movement.

The Gospel of John would become the spring board to a more stable and formal religion. The Gnostic traditions would develop from this and saturate a good portion of the Eastern portion of the Roman Empire. With the raising of Jesus to God's level the doctrine of the Holy Trinity would develop. Finally, because Jesus was now equally divine and human he could become a figure that Christians could compare favorably with the pagan gods that were mainly divine but had human attributes. Eventually the Christian's divine founder would supplant the other gods and the religion would come to dominate Western culture for the next two millennia. If Jesus had remained the philosopher/teacher and resurrected criminal of the earliest traditions it is unlikely the teaching would have survived his failed return. There could not be a Kingdom Of God in Paul's teachings until after Christ's return. With John's Gospel this Kingdom became a possibility - on Earth.