For a second time since the outset of this project, I have failed to meet the pacing requirements that I've set for myself here. I apologize for not posting anything last week. I worked Saturday and Sunday, making for a thirteen day work week. I normally get my writing done on the weekend...
... I shouldn't make excuses though. I'll work to build a buffer system into my posting so that there will be fewer subsequent interruptions. Again, my apologies.
Anywho...
If you'll recall, last time we considered the fact that many American Christians alive today believe that the whole Bible is the literal word of God. This led us to three questions regarding the New Testament Canon. Those questions were:
- Who set the canon, and why was the canon not set until, at the very earliest, two hundred years after the death of Christ?
- There were numerous other Christian texts in wide circulation at the time, many bearing striking resemblances to the the New Testament we know today. Did the person who set the canon have some method of categorization that allowed him to determine with certainty which of the early Christian texts were authentically "the word of God" and which were not? If so, what were the criteria he used?
- Why do God's words in The New Testament contradict one another?Today, we'll start out on these questions slowly by simply meeting a man named Origen.
Origen of Alexandria
In 185 or 186 AD was born a boy called Origen, whose father, Leonides of Alexandria, laborored as a professor and a openly devout Christian. Origen was born in Alexandria, Egypt, which had once been known the Greco-Roman-world over as the premier educational and scholarly center, containing within its bounds the famed Library of Alexandria. You might recall the events of 48 BC, when Julius Caesar inadvertently set fire to the city of Alexandria as part of a tactic against Ptolemy XIII, in the aftermath of Ptolemy's assassination of Caesar's "friend" Pompey. The famous ancient historian Livy tells us that this fire destroyed some 40,000 scrolls in the Library of Alexandria.
Since perhaps around the time of Caesar's fires, Alexandria's fame for being the world's intellectual center had waned. However, at the time of Origen's birth there, the city would still have been host to a relatively rich scholastic community.
We know little for certain about Origen's early life, but scholars find it likely that his father schooled him well in reading, writing, philosophy, and Christian theology as it then existed. Leonides would make the young Origen memorize lengthy passages of scripture as part of his studies.
In 202, when Origen was about sixteen, the Emperor Septimius Severus ordered the killing of openly practicing Christians, and Origen's father was arrested. The story goes that Origen wanted to be captured and martyred with his father, and set his mind to do just that. To prevent him, Origen's mother hid all of his clothes so that he was totally naked with nothing to cover himself. Origen would not go outside the home naked, and so was not able to join his father in death.
Eusebius writes that Origen was one of many Christian men at that time who had purposely had himself castrated as a direct result of his reading of Matthew 19:12, wherein Jesus says:
12 "Some are incapable of marriage because they were born so; some, because they were made so by others; some, because they have renounced marriage for the sake of the kingdom of heaven. Whoever can accept this ought to accept it.”"Incapable of marriage" is a nicer way of translating from the original Greek, "eunouchoi," which actually means "eunuch." The gospels Origen was familiar with were almost certainly explicit in their use of the word "eunuch" here.
Although Origen was aware of the practice of self-castration among his early Christian brethren, it seems rather unlikely that the story of him castrating himself is true, especially when we see him railing against the practice from works written in his later life.
After some conflicts with Demetrius, the Bishop of Alexandria, Origen took up a permanent residence in Caesarea in Palestine. There, he was ordained a priest and taught publicly, much to Demetrius' chagrin. Origen continued to write prolifically. At various times, he had to go into hiding, as persecutions of Christians became more common in the Roman Empire.
In 250, the Emperor Decius issued a decree for intense persecution against Christians, believing that they had been the cause of a recent devastating plague. Origen was not able to find adequate hiding during this period, and was imprisoned and tortured for two years. Upon his release from prison, he lived another year and then died in 253 AD, presumably weakened by the years of torture.
Origen is considered a "Church Father," putting him in rank among Ambrose of Milan, Augustine of Hippo, and Ignatius of Antioch. His writings are among the most important ancient Christian theological texts, and include his "On First Principles," "Contra Celsum," and the ever influential "Hexapla."
According to Professor Michael J. Kruger of the Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, Origen should be credited as perhaps the very first to write down the twenty-seven book list that we now know as The New Testament Canon. He quotes thusly from a work of Origen's called the "Homilae on Josuam":
But when our Lord Jesus Christ comes, whose arrival that prior son of Nun designated, he sends priests, his apostles, bearing “trumpets hammered thin,” the magnificent and heavenly instruction of proclamation. Matthew first sounded the priestly trumpet in his Gospel; Mark also; Luke and John each played their own priestly trumpets. Even Peter cries out with trumpets in two of his epistles; also James and Jude. In addition, John also sounds the trumpet through his epistles [and Revelation], and Luke, as he describes the Acts of the Apostles. And now that last one comes, the one who said, “I think God displays us apostles last,” and in fourteen of his epistles, thundering with trumpets, he casts down the walls of Jericho and all the devices of idolatry and dogmas of philosophers, all the way to the foundations.This list, written by Origen perhaps around 250 AD, obviously matches with what we know today as the twenty-seven book canon.
This list in "Homilae on Josuam" is apparently the oldest extant twenty-seven book list. We can imagine that this list predated Origen's record of it, but since we have no evidence for that, we must say the New Testament Canon did not exist in its modern form before around 250 AD. For centuries after 250, in fact, we still see many different lists and arrangements of the Christian scripture. It certainly wouldn't be until much later that the entire Christian world came to a consensus on Origen's list.
Jesus Christ died in 30 or 33 AD. At the very minimum, it was between two and three centuries before The New Testament Canon began to take its familiar form.
Modern Christians frequently think of the Bible as the literal word of God, and as the salvation of the world. Modern Christians are, by and large, unaware of Origen, or his apparent contribution as God's editor and compiler.
Next time, now that we've met Origen, we will look at the various Christian texts that would have been available to a man like Origen in those days, giving us a sense not only for what is in the canon, but what was left out. The modern Christian may be surprised to know about the diversity of literature that existed in the early church.
For now, though, we'll get back to our gospel reading.
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Matthew 4:23 through Matthew 4:25
23 He went around all of Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the gospel of the kingdom, and curing every disease and illness among the people.
24 His fame spread to all of Syria, and they brought to him all who were sick with various diseases and racked with pain, those who were possessed, lunatics, and paralytics, and he cured them.
25 And great crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, and Judea, and from beyond the Jordan followed him.
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There is quite a bit going on here in these three verses.
First, we should pay attention to where Jesus is teaching from here at the outset of his ministry. He teaches from local synagogues. Remember: he is worshipping with Jews, preaching to Jews, and considers himself completely Jewish. Nowhere is this more clear than in the Gospel of Shoehorn Matthew.
While Jesus teaches, he is said to be "curing." He is capable of curing "every disease and illness among the people." Since our official stance here at The Moral Vision is that we do not believe in the supernatural, it is our understanding that Christ was not actually curing physical diseases. He was more likely demonstrating social and philosophical prowess by effectively counseling people with psychological infirmities or situational pains, while generally inspiring a chronically depressed people with his hopeful words about a coming Kingdom of God.
It is imperative to understand that the validity of Jesus' reputation as a literal miracle worker will not have any bearing on his instruction to humanity, which he will very soon lay out for us in his Sermon on the Mount. The moral vision of Jesus and its applicability to human life are the exact same whether you believe he could give sight to the blind or not. This point is critical, and we will make it again and again as we move forward.
As this reading finishes itself out, we are told that a following developed behind Jesus immediately, and that the following consisted of a diversity of people. People from as far away as Syria hear of his abilities and travel to Galilee to avail themselves of his counsel.
Last time, I postulated that we might spend some time looking at other ancient cases of "miracle healing" to give these verses context. I am going to issue a rain-check on that discussion. I promise, we will revisit it. For now, we'll retire of our commentary here in anticipation of next time, when we will continue to learn about the New Testament Canon's formation, and then find ourselves right in the middle of some of Jesus' richest philosophical thought.
I can not wait.
Please share this writing.
Love.
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To read what's next, click here.
To read what's next, click here.
To read what came prior to this, click here.
For the index of Christ's words, click here.
