Ecstatic Gnostic Twinheads: Mystic Transformations

~&~


A SUGGESTION
which describes just the right balance in my view.
in defining 'Pauline theology':

IF WE
WERE TO SPECIFY
the content of this set of beliefs,
it would be natural to begin with definitely Jewish categories,
since Paul by his own admission
continued to understand his work from the standpoint of one who had been a zealous Pharisaic Jew;
and THAT would mean grouping them under the TWIN HEADS
of Jewish theology, viz. monotheism & election,
"G*D" & "Israel".

INDEED,
my underlying argument throughout my discussion of Paul,
here & elsewhere,
IS that his theology consists precisely in the redefinition,
by means of 'christology' AND 'pneumatology,
of THOSE TWO key Jewish
'doctrines'.

GALATIANS 3 is the chapter
in which Paul's pneumaticism,
summed up by the phrase "baptism in the Spirit,"
is most richly shown, although, interestingly enough,
the term does not occur in this letter.
The relevant context begins, however, in chapter 2
of that epistle.

"FOR through the Law I died to the Law"

FOR
through the Law
I died to the Law,
IN ORDER that I MIGHT LIVE for "G*D".
I have been CRUCIFIED with Christ;
and it is no longer I WHO LIVE,
but CHRIST LIVES IN ME;
and WHAT I NOW LIVE in the flesh I LIVE IN FAITH
in 'the son of "G*D"' who loved me AND
GAVE HIMSELF UP
for me.

{GAL 2:19-20}


Paul's
paradoxical formulation here is a CRUX!
WHAT does it MEAN to say that through the Torah he died to the Torah?
My suggestion is that this must be understood in the light of
Paul's paradoxical opposition of the true Torah
to that which is understood as Torah by other Jews,
as we already have seen in our reading of ROMANS 2
above.


Paul's
whole argument there
is that there is a true Law {the Law of faith; 3:27},
and that THIS Law is different from the FALSE Law of the observances
of physical rites and the trust in physical genealogical
connection.


The TRUE Law
is the SPIRITUAL,
ALLEGORICAL, INWARD INTERPRETATION of the external,
which is ONLY
its sign.


In our verse in Galatians,
Paul is arguing exactly the SAME proposition
and giving IT its christological foundation
as well.


Through
the TRUE meaning of the Law,
which was revealed in the crucifixion AND resurrectio of "Christ"
as a hermeneutic KEY
and as a mysterious
transformation,
I have died to the OLD {mis}understanding of the Law
as the OUTWARD observance which makes one {so I thought}
a real Jew.


Paul is
referring here
to the christological apocalypse he experienced
and which, I will argue,
the Galatians experienced
as well.


THIS interpretation
is certified by the phrasealogical identity of the 'in me' both places.
THIS IS GNOSTIC in the etymological sense
of a knowledge WHICH TRANSFORMS the person
OF THE KNOWER entirely.


Descriptions of the Hellenistic mystic
FIT Paul perfectly at this moment:

MAN is related
to the other world
by participation IN IT.
Something has come from that OTHER world,
that world OF LIGHT.
Depending on WHICH mythical or cultic tradition
determines the thought patterns,
IT IS THERE from the very beginning as a PRIMEVAL PORTION OF LIGHT
that has descended INTO matter,
OR it is the RESULT of some CHANGE or INFLUX
due to a sacrament or AN ECSTATIC EXPERIENCE!
THIS something in man is regarded as the ESSENTIAL ELEMENT
in the one BORN AGAIN.
And yet it has no necessary connection with the empirical man,
with his acts &
her fate.


THIS is very close indeed
to the Pauline discourse on the meaning of dying with "CHRIST"
as an ecstatic experience and baptism as a sacrament
in Galatians.


PAUL follows this
with a remarkable and necessary corollary to his argument.
His opponents in Yerusjalayim could certainly have argued something
to the effect that while it is TRUE that Christ's coming
has redeemed the spirit,
we who still dwell in flesh MUST observe the Torah
in order to control the flesh
and make IT as well obedient
to "G*d's will."


Paul counters this
by saying that the very dwelling in the flesh is ONLY apparent.
IN REALITY, HE IS NO LONGER LIVING IN THE FLESH
BUT IN A HIDDEN SPIRITUAL EXISTENCE
called "Christ living
IN ME."


~verliefd~
engel
15 jun 2005 - bewerkt op 04 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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