The Christian Faith Under Modern Searchlights Part 12

3. The relation of Paul to the Mystery Religions of his time is a topic which has of late been actively discussed. A thesis now widely maintained has been expressed by Loisy in an epigrammatic form: "The mystery of Paul's conversion is his conversion to the mysteries." To discuss the question in all its bearings, one would need a general acquaintance with cla.s.sical literature, a special knowledge of religious conditions in the early Roman Empire, and, most important of all, a first-hand exegetical knowledge of Paul's epistles.

A marked feature of the age in which the Apostle lived was a merging of deities, and the practice of oriental cults side by side with the official Roman religion and the worship of the Caesar. This syncretism was promoted by the tolerance of an official religious indifferentism, and by a pantheistic philosophy which was hospitable to the worship of a multiplicity of deities as aspects of the One and the All. At a time when the Orontes was pouring its waters into the Tiber, the mysteries of the oriental religions were actively propagated in the West and coalesced with the mysteries practiced among the Greeks.

In spite of the labours of philologists and archaeologists, our knowledge of the ritual of the various mysteries and even of the ideas symbolized is comparatively slight. It can still be said with c.u.mont that, "shut out from the sanctuary like profane outsiders, we hear only the indistinct echo of the sacred songs and not even in imagination can we attend the celebration of the mysteries."[233]

233: "Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain," 2d ed., 1909, p. 17; E. T., "The Oriental Religions in Roman Paganism,"

1911, p. 11.

The moral effect of the mystery cults is also a matter of some doubt.

Plato, as we know (_Phaedo_, 69 D, 81 A), had a high opinion of the Greek mysteries; but the cruel and sensual rites of the oriental religions scandalized the Latin writers as well as the Christian apologists. Even c.u.mont, who thinks that the mystery cults were superior in their religious appeal and influence to the cold, prosaic and austere Roman religion, admits that by the adoption of the mysteries "barbarous, cruel and obscene practices were undoubtedly spread."[234] It is evident that the oriental religions became spiritualized in course of time, and that the various deities at least of Egypt and of Syria came to be conceived, in accordance with the dominant philosophy, in a henotheistic or pantheistic way. Uhlhorn thinks that oriental worship "with all its distortions was more profound, and contained unconscious presages of the Deity who has indeed in birth and death descended to redeem us."[235]

234: "Les Religions Orientales dans le Paganisme Romain," 2d ed., p.

308; E. T., p. 208.

235: "Conflict of Christianity with Heathenism," p. 33.

When Paul preached "the mystery of G.o.d which is Christ" (Col. ii. 2), he incorporated into Christianity, it is said, in adapting it to the Gentile world, features which were common to the mystery brotherhoods of the day, and virtually transformed it into a mystery religion. Pauline Christianity, say the extreme advocates of this view, adopted its vocabulary, its missionary methods, its philosophical and religious ideas, its sacraments and symbolism, its mystical experiences and even its organization, from the compound of oriental mysticism and Greek philosophy which was popular in the cities which Paul visited.

The points in dispute will appear if we glance at the Pauline doctrine of the sacraments, and of dying and rising with Christ, and then at the Pauline vocabulary.

That the ritual of the mysteries had something in common with the Christian sacraments is shown by the fact that the charge of borrowing was made from both sides in early times. The Christian writers accuse the heathen priests of a blasphemous parody of the Christian sacraments inspired by the spirit of lies, and the priests retorted that the sacraments were a plagiarism from the mysteries. c.u.mont believes that both were much mistaken.

The material for comparison is somewhat meagre because baptism is not prominent in Paul's epistles. He never mentions his own baptism, and, aside from I Corinthians i., in which he says that he was not sent to baptize, he uses the verb in but four pa.s.sages (I Cor. x. 2; xii. 13; xv. 29; Gal. iii. 27); the noun in two (Eph. iv. 5; Col. ii. 12); and both verb and noun in one pa.s.sage (Rom. vi. 3-4). In the mysteries there were l.u.s.trations with salt water, water of the Nile and sacred water, but little is known of the exact significance of the rituals. Kennedy is not persuaded that it meant regeneration.[236] There was no baptizing "in the name of" the G.o.ds.

236: "St. Paul and the Mystery Religions," 1913, pp. 229 ff.

On the other hand we know little of any sacrificial meal in the mysteries corresponding to the Eucharist. Reitzenstein observes that unless a happy chance sheds more light upon the use and meaning of the mystery-meals common in most cults, a comparison with the sacraments remains only "a play with possibilities."[237] Clemen thinks that both the inst.i.tution of the Lord's Supper by Jesus and its continued observance are fully explained without bringing in foreign influences.[238]

237: "Die h.e.l.lenistische Mysterienreligionen," 1910, p. 51.

238: "Primitive Christianity," p. 242.

It is probable that the mystery cults exerted an influence upon the later development of sacramental doctrine, but this is aside from our question. Thus Wendt would place the influence of the mystery religions upon the Christian sacraments in the post-Pauline age, and thinks that "to Acts we owe the undoubtedly correct tradition that these Christian rites go back to a date preceding the h.e.l.lenistic mission of Paul, and must be sought for in the very earliest practice of the Apostolic community."[239] Hatch also believes that between apostolic and post-apostolic times the sacraments were modified in important respects under the influence of the mysteries. "The primitive 'see here is water, what doth hinder me to be baptized?' pa.s.sed into a ritual which at every turn recalls the ritual of the mysteries."[240]

239: "Historical Trustworthiness of the Book of Acts," _Hibbert Journal_, October, 1913, pp. 146, 147.

240: "Hibbert Lectures," 1888, p. 299.

Those who push back the influence of the mysteries upon the sacraments to the teaching of Paul himself are compelled to interpret the Apostle's language, contrary, we believe, to the best exegetical tradition, in a physical or what is called an _ex opere operato_ sense. It is significant that when the sacraments are so interpreted they appear to be a foreign element in Paul's system. "It is no wonder that interpreters like Heitmuller and Weinel, who attribute a magical view of the sacraments to Paul, are concerned to point out that his sacramentalism is a sort of erratic boulder in his system as a whole."[241] We are reminded of Clemen's principle that the sense of the New Testament pa.s.sage should be fully ascertained before dependence is a.s.sumed.

241: Kennedy: "St. Paul and the Mystery Religions," p. 283.

When von Dobschutz says that "the unique sacramental conception of the Early Church, which has no a.n.a.logy in the history of religion because it belongs essentially to the Christian religion, has its origin solely in Christian faith and Christian experience,"[242] the same may be said of Paul's doctrine of dying and rising again with Christ. When Paul says "buried with him in baptism" (Rom. vi. 4 and Col. ii. 12), he speaks of no pantheistic or magical union with the deity such as seemed to dominate the thought of the mysteries, so far as their meaning can be ascertained. In both contexts Paul immediately goes on to exhortation.

"Let not sin reign" (Rom. vi. 12), "Seek the things above; mortify your members" (Col. iii. 1-5). It should further be noticed that the pa.s.sage most relied upon to prove Paul's borrowing from the mysteries (Rom. vi.) was addressed to a church which Paul did not found, composed of both Jewish and Gentile Christians. The doctrine in question was not put forth as a novelty, but is a.s.sumed to be known to them: "Are ye ignorant, etc.?" (Rom. vi. 3).

242: Kennedy: "St. Paul and the Mystery Religions," quoted, p. 279.

Paul's doctrine of dying and rising with Christ is ethical rather than "metaphysical" or magical or sacramental. It is surprising to find how little sacramental it is. With no allusion to his own baptism or to the Lord's Supper he says, "I have been crucified with Christ. The world is crucified to me and I to the world" (Gal. ii. 20; vi. 14). "Christ died for all, therefore all died" (2 Cor. v. 14). "To know Christ, to be found in him, to be transformed into his death" (Phil. iii. 8 f.). His doctrine is based upon a personal experience of grace, and this is a.s.sociated with the Cross rather than with the sacraments. The bond which mediated his union with Christ in His death was faith. It was through faith that the Spirit is to be received (Gal. iii. 14), and even when he says, "Christ liveth in me," he adds, "I live in the faith of the Son of G.o.d" (Gal. ii. 20, and see Eph. iii. 17). He would gain Christ that he might have "the righteousness of G.o.d through faith"

(Phil. iii. 9). The Cross and not the sacraments was central alike in the Apostle's experience and in his doctrine of dying and rising with Christ, and the bond of union between him and Christ was faith. There was no mystical absorption of personality as in the Hermetic prayers: "Thou art I, and I am thou."

Finally the Pauline mystery was distinguished from the heathen mysteries by its connection with an historical Person. In the Pauline mystery, it has been said, the divine appeared in a "concrete and comprehensible guise," and "this connection of a religious principle with a Person who had walked upon earth and suffered death was a phenomenon of singular power and originality."[243] There is a world of difference between the nature-myths, underlying the mysteries, of the annually dying and rising vegetation G.o.ds, without historical reality, and promising to the initiated release from transitoriness and mortality, and the record of Christ who died for our sins, and who being raised from the dead dieth no more. To say that Paul not only conformed the Lord's Supper to the heathen mysteries, but invented it in imitation of the mysteries, is to accuse him of deliberate misstatement; for in a pa.s.sage of unusual solemnity (I Cor. xi. 23 ff.), he says that he received it of the Lord, and relates the circ.u.mstances of the inst.i.tution of the Supper by Jesus Himself.

243: Bousset: "Kyrios Christos," p. 148.

The argument from vocabulary is relied upon by Reitzenstein to prove the influence of heathen ideas upon the thought of the Apostle. It is his theory that Paul spent the two years of inner disturbance, in part at least, in the study of h.e.l.lenistic religion and philosophy, and that this influence helped him in the construction of a new religion. In substance Reitzenstein's argument is that Paul shows the use of technical religious terms found in the Hermetic writings, especially in the "Poimandres"; and that the "Poimandres" is to be dated earlier than the "Shepherd" of Hermas; and that the conceptions it embodies were current in the Roman Empire, and in a literary form, in the time of Paul. The argument is twofold, first, that the Hermetic writings were current in the time of Paul, and, second, that Paul shows their influence in his vocabulary. As the date of the "Poimandres," the most important of the Hermetic writings, is in dispute, the latter point may be considered first.

In the Pauline vocabulary Reitzenstein believes that we have "an absolutely certain proof of the immediate influence of h.e.l.lenism upon the Apostle, and at the same time a measure of its strength."[244] "Only when the existence and meaning of a religious literature in h.e.l.lenism is a.s.sured and the sort of linguistic dependence is seen to depend on literary mediation is the opportunity of an explanation afforded."[245]

Many words thought to be characteristically Pauline are said to have been technical terms in the popular mystery cults of the day, before the Apostle adopted them as the expression of his own religious teaching.

244: "Die h.e.l.lenistische Mysterienreligionen," p. 58. (Afterward referred to for convenience as "H. M. R.")

245: "H. M. R.," p. 209.

Without attempting to follow the argument in detail, we may observe (_a_) that Paul uses many of these terms in a different sense from that of the Hermetic literature. Compare, for example, Paul's use of familiar words such as "salvation," "glory," "grace," with that of the Magic Papyri. In "Hermes-Prayer I," the pet.i.tion is for "health, salvation, prosperity, glory, victory, power, loveliness."[246] So in "Prayer II,"

"Give me grace, food, victory, good luck, loveliness, etc."[247] Again in "Hermes-Prayer III," we read, "Save me always from drugs and deceit, and all witchcraft and evil tongues and all trouble, from all hate both of G.o.ds and men. Give me grace and victory and business and success; for Thou art I, and I am Thou.... I am thy image."[248] In these prayers from the later Hermes-Thot religion, the Pauline terms are evidently used in a worldly sense, contrasting strongly with their use by Paul.

246: Reitzenstein: "Poimandres: Studien zur griechisch-agyptischen und fruhchristlichen Literatur," 1904, p. 18.

247: _Ibid._, p. 20.

248: Reitzenstein: "Poimandres," p. 21.

(_b_) Much of the technical phraseology common to Paul and the Hermetic literature is current in the Old Testament; and with the language of the Old Testament we know that Paul's mind was saturated. Clemen's maxim should be observed, and we should seek the source of an idea (or word) in the native religion before going farther afield. Thus before Paul's doctrine of the Spirit is a.s.signed with confidence to h.e.l.lenistic sources, the use of the term Spirit both in the Old Testament and in pre-Pauline Christianity should be studied. Paul quotes the pa.s.sage from Joel which promises the outpouring of the Spirit (Rom. x. 13 f.; see Acts ii. 21). He brings the Spirit into connection with the blessing of Abraham (Gal. iii. 14). The Spirit is also mentioned in the introduction to the ministry of Jesus alike by Mark and by the non-Markan source. A sufficient and natural explanation of Paul's doctrine of the Spirit is to be found in the Old Testament, in Evangelical tradition and in the experience of the church at Pentecost, and in his own experience. When Paul speaks of "the Spirit of adoption whereby we cry, 'Abba, Father'"

(Rom. viii. 15; Gal. iv. 6), we have to do not with remote literary influences nor with the dry bones of any technical theology, Hebraic or Hermetic, but with the heart-throb of personal experience.

Reitzenstein believes that the Pauline vocabulary is best explained by the h.e.l.lenistic parallels, but he recognizes that the parallelism with the Old Testament should be considered. Thus while he thinks that he has shown parallels for all the Pauline uses of the word _pneuma_, he says "whether with equal ease all may be explained from the Hebraic use of _ruach_ and _nephesh_ or the use of _pneuma_ in the Septuagint the theologian must decide."[249] Harnack, with some irony, advises Reitzenstein and his school to gain a clearer knowledge of Paul the Jew and Paul the Christian before they take account of secondary elements which he borrowed from the Greek mysteries. A conscious acceptance, he thinks, of such elements is out of the question.[250]

249: "H. M. R.," p. 140.

250: "Date of the Acts and of the Synoptic Gospels," p. 61 n.

Kennedy believes that the vocabulary of Paul is to be explained from the Old Testament, while much of it was current among the mystery brotherhoods (_Op. cit._, p. 198). Bousset acknowledges that Paul's terminology may perhaps in part be derived from the Old Testament, which would be the most natural source of his use of _pneuma_ instead of _nous_ to describe the spiritual part of man, and of the opposition in words between _pneuma_ and _sarx_ (_Op. cit._, p. 141, note 2). Clemen ("Der Einfluss der Mysterienreligionen auf das alteste Christentums," 1913, p. 61) says that "looked at broadly, Paul remains in verbal and much more in actual relationships untouched by the mystery religions."

If the Hermetic writings are to be dated later than the time of Paul, then the question of literary influence is reversed. Similarity in words will then be due to coincidence or to the prevalence of a common religious vocabulary, or else, as has recently been said, "if it is necessary to suppose literary connection, the artificial literary composition of 'Poimandres' makes it more probable that the borrowing was on that side."[251] The question hinges upon the date of the "Poimandres," which it has been usual, at least since the middle of the seventeenth century, to a.s.sign to the age of Porphyry. Hermes has been regarded as "a convenient pseudonym to place at the head of the numerous syncretic writings in which it was sought to combine Neo-Platonic philosophy, Philonic Judaism and cabalistic theosophy, and so provide the world with some acceptable subst.i.tute for Christianity."[252]

251: J. M. Creed: "The Hermetic Writings," _Journal of Theological Studies_, July, 1914, p. 529.

252: Art. "Hermes Trismegistus," Encycl. Britt., 10th ed. For a history of the evolution of opinion, see G. R. S. Mead: "Thrice-Greatest Hermes," 1906, Vol. I, pp. 17 ff.

By a brilliant _tour de force_ and with great learning Reitzenstein has sought to reverse this relationship, and to show that the original form of these writings, or at least the fixed religious ideas, vocabulary and ritual which they presuppose, antedated Pauline Christianity and profoundly influenced the writings of Paul and of John. He argues that the "Shepherd" of Hermas is dependent upon the "Poimandres," relying mainly upon two points: the similarity between the two writings in their introductions, and the fact that in the "Shepherd" the divine messenger appears on a mountain, Arcadia, which was the alleged birthplace of Hermes and a centre of the Hermes cult. The significant points of the introduction may thus be shown:

"POIMANDRES" "SHEPHERD" OF HERMAS 2. And I do say: "Who art Revelation 5. As I prayed in thou?" He saith: "I am the house, and sat on the couch, Man-Shepherd, Mind of all there entered a man glorious in master-hood; I know what thou his visage in the garb of a desirest and I'm with thee shepherd, and with a wallet on his everywhere." shoulders, and a staff in his hand. And he saluted me, 3. and I saluted him in return. And he immediately sat down by my side, and he saith unto me, "I was sent by the most holy angel, that I might dwell with thee the remaining days of thy life."

4. E'n with these words His "I," saith he, "am the shepherd, aspect changed, and unto whom thou wast delivered."

straightway, in the twinkling While he was speaking, of an eye, all things were his form was changed, and I opened to me, and I see a recognized him as being the same, Vision limitless, etc. to whom I was delivered.[253]

253: For the Greek text of both pa.s.sages see "Poimandres," pp. 11, 12; and for the translation see Mead: _Op. cit._, ii, pp. 3, 4, and Lightfoot: "Apostolic Fathers," p. 421.