Transgressions & Sins (part 2)

With this being prefaced by talk of the subjection of all to the Christ as Lord (with the employment of the Caesar rhetoric ringing in our ears), and all that would be implied by the ideas of subjection, is it possible that these were the transgressions and sins of seeking to violently expunge their pagan oppressors from their land, and in that way to establish the promised kingdom of God, with national Israel as its exalted nation and its people as its supreme rulers?  Is it possible that, drawing from the Jesus tradition, that these were the transgressions and sins, based upon hatred, spite, isolation, and exclusivism, from which John the Baptist, and Jesus in His first recorded proclamations in Mark’s Gospel, urged the people to repent?

This was not God’s method, as clearly revealed in Christ.  This was the method of “the ruler of the kingdom of the air,” the rulers and authorities and powers and dominions (earthly and spiritual), of which we read in the first chapter of this letter to the church at Ephesus.  This appears to be the continuing spirit that Paul believed to be energizing a good portion of his fellow countrymen, in ongoing disobedience to God’s plans and purposes and intentions for His people to be a light to the Gentiles.  As they were refusing to embrace Jesus’ kingdom message, Paul sensed that they were, instead, persisting in their headlong rush towards revolutionary activity that was eventually going to result in the destruction of Jerusalem and its people.

In this message, Paul does not stand separate from the Jewish populace, merely throwing accusations, but he hearkens back to his former days as a Pharisee of Pharisees.  Doing so, he lumps himself in with those that were on the same path that had violent overthrow in sight or mind.  Bearing in mind the kingdom of God context that he has created, and which permeated the air that he and his countrymen breathed, he wrote that “all of us also formerly lived out our lives in the cravings of our flesh, indulging the desires of the flesh and the mind” (2:3a).  Here, he confesses that he too had a desire to pursue the violent route to national independence and the violent ushering in of God’s kingdom through a Davidic messiah that would run roughshod over the enemies of Israel.  This could be seen in his reaction to the kingdom message of Jesus. 

Indeed, in his violent persecution of the church, Paul was actively attempting to eliminate those that were saying that the kingdom had been ushered in through Jesus and who were encouraging their brothers and sisters to drop their nationalistic desires.  Accompanying the relinquishment of nationalistic desires, these same people were abandoning the covenant markers that set them apart from the peoples of the world (circumcision, Sabbath keeping, food laws), thus jeopardizing Israel’s future and ability to gain independence. 

From Paul’s previously held point of view, if Israel abandoned these marks of covenant, then they were abandoning their standing as the righteous people, thus giving up any hope of their God acting on their behalf, or alongside them, in any attempt to cast off their Roman subjugators.  This way of thinking must be held in mind when considering Paul’s talk of kingdom, inclusion in the covenant people, the true ruler of the world, and thoughts about “the flesh,” along with transgressions and sins.  While we don’t limit talk of transgressions and sins to this context of desires for violent revolution, it certainly seems to be appropriate to make sure that the two are attached as the message of this letters is under consideration. 

Reiterating and restating the point previously made, it is quite possible that, in Paul’s way of thinking, this acceptance of Jesus as Messiah and Lord, along with its recognition of the Creator God’s entering into history to establish His kingdom through a renewed Israel that preached the Gospel of Christ, would merely lead to fewer people being willing to take up arms when the time for rebellion against Rome presented itself.  Now though, Paul looks upon such cravings and desires of the flesh and mind as serving to create a generation of his fellow Jews that were going to be “children of wrath” (2:3b), who would eventually be utterly conquered by Rome.