Tuesday, November 13, 2018

"seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves" - The Jewish-Roman War and the Four Gospels


Around Radioactive Disposal Bag Deposit of Fukushima Daiichi Nuclear Power Plant


The Jewish-Roman War and the Four Gospels

It is said the first Gospel was written by Mark around 66 to 70 AD when the Jewish-Roman war broke out.

However, it is said that Paul and Peter were executed in Rome around 64, which means that Paul and Peter preached Christian Gospels without the Gospel by Mark or any other authors.  So, it is a mystery how they could preach Gospels to non-Jewish people who did not know Judaism and Christ Jesus without the Christian Bible.   For almost 30 years since the execution of Christ Jesus, Paul, Peter, and other leaders of early Christianity were trying to make the teaching of Christ Jesus prevail without the Gospels by Mark, Matthew, Luke and John.

But if Paul, Peter, and other leaders of early Christianity had believed that they belonged to Judaism, it could be understood, since they had already the Judaism Bible.  So, not only Christ Jesus but also Paul and Peter thought they belonged to Judaism but not another religion.  And the first Gospel according to Mark does not declare that God sent Christ Jesus to the world to create a new religion called Christianity.

The Gospel according to Mark stared:
Mar 1:1 The beginning of the gospel of Jesus Christ, the Son of God;
Mar 1:2 As it is written in the prophets, Behold, I send my messenger before thy face, which shall prepare thy way before thee.
It is apparent that the gospel by Christ Jesus was meant to be extension of prophecies in Judaism.  But when the Jewish-Roman war was going to break out, would Mark write his Gospel to emphasize the tie between the teaching of Christ Jesus and Judaism?

And the Gospels according to Mathew and Luke were based on Mark, while it is said that they were written  between 70 and  90 AD after the Jewish-Roman war.  If so, it is strange that the graveness of effect of the war is not reflected in these Gospels.

However, the Gospel according to John clearly shows the impact of the war and the consequential fall of the Jerusalem Temple:
Joh 1:1 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God.
Joh 1:2 The same was in the beginning with God.
Joh 1:3 All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made.
Joh 1:4 In him was life; and the life was the light of men.
This Gospel was written clearly with intention to establish a new religion apart from Judaism, which should reflect the graveness of effect of the Jewish-Roman war.   Compared with John, Mark, Matthew, and Luke were written within the paradigm of Judaism, although they seem to make some distinction between followers of the teaching of Christ Jesus outside Jerusalem and those in Jerusalem. 

The most important incident in the 1st century for Judaists was the fall of the Jerusalem Temple in the Jewish-Roman war.  It must have had serious effects on early Christians.  And the seriousness is reflected in John but not in Mark, Matthew, and Luke.  Therefore, Mark, Matthew, and Luke must have been written before the Jewish-Roman war.

Another question is whether Mark, Matthew, and Luke were written while Paul or Peter was alive, whereas it is said that the two leading figures of early Christianity outside Jerusalem were executed by Roman Emperor Nero in Rome around 64 AD, four years before the  Jewish-Roman war.



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Mar 11:13 And seeing a fig tree afar off having leaves, he came, if haply he might find any thing thereon: and when he came to it, he found nothing but leaves; for the time of figs was not yet.
Mar 11:14 And Jesus answered and said unto it, No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever. And his disciples heard it.