Mystery of St. Paul
Paul is a key person in establishment of Christianity. A half of the documents included in the New Testament is said to have been written by Paul. But Paul was not the direct follower of Christ Jesus. He never saw or heard Christ Jesus preaching in his life. But Paul became the most influential person in early Christianity. Why? This is one of the most crucial mysteries of Christianity.
It is said the one day Paul encountered the Spirit of Christ Jesus. Then, Paul suddenly became the passionate follower of Christ Jesus, though he had been persecuting followers of Christ Jesus before the incident.
How could a man who had hated a saint turn to be a passionate follower of the saint only because he encountered the Spirit of the saint. Moreover, Paul developed and expanded contents of the teaching of Christ Jesus to the extent that he could teach the theology of Christianity to other Judaists and Roman citizens.
Paul did not know what Christ Jesus said and preached. But suddenly he became a fluent interpreter of the words of Christ Jesus, and Paul became a teacher to others. While Paul did not know the background, circumstances, and contents of the mission of Christ Jesus, how could he become a master of Christianity?
Paul must have learnt about who Christ Jesus was and what He was in a detailed manner somewhere. Otherwise, Paul could not have taught Christianity to others with such confidence.
It is reported by Paul himself that he spent three years in Arabia after his encounter with the Spirit of Christ Jesus on his way to Damascus for arresting and punishing Christians. And then he returned to Damascus to preach the Gospel. But he faced a threat on his life by his old fellows. So he fled to Jerusalem to meet Peter and James, a brother of Christ Jesus. Paul spent 15 days with them and left for his home town in today's Turkey and Antiochia in today's Syria.
Paul did not go to Jerusalem to meet Peter and James for the purpose of learning about Christ Jesus from them. It means that Paul had enough knowledge about Christ Jesus. So, where did he learn about Christ Jesus? It must be in "Arabia." But it doesn't make any sense since there were no Apostles or Jesus' family members in "Arabia" who could teach the life, the mission, and the teaching of Christ Jesus to Paul.
The only reasonable judgment is that Paul went to Qumran where Essenes lived and practiced their school of Judaism. And in Qumran, there was somebody who could teach the life, the mission, and the teaching of Christ Jesus to Paul. Having learnt in Qumran for three years, Paul got knowledge and religious contents as much as Peter and other disciples who had actually followed Christ Jesus. So, Paul could stand on even ground with Peter and those disciples.
But Paul's confidence was extraordinary. Paul showed great confidence in his knowledge about Christ Jesus. So, it is natural to think that Paul was taught in Qumran by somebody that was closer to Christ Jesus than Peter and those disciples.
In my theory, Paul was secretly given a document written by Christ Jesus himself in Qumran. He studied the document for three years to fully understand the contents of the document. And, when Paul got confidence, he left Qumran to preach Christianity.
So, St. Paul became the only Apostle of Christ Jesus after his Resurrection. And the document that was presented to Paul in Qumran became the so-called Q-source or the original text that was later translated into Greek by Mark and other Gospel authors.
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Mar 3:20 And the multitude cometh together again, so that they could not so much as eat bread.
Mar 3:21 And when his friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on him: for they said, He is beside himself.
Mar 3:22 And the scribes which came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the prince of the devils casteth he out devils.
Mar 3:23 And he called them unto him, and said unto them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan?