Giuseppe wrote: ↑Mon Jul 25, 2022 11:20 pm
I have enumerated all the possible reactions of the people before the Paul's claim (1 Corinthians 2:8) that only demons crucified Jesus:
It's not that I deny the premise, it is that your interpretation is one-dimensional. Claiming that "demons crucified Jesus" loses the impact of Paul writing that it was "the rulers of this age [who] crucified Jesus".
Now, even if "rulers" meant Pilate and Herod, no-one thinks that Pilate and Herod took out a hammer and some nails and personally crucified Jesus. They were rulers, so we can assume that they gave the task to their underlings to do.
Similarly, even if you assume that the rulers themselves were demon archons: who did they rule? Demons? Or men also? Given that there was a belief that heathen countries were the properties of other gods like Moloch and Beliar, its clear that the demon lords ruled over humans as well as lower-ranked demons. So, even assuming the rulers of the age were demon archons, it doesn't necessarily follow that the underlings who crucified Jesus were demons themselves.
But I do believe that the archons were human kings. I think Paul was using Psalm 2:
Psa 2:1 Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine a vain thing?
2 The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the LORD, and against his anointed [Messiah]...
...
6 Yet have I set my king upon my holy hill of Zion.
7 I will declare the decree: the LORD hath said unto me, Thou art my Son; this day have I begotten thee.
8 Ask of me, and I shall give thee the heathen for thine inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for thy possession...
10 Be wise now therefore, O ye kings: be instructed, ye judges of the earth...
In the Septuagint, the word for "rulers" in Ps 2:2 is "archon". Also, note the use of "wise" in Ps 2:10, paralleling Paul's use of the "wisdom of the archons of the age".
We also find Psalms 2 being referred to in Justin Martyr and Tertullian, with the both of them linking Psalms 2 to Herod and Pilate as the rulers conspiring against Christ:
Justin Martyr:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... ology.html
... and how He foretold the conspiracy which was formed against Christ by Herod the king of the Jews, and the Jews themselves, and Pilate, who was your governor among them... Therefore the ungodly shall not stand in the judgment, nor sinners in the council of the righteous. For the Lord knoweth the way of the righteous; but the way of the ungodly shall perish. Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine new things? The kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers take counsel together, against the Lord, and against His Anointed, saying, Let us break their bands asunder, and cast their yoke from us. He that dwelleth in the heavens shall laugh at them, and the Lord shall have them in derision. Then shall He speak to them in His wrath, and vex them in His sore displeasure. Yet have I been set by Him a King on Zion His holy hill, declaring the decree of the Lord. The Lord said to Me, Thou art My Son; this day have I begotten Thee.
Tertullian:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... an124.html
The Lord Himself comes to a trial with "the elders and rulers of the people," as Isaiah predicted. And then He fulfilled all that had been written of His passion. At that time "the heathen raged, and the people imagined vain things; the kings of the earth set themselves, and the rulers gathered themselves together against the Lord and against His Christ." The heathen were Pilate and the Romans; the people were the tribes of Israel; the kings were represented in Herod, and the rulers in the chief priests.
We can also look at the Gospel of Luke:
http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/t ... e-kjv.html
23.12 And the same day Pilate and Herod were made friends together: for before they were at enmity between themselves.
13 And Pilate, when he had called together the chief priests and the rulers [archon] and the people,
...
23.35 And the people stood beholding. And the rulers [archon] also with them derided him, saying, He saved others; let him save himself, if he be Christ, the chosen of God.
24.20 And how the chief priests and our rulers [archon] delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him.
For me, the evidence suggests that Paul thought that Jesus was crucified by humans, whatever he thought the "rulers of the age" were. I know you agree to disagree, and fair enough too! It's all good!