Biblical Criticism & History Forum - earlywritings.com

Painting in the Early-Christian catacomb of San Callisto (Saint Calixte Catacomb), 3rd century.

The figure on the right strikes the right pose, while the figure on the left appears to be breaking the bread.

A sign that this could have been a part of the ritual meal?

Brings new meaning to “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes.” (1 Cor 11:26)

Peter Kirby wrote:This article may be relevant (to the art):

https://depts.drew.edu/jhc/AbrahamsenOrante.pdf

Good one. Thanks.

Peter Kirby wrote:

Painting in the Early-Christian catacomb of San Callisto (Saint Calixte Catacomb), 3rd century.

The figure on the right strikes the right pose, while the figure on the left appears to be breaking the bread.

A sign that this could have been a part of the ritual meal?

Brings new meaning to “For as often as you eat this bread and drink the cup, you proclaim the Lord's death until he comes”? (1 Cor 11:26)

It does at that. And the eucharist would thus be a public display of the crucifixion if this was done.

This is a page put together from a perspective of faith: http://www.jesuswalk.com/christian-symbols/orante.htm, which says that this posture represents the soul at peace in Paradise. Now, I imagine that is just a nice modern guess, but the treelike posture does remind me of the Tree of Life, surely the most important feature of Paradise. I sometimes wonder whether people of faith might not just "get it" sometimes, might not just understand, on a gut level, what is going on in some cases. Not trying to prove anything with this; just musing out loud.

Jesus was sentenced by a Roman magistrate and Roman soldiers carried out the execution.

The question is : what would the soldiers that had to carry out the sentence --do the actual killing--would have understood as their duty when a Roman magistrate had sentenced someone to be attached to a wooden device until he/she was dead.
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=539

Jesus was sentenced by Pontius Pilatus in the story I have read and the Romans crucified people.

I found this report of an archaeological finding , but I don't know how to evaluate its importance.
It was this book of Geza Vermes which alerted me to its existence
https://books.google.co.uk/books?id=7KA ... on&f=false


viewtopic.php?f=3&t=528&p=9768&hilit=geza#p9768

Emmaus and the Eucharist Luke 23: 30-31
The interesting part of the story is this: 30 When he was at the table with them, he took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to them. 31Then their eyes were opened, and they recognized him; and he vanished from their sight.


It suggests that the breaking of the bread had been a ceremony, during dinner , indicating fellowship . The Eucharist would have been then a declaration signifying belonging: “All for one and one for all, united we stand divided we fall.” ( dumas)
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=3099

Ben wrote:

Could it be that this "public portrayal" of Jesus Christ as crucified [in Gal. 3:1] is actually a posture adopted during worship meetings?

I'm getting the impression that "public portrayal" [proegrapho] means "proven from the Scriptures," like in Acts 18:28 ("For he [Apollos] vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures [graphon] that Jesus was the Messiah").

As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:23, "we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles," and Rom. 15:4, "For everything that was written in the past [proegraphe] was written [egraphe] to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures [graphon] and the encouragement they provide we might have hope," and 1 Cor. 15:3-4, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures [graphas], that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures [graphas]," and Rom. 1:2, "the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures [graphais]," and 1 Cor. 2:7, "a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began," and Rom. 16:25-26, "my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings [graphon] by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith".

This last example seems to be what Paul means in Gal. 3:1, that the (gentile) Galatians learned about Paul's gospel "through the prophetic writings," and I think the same thing is going on in 1 Cor. 2:7-10.

No, we speak of the mysterious and hidden wisdom of God, which He destined for our glory before time began. None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written [gegraptai]: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

So the word in Gal. 3:1 for "publically portrayed" (proegrapho) seems to have the sense of something written and is used this way in Rom. 15:4 above, and I don't see any examples (not to say I know that there're aren't any) besides Gal. 3:1 that is translated as "publically portrayed" (the three other occurrences of proegrapho on the biblehub, Rom. 15:4, Jude 1:4, Eph. 3:3, seem to have the sense of something written beforehand).

http://biblehub.com/greek/4270.htm

John2 wrote:Ben wrote:

Could it be that this "public portrayal" of Jesus Christ as crucified [in Gal. 3:1] is actually a posture adopted during worship meetings?

I'm getting the impression that "public portrayal" [proegrapho] means "proven from the Scriptures," like in Acts 18:28 ("For he [Apollos] vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures [graphon] that Jesus was the Messiah").

As Paul says in 1 Cor. 1:23, "we preach Christ crucified: a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles," and Rom. 15:4, "For everything that was written in the past [proegraphe] was written [egraphe] to teach us, so that through the endurance taught in the Scriptures [graphon] and the encouragement they provide we might have hope," and 1 Cor. 15:3-4, "Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures [graphas], that he was buried, that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures [graphas]," and Rom. 1:2, "the gospel he promised beforehand through his prophets in the Holy Scriptures [graphais]," and 1 Cor. 2:7, "a mystery that has been hidden and that God destined for our glory before time began," and Rom. 16:25-26, "my gospel, the message I proclaim about Jesus Christ, in keeping with the revelation of the mystery hidden for long ages past, but now revealed and made known through the prophetic writings [graphon] by the command of the eternal God, so that all the Gentiles might come to the obedience that comes from faith".

This last example seems to be what Paul means in Gal. 3:1, that the (gentile) Galatians learned about Paul's gospel "through the prophetic writings," and I think the same thing is going on in 1 Cor. 2:8-10.

None of the rulers of this age understood it, for if they had, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. However, as it is written [gegraptai]: “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived” the things God has prepared for those who love him, these are the things God has revealed to us by his Spirit.

So the word in Gal. 3:1 for "publically portrayed" (proegrapho) seems to have the sense of something written and is used this way in Rom. 15:4 above, and I don't see any examples (not to say I know that there're aren't any) besides Gal. 3:1 that is translated as "publically portrayed" (the three other occurrences of proegrapho on the biblehub, Rom. 15:4, Jude 1:4, Eph. 3:3, seem to have the sense of something written beforehand).

http://biblehub.com/greek/4270.htm

Those are good points, but of course four instances are a very small sample. The prefix προ- means "before", but it can mean "before" in the sense either of time ("written beforehand") or of space ("written in front of"). Here is an instance of προγράφω from the Greek OT in which the prefix seems to require the sense of space:


The sense generally accorded the instance in Galatians 3.1 is that under Roman numeral II in the LSJ entry:


And I think this option is generally chosen simply because the Galatians were not around when those things in the scriptures were "written down beforehand" — therefore, those things could hardly have been written down before their very eyes. We are practically forced to adopt the sense of something having been "set forth publicly," as the LSJ definition would have it.

JoeWallack wrote:

Ben C. Smith wrote:We know that early Christians could describe the cross as a tree or as wood:
Galatians 3.13: 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us -- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree [ξύλου]."

JW:
I have faith that it is the other way around Ben. Paul is describing a hanging as a crucifixion. Note the progression:

• 1) No evidence that anyone asserted Jesus was crucified before Paul.

Who says "tree" that you consider to be "before Paul"?

Ben wrote:

And I think this option is generally chosen simply because the Galatians were not around when those things in the scriptures were "written down beforehand" — therefore, those things could hardly have been written down before their very eyes. We are practically forced to adopt the sense of something having been "set forth publicly," as the LSJ definition would have it.

I was wondering if the "set forth publically" option could have something to do with the "before your eyes" part, but that only makes Gal. 3:1 seem all the more similar to Acts 18:28 to me. Let's compare the two again.

Acts 18:28:

For he vigorously refuted his Jewish opponents in public debate, proving from the Scriptures that Jesus was the Messiah.

εὐτόνως γὰρ τοῖς Ἰουδαίοις διακατηλέγχετο δημοσίᾳ ἐπιδεικνὺς διὰ τῶν γραφῶν εἶναι τὸν Χριστὸν Ἰησοῦν

And the literal translation for this on the biblehub is:

Powerfully indeed the Jews he refuted publically [δημοσίᾳ] showing [ἐπιδεικνὺς] by the Scriptures to be the Christ Jesus

http://biblehub.com/interlinear/acts/18-28.htm

The word for "publically" is demosios: http://biblehub.com/greek/1219.htm

The word for "showing" is epideiknumi, which has the sense of "I show, display, point out, indicate; I prove, demonstrate" and is said to have seven occurrences indicating that it means a visual demonstration (e.g., Mt. 22:19: "Show me the coin used for paying the tax"). http://biblehub.com/greek/1925.htm

Yet the sense I get from Acts 28:18 is that Apollos is "publically showing" people that Jesus is the Messiah (and presumably all that went along with that) by pointing out to them certain passages from the OT (i.e., what was written about him beforehand). And this is how Gal. 3:1 strikes me, that Paul is reminding the Galatians of a time when he did the same kind of thing for them "before their eyes."

In Acts 28.18 it is the showing that is in public; in Galatians 3.1 it is the προγράφειν that is before their eyes. That is the difference, and it demonstrates that προγράφειν has to mean something like "show" or "publicly display" rather than something like "write beforehand" — barring time travel. "It was publicly displayed before your eyes" makes sense. "It was written beforehand before your eyes" does not.

Ben wrote:

In Acts 28.18 it is the showing that is in public; in Galatians 3.1 it is the προγράφειν that is before their eyes. That is the difference, and it demonstrates that προγράφειν has to mean something like "show" or "publicly display" rather than something like "write beforehand" — barring time travel. "It was publicly displayed before your eyes" makes sense. "It was written beforehand before your eyes" does not.

I guess I'm having a hard time picturing Paul acting out the crucifixion before the eyes of the Galatians rather than convincing them with the OT that Jesus was crucified. This is just my initial impression of Gal. 3:1. I've never thought about it before and I'm still getting acquainted with commentaries about it. Stegall seems to put it the way I'm seeing it:

In Galatians 3:1, the phrase "was publically portrayed" is one word in Greek, prographo. This verb is in the aortist tense and indicative mood, indicating a past tense portrayal of Christ as One who stands crucified. Paul is referring to the message he preached to these Galatians in the past while they were unbelievers. This was the same message referred to in Galatians 1:8-9. What message had they now taken their eyes off of? Grace? Justification through faith alone? No, not merely these things, but the work of Christ on the cross from which God's grace and justification flows. This is why the entire section in Galatians 3:1-14 that deals so heavily with justification begins with a riveting rebuke to get their focus back on the cross that Paul initially preached to them (3:1).

https://books.google.com/books?id=uj9H4 ... ED&f=false

But I suppose there is room here for Paul having acted out the crucifixion in the manner that Longenecker puts it:

Paul vividly described and/or dramatically enacted the crucifixion of Jesus when he presented his gospel, capturing the imagination of his audience by depicting the crucifixion of Jesus in graphic detail ... He must, at the very least, have held out his arms to dramatize a crucified body for his audience.

https://books.google.com/books?id=DVoiC ... ED&f=false

He then goes on to note that Hengel and Schwemer suggest "that Paul spoke of the crucifixion of Jesus using a 'vivid narrative' so that his hearers were 'able to envisage this unspeakably offensive fact in a very concrete way.'"

I'm getting a better appreciation for your inquiry though. No one seems to be saying that Paul didn't talk about the crucifixion in Gal. 3:1, but did he do more than that, and I don't understand Greek enough (or at all) to say. As a novice though, it seems "odd" to think that the word "prographo" doesn't have something to do with writing, but I guess it is related to the word "graphic" so I suppose I can appreciate the sense of a visual depiction.