Lead:

Did Christianity mimic mystery religions? Here are five things to consider.

Intro:

The book of Galatians is a unique stop on our trip through the Bible. As you’ll hear, Paul’s got a more forceful tone in this letter than any other in the New Testament. It’s got significant acceptance even by skeptical scholars, and it’s dated early — an important element to textual scholars when determining the accuracy and authority of documents of the ancient near east.

And it’s also one piece of the puzzle when rebutting people who claim that Christianity just plagiarized pagan mystery religions. In today’s All Our Minds segment we’ll look at five reasons to reject this notion and a couple questions to ask when talking with someone. And seriously, we’ve got more good news about the book we trust as the inspired historical record of the Good News.

One housekeeping note before we roll today…I had the pleasure today of presenting at a conference. It was on a topic I’ve not presented on in awhile: Connectorship, relationship and communicating in technologically-extended life. And it made me think of how much work there is to do in churches. It’s easy to take for granted what I’ve learned in a couple decades of analyzing media and communications. So if you know a church or organization that could use a workshop, I’d be honored to talk with someone about it.

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Bible:

Passage: Galatians 1-2
Translation: NCV (New Century Version)
Verses: 45
Words: ~984

All Our Minds:

Today I’m going to share from a lecture I sat through a couple years ago with Sean McDowell at Talbot School of Theology(1); just used them as talking points during the podcast.

The issue of dying and rising gods
1890-1940 — popular that Christianity plagiarized from pagan mythology was prominent in academic circles
1. Myth vs legend: myth = that he didn’t even exist; legend = did exist, but exaggeration was added
  1. Best response: creed in 1 Co 15
  2. “The idea that Jesus did not exist is a modern notion. It has no ancient precedents. It was made up in the eighteenth century. One might as well call it a modern myth, the myth of the mythical Jesus.”~ Bart Ehrman Did Jesus Exist, p96
2. Mystery religions = religious cult of the eastern Mediterranean
  1. TABLE
  2. Secret ceremonies vs publicly proclaimed (Acts 2:22-24 — Peter’s pentecost sermon, declaring historicity publicly)
  3. Cyclical view of history vs historically based (linear, progressing to an end) (Lk 3:1-2 = exact details in time, place, people)
  4. Doctrine minimized vs doctrine matters (Titus 1:9 - Paul saying elders need to teach sound doctrine and refute falsehood)
    1. Mystery religions tend toward being orthropraxic
3. 5 reasons why the mystery religions did not influence Christianity
  1. 1) Christianity has Jewish roots
    1. Time breakthroughs (look up)
      1. Antiquity of the Jews, 18:3
      2. Paul Gal 1:14 and <??>
  2. 2) Parallels are weak
    1. Similar words, very diff theologies (Mormonism)
    2. While there are certainly parallel terms used in early Christianity and the mystery religions, there is little evidence for parallel concepts. ~ Paul Rhodes Eddy & Gregory A. Boyd The Jesus Legend
      1. Examples: Osiris, Attis,
  3. 3) Parallels prove nothing
    1. The Wreck of the Titan, Morgan Robertson
  4. 4) Dating the mystery religions
    1. Virtually all of our evidence for these religions comes from the second to fourth centuries. ~ Paul Rhodes Eddy & Gregory A. Boyd The Jesus Legend
    2. Even when parallels are genealogical, it must not be uncritically assumed that the mysteries always influenced Christianity, for it is not only possible but probable that in certain cases the influence moved in the opposite direction. ~ Bruce Metzger Historical and Literary Studies, 11
      1. TND Mettinger The Riddle of Resurrection, 2011 …the riddle remains
  5. 5) The death of Jesus is unique
    1. None of the so-called ‘savior gods’ died for someone else.
      1. Gal 1:3-4
    2. Only Jesus died for sin
      1. 1 Co 15:3
    3. Jesus died once for all
      1. Heb 7:27
    4. Jesus’ death is an actual event in history
    5. Jesus died voluntarily
      1. Jn 19:10-11
    6. Jesus’ death wasn’t a defeat, but a triumph, Why would you call it “Good Friday?”
      1. Jn 19:30
4. Tactics
  1. Can you give me the evidence chronologically?
  2. What is the positive evidence, even if predates, that they borrowed? (1)

The bottom line

Let me bring this back to something Paul says as he starts gettin’ in the bidness of the Galatians — he didn’t make up this message…I got it from Jesus. And he says, if I tell you something different, despite my obvious studliness, you shouldn’t listen to me. Even if an angel says something different (which they wouldn’t, so it’d have to be a demon), don’t listen. The answer isn’t in philosophy or politics or social change or being smart. The Good News is the person and work of Jesus because people need a Savior, pure and simple.

Wisdom:

Passage: Psalm 120
Translation: NCV (New Century Version)
Verses: 7
Words: ~115

Love you!

-R

ForTheHope is a daily audio Bible + apologetics podcast and blog. We’ve got a passion for just keepin’ it real, having conversations like normal people, and living out the love of Jesus better every single day.

Roger Courville, CSP is a globally-recognized expert in digitally-extended communication and connection, an award-winning speaker, award-winning author, and a passionately bad guitarist. Follow him on Twitter -- @RogerCourville and @JoinForTheHope – or his blog: www.forthehope.org.

Sources and resources:

Thank you for supporting this ministry should you choose to use the Amazon affiliate links below.

(1) Sean McDowell, “5 Reasons Why the Mystery Religions Did Not Influence Christianity,” (lecture, Talbot School of Theology, Biola University, La Mirada, CA, June 21, 2017).

The new translation we’re trying this week: New Century Version

Not used today, but stuff I like:

D. A. Carson, For the Love of God: A Daily Companion for Discovering the Riches of God’s Word., vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998).

Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press, 1993). <—this, and it’s OT companion, are great commentaries if you like something more than a study Bible and less than a set of 66 books — they add a lot of interesting details. Keener’s a killer apologist, too.

The Story of Reality, Greg Koukl — Love this book. A killer intro to the Christian worldview that is philosophically and theologically sound while being accessible to all readers.

#939: Galatians 1-2 | Did Christianity mimic mystery religions? | Psalm 120