Paul's Belief in a Duality of A Creator-Jesus versus A Pre-Existing Yahweh Who Only Created Jesus

 

This article is to support our article on Romans 7:1-7 as proving Paul's analysis requires that Yahweh died, and did not resurrect when Jesus resurrected. 

As a result, Paul believes in a clearly heretical concept of  a duality of Gods -- where the Creator-Son survives the death of the very distinct Father-God. In Paul's conception the Father could not resurrect when the Son resurrected. Otherwise, this would revive the bond of the Law between the wife-Israel and husband-Yahweh. So Paul insists in Romans 7:1-7 the "husband" of Israel impliclity the Father / God of Sinai died at the cross. This dissolved the Law, and now the wife Israel is free to "marry another" -- the resurrected one who has no Law anymore -- Jesus. (The truth is the Father did not die on the cross, and instead only Jesus died, and later resurrected.)

 

Paul's duality principle is no accident. Based equally upon the Septuagint mistranslation of Psalm 102, as Paul was relying upon, the author of Hebrews has the same dualism where one God-the-Father who willed a New Testament dies while the Creator-Son lives. The Epistle to the Hebrews says this death of the testator must persist or there could be no New Testament if the testator (i.e., the Father) still lives. Hebrews 1:1-10. This is why the commonly heard notion that Jesus was the intended testator who died in this passage is false becaus once Jesus resurrected, the new testament would cease according to Hebrews. Hence, the intended testator who must remain dead, according to Hebrews, is the God of Sinai -- just as Paul says in Romans 7. (For the common explanation that Hebrews means Jesus as the testator died but came alive yet we still have a new testament era when Hebrews says that is impossible, see "New Covenant" in Wikipedia.) Hence, the Hebrews' Epistle can only be addressing that the Father died, and did not resurrect, just as Paul says likewise in Romans 7 about the "husband" of Israel must die so Jesus can be our new "Lord." See [1] Son of Father God as Creator God in Paul & Hebrews based upon Septuagint Mistranslated Psalm 102; and [2] Paul Says the God of Sinai is Dead in Romans.

 

Paul elsewhere explains that Jesus now represents our new husband and is our "Lord" (Romans 10:8-9) - whose name "is above all names" (Phil 2:9). Paul makes no exception for the name of the Original Covenant's "Yahweh."

Moreover, Paul had a unique view of the God who lived at the Temple of Jerusalem. Jesus said in Matthew 23:21 that the God of the Mosaic Covenant, the "Creator who made them male and female" (Matt 19:4) -- Yahweh -- still "dwelled" at the Temple of Jerusalem. Similarly, the apostolic church at Jerusalem still worshipped that God at the Temple (Acts 2:42, 47; 3:1; 5:11-13, 19-20, 42: 22:18).

However, Paul said that the Creator of the heavens and earth does not live in that Temple or any temple at any time. In Acts 17:24, Paul says: "The God who made the world and everything in it is the Lord of heaven and earth and does not live in temples built by human hands."

Then who is this present living God who created the world and everything in it but who does not live in Temples made of human hands, including the one at Jerusalem?

Paul gives this honor of creating the heavens and earth to Jesus in Colossians 1:15-17. This explains why Paul believes God -- this implied Creator-God-Jesus -- does not live in Temples made of human hands, including the Temple at Jerusalem. Only the God-Yahweh lives there, it logically follows.

This passage of Colossians 1:15-17 is aptly titled by the NIV as the "Supremacy of the Son of God." It clearly gives the highest honor of Creator of the heavens and earth to the Son, not directly to the Father. For Paul says after the Father made Jesus -- the "first-born of creation," then this Father-God of Jesus used Jesus to create the heavens and the earth. This makes Jesus the direct creator of the heavens and the earth. We read in Colossians 1:15-17: 

15 The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.16 For in him all things were created: things in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or powers or rulers or authorities; all things have been created through him and for him.17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

Thus, this explains Acts 17:24 for otherwise Paul would have made an outrageous insult on Yahweh. For Paul had to know his remark that the true God who made the heavens and the earth does not live in Temples made by human hands must exclude Yahweh. Otherwise Paul is saying a false God dwelled in the Jerusalem temple. Paul could not have said this in Acts 17:24 and thought Yahweh was the Creator of the heavens and the earth. No fact was better known to all Jews than that Yahweh dwelled at the Temple of Jerusalem, or at least had done so at some point in time. Hence, Paul could not believe Yahweh was creator of the heavens and the earth, and Paul have ever uttered the words we read in Acts 17:24.

What explains Paul's conviction in Acts 17:24 is that Paul simultaneously believed, as stated in Colossians 1:15-17, that Jesus was the direct creator of everything other than himself -- the "first-born of creation," and that the credit for the creation-of-the-heavens did not directly belong to Yahweh. Hence, Paul believed the true creator-of-the heavens and earth - the implicit Son-God - made the heavens and the earth, and thus Acts 17:24 was supposedly true. Yahweh, a God who supposedly did not create the heavens and the earth, alone lived at the Jerusalem Temple.

 

The Importance of the 247 BC Mistranslation of Psalm 102

Paul is not ridiculous for saying there was a God who created Jesus, and then Jesus created everything else. Scholars know what I am going to reveal to you on this point.

 

Importantly, in the Septuagint Greek mistranslation in 247 BC of Psalm 102:23-34, this is expressly stated. There is a special creating "Lord" who after the Lord Yahweh created him becomes this ceating-Lord of the heavens and the earth. Paul is clearly alluding to this Septuagint mistranslation in Colossians 1:15-17 which Paul treats as true.

In fact, the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews -- who many think is Paul anyway -- relies expressly upon the Greek Septuagint mistranslation of Psalm 102:23-35 in uttering similar statements as Paul does. [See link]. The Epistle writer to the Hebrews, like Paul in Colossians does, says Jesus is the "first-born" (Heb. 1:6). The writer of Hebrews says God "made [Jesus] lower than the angels" (Heb. 2:9), signifying a second time that Jesus was a created being. The writer of Hebrews then says God "made" Jesus become "better than the angels" (Heb. 1:4) by God assigning to Jesus the creation of all things (Heb. 1:2 ("by whom he [God] also made the world."). As a result, Hebrews 1:8 says God-Yahweh addresses the Son as "God" by directly quoting the 247 BC mistranslated-Psalm 102:23-35 where Yahweh addresses as Lord -- arguably meaning "God" -- this sub-creator of the heavens and the world. (Heb. 1:8.)

The author of Hebrews does so to prove Jesus is a God in that sub-creator sense, directly relying upon a valid quote of Psalm 102:23-35 in its Greek mistranslated form of 247 BC. The Epistle to the Hebrews' author does so even though he acknowledges these are two distinct beings. First, this epistle-writer called Jesus the "first-born" of God's creation (Heb. 1:6) whom God "made" lower than the angels at the beginning. It ends with Hebrews saying God made Jesus exalted over the angels by giving Jesus this role as sub-creator of the "world." 

These identical words are present in Colossians 1:15-17 -- the only difference from Hebrews being that Hebrews directly quotes the Septuagint-247 BC mistranslated-Psalm 102:23-35 while Paul does not expressly do so in Colossians.

Not suprisingly, the author of Hebrews has a verse just as strong as Romans 7:1-7 that indicates the Yahweh-God who spoke to this sub-creator as "God" is himself now "dead." For the Epistle-writer in Hebrews says this God-Yahweh was the testator who created the New "Testament" as in the legal term "last will and testament." Then Hebrews says this testator supposedy "must by necessity remain dead" for the New Testament to "live." Otherwise, the New Testament "has no strength while the testator lives." (Hebrews 9:15-17.)

We thoroughly discuss this passage in Hebrews in our article on Romans 7:1-7 as corroborating our reading of Romans 7:1-7. Both passages have the identical effect on the fate of Yahweh --declared the true God (so Jesus says in John 17:3) as dead permanently so the New Testament would live.

Hence, we see in Paul's way of thinking, as well as in that of the author of Hebrews, this same dichotomy between a New and an Old God. Jesus is a begotten Lord / God after an original God named Yahweh had created him. The Newer God Jesus has "supremacy" as the NIV titled Colossians 1:15-17. Consequently, based upon Colossians and Hebrews we should not be surprised that Yahweh must take a back seat to the Newer God.

But what precisely is Yahweh's place or position in the so-called New Testament era any longer? Can we ignore Him as the prominent evangelical pastor said in April 2016 by implication (see prior link to article on Romans 7), saying that Yahweh "was the God of the Old Testament?" Can we belittle Yahweh as mean spirited, ungracious, and unaccepting of our foibles, in contrast to the supposedly better God shown to us by Paul, as the Christian Community.org directly says about the "Old Testament" God? See their article at this link.

If we believed Romans 7:1-7 and Hebrews 9:15-17 were inspired, we would find upon diligent study that the dualism of Colossians 1:15-17 and Hebrews 1:4-8 deliberately prepared us to understand in Romans and in Hebrews that the old God should fade into oblivion -- death -- as we embrace the "living God" -- Jesus -- as the new husband of God's people.

It should thus be no surprise that the Gnostics similarly taught the same dualism in the 200s. They expressly cited Romans 7:1-7 as proof that Yahweh reigned now in Sheol (the Grave) over the faithful first-covenant people of Israel. (This meant they understood Yahweh was reigning in the place of the dead, implying Yahweh was himself 'dead' in that sense.) The Gnostics at the same time taught Christians would live and reign on earth under the God-Christ in the new covenant. See our Study Notes at the end of the article on Romans 7.

Paul's view of an old and new God is also actually necessary to support Paul's doctrines on salvation. Without such a view, it is impossible to keep Paul's doctrines in tact, as we will touch on next. This may explain why Paul and the Epistle Writer to the Hebrews relied upon the Septuagint mistranslation of Psalm 102:23-35. It suited their doctrinal agenda not to go back and look at the original Hebrew of Psalm 102.

What is the proper translation of Psalm 102? Simple.The Hebrew clearly has Yahweh as the sole creator being addressed by a mere petitioner (King David), and not a sub-creator second God. For a complete discussion on that Greek 247 BC mistranslation, see our article at this link.

 

A God At Total Odds With God The Father Known By Jesus

What can further corroborate that we are correctly reading Paul in Romans 7 in our article -- that Paul believes there is one God today and one God of yesterday?

Such duality perfectly matches Paul's notion of a New Testament God totally unlike the God Yahweh of the Original Testament. In the Ten Commandments, the original God taught He "shows mercy to those who love me and obey my commandments." (Exodus 20:6 KJV.) His Son Jesus taught likewise that you can go to "hell whole" or "heaven maimed" by cutting off fleshly temptations to sin. Mark 9:42-48 ASV; Matt. 5:29-30 ASV; and Matt. 18:6-9 ASV. His Son Jesus said similarly again that those who call Him Lord but do not feed, clothe and aid the poor will be "going to the eternal fire prepared for the devil and his angels." (Matthew 25:41 KJV.)

But Paul offers a better God! A God who saves "by faith, not works" (Eph 2:8-9), as he -- Jesus -- supposedly "abolished [God's] commandments" (Eph 2:15). Paul is referring to the Jesus who after the Ascension supposedly visited Paul in "revelations" -- although Paul's epistles never once quote such 'revelations' to prove Jesus agrees with him. See link.

Moreover, while the God of the "Old Testament" says he "keeps his covenant of love with those who love him and obey his commandments" (Deut 7:9 NIV), and Jesus says similarly "if you keep my commands, you will remain in my love" (John 15:10 NIV),  Paul found a better God. This God loves you despite you disobeying him. For even if you deny the God Paul found, and you are "faithless," Paul says this God cannot "deny you." (2 Tim. 2:13 NIV.)  "Nothing" supposedly can ever "separate" you from "the love of Christ" (Romans 8:35) nor from the "love of God." (Romans 8:38-39.)

What about ungodliness? failure to do works worthy of repentance? and blasphemy? Can that separate you? No problem, says Paul. This new God allows you to deny you even know Him, and He will not deny you after you once had faith. (2 Tim. 2:13.) What a Great God!

What if you are ungodly and refuse to repent from sin, but believe alone? The old God said "I will not justify the wicked (ungodly)." (Exodus 23:7 KJV.) However, this new God found by Paul justifies "him who does no works" (such as repentance) and is "ungodly" (asebe, a Greek word for "wicked") as long as he has faith in such God (Romans 4:3-5). What a Great God!

What if you have blasphemed God? This was the one sin the God of the "Old Testament" said He will never forgive -- He will "never hold [you] guiltless." (Exodus 20:7.) His Son Jesus likewise taught a blasphemer of God "never has forgiveness." (Mark 3:29.) But Paul found a new God who now tells us "everyone who believes is justified from all things from which you could not be justified by the law of Moses."  Acts 13:39. The only such sin was blasphemy. You could never receive justification by atonement or other means. But not to worry -- Paul found a God who says your belief will wipe out your irreversible eternal damnation. Paul had to believe this because he wrote:

Even though I was once a blasphemer and a persecutor and a violent man, I was shown mercy because I acted in ignorance and unbelief.  (1 Tim 1:13 NIV.)

Paul had a very self-interested belief that this new God would love you despite continuing sin, denial of that God, and even blasphemy of this God. Clearly Paul had to have in mind a different God than the original God of the Original Testament, or Paul would have to accept that he was an irreversibly condemned man.

This is the compulsion driving Romans 7:1-7 -- a man desperate to consign Israel's Law to the grave with Israel's allegedly dead husband -- the original God of the Sinai Covenant. This alone allowed Paul to find a second creator-God in the Septuagint 247 BC mistranslated Psalm 102:23-35 - a God who told Paul he would forgive blasphemy, cowardly denials, and every sin -- even unrepentant sin -- as long as you "believe" in such God / His Son, His Son’ resurrection, or His Son’s atonement. (Romans 10:8-9; 1Cor. 15:1-5.) Not surprisingly, Paul in Romans 10:8-9 relied upon another Greek Septuagint mistranslation of 247 BC to formulate the faith alone doctrine. This time Paul used a mauled version of Isaiah 28:16. See link.