Re: Jesus was a spirit

In a message dated 10/19/2005 2:07:14 PM Eastern Standard Time,
steven@bowness.demon.co.uk writes:
Dr. David Campbell
In Jn. 20:22, Jesus gives the Spirit (pneuma) to the disciples, a bit
difficult if He had none to share.

CARR
Huh?

So presumably when tongues of fire 'appeared' (same word as when jesus
appeared) from Heaven , there was real fire from Heaven that could be spared.
Strange how all these 'appeareds' in the NT almost always refer to non-physical
visions. I doubt if the disciples heads were really on fire.

Jesus breathed on them. When I claimed that the Gospels said jesus was flesh
and blood, I hardly meant that his breath was flesh and blood.

It was the Holy Spirit 'hagios pneuma' that Jesus breathed on them. The
adjective is rather important. It makes it hard to understand if you accidentally
leave important stuff out.

Was Jesus really made of the Holy Spirit, according to the NT? I would say
no, he did not breathe the Holy Ghost on them because he had some Holy Ghost
inside him. Your opinion might vary from mine though.
Fire is a religious concept in the oldest religious texts we have because
fire transported the sacrifices to God. A priest who was wholly devoted to his
god in the Vedic hymns had robes of fire.

The Persians who influenced Judaism (Cyrus is the the only anointed foreign
king in the Hebrew Bible) had fire temples.

Moses sees God in a burning bush, a bush the symbol of God's people who are
devoted wholly to their God and a symbol of their god who is devoted wholly to
them embracing them in his flames.

The Canaanites believed that a child who was hurled into the fiery lap of
Molech and survived was a god, much as the bush is not consumed by the flames.

Hence, when the apostles are gifted with tongues of fire, it is a variation
of this theme that is very ancient, that fire is a route to God and designates
what belongs to God in this case, the apostles are now wholly devoted to God
and God is wholly devoted to them. They have joined Jesus in the self sacrifice.

rich faussette
Received on Wed Oct 19 18:05:13 2005