A few incidental issue: (1) If 3:20-21 is indeed the conclusion of the hymn, its use of the word ‘Saviour’ may support an earlier dating of the Gospel of the Saviour of which we only have a fragment. Pap. Oxy 840. The realism of this account is supported by the relatively recent discovery of the double-pooled, lido-sized Pool of Siloam.
(2) The note 41 on DH 533 and the structural point made almost certainly has a bearing on the ANO beneath the ROTAS-SATOR Word Square found on a column and dateable to a time between 62 & 79 CE. This Square has been linked to the Latin phrase Pater Noster with A & O forming a X as in Christos. The central letter N might refer to snake. The Latin Words have been a focus of attention as has the suggestion represents the Chariot Throne with Wheels within wheels. If however the five by five Square is considered as a Magic Number Square opposite numbers equal 26 and the central square would also yield 26 if doubled. This may link to the the letters of the Tetragramaton which you relate to 1 Corinthians 8:6 and the re-working of the Shema in Jesus Monotheism Vol 1. Some form of the Shema would have been worn in the tefillin by Jewish Christians at the hours of prayer in the Temple when the Lord’s Prayer would have been used. Jews may have introduced the letter Shin as a distinguishing feature from Jewish Christiand before the Fall of the Temple. There was a Christian community in nearby Puteoli at this time and they provided hospitality to Paul. They may well have been exiles from Rome under Claudius.
(3) J. M. Ford proposed Revelation was substantially the work of some of John the Baptist’s disciples. Apollos was learned and knew the Scriptures according to Acts. Certainly he would have been capable of writing a para-Pauline hymn with the reference to contemporary worship and knew the Baptism of John but not of Jesus. This is compatible with the worship in Revelation 5 that you relate to the Hymn.
(4) Joseph dreams of stars bowing before his star and this dream materializes as the Genesis plot unfolds though his brothers are deaf and blind to his divine identity, having enslaved him. Except for the post-Freudian charge of being a self- centered prig, he is the last man of Genesis and sinless in contrast to Adam, the first man of the text. Philippians calls on its readers to shine like stars. Joseph was the victim of false enslavement and escaped rape at the hands of his mistress, yet submitted to the will of Jacob’s God. This was part of a divine plan in which he was the Saviour of his people, and his two gentile sons and their mother. In Joseph and Asenath he assumes angelic form. the patriarchs and angels were created beings but was there an un-created Angel who submitted to human form, and even to death on a cross?
Thank you William for this thoughts. I’m especially grateful for no. 2. I agree re Apollos as possible author of the hymn and will discuss this in the second volume of my Jesus Monotheism series.
On point two, you probably realize I omitted to mention that two of these squares were found in Pompeii. We now know from recovered documentation that significant financial transactions took place between Pompeii and Puteoli and that these indicate Greek and Latin letters or their respective alphabets were often used interchangeably.
I once put it to Chris Rowland that Malachi 1:6 & 3:16-18 may have led to the practice of meditating on the Divine Name as a ‘power name’ that opened the door to power -healings or worshipful ascents in the Jewish mystical traditions and be linked to a Baptist Prayer. He could see no basis in the Hebrew for my speculative hypothesis but I failed to ask him why. Certainly Acts relates healings ‘in the name’ of Jesus or possibly the Name confirmed on Jesus.
Meantime, thank you for the hard and thorough work underpinning the Divine Heartset.
In relation to LORD and LORD-Iesous-Christos Psalm 136 may be relevant. A connection is not obvious at first but the refrain relates to the eternal nature of divine love which might have been considered the kind of agape enduring beyond the cross. The Psalm begins with the days of creation and timeless love exists before the created order. The refrain may be liturgical and is repeated twenty-six times, the numerical value of the Name YHWH which although not spoken except on the Day of Atonement might be performed by priests if the ascent to the Holy of Holies was by means of 26 steps. A creation Psalm may have been extended and adapted for liturgical purposes through the inclusion of Exodus material. An indication of this may be a reversion to the days of creation and food for all creatures. The theme of 26 refrains may point to an early theology identifying the Temple and mercy seat with the cross. The victim sat of a tiny perch to take some weight of the nailed and outstretched hands or arms. The threefold name embraces the Name above all names, a power Name that could heal: In the unspoken name Name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk (Acts 3:6). This is not to say that either the Carmen Christi or the Ode to love in 1 Corinthians 13 are authored by Paul but is suggestive of a hymnic culture and liturgy as an alternative to the Temple liturgy well before its destruction. You do not argue for a place of authorship for Philippians but their are indicators to suggest Paul may have a trial before Nero in mind. Having survived a shipwreck he is ready for anything and the loss of a grain ship without the loss of prisoners or crew would have been a remarkable omen in the ears of the Palace in Rome.
A few incidental issue: (1) If 3:20-21 is indeed the conclusion of the hymn, its use of the word ‘Saviour’ may support an earlier dating of the Gospel of the Saviour of which we only have a fragment. Pap. Oxy 840. The realism of this account is supported by the relatively recent discovery of the double-pooled, lido-sized Pool of Siloam.
(2) The note 41 on DH 533 and the structural point made almost certainly has a bearing on the ANO beneath the ROTAS-SATOR Word Square found on a column and dateable to a time between 62 & 79 CE. This Square has been linked to the Latin phrase Pater Noster with A & O forming a X as in Christos. The central letter N might refer to snake. The Latin Words have been a focus of attention as has the suggestion represents the Chariot Throne with Wheels within wheels. If however the five by five Square is considered as a Magic Number Square opposite numbers equal 26 and the central square would also yield 26 if doubled. This may link to the the letters of the Tetragramaton which you relate to 1 Corinthians 8:6 and the re-working of the Shema in Jesus Monotheism Vol 1. Some form of the Shema would have been worn in the tefillin by Jewish Christians at the hours of prayer in the Temple when the Lord’s Prayer would have been used. Jews may have introduced the letter Shin as a distinguishing feature from Jewish Christiand before the Fall of the Temple. There was a Christian community in nearby Puteoli at this time and they provided hospitality to Paul. They may well have been exiles from Rome under Claudius.
(3) J. M. Ford proposed Revelation was substantially the work of some of John the Baptist’s disciples. Apollos was learned and knew the Scriptures according to Acts. Certainly he would have been capable of writing a para-Pauline hymn with the reference to contemporary worship and knew the Baptism of John but not of Jesus. This is compatible with the worship in Revelation 5 that you relate to the Hymn.
(4) Joseph dreams of stars bowing before his star and this dream materializes as the Genesis plot unfolds though his brothers are deaf and blind to his divine identity, having enslaved him. Except for the post-Freudian charge of being a self- centered prig, he is the last man of Genesis and sinless in contrast to Adam, the first man of the text. Philippians calls on its readers to shine like stars. Joseph was the victim of false enslavement and escaped rape at the hands of his mistress, yet submitted to the will of Jacob’s God. This was part of a divine plan in which he was the Saviour of his people, and his two gentile sons and their mother. In Joseph and Asenath he assumes angelic form. the patriarchs and angels were created beings but was there an un-created Angel who submitted to human form, and even to death on a cross?
Thank you William for this thoughts. I’m especially grateful for no. 2. I agree re Apollos as possible author of the hymn and will discuss this in the second volume of my Jesus Monotheism series.
On point two, you probably realize I omitted to mention that two of these squares were found in Pompeii. We now know from recovered documentation that significant financial transactions took place between Pompeii and Puteoli and that these indicate Greek and Latin letters or their respective alphabets were often used interchangeably.
I once put it to Chris Rowland that Malachi 1:6 & 3:16-18 may have led to the practice of meditating on the Divine Name as a ‘power name’ that opened the door to power -healings or worshipful ascents in the Jewish mystical traditions and be linked to a Baptist Prayer. He could see no basis in the Hebrew for my speculative hypothesis but I failed to ask him why. Certainly Acts relates healings ‘in the name’ of Jesus or possibly the Name confirmed on Jesus.
Meantime, thank you for the hard and thorough work underpinning the Divine Heartset.
In relation to LORD and LORD-Iesous-Christos Psalm 136 may be relevant. A connection is not obvious at first but the refrain relates to the eternal nature of divine love which might have been considered the kind of agape enduring beyond the cross. The Psalm begins with the days of creation and timeless love exists before the created order. The refrain may be liturgical and is repeated twenty-six times, the numerical value of the Name YHWH which although not spoken except on the Day of Atonement might be performed by priests if the ascent to the Holy of Holies was by means of 26 steps. A creation Psalm may have been extended and adapted for liturgical purposes through the inclusion of Exodus material. An indication of this may be a reversion to the days of creation and food for all creatures. The theme of 26 refrains may point to an early theology identifying the Temple and mercy seat with the cross. The victim sat of a tiny perch to take some weight of the nailed and outstretched hands or arms. The threefold name embraces the Name above all names, a power Name that could heal: In the unspoken name Name of Jesus Christ, stand up and walk (Acts 3:6). This is not to say that either the Carmen Christi or the Ode to love in 1 Corinthians 13 are authored by Paul but is suggestive of a hymnic culture and liturgy as an alternative to the Temple liturgy well before its destruction. You do not argue for a place of authorship for Philippians but their are indicators to suggest Paul may have a trial before Nero in mind. Having survived a shipwreck he is ready for anything and the loss of a grain ship without the loss of prisoners or crew would have been a remarkable omen in the ears of the Palace in Rome.