Episode Transcript
[00:00:01] Was Jesus Crucifixion One Big Mistake? By Bart Ehrman in my previous post I indicated that, looked at in one way, the crucifixion of Jesus was one big mistake. The ruling authorities knew that he considered himself the future ruler of Israel, the Messiah, and so they condemned him for insurrection. But Jesus wasn't in favor of insurrection. He was predicting something much bigger, a cosmic intervention by God. He personally posed no threat to Roman rule.
[00:00:33] Once I wrote that, it occurred to me in a rather tangential and possibly irrelevant way that there were actually early Christians who taught that Jesus crucifixion was one big mistake, but in a different unconnected way, or rather different ways.
[00:00:47] So in this post I move us onto a tangent before returning to my thread in the post that follows.
[00:00:53] Here are two of the most intriguing attempts to explain that the rulers made a big mistake when they crucified Jesus or when they thought they did Basilides is one of the early Gnostic figures mentioned by the late 2nd century heresy hunter Irenaeus. Regrettably, we do not have any writings from Basilides or any of his followers, and so all we know about these people and their writings is what authors like Irenaeus tell us.
[00:01:20] That is somewhat like asking AOC for a balanced assessment of JD Vance, or vice versa. You have to take the description with a balanced pound of salt.
[00:01:30] We don't know if Basilides produced a gospel, but Irenaeus does tell us of an episode from the life of Jesus attributed to some such book, and it's not clear if he produced the account or heard it and passed it along. And it has to do with Jesus's crucifixion.
[00:01:46] To understand the episode, it's important to realize or remember at least that many Gnostics did not believe that Christ as a divine being could actually suffer for them. If he seemed to suffer and he was crucified after all, then it was actually just an appearance.
[00:02:03] Different Gnostics had different ways of explaining how that worked, but the one attributed to Basilides is particularly stunning.
[00:02:10] According to this account, claims Irenaeus, Jesus crucifixion involved a remarkable miracle, or rather a divine identity switch.
[00:02:20] In the Gospels, except John, the Roman soldiers impel a bystander, Simon of Cyrene, to carry Jesus cross for him to the place of crucifixion.
[00:02:29] According to Basilides, when they arrived at the spot, Jesus miraculously transformed Simon of Cyrene to look like him and transformed himself into the appearance of Simon of Cyrene. And so when they arrived at the place of crucifixion, the Romans crucified the wrong man and Jesus stood beside the cross laughing at his little stunt. And presumably Simon didn't think it was quite so funny.
[00:02:58] But a more common way for Gnostics to claim that Jesus did not really suffer and die is a bit more complicated.
[00:03:04] It involved the common Gnostic view that Jesus and Christ were two separate beings. In that view, there was a real man, Jesus, born as a human being, but unusually devout, into whom at some point, possibly his baptism, a divine spirit being Christ, entered to empower him to do his miracles and deliver his amazing teachings that could bring salvation.
[00:03:26] But the Christ left Jesus at the point of or just before his crucifixion, so that it was the man Jesus who was executed. The Christ had left him and so did not suffer or die.
[00:03:40] We find this view in one of the most intriguing Gnostic gospels, an apocalypse of Peter that was discovered in 1945 at Nag Hammadi in Egypt. Now, this is not to be confused with the proto orthodox Apocalypse of Peter, in which Peter is given a guided tour of heaven and hell.
[00:03:56] This apocalypse of Peter begins with the teachings of the Saviour, who informs Peter that there are many false teachers who are blind and deaf, who blaspheme the truth and teach what is evil. Peter, on the other hand, will be given secret knowledge.
[00:04:10] That's paragraph 73. Jesus goes on to tell Peter that his opponents are without perception.
[00:04:17] Why?
[00:04:18] Because they hold fast to the name of a dead man. In other words, they think that it is Jesus death that matters for salvation. And that, of course, had been the proto orthodox view from the beginning. But for this author, those who maintain such a thing blaspheme the truth and proclaim evil, teaching that the apocalypse of Peter, paragraph 74.
[00:04:41] Indeed, those who confess a dead man cling to death, not to immortal life.
[00:04:46] These souls are dead and were created for death.
[00:04:49] They are not wrong simply because Christ's death is not what brings salvation his divine secret teachings do, but because in fact, Christ could not be touched by pain, suffering and death, but was well beyond them all.
[00:05:01] What was crucified was not the divine Christ, but simply his physical shell.
[00:05:07] In a particularly captivating scene in the account, Peter is said to witness crucifixion and admits to being confused by what he when he had said these things, I saw him apparently being seized by them, and I said, what am I seeing? O Lord, is it you yourself whom they take? Who is this one above the cross who is glad and laughing? And is it another person whose feet and hands they are hammering.
[00:05:32] Jesus then gives the stunning reply which shows the true meaning of the crucifixion.
[00:05:38] The Savior said to me, he whom you see above the cross, glad and laughing, is the living Jesus. But he, into whose hands and feet they are driving the nails, is his physical part, which is the substitute. They are putting to shame that which is in his likeness. But look at him and me.
[00:05:55] That's the Apocalypse of Peter, paragraph 81.
[00:06:00] Not Christ Himself, but only his physical likeness is put to death.
[00:06:04] The living Christ transcends death, literally transcends the cross. For there he is above it, laughing at those who think they can hurt him, at those who think the divine Spirit within him can suffer and die.
[00:06:16] But the spirit of Christ is beyond pain and death, as are the spirits of those who understand who he really is, who know the truth of who they really are, spirits embodied in a physical likeness, but who cannot suffer or die.
[00:06:29] The vision then continues.
[00:06:32] And I saw someone about to approach us who looked like him, even him who was laughing above the cross. And he was filled with a pure spirit. And he was a Savior. And he said to me, be strong, for you are the one to whom these mysteries are being given. To know throughout revelation that he whom they crucified is the firstborn and the home of demons. And the clay vessel in which they dwell, belonging to Elohim, that's the gods of this world. And belonging to the cross is that under the law.
[00:07:01] But he who stands near him is the living Savior, the primal part in him whom they seized and he has been released. He stands joyfully looking at those who persecuted him. Therefore he laughs at their lack of perception. Indeed, therefore the suffering one must remain, since the body is the substitute. But that which was released was my incorporeal body.
[00:07:23] That's the Apocalypse of Peter, paragraph 82.
[00:07:27] Gnostics clearly didn't mind having Jesus laugh. And as you may know, he never laughs in the New Testament.
[00:07:33] In this case, it's not because of identity switch, but because of human ignorance.
[00:07:38] Christ's enemies think that that can hurt him. They're wrong. Christ's body is just a shell belonging to the Creator of the world. And that's Elohim, the Hebrew word for God. In the Old Testament, the true self is within, and it cannot be touched by physical pain.
[00:07:53] Those without this true knowledge think that they can kill Jesus, but the living Jesus rises above it all and laughs them to scorn.
[00:08:01] And who is really the object of his derision? The Proto Orthodox, who think that the death of Jesus is the key to salvation.
[00:08:09] For this author, this is a laughable view. Salvation does not come in the body, it comes by escaping the body.
[00:08:17] It is not the dead Jesus who saves, but the living Jesus.
[00:08:21] So called believers who don't understand are not the beneficiaries of Jesus's death. They are mocked by it. Wow.
