Ephesians 5:1 follows 4:32 beautifully: "Be (ginesthe) kind and compassionate to each other, forgiving one another, just as (kathós) in Christ God forgave you. Be (ginesthe) imitators of God, therefore, as dearly-loved children and live a life of love" (4:31-5:2). The same verb occurs, the theme of "imitation" is anticipated by the kathós which sets up a "correspondence" between God's forgiveness and the forgiveness Christians have of each other, the same model for the Christians' actions is named as "God", and "living a life of love" corresponds to being "kind and compassionate". The only element that does not link back to v. 32 (being likened to "beloved children") indeed has antecedents in 2:13 and 4:14 (and looks ahead to 5:8, 6:1, 4), but this is the theme of being children (of the "one God and Father of all" of 4:6). Moreover, the same idea of imitating God appears in 4:23 which refers to Christians as "created to be like God (ktisthenta ... kata theon)".
You've seen me you've seen the Christ
by peacefulpete 12 Replies latest watchtower bible
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peacefulpete
ok you win, but I'll secretly harbor conspiracies anyway. so there
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peacefulpete
I posted a thread a while back on Silvaus and posted a snip from The' 'Teachings of Silvanus'. (dated by trdaitional Xtian scholars to 150 CE about the same time as 2 Peter but by Radical Critics earlier) that reports that at least some Paulinists viewed Paul as a Christ figure.:
"But the man who does nothing is unworthy of (being called) rational man. The rational man is he who fears God. He who fears God does nothing insolent. And he who guards himself against doing anything insolent is one who keeps his guiding principle. Although he is a man who exists on earth, he makes himself like God. But he who makes himself like God is one who does nothing unworthy of God, according to the statement of Paul, who has become like Christ."