02-03-2004, 04:24 AM
drmlanc Wrote:Yes by ethnicity/culture etc he was a Pharisee, that I do not argue with. Even Jesus was most likely a Pharisaic Judean as He was no Sadducee, Essene or violent Zealot! But that is ethinicity. Paul religionwise was a Christian. And Jesus of course hevaily criticised the Pharisaic religion, from which comes modern Rabbinnical Judaism.
I suppose that depends on your definition of "Christian." I really can't find any evidence that either the Messiah or Paul set out to start a new religion. Paul speaks of "the Way" which the Pharisees call a sect, but I actually don't find Paul ever calling himself "Christian" in Scripture. The closest you get is Agrippa speaking to him and using the term in Acts 26: 28. Not that I don't think that Paul wasn't a believer in Messiah, mind you, but this is simply a matter of Biblical terminology. Today, I think that the definition that Christians would attach to "Christian" is far different than Paul's Torah-observant lifestyle. However, that is perhaps getting too much into theology.