The appointed lessons for Sunday, August 21, 2011 were Isaiah 51:1-6, Romans 12:1-8, and Matthew 16:13-20.

Matthew 16:13-14:  13 Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, ‘Who do people say that the Son of Man is?’ 14And they said, ‘Some say John the Baptist, but others Elijah, and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.’

Verse 14 can only reflect a belief in gilgul.

Years ago, the phrase "son of man" was the topic of one of my first exchanges with Sophiee and Gideon.  Now, someone loves to quote Psalm 146:3 as a warning against Jesus.  However, (1) TaNaKh has no reason to anticipate Jesus; (2) especially so if one insists that Jesus never lived.  (3) "Son of man," both by use and by etymology, proves to be a title of humility, a reference to the common man, in effect "Joe Lunchbox."  The verse in Psalms warns against reliance upon any human being, whether of high estate (princes) or low (son of man).  If the epithet referred specifically to Jesus, why do God and angels use it to address Ezekiel?  (Ezekiel 2:1, 2:3, 2:6, 2:8, 3:1, 3:3, 3:4, 3:10, 3:17, 3:25, 4:1, 4:16, 5:1; 6:2; 7:2; 8:5, 8:6, 8:8, 8:12, 8:15, 8:17; 12:2, 12:3, 12:9, 12:18, 12:22, 12:27, 13:2, 13:17, 14:3, 14:13, 15:2, 16:2, 17:2, 20:3, 20:4, 20:27, 20:46, 21:2, 21:6, 21:9, 21:12, 21:14, 21:19, 21:28, 22:2, 22:18, 22:24, 23:2, 23:36, 24:2, 24:16, 24:25, 25:2, 26:2, 27:2, 28:2, 28:12, 28:21, etc.)

Romans 12:4-5:  For as in one body we have many members, and not all the members have the same function, so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually we are members one of another.

It has lately been proposed on this forum that Marcion fabricated Paul's letters, or that they otherwise do not come from this author and this time.  The concerns, vocabulary, concepts and syntax of Romans 12 reappear at 1 Corinthians 12 and Ephesians 4, suggesting unity of authorship.  There is nothing Marcion-like in this passage, nor anything that otherwise points away from the first century.

It has also lately been proposed that Christianity began not with Jesus, but as a pre-common era cult of "chrest," which was wholly pagan but became Judaized, over what is supposed to have been a long time.  On the contrary, with or without Jesus, this Judaization must have been complete prior to Marcion; for it was his rejection of TaNaKh, the Bible of the movement at the time, that first sparked outrage.  In spite of all the mistranslations and misapplications, in its own eyes Christianity cannot stand without TaNaKh; and this was already true by Marcion's time.

Isaiah 51:4-6, from the New American Bible:

4 ... Law shall go forth from my presence,
and my judgment, as the light of the peoples;
5 I will make my justice come speedily;
my salvation shall go forth;
In me shall the coastlands hope,
and my arm they shall await.
6 ... My salvation shall remain forever,
and my justice shall never be dismayed.

It's welcome news to us gentiles that God intends to save us, along with the whole world.  But what does that mean?  From, to or for what will God rescue us? 

P.

“What I admire is honesty and truth, no matter who, or what, the sources are.”
— Uri Yosef