For me, Paul the mystic is the important ingredient in all of his writings. In many ways, Ephesians and Colossians are by far the most mystical. It is not my intent to discuss whether or not he was mysogonystic, and for that matter, all the other problems that Paul presents to many people these days. My approach to Jesus and the gospel is quite metaphysical in nature so the mystical aspects are what I focus on to a great degree. To make sure that I present a balanced view, equal to that in my view are the actual teachings of Jesus about loving and what that means and looks like, but that is not the topic of this. The focus here is on two of my favorite epistles that have been attributed to the Apostle Paul. I acknowledge that all the early church fathers without exception attributed both letters to Paul. It is only in recent times that theologians have questioned Paul's authorship, and from what I have discovered in exploring this, they have some convincing arguments. It is not conclusive, and the split is about half and half with scholars today. The point of this article is that based on the content of the two epistles, it does not really matter to me, because they both contain, mystical revelation about "The Word" that is spiritually, metaphysically sound, and very consistent with the rest of the mystical revelation of Paul. Further to the point, they were both so largely influenced by the mystical Paul that they were no doubt a product of his teaching and revelation knowledge even if not authored by him. To a lesser degree, the same can be said of the pastoral epistles but they are more problematic as well. This article focuses on Ephesians and Colossians.
By mystical and metaphysical I mean that they explain directly and by innuendo, the mystical ethereal nature of the source of the universe. They act as explanations of the more mystical and esoteric sayings in the gospel of John. They illuminate the ongoing creative work of the Logos/Word. An example of a writing that is definitely Pauline in theological nature but now almost universally not attributed to Paul directly is the letter to the Hebrews. As early as 255 AD the authorship of Hebrews was considered unknown, and while the Roman Catholic Church insisted it was written by Paul, that was dogmatic rather than based on linguistic reality. In my view authorship is not important as long as the majority of leaders and followers considered it to be important to the overall narrative of what they believed.
So the point of this is that mystical understanding and revelation about the nature of spiritual reality was the one of the most important aspects of the message of Jesus and his followers. Paul states that Jesus did not think it robbery to be equal with God in Philippians and in Colossians he states the significance of the Word, and Jesus being the Word Incarnate. Col 1:15-17 "Who is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of every creature: (16) For by him were all things created, that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities, or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: (17) And he is before all things, and by him all things consist." Jesus is the Word as reported by John in his gospel, and is the divine creative seed as reported by the Stoic Heraclitus in 500 BC, and is the "Tao" as reported by Lao Tzu in roughly the same time frame as Heraclitus.
There is a lot of metaphysical significance in the above passage because it is even more plausible given the recent advancements in quantum mechanics. It also expresses the idea that Jesus, a prototype human, is the image of the invisible God. The invisible God being the creative source at the basic quantum level. In other words, the invisible God used the body of Jesus to communicate to us. While I also believe that the invisible God communicated to us through many individuals across history, among them being Heraclitus, Lao Tzu, Gautama etc., I believe that the incarnation of the Logos was unique. I believe that Jesus came to universally unite humanity with the understanding that God is a loving Father, to set aside the concern over our being acceptable to our papa. I think that this message was co-opted and hijacked by orthodoxy and instead of uniting became more divisive than the rest. Further it added fuel to the opposition making the division more entrenched. Instead of embracing the seers of other cultures and times, the choice was made by orthodoxy to exclude them.
In my view, Christianity's biggest contribution should be the teachings of Jesus respecting loving and what that means, and the metaphysical spiritual foundation of corporeal, material universe and that the source of all that exists is love at its most basic quantum level. In addition Paul's message should be stressed and the world should know that God was in Christ reconciling the entire cosmos to himself, that he has indeed poured out his spirit on all flesh, and that he is not counting sin against anyone, ever. The main scripture for substantiating that claim is found in Paul's writings and it is found in the first chapter of Ephesians. Paul the mystic plays a critical role in this. Ephesians 1:4 says this: "For he chose us in him before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight in love." John then tells us that God IS love and Paul gives us God's character and characteristics. 1Co 13:4-8 "Love is patient, love is kind. It does not envy, it does not boast, it is not proud. (5) It does not dishonor others, it is not self-seeking, it is not easily angered, it keeps no record of wrongs. (6) Love does not delight in evil but rejoices with the truth. (7) It always protects, always trusts, always hopes, always perseveres. (8) Love never fails."
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