Yep, the mystery religions, cults, all say they've received a secret teaching to one or a select few. This fits Paul like a glove.
Contrary to the revelation to hundreds of thousands to millions of people at Sinai where Moses was without question shown to be the true prophet, YHWH the one and only true God, the divine will revealed in the ten sayings, and the true teaching that God has no physical form.
At we least we seem to agree that the ideas of the Essenes and Paul’s epistles are associated. It certainly supports the idea that the former is the original form of the latter both using the same pesher approach or allegorizing to scripture.
If one were to set aside the Gospel stories then Paul’s epistles of a celestial Messiah whom he names “Yeshua“ indwelling ”sons of light” is essentially the Essene teaching of a “prince of truth” inhabiting “sons of light”, but minus the outward practices of ritual purity: circumcision, food requirements, sabbath observance, that seemed important to the essenes.
With regards to outward ritual purity I scanned the Dead Sea Scrolls for any comment as to its efficacy for salvation and found none. Arguably, ritual purity is a symbolic practice representing soul processes or celestial events based on the Dead Sea Scrolls. If so, then Paul apparently dispensed with the requirements of ritual purity when translating the Essene “glad tidings” for the Gentiles.
Therefore, Gospels aside, the only apparent difference in theology between the Essenes and Paul’s epistles is Paul‘s naming the Prince of Truth, “Yeshua”. But even that can be associated to the Essenes who held the book of Jubilees as authoritative. In that book time ends with Yeshua or Joshua leading his chosen ones into the “promised land” followed by eternal peace.
With those differences arguably reconciled (ritual purity and the name of the Spirit being Yeshua) then Paul and Essene theology were essentially identical. IOW, I read the Dead Sea Scrolls and I hear an echo in Paul’s epistles.
What about the Gospel stories set aside in the earlier part of this post? How do they fit in?
The author of GoMark collapses actual events surrounding the TOR and Paul and writes a fantastic story of “two anointed ones”, namely, “John the Baptizer” and “Yeshau”, revealing mysteries from heaven, abrogating the ritual purity requirements of the Mosaic Law, harassed by Pharisees, and eventually martyred. Fantastic stories of miracles and bodily resurrection are added to lend authority to these prophets.
My point is this.
The Gospel stories do for modern Christianity what the Exodus stories do for modern Judaism, that is, inspire devotion to a mythical figure, respectively. Jesus raising the dead is no different (in mythical terms) than Moses parting the red sea or turning his staff into a serpent.
And the Paul’s epistles did for gnostic Christianity what the Dead Sea scrolls did for the Jewish Essenes, that is, inspire devotion to the celestial Messiah indwelling pious, virtuous souls and bringing order to the cosmos.
Therefore, modern Judaism and Christianity are alike in that both are zealous for their mythical leader and they both reject the pesher approach to scripture favoring the literal meaning instead. They both see fulfillment of prophecy here on earth as their reward.
Whereas, gnostic Christianity and the Essenes are alike in that they are zealous for the inner spirit or anointed Joshua who leads them to an intelligible, ”new heaven and earth”, aka, “the promised land”; and they reject the “letter of the [Mosaic] Law” favoring its allegorical/symbolical meaning. They both see fulfillment (consummation) of prophecy in a “new heaven and earth” perceived by or revealed by the spirit to their respective leader.
So you, American Gothic, and myself are merely three perspectives of the same information. Each of us thinks he/she holds the truth.