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Good points from John which I think conclusively answer beliefs some (not myself) Christians may have that moral ideas and equality were absent pre 30-33AD.I've appreciate both standpoints in this Blog! I think the source of Jesus' & Paul's beliefs has to be founded in OT theology due to their context which was most certainly Jewish?

(James Thompson, on "Atheism and the Good Life")

‘Signs’ of the kingdom come
The first passage appears in the context of a dispute over the source of Jesus’ power to drive out demons. Some in the crowd attributed this ability to a chief demonic entity known as Beelzebul (the etymology of which is completely obscure). Jesus offers another interpretation:

  Jesus was driving out a demon that was mute. When the demon left, the man who had been mute spoke, and the crowd was amazed. But some of them said, “By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.” Others tested him by asking for a sign from heaven. Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them: “Any kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and a house divided against itself will fall. If Satan is divided against himself, how can his kingdom stand? I say this because you claim that I drive out demons by Beelzebul. Now if I drive out demons by Beelzebul, by whom do your followers drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you” (Luke 11:14-20 / Matthew 12:22-28).
 

The whole issue of demon possession and exorcism is problematic for many of us today. As Professor John Meier of the University of Notre Dame notes, ‘The cultural chasm between the 1st and 20th centuries [he was writing in 1994] yawns especially wide when we touch on the question of exorcism.’5  The idea that there are ‘evil spirits’ in the world, let alone that they can influence men and women, seems to many to be the stuff of modern Hollywood movies and ancient superstitious societies.

Ancient cultures lacked any notion of physiological illness, I have often heard it said, and so attributed to unseen forces what we now know were medical conditions: epileptic seizures, mental illness and so on. There is a truth here, but it is not the whole truth. The fact is, ancient folk did know of ‘seizures’ and ‘mental illness’ as physical conditions; the New Testament itself contains references to both without any suggestion of demonic influence.6  What is true is that the single category we use today, ‘medical conditions’, was divided into two in ancient times. Sometimes human ailments were caused by bodily factors and required a physician; other times they were the result of lesser powers in God’s creation known as demons, and these required the work of an exorcist.

Many scholars today, of course, have strong suspicions about the psychosomatic nature of ancient demon possession and exorcism (Prof. John Meier for one) but no one really doubts that Jesus’ contemporaries believed that he could spectacularly deliver people from such traumatic conditions. As Meier himself says: 		 
  The idea that there are ‘evil spirits’ in the world … seems to many to be the stuff of modern Hollywood movies  

  Hence, however disconcerting it may be to modern sensibilities, it is fairly certain that Jesus was, among other things, a 1st-century Jewish exorcist and probably won not a little of his fame and following by practicing exorcisms.7
 

The passage from Q quoted above suggests that Jesus also won some infamy through this activity: ‘By Beelzebul, the prince of demons, he is driving out demons.’ That Jesus was accused by some—no doubt the leadership—of being in league with the devil may be regarded as certain. Not only is a very similar accusation found independently in the Gospels of Mark and John,8  it makes no sense at all that Christians would invent such a charge, potentially sowing seeds of doubt in the minds of readers. A later Jewish text continues this negative interpretation of Jesus’ powers. Tractate Sanhedrin of the Talmud justifies his execution on the grounds that ‘he practised sorcery and led Israel astray.’9  ‘Sorcery’ in Jewish law was punishable by death because, unlike mere trickery, it was thought to involve dark power.

But more important than the historicity of the charge is Jesus’ striking defence. He begins by pointing out the simple logic that if he is in league with Satan—and yet is constantly casting out demons—Satan’s kingdom is sure to fall soon enough. Problem solved. He then asks ‘by whom do your followers drive them out?’ These words indicate that, although the extent and effectiveness of Jesus’ ministry of exorcism were probably unparalleled, he was not the only one in Palestine at the time known for the practice.10

Most significantly, our Q passage provides a window into Jesus’ own interpretation of his baffling deeds: ‘if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.’ Believe it or not, this one line is the subject of considerable scholarly discussion, for it reveals the significance Jesus placed on his paradoxa erga or astonishing deeds.11  Far from being displays of dark energy, Jesus’ deeds were evidence that God’s long-awaited rule over the world was beginning to dawn. Just as the ‘kingdom of God’ was the central theme of his preaching, so it provided the lens through which he understood the power that he, and those around him, believed to be flowing through him. 		 
  Jesus’ baffling deeds were not intended to be a sign of some ‘spiritual dimension’ existing in parallel to the natural one  

It is easy to see why this interpretation came to mind. According to Jewish tradition, one day God would establish his kingdom in the world, overthrowing evil and restoring human life to its intended state. Creation itself, including its social structures, would be renewed. Exorcism and healing were vivid pictures of these realities. Historical infelicities aside, Bishop Spong was right on mark when he described Jesus’ baffling deeds as ‘signs of the in-breaking kingdom of God.’12  Professor James Dunn (Durham University) explains further:

  Jesus was remembered not simply as a great exorcist, but also as claiming that his exorcisms demonstrated the fulfilment of hopes long cherished for a final release from the power of evil. If the manifestation of God’s final reign was to be marked by the binding of Satan, then Jesus’ exorcisms showed, to that extent at least, that the binding of Satan had already happened or was already happening, the final exercise of God’s rule was already in effect.13
 

Notice the temporal, as opposed to spatial, language in Dunn’s description ('the final exercise of God’s rule was already in effect'). The point is important. Jesus’ baffling deeds were not intended to be a sign of some ‘spiritual dimension’ existing in parallel to the natural one; there is no dualism here. Jesus was signalling that the future kingdom was somehow present right now. The era Jews longed for, when God will put an end suffering and renew creation to its full glory, could be glimpsed, previewed, in events taking place in Galilee between AD 28-30. Such was Jesus’ description of his activity.

A second passage points in the same direction.

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