paul and the gentile mission chapter 14 - part 2

Paul and the Gentile Mission

Chapter 14 - Part 2

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The Apostle Paul – Rembrandt (1606-1669).

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Paul:

- Dominates the second half of the Acts of the Apostles;

- A former Pharisee (see Box 14.4, p. 466 in Textbook: “A Tentative Sequence of Events in Paul’s Life”);

- The one who brings Christianity to the Gentiles (see Figs. 14. 2, 3, 6, 8 in Textbook): Maps of Paul’s Missionary Journeys and Churches);

- His letters form the third division of the New Testament;

- They are Christianity’s first written attempt to interpret the meaning of Jesus’ sacrificial death and its significance for human salvation;

7Paul’s Journey to Rome.

8Paul’s Gentile Churches.

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Paul (contd.):

- For Paul, Jesus’ crucifixion brought about a radically different relationship between God and all humanity, that is, Gentiles and Jews;

- For Paul, faith in Christ superseded Torah obedience as the means of reconciliation to God;

- This was the central idea that transformed Christianity from a Jewish sect into a new world religion;

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Paul (contd.):

- In his Letters to the Romans and Galatians, Paul outlines a theology of redemption through faith … ;

- Paul’s position in Christianity is unique;

- He is the only person who is both a major character in a NT book and the author of NT books himself;

- Some attribute 13 NT letters to Paul (see Box 14.6, p. 469 in Textbook);

- Others see only seven of these as genuinely Pauline;

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Seeking the Historical Paul:

- Paul stresses the continuity between Judaism and the new religion;

- He, like Matthew, relies on the Hebrew Scriptures;

- He quotes from the Hebrew Scriptures to support the validity of his particular Gospel;

- Thus, it has, for the most part, validity for him;

- His attitude towards the Mosaic Torah;

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Seeking the Historical Paul (contd.):

- Our best source for information on Paul’s life comes from his letters;

- His description of himself (Phil 3.5-6; Gal 1.13-14);

- Paul’s religious zeal was redirected by his experience of the resurrected Jesus;

- A redirection of his energies;

- A tentative sequence of events in Paul’s life (Box 14.4, p. 466 in Textbook):

- Based on Paul’s letters;

- A cautious use of Acts;

- Gallio, proconsul in Achaea (c. 51-53; see Acts 18.12-17).

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The Historical Reliability of Acts:

- Material about Paul in Acts ought to be accepted with caution;

- Where discrepancies occur between Acts and Paul’s letters, most historians accept more readily Paul’s version of events;

- It appears that the author of Acts had inadequate documentation relative to Paul’s activities;

-The author of Acts was either unaware or deliberately ignored Paul’s correspondence;

- See Box 14.5 – “Some Differences Between Acts and Paul’s Letters”, p. 467 in Textbook.

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The Historical Reliability of Acts (contd.):

- Acts says virtually nothing about Paul’s essential Gospel, namely, people are saved not by obedience to Torah commands, but by faith in Christ;

- Does the writer of Acts set out to tame and/or domesticate Paul?

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The Historical Reliability of Acts (contd.):

- Data in Acts about Paul that is not found in Paul’s own writings (see Box 14.5, p. 467 in textbook):

- Paul’s birth in Tarsus;

- Paul’s family possessed Roman citizenship;

- Paul’s original name being Saul;

- Being a disciple of Gamaliel;

- Paul supports himself by making tents;

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Paul’s Experience of the Risen Jesus:

- Paul’s life may be divided into two parts:

1. In his early career: his life as a devout Pharisee who persecuted the First Christians;

2. In later life: a Christian missionary who successfully implanted the new religion in Non-Jewish territories and established the first Churches

in Europe.

- The event that changed Paul’s life was “a revelation of Jesus Christ” (Gal 1.12; see also Gal 1.15-16, 1 Cor 15.8-9, and 2 Cor 12.1-10).

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Paul’s Experience of the Risen Jesus (contd.):

- We learn a great deal more about this “revelation” from Acts (9.1-9; 22.3-11; 26.12-19).

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Paul’s Character:

- His great energy and physical stamina;

- He insults his readers’ intelligence (Gal 3.1; 5.12);

- His reaction to criticism (2 Corinthians 10-13);

- His profound affection (1 Corinthians 13; Phil 1.3-9; 2.1-4; 4.2-3);

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Paul’s Experience of the Risen Jesus (contd.):

- Paul was convinced that Jesus had revealed to him the one true Gospel (Galatians 1-2);

- This isolated him from many fellow believers;

- He quarreled with many of his companions (Acts 15.37-39; Gal 2.11-14; 2 Corinthians 10-13);

- Did Paul wish to work in territories that were not as yet evangelized and far removed from the established Churches (Rom 15.2-23)?

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Paul’s Letters (see Box 14.6, p. 469 in Textbook):

- The genuine letters (there is not general agreement on this matter):

- Romans;

- 1 and 2 Corinthians;

- Galatians;

- Philippians;

- 1 Thessalonians; and

- Philemon.

- Some scholars accept 2 Thessalonians and Colossians as genuine;

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Paul’s Letters (contd.):

- Many scholars doubt that Ephesians is genuine;

- And, most think that Titus and 1 and 2 Timothy were composed by a disciple of Paul after his death.

- Finally, hardly anyone now accepts Hebrews as Pauline.

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- Order of composition:

- 1 Thessalonians (c. 50 CE);

- (2 Thessalonians, also c. 50 CE);

- 1 and 2 Corinthians (c. the mid-50 CE);

- Romans and Philippians are later;

- “Captivity Epistles”:

- (Colossians), Philemon, Philippians (and possibly Ephesians) were written when Paul was in prison in Ephesus, Caesarea, or Rome.

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- Circumstances of writing:

- Usually under the pressure of meeting an emergency in a given Church;

- Romans is an exception;

- It is directed to a Church that he had not yet visited;

- Letters directed to a particular group that are generally known to him;

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- Circumstances of writing:

- The author tries to resolve a crisis involving a matter of belief and/or behaviour;

- Paul’s concern is mainly pastoral;

- Thus, one cannot expect a systematic statement of Paul’s theology in any one letter;

- Moreover, Paul’s thought evolves, i.e., changes and develops from one letter to another.

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Paul’s Major Assumptions and Concerns:

- Mysticism and Eschatology:

- His sense of the spiritual world;

- His authority is based on his private revelation of the post-resurrection Jesus (Gal 1.11-12, 15-17);

- Thus, for Paul, Jesus exists in:

- The Macrocosm (great world of God’s spiritual domain); and

- The Microcosm (little world of human consciousness).

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- Mysticism and Eschatology (contd.):

- Paul’s mysticism: his sense of union with an unseen spiritual reality (2 Cor 12.1-4);

- Paul is convinced that the Messiah’s appearance has inaugurated the end of time;

- His practical advice is based on his belief of an imminent final judgment;

- Early on in his writings, it seems that he expects to witness the parousia (1 Thess 4.15-17; 1 Cor 7.29-31)

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- He eagerly anticipates the eschaton (1 Cor 15.51-52);

- Paul sees human history as divided into two ages:

1) - The present evil age;

2) - This will be replaced by a new age, a new creation, in which God will reign completely (Gal 6.14-15; 1 Cor 15.20-28; 2 Cor 5.17);

- The Messiah’s arrival denotes the final consummation of history;

- Thus, his generation is the last.

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- Thus, the urgency expressed in Paul’s letters;

- The members of his Churches are about to be judged;

- Thus, the necessity to live an unblemished life of virtue.

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Paul’s Major Assumptions and Concerns (contd.):

- The centrality and preeminence of Jesus:

- For Paul, God accomplished the world’s salvation in Jesus;

- however, Paul shows hardly any interest in the earthly Jesus (see 1 Corinthians 11.23-26);

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The centrality and preeminence of Jesus:

Excursus:

Romans 5.12-21:

- Paul contrasts Adam, the human element, with Christ, the new Adam:

- Adam, the human element: disobedient;

thus, he sinned;

- this led to: excess, destruction, imbalance;

- the results are: slavery; hatred; despair; injustice; condemnation; and death.

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Romans 5.12-21:

- Christ, the new Adam: obedient;

thus, the gift of: grace/life;

- the results are: freedom; life; hope; acquittal; and righteousness.

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Romans 5.12-21:

- one human - single offense: disobedience;

- brought condemnation for all;

- all become sinners;

vs.

- one human - single righteous act: obedience;

- this brought all acquittal and life;

- all have become just.

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Romans 5.12-21:

- in Christ, the new Adam:

- humans are saved from all the sins listed above (#30);

- humans saved for “a new creation”.

- born in the image of the first Adam;

- humans shall bear the image of the last Adam in the resurrection (1 Cor 15.42-49).

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The Centrality and Preeminence of Jesus (contd.):

- Paul sees the heavenly Christ in three roles:

1) as God’s revealed wisdom (1 Corinthians 1-4);

2) as the Divine Lord through whom God rules (Phil 2.11; Rom 10.9; 1 Cor 15.24- 28); and

3) as the means by whom God’s spirit dwells in believers (Romans 8.1-39; 14.17).

The operation of the Spirit, i.e., God’s active presence and effecting his will, characterizes all of Paul’s Churches.

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- The Faithful as Christ’s Body:

- For Paul, the faithful are collectively Christ’s “body” (1 Cor 10.16-18; 12.12-30; Romans 12);

- The Church functions in union with Christ;

- thus, it reveals him.

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- Christ as Liberator from Sin, Torah, and Death:

- For Paul, all humans are negatively influenced by sin’s power;

- Thus, they are alienated from God (Romans 7);

- The consequence of sin is death (Rom 5.12-21);

- The Torah, which defined sin and its punishment, increased the power of sin and revealed its universality (Romans 1-3);

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Christ As Liberator From Sin, Torah, and Death (contd.):

- Christ’s obedience to the Father and his death on the cross, liberates those persons who accept him, from sin, death, and the Torah (Galatians 1-3; Romans 3-7);

- For Paul, “freedom in Christ” means deliverance from the old order of sin and punishment, including the Torah’s power to condemn.

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- Christ’s Universal Sufficiency:

- For Paul, Jesus, by his death and exaltation, is the means by which God rules the world and imparts his spirit;

- Due to this, there is now a total change in the relationship between God and humans;

- Christ is the final means of canceling the powers of sin and destruction;

- Christ is all sufficient in reconciling humans to God.

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- Christ’s Universal Sufficiency (contd.):

- Now, neither “angelic powers” nor the Torah play a decisive role in achieving human salvation.

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- Justification by Faith:

- In Romans and Galatians, Paul concludes that spiritual union with Christ is now God’s sole means of redemption;

- When believers become one with Christ, they share the benefits of his sacrifice; they receive divine favour and eternal life, benefits that works of Torah cannot provide;

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- Justification by Faith (contd.):

- One is justified/ “made right” before God only through placing faith, that is, complete trust (Rom 10.17; Gal 3.5-29, 5.6, etc.), in Jesus’ power to save;

- Thus, salvation in Christ for all those who are spiritually united with him.

- This, according to Paul, was foreshadowed in Genesis:

- Abraham, “father of the Jews,” received God’s favour before he was circumcised (Gen 17.24) and before the Torah came into being;

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- Justification by Faith (contd.):

- True children of Abraham are, therefore, not necessarily those descended from him “in the flesh”;

- True children of Abraham are those who show faith (trust; reliance on; fidelity to) in God’s son, believing Gentiles as well as Jews (Rom 4.13-25).

AMEN!

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Paul at his writing desk – Rembrandt (1606-1669).

paul and the gentile mission chapter 14 - part 2

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