Paul’s Epistles (letters)

The Pauline Epistles

Letters by PaulLetters possibly

by PaulLetters not by

Paul

•1 Thessalonians•1 & 2 Corinthians•Galatians•Romans•Philemon•Philippians

•2 Thessalonians•Colossians

•Ephesians•1 & 2 Timothy•Titus•Hebrews

Paul: Two sources

• Acts– May downplay Paul’s independence– Works at fitting him in to a wider context

• His own writing– Often defensive about his apostleship– Strong belief in personal work of God’s spirit

in his life. – Scholars give stronger weight to Paul’s

versions when there is disagreement

Dualism• the glorified Jesus exists in two separate by

related dimensions

Big Personal

Exists in the macrocosm Exists in the microcosm

Lives in a Spiritual domain Lives in Human consciousness

He will return as judge Dwells within and guides believers

Transcendent (always existed) Imminent (exists now)

Universal Individual, intimate

Objective reality Subjective reality

What does Paul believe about Jesus?

• God saves the world through Jesus• Paul not particularly interested in Jesus’ earthly

ministry• Jesus is Christ and God’s revealed wisdom• the divine Lord through whom God rules• the means by which God’s spirit dwells within

believers• Jesus is the second Adam (1 Cor 15:21+)

• Believers make up Jesus’ physical body on the earth (1 Cor 12:12-30)

Christ is liberator• From sin, torah, death• All humans are negatively influenced by sin’s power and hence

alienated from the perfect God (Romans 7)• Sin’s invariable consequence is death• By defining the nature and punishment of sin, the Torah reveals the

universality of sin and condemns all sinners—the entire human race.

• Through Christ’s obedience to the Father and his selfless death, he becomes the Torah’s penalty for sin.

• This liberates those persons accepting him (living fully under his power) from sin, death, and the Torah’s curses (Gal 3-5, Rom 3-7).

• “Freedom in Christ” means deliverance from the old order of sin and punishment, including the Torah’s power to condemn.

• Christ is all sufficient-Christ is the final and complete means of canceling the powers of sin and destruction.

Justification by faith - moral logic• How can God, who is perfectly righteous, accept (or justify) human beings

whose unrighteous behavior makes them slaves to sin?– In Christ, I have been made right before God– Faith in Christ is more effective than obedience to Torah– This doctrine gets Paul in trouble with Jews and Jewish Christians

• For observant Jews, Torah law provided the God-given atonement for sin to maintain a good relationship with God

• Personal contrition and sacrificial rites were part of the biblical arrangement for restoring harmony between God and people

• The law serves to only to expose the universal reality of human sin, which it justly condemns.

• By his sacrificial death on the cross, however, Jesus cancels the Law’s authority.

• Through spiritual union with Christ, who is now God’s sole instrument of human redemption, believers share in the benefits of Jesus’ self-sacrifice and freely receive the divine favor that grants them eternal life.

• It is God’s grace—his undeserved kindness and mercy—that opens the way to salvation for Jews and Gentiles alike, graciously giving them the ability to believe in Jesus.

An ongoing battle• Believers are justified before God only through their faith—complete

trust—in Jesus’ power to save those with whom he is spiritually united

• The Protestant reformation in the 16th century demonstrates European Christianity’s a bitter division over this doctrine.

– Martin Luther: through faith alone are believers saved

– Catholic Church: salvation also comes through deeds, particularly the observance of such sacraments as baptism, confession, and absolution.

• In 1999, on the 482nd anniversary of martin Luther’s Wittenberg Door rebellion, leaders of the Catholic and Lutheran churches signed an agreement.

– “By grace alone in faith in Christ’s saving work and not because of any merit on our part, we are adopted by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews our hearts while equipping and calling us to good works.”

1 Thessalonians

• Earliest written text in the NT• written from Corinth at around 50 CE• It’s from Paul, Timothy, and Silas (Silvanus) who had

recently founded thes church. – Urgent expectation of christ’s Parousia (return)– Resurrection from the dead.

• According to Acts 17:1-18:5 (Paul spent about three weeks there, and preached mostly in the local synagogue. Unreceptive Jews drove him away.

• Paul’s letter focuses on converted Gentiles. (1:9).• Only 20 years after Jesus’ ascension,

Paul’s message in a nutshell

1:10 9For the people of those regions report about us what kind of welcome we had among you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God, 10and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead—Jesus, who rescues us from the wrath that is coming.

Paul Justifies himself

• Main focus of first three and a half chapters

• Paul uses classic Greek rhetorical strategies of pathos, ethos, and logos (emotional appeal, showing he is a good person to be trusted, and logic)

Clarification about end times

• 4:13-5:11 appears to be his main focus: he clarifies his teaching about the end times.

• Christians must cling firmly to their newfound faith and live ethically correct lives because Jesus will soon return to judge them.

• Apparently, some Thessalonians believed that the second coming (Parousia) would occur so soon that all persons convererted to Christ would live to see it. That belief was shaken when some believers died and Jesus still hadn’t returned. What about them? Did they lose their chance to live and rule the world with Jesus?

1 Thessalonians 4• 13 But we do not want you to be uninformed, brothers and sisters,

about those who have died, so that you may not grieve as others do who have no hope. 14For since we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so, through Jesus, God will bring with him those who have died. 15For this we declare to you by the word of the Lord, that we who are alive, who are left until the coming of the Lord, will by no means precede [have any advantage over] those who have died. 16For the Lord himself, with a cry of command, with the archangel’s call and with the sound of God’s trumpet, will descend from heaven, and the dead in Christ will rise first. 17Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up in the clouds together with them to meet the Lord in the air; and so we will be with the Lord for ever. 18Therefore encourage one another with these words.

• Don’t try to calculate the exact time. It won’t work. (5:12-22)

Final (general) instructions• Respect those who labor among you, and have charge of you in the

Lord and admonish you; esteem them very highly in love because of their work.

• Be at peace among yourselves. And we urge you, beloved, to – admonish the idlers, – encourage the faint-hearted, – help the weak, be patient with all of them.

• See that none of you repays evil for evil, – always seek to do good to one another and to all.

• Rejoice always, • pray without ceasing, • give thanks in all circumstances; for this is the will of God in Christ

Jesus for you. • Do not quench the Spirit.

– Do not despise the words of prophets, – test everything; hold fast to what is good;

• abstain from every form of evil.