Paul and the Gentile Mission

1. Paul and the Gentile Mission Chapter 14 - Part 2

2. The Apostle Paul – Rembrandt (1606-1669).

3. 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;

7. Paul’s Journey to Rome.

8. Paul’s Gentile Churches.

9. 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radically different relationship between God and all humanity, that is, Gentiles and Jews; - For Paul, faith in Christ superseded Torah obedience as the means of reconciliation to God; - This was the central idea that transformed Christianity from a Jewish sect into a new world religion;

10. 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;

11. 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;

12. 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).

13. 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.

14. 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?

15. 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;

16. 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, 1 Cor 15.8-9, and 2 Cor 12.1-10).

17. 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).

18. 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);

19. 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)?

20. 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;

21. Paul’s Letters (contd.): - Many scholars doubt that Ephesians is genuine; - And, most think that Titus and 1 and 2Timothy were composed by a disciple of Paul after his death. - Finally, hardly anyone now accepts Hebrews as Pauline.

22. Paul’s Letters (contd.): - 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.

23. Paul’s Letters (contd.): - 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;

24. Paul’s Letters (contd.): - 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.

25. 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).

26. - 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)

27. - Mysticism and Eschatology (contd.): - 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.

28. - Mysticism and Eschatology (contd.): - 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.

29. 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);

30. 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.

31. The centrality and preeminence of Jesus: Romans 5.12-21: - Christ, the new Adam: obedient; thus, the gift of: grace/life; - the results are: freedom; life; hope; acquittal; and righteousness.

32. The centrality and preeminence of Jesus: • 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.

33. The centrality and preeminence of Jesus: 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).

34. 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.

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

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

37. 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.

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

39. - Christ’s Universal Sufficiency (contd.): - Now, neither “angelic powers” nor the Torah play a decisive role in achieving human salvation.

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

41. - 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;

42. - 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!

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