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Paul

Paul . An Introduction . Paul: personality. Gentle (2 Cor 10:1) Harsh (1 Cor 4:21) Restless in energy (2 Cor 2:12-13) Firmly resolute (2 Cor 1:17) Claims to be weak (2 Cor 12:5) Boasts of power (2 Cor 12:11). Remarkable organizing ability

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Paul

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  1. Paul An Introduction

  2. Paul: personality • Gentle (2 Cor 10:1) • Harsh (1 Cor 4:21) • Restless in energy (2 Cor 2:12-13) • Firmly resolute (2 Cor 1:17) • Claims to be weak (2 Cor 12:5) • Boasts of power (2 Cor 12:11)

  3. Remarkable organizing ability • Missionary work was the result of sustained and coordinated expeditions • Letters are composed with considerable art • He is full of antitheses: death/life, sin/righteousness, flesh/spirit, law/grace, works/faith, wisdom/folly, power/weakness. • But he stresses reconciliation: God/world, Jew/Greek, female/male, slave/free, rich/poor.

  4. Paul’s Letters • Categories of letters: • “Travel letters”: written during Paul’s active ministry • “Captivity letters”: written from prison • “Pastoral letters”: written to Timothy and Titus

  5. The Letter Genre • Paul’s culture valued the art of writing letters • Philosophers, statesmen, and poets use them to express morals and aesthetics • The letter was viewed as bearing the presence of the sender. • There were many different types of letters • Structure: Greeting, Body, Farewell

  6. Paul’s letters • Genuine letters: they respond to contemporary addressees; they weren’t simply written for posterity or publication. • They show care in the way they are composed • They have an official character: Paul writes as the apostle, not simply a friend or colleague. • Except for Philemon and the Pastorals, they were intended to be read aloud to the community, and exchanged between communities.

  7. Structure • 1. Greeting: • name of the sender, often a co-sender, receiver, “greetings” chairein • Paul uses “grace” which has the same root as chairein • He adds “peace,” which is a traditional Jewish greeting •  reconciliation of Jewish/Greek audience • 2. Prayer • Usually a thanksgiving, sometimes a blessing of God • The prayer foreshadows themes in his letter

  8. Structure, cont. • 3. Body • Paul makes an argument • Or addresses concerns of the community • 4. Final Greetings/Farewell • Typically close with a prayer

  9. Paul & Jesus • How do we understand Paul in light of the fact that there seems to be so much different about their teaching and vocabulary and concerns? • In Paul’s time, there has been a major eschatological shift with Jesus • Paul is talking in a universal context, rather than simply in a Jewish one, trying to incorporate the Jewish story of the Messiah and its reality in Christ into his ministry to Gentiles.

  10. “For Paul, Jesus is not so much the past founder of a messianic community as the present source of its life and power” • “What he and his fellow Jews had hoped and longed for was now accomplished in the resurrected Jesus. But the fulfillment was far more profound and paradoxical than could ever have been expected. Jesus did not inaugurate an age of righteousness and messianic rule with Israel alone. Through his resurrection, God inaugurated a renewal of humanity and of the world itself, with Jesus as the firstborn from the dead and the new Adam” (Johnson 234).

  11. Paul & Judaism • What was Paul complaining about? • Luther: legalism (salvation by works) • The New Perspective: Jewish/national privilege (salvation by race) • Torah does not function in the same way for this new Israel – parts of the Torah that have to do with how to live as a nation, and the anticipation of the Messiah, are no longer needed. • Paul’s question: how do you act as the people of God in the world when you are no longer Israel according to the flesh?

  12. Paul & Rome • Dominance v. Resistance: • the people in power have open descriptions about their activities; they can communicate through specific symbols, images • The people not in power have to communicate through hidden transcripts, code language about their activities. • Just because Christianity wasn’t in open rebellion against Rome, doesn’t mean that Christianity agreed with and accepted its values and culture (i.e. slave spirituals)

  13. Paul’s subversion: • The emperor: • Jesus is Lord and Savior, not Caesar • His true allegiance is to Christ, not to Rome • Humility, love, and compassion are the marks of the true God. • Social structures: • Husbands, love your wives • Parents, do not exasperate your children, • Masters, treat your slaves well (and Philemon, free Onesimus!) •  Paul shows that the Gospel empowers the socially powerless.

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