Tag: Paul’s Theology

Paul and the Risen Christ

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The church focused more on the resurrection than they did on the cross. The reason might be that they were still thinking of Jesus in terms of Jewish Messiahship. The one thing which was the final guarantee that Jesus was the Messiah was the fact that He had risen from the dead. Paul stresses the cross and the atoning and sacrificial death of Christ, but the resurrection was central to the Christian faith. Jesus never foretold His crucifixion without also including His resurrection. It was part of the same process. It was the same for Paul.

Paul speaks of the cross and resurrection:

  1. [He] who was delivered up because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification. (Romans 4:25)
  2. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God [directed] toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4)
  3. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

Paul mentions the resurrection in nearly every letter: except 2 Thessalonians and Philemon, yet even here the resurrection permeates all else.

  1. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
  2. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)
  3. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. (1 Corinthians 6:14)
  4. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God [directed] toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4)
  5. Paul, an apostle (not [sent] from men, nor through the agency of man, but through Jesus Christ, and God the Father, who raised Him from the dead), (Galatians 1:1)
  6. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, (Philippians 2:9)
  7. Which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places], (Ephesians 1:20)
  8. Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)

The teaching is central to the church since Paul’s letters pre-date the Gospels: There was existing oral tradition, and theses instructions were for those who were entering the church for the first time. It was the essential element of the message of the first missionaries.

Paul’s great teaching on the resurrection: (1 Corinthians 15:1-58)

  1. For I delivered to you as of first importance what I also received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures, (1 Corinthians 15:3) – and he passed the standard to the church.
  2. And last of all, as it were to one untimely born, He appeared to me also. (1 Corinthians 15:8) – Paul adds his own experience to ensure that the resurrection was not a second-hand story that he accepted.

Early Church Creeds: The church existed in a pagan society and had to always be able to briefly and succinctly tell that society the teachings on which the church stood. It was a brief statement of faith.

The resurrection was an act of God:

  1. But for our sake also, to whom it will be reckoned, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead, (Romans 4:24)
  2. Now God has not only raised the Lord, but will also raise us up through His power. (1 Corinthians 6:14)
  3. The early church never thought of Jesus as someone in a book. He was not a person who was, but a person who is. Their faith was not founded on a book but in a person. The church was not to tell men about Jesus but to introduce them to Jesus.

What the resurrection meant to Paul: Who was declared the Son of God with power by the resurrection from the dead, according to the Spirit of holiness, Jesus Christ our Lord, (Romans 1:4)

The risen Christ as Messiah: The Jews thought in terms of Messiahship, and Jesus contradicted all the accepted ideas of the Messiah. Paul was dealing with Gentiles in his letters. But when he did preach to Jews, he used the idea of Messiahship (Acts 13:14-43)

The risen Christ as the perfect High Priest: This is a theme in the letter to the Hebrews, but Paul does address it.

  1. And He who searches the hearts knows what the mind of the Spirit is, because He intercedes for the saints according to [the will of] God. (Romans 8:27)
  2. Who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us. (Romans 8:34)
  3. The word used is pontifex, or bridge-builder. The real priest builds a bridge between his fellow men and God.

The risen Christ as Judge: For to this end Christ died and lived [again], that He might be Lord both of the dead and of the living. But you, why do you judge your brother? Or you again, why do you regard your brother with contempt? For we shall all stand before the judgment seat of God. (Romans 14:9-10)

The power of the resurrection:

  1. That I may know Him, and the power of His resurrection and the fellowship of His sufferings, being conformed to His death; (Philippians 3:10)
  2. And what is the surpassing greatness of His power toward us who believe. [These are] in accordance with the working of the strength of His might which He brought about in Christ, when He raised Him from the dead, and seated Him at His right hand in the heavenly [places], (Ephesians 1:19-20)

The resurrection connected to the new life:

  1. Therefore we have been buried with Him through baptism into death, in order that as Christ was raised from the dead through the glory of the Father, so we too might walk in newness of life. (Romans 6:4)
  2. Therefore, my brethren, you also were made to die to the Law through the body of Christ, that you might be joined to another, to Him who was raised from the dead, that we might bear fruit for God. (Romans 7:4)
  3. Having been buried with Him in baptism, in which you were also raised up with Him through faith in the working of God, who raised Him from the dead. (Colossians 2:12)
  4. For indeed He was crucified because of weakness, yet He lives because of the power of God. For we also are weak in Him, yet we shall live with Him because of the power of God [directed] toward you. (2 Corinthians 13:4)

The resurrection as release of divine power: If Christ was not raised from the dead, there would be no possibility of the Christian to live every moment in the presence of the living Christ. It means the Christian approaches no task alone, bears no sorrow alone, attacks no problem alone, endures no temptation alone. The resurrection is the guarantee of four truths:

  1. Truth is stronger than falsehood – men sought to destroy the truth and the resurrection proves its indestructibility
  2. Good is stronger than evil – the resurrection proves that good overcomes the evil of sinful men
  3. Life is stronger than death – we share that life
  4. Love is stronger than hate – men took God’s love and sought to break it on the cross.

To Paul, the resurrection was neither simply a fact in history nor theological dogma. It was the supreme fact of experience.

This material is from William Barclay, the Mind of St. Paul, 1975.

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Paul and the Incarnation

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Incarnation literally means “becoming the flesh.” Paul saw this event from two sides: the side of God and the side of Jesus.

The side of God:

  1. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did:] sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)
  2. Nor height, nor depth, nor any other created thing, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. (Romans 8:39)
  3. Namely, that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and He has committed to us the word of reconciliation. (2 Corinthians 5:19)
  4. Thanks be to God for His indescribable gift! (2 Corinthians 9:15)

The side of Jesus: the sacrifice of Christ did not begin on earth, but in eternity.

  1. For you know the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, that though He was rich, yet for your sake He became poor, that you through His poverty might become rich. (2 Corinthians 8:9). This is called the kenotic theory of the incarnation, more fully described here:
  2. Have this attitude in yourselves which was also in Christ Jesus, who, although He existed in the form of God, did not regard equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, taking the form of a bond-servant, [and] being made in the likeness of men. And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross. Therefore also God highly exalted Him, and bestowed on Him the name which is above every name, that at the name of Jesus EVERY KNEE SHOULD BOW, of those who are in heaven, and on earth, and under the earth, and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. (Philippians 2:5-11)

The strange thing about this kenotic theory is that is baffles the mind yet moves the heart:

  1. God is omniscient, yet it is clear that in His earthly life there were things of which Jesus did not know (Mark 13:32)
  2. God is omnipotent, yet it is clear that there were things which Jesus in His earthly life could not do. He would even tire and needed sleep (John 4:6, Mark 4:38)
  3. God is omnipresent, yet it is clear that during His earthly life Jesus was bound by the laws of time and space.
  4. We can say that His metaphysical attributes (above) were emptied, but not His moral attributes of goodness, justice and love. This theory sets out to explain the unimaginable love of God for man.

Paul stresses the reality of the incarnation: directing his teaching against the heresy of docetism, that Jesus only appeared to be a man but in reality He had no human body at all.

  1. Concerning His Son, who was born of a descendant of David according to the flesh, (Romans 1:3)
  2. For what the Law could not do, weak as it was through the flesh, God [did:] sending His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh and [as an offering] for sin, He condemned sin in the flesh, (Romans 8:3)

Docetism: (dokein – to seem) tried to honor the divinity of Jesus by teaching that Jesus was merely a phantom figure. Paul insisted that Jesus had a human body, if He was ever to redeem sinful man. To Paul, we are saved as much by the life of Jesus as we are by His death.

The efficacy of the life of Jesus in the work of salvation:

  1. For since by a man [came] death, by a man also [came] the resurrection of the dead. 22 For as in Adam all die, so also in Christ all shall be made alive. (1 Corinthians 15:21-22)
  2. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned–for until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. But the free gift is not like the transgression. For if by the transgression of the one the many died, much more did the grace of God and the gift by the grace of the one Man, Jesus Christ, abound to the many. And the gift is not like [that which came] through the one who sinned; for on the one hand the judgment [arose] from one [transgression] resulting in condemnation, but on the other hand the free gift [arose] from many transgressions resulting in justification. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. And the Law came in that the transgression might increase; but where sin increased, grace abounded all the more, that, as sin reigned in death, even so grace might reign through righteousness to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. (Romans 5:12-21)

Solidarity of a people: always a member of a family, clan or a nation. a person existed not as an individual but as a unit in a society. A vivid example is in Joshua 7 (defeat at Ai as the result of one man’s disobedience after Jericho, AND the entire family being put to death by the act of one man in the family).

Paul’s argument that all men sinned in Adam:

  1. Therefore, just as through one man sin entered into the world, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men, because all sinned– (Romans 5:12)
    • Death is the consequence of sin.
    • Adam broke the positive command of God.
  2. For until the Law sin was in the world; but sin is not imputed when there is no law. Nevertheless death reigned from Adam until Moses, even over those who had not sinned in the likeness of the offense of Adam, who is a type of Him who was to come. (Romans 5:13-14)
    • If there is no law, there is no sin, a breach in the law
    • Between Adam and Moses, no sin existed, but men died
  3. For if by the transgression of the one, death reigned through the one, much more those who receive the abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness will reign in life through the One, Jesus Christ. (Romans 5:17) The answer is that men died because they had all sinned in Adam.

The other side of the argument: Into this world Jesus brings the perfect righteousness and perfect obedience of God.

  1. So then as through one transgression there resulted condemnation to all men, even so through one act of righteousness there resulted justification of life to all men. For as through the one man’s disobedience the many were made sinners, even so through the obedience of the One the many will be made righteous. (Romans 5:18-19)
  2. By this perfect obedience, the evil chain of sin and death is broken and a new holiness enters in. Just as the solidarity of mankind is involved in the sin of Adam, the solidarity of mankind is involved in the holiness of Christ. For this argument to be valid, the incarnation must be absolutely real. Jesus must be just as human as was Adam.

The flaw is this: our connection with Adam is a physical one where we can neither choose nor reject. Our connection with Christ is a spiritual one, it is by no means an inevitable relationship, it is something which we can either accept or reject.

Basically, no man can reasonably be condemned because he is physically connected to his ancestors, but any man must bear the responsibility for accepting or refuting his connection with Jesus.

Paul argument has an eternal truth: man is involved in a situation from which he cannot free himself, and that Christ liberated him from that tragic and impotent situation.

This material is from William Barclay, the Mind of St. Paul, 1975.

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