EngineeredTheology

Paul’s World, Paul’s Legacy
The world of Paul is has multiple overlapping Jewish, Greek, and Christian narratives. These narratives are not stories that people liked telling themselves, but they believed themselves to be actors in a real-life narrative. As we read Paul, we need to be aware of our own history and how we have gotten to our current perspectives.

Creation and Covenant
As represented in Psalm 19 and Psalm 147, the covenant is there to solve the problems with creation, and the creator God is invoked to solve the problems with the covenant. The problem with the covenant is that Israel itself is bound up in the problem with creation, and needs God to intervene. This responsibly of the creator God to act for the covenant is God’s righteousness or covenant faithfulness.

Messiah and Apocalyptic
The two words, messiah and apocalyptic, have been misinterpreted. Messiah should be read in the continuity of the OT summarized as one:
1) Who is Israel’s (and the world’s) true Lord
2) Will successfully fight Israel’s battle against evil and paganism
3) Build the temple
4) Bring Israel’s history to its climax and usher in the new world
5) Act as Israel’s representative like David fighting Goliath
6) Act as God’s representative to the world
We then see being “in Christ” means that what is true of him is also true of us, and faith is Jesus’s faithfulness to the messiah’s purposes, not our faithfulness to him.
Apocalyptic writing does not connotate the destruction of the present reality, but a revealing of what was once hidden. In the NT this is the surprising fulfillment of his promises which brings about nothing short of new creation. The “rapture” is not exiting of this world, but used at the time to welcome a coming king and signifies the royal presence of Jesus (in contrast to Ceasar). The coming wrath refers to the coming destruction of Jerusalem by Rome.

Gospel and Empire
Agustus was regarded as a savior for rescuing Rome from the previous civil wars and bringing peace. Imperial themes were freedom, justice, peace and salvation and guaranteeing them would be spoken of as good news or “gospel”. Emperor worship was the fastest growing religion. Augustus divinized Julius Caesar and proclaimed himself the son of god.
Jews were very familiar in living under pagan rulers. They expected the wicked rulers would be judged, but God wants the world to be ruled rather than descend into anarchy. If Jesus is the messiah, then he is the world’s true ruler. Jesus is King, Lord, and Savior and Caesar is not – and this is referred to in Paul’s writings.

Rethinking God
Paul’s Jewish context is focused around monotheism and election, which when put together with the current state of the world brings up eschatology. These are redefined with an idea of a new exodus, a battle against paganism (not judiasm) and building up the church.

The monotheism of Judiasm is seperate from expressions of monotheism as pantheism and epicureanism (deism). God is contained in, or distant from the world, but intamently involved and concerned with the world. The expectations are now redefined around Jesus. Paul takes the world kyrios, Lord, which is used in the Septuagint for YHWH and applies it to Jesus. In this way the phrase “Son of God” implies not just God’s Messianic agent, but God’s ultimate self expression. The law is now no longer needed as the shekinah is replaced by God’s spirit. The spirit with the agents of God have done what the Torah was not able to.

Reworking God’s People
The belief that Israel was the chosen people of the creator God was everywhere in the OT. The purpose of this election was to answer the problem of Adam, but the bearers of the solution were also part of the problem. God would soon vindicate his people and bring along the gentiles by either judgement or blessing.

Jesus performs, representing Israel, what Israel could not do itself. He was obedient to the plan of God (his faithfulness) and rescued the world from sin and death at the cross. Who the people of God are now is redefined around Jesus instead of cultural identity and is available to all. This is changed from the Torah, given to people with hard hearts, to the Spirit with the power to change the heart.

Reimagining God’s Future
Jewish eschatology is based around the judgement of the pagan world and their wickedness. This is God’s future where he will become King in a new way. Paul claims that this event has broken in the middle of history, and God has done to Jesus in the middle of time what he will do to all at the end of time. Jesus’ death was the defeat of evil and the return from exile that began not in Babylon but at the giving of the law.

Eschatology is split into three events. The “Day of the Lord” which came at 70 AD, the second coming parousia kingly presence of Jesus which will be the coming together of heaven and earth, then the judgement based on the entire life led. The preaching of the gospel is the means by which the Spirit changes the hearts of people to become the people in which the new age has come and to work things out in preparation for God’s final act.”The ethical struggles of the Christian are the beginning of that sovereign rule over the created order which will be fulfilled in the new world” (149).

Jesus, Paul, and the task of the Church
The relationship between Jesus and Paul is like that of an architect and builder. If the builder adds on new design it isn’t because he is being faithful to the architect, but the opposite. The world’s history was brought to a climax in Jesus, and Paul believed it was his task to create a worldwide family who proclaimed Jesus as lord. Justification by faith is so central to Paul (and somewhat absent from Jesus) because it is how one would distinguish himself as the people of God (in contrast to cultural Israel) – which was not the primary task of Jesus.