Paul’s Thinking

The apostle Paul was extremely bright. Some even think he was a genius. For two thousand years people have been reading his letters and working hard to understand them. In the past five centuries, German, English, and American scholars have expended a great deal of effort digging into Paul’s writings. Thanks to N. T. Wright and his book, Paul and His Recent Interpreters, I now have a better idea of the the major interpreters and the primary issues on the table.

• How does law (OT) relate to gospel (NT)? Luther believed Paul emphasized a sharp break between law and gospel, but Calvin interpreted Paul in the opposite way. As a result, Luther saw the law in negative terms and Calvin saw it in positive terms.
• What is the center of Paul’s thinking—justification or participation in Christ? In other words, what is primary—being made righteous or being in union with Christ?
• Was Paul a hellenistic or Jewish thinker? Rudolf Bultmann argued that Paul’s thinking was mainly influenced by Greek ideas, while Albert Schweitzer highlighted Paul’s Jewish background. Most interpreters have followed Schweitzer on this question.
• Is salvation connected to history (immanent or horizontal) or disconnected (transcendent or vertical)? Is salvation something linked to previous generations (i.e., God’s covenant with Israel) or something that comes from outside of space and time, breaking into this world from above? Covenant theologians focus on the horizontal dimension, while apocalyptic theologians, such as J. Louis Martyn, emphasize the cosmic and vertical dimension of God’s revelation.
• If salvation is transcendent when will it occur or when has it occurred? Ernst Käsemann says it will occur in the future at Christ’s return and J. Louis Martyn says it has already occurred on the cross of Christ.
• Is salvation personal or cosmic? Bultmann emphasized the individual and existential nature of salvation with the goal being authentic self-understanding. Ernst Käsemann highlighted the cosmic triumph of God in the future at Christ’s second coming. Martyn said the gospel is the cosmic triumph of God on the cross of Christ.
• What is the primary eschatological framework we should apply to the New Testament? Schweitzer argued that the kingdom of God was a future reality for Jesus and Paul, CH Dodd said the kingdom of God had arrived in Jesus, to which Bultmann largely agreed and added an existential emphasis.
• Through which lens should we study Paul: theological, historical, sociological?
  • While the focus had been theological, E. P. Sanders made a decisive turn toward history with his book Paul and Palestinian Judaism in 1977. From his study of the ancient rabbis, Sanders demonstrated that the traditional negative view of ancient Judaism was wrong. Judaism was a religion of grace not works. This development called for a reassessment of Paul’s statements on the law, Judaism, and the gospel.
  • Wayne Meeks interpreted Paul through a sociological framework, studying the rituals, symbols, and beliefs of first-century Christian communities.
  • N. T. Wright says he is following Martyn, Sanders, and Meeks. In particular, he says he is following Meeks most closely. He interprets Paul through large categories which he believes should be held together even though they are often separated: creation and new creation, covenant and Christ, participation and justification, personal and cosmic, history and theology. He argues that the Christian faith is not a clean break with Judaism, rather it is fulfilled Judaism.

I think Wright is on the right track, but it’s fascinating to think that there may not have been a Wright without a Schweitzer and the rest.

Why is Paul’s thought so challenging? Because he was able to hold multiple ideas in mind simultaneously, he expressed himself boldly, he stood between Jewish and Greek culture, he lived at a crucial time in Christian history, and most of all, his view of the gospel was incredibly vast and breathtaking. It’s amazing that this first-century Jewish follower of Jesus can keep scholars busy for a lifetime.

Les Bridgeman

After graduating from Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, I served as a high school Bible teacher in Asia. I enjoy traveling, writing, and playing the drums. My latest book focuses on Paul’s work as a tentmaker and what it means for today.