{"id":254,"date":"2018-07-17T23:02:35","date_gmt":"2018-07-18T04:02:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/?p=254"},"modified":"2018-07-17T23:02:35","modified_gmt":"2018-07-18T04:02:35","slug":"christ-in-st-pauls-epistles","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2018\/07\/17\/christ-in-st-pauls-epistles\/","title":{"rendered":"Christ in St. Paul’s Epistles"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"The Christology presented in the letters of St. Paul is particularly important to an understanding of the viewpoint of the New Testament as a whole, in that St. Paul\u2019s epistles are the earliest documents, the first written, that discuss who Christ is. \u00a0Though obviously these letters were written after the events described in the gospels and, in most cases, the events described in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul\u2019s written exhortations to the nascent Christian communities which he had established precede the setting down of the gospel accounts in writing. \u00a0If there was indeed some sort of \u2018development\u2019 of the understanding or the idea of Christ, from a \u2018lower\u2019 to a \u2018higher\u2019 Christology, one would expect to find in St. Paul\u2019s writings a more primitive and lower view of the identity of Christ. \u00a0In actuality, however, we find the exact opposite.<\/p>\n

There is a great deal of controversy among scholars regarding the authorship of many of St. Paul\u2019s epistles. \u00a0This issue will be the subject of a later posting. \u00a0For the present discussion, the examples taken to establish St. Paul\u2019s understanding of Christ\u2019s divine identity will be from those epistles which are non-controversially Pauline. \u00a0These epistles are also, not conincidentally, the earliest of St. Paul\u2019s writings. For this reason, leaving the controversy aside, these examples are the most important for overturning the idea that Christology underwent a \u2018development\u2019, rather than stemming directly from the Second Temple Jewish understanding of Israel\u2019s God.<\/p>\n

As mentioned in the previous post in this series, St. John\u2019s Gospel is universally accepted to present Christ as divine. \u00a0As discussed in another previous posting, St. John\u2019s Christology follows from Second Temple Judaism\u2019s idea of a second hypostasis of Yahweh, Israel\u2019s God. \u00a0The two elements which constitute this view are the view that Jesus Christ is a pre-existing divine being with the Father, who became flesh (John 1:1-18), and that Jesus Christ is the God of Israel (John 8:58). \u00a0These same two elements regarding Christ\u2019s identity are to be found in St.Paul\u2019s early, uncontested epistles.<\/p>\n

Philippians 2:5-11, sometimes referred to as the Carmen Christi, is a literary unit that many consider to be an early Christian hymn. \u00a0Whether it represents a pre-existing hymn adapted by St. Paul to his purpose, was composed as a poetic unit by St. Paul, or was adapted into hymnic form from St. Paul\u2019s prose is the subject of discussion. \u00a0In any event, it is used by St. Paul as the theological backbone for his case to the church in Philippi. \u00a0In it, the Apostle presents Christ as pre-existing in the form of God, \u00a0and taking upon himself also the form of humanity. \u00a0Christ humbles himself in the incarnation, and then is exalted back to his divine state. \u00a0The opening verses make an interpretation of Jesus Christ as an exalted human being impossible. \u00a0This Pauline text (or pre-Pauline text so influential on St. Paul) clearly presents Christ as a divine being before his incarnation.<\/p>\n

Though referring to it as a \u2018creed\u2019 is an anachronism, the central statement of Jewish faith in the first century, used as both statement of belief and meditative prayer, was the \u2018Shema\u2019. \u00a0Named for the first Hebrew word in the text, Deuteronomy 6:4 states, \u201cHear, O Israel, Yahweh our God, Yahweh is one.\u201d \u00a0In his First Epistle to the Corinthians, St. Paul takes the Greek form of this most sacred text, and adapts it. \u00a0The Greek form of the text replaces the name of the God of Israel with the word \u2018kyrios\u2019, or Lord, and so reads, \u201cHear O Israel, the Lord is our God, he is one Lord.\u201d \u00a0St. Paul states, \u201cyet for us there is one God, the Father, from whom are all things, and for whom we exist, and one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom are all things and through whom we exist\u201d (1 Cor 8:6).<\/p>\n

In this verse, St. Paul has divided this classic statement of the oneness of th God of Israel into a first half, speaking of God the Father, and a second half speaking of Jesus Christ. \u00a0In so doing, by modifying the Greek of Deuteronomy, he has presented the one God of Israel, Yahweh, as two hypostases, the Father and Jesus Christ. \u00a0This serves to identify Jesus Christ as the second hypostasis of the God of Israel, and when united with Philippians, portrays him as a pre-existing hypostasis who has become incarnate in these last days.<\/p>\n

St. Paul uses such parallel constructions relatively frequently. \u00a0In 1 Corinthians 12:4-6, he uses such a construction to bring into parallel all three persons of the Holy Trinity. \u00a0The pattern \u2018one Spirit, one Lord, and one God\u2019 identifies the three persons, while also focusing on the unity of each. \u00a0It likewise emphasizes their shared task, as the three are considered equally. \u00a0Benedictions such as 2 Corinthians 13:14 likewise give the blessing of the God of Israel within the frame of the three persons.<\/p>\n

Far from revealing a primitive stage of Christian belief regarding Christ from which later dogmas regarding the Holy Trinity and Christology would evolve, St. Paul\u2019s writings reveal a Christology and Trinitarian belief already full-formed. \u00a0These earliest of the New Testament writings were able to present such an understanding because St. Paul is interpreting the revelation of Jesus Christ in the flesh and the coming of the Holy Spirit through the lens of existing Jewish understandings of the God of Israel. \u00a0Rather than struggling to find a middle ground between monotheism and polytheism, St. Paul identifies divine figures with whom his readers were already familiar through the tradition in which they had received the scriptures.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Christology presented in the letters of St. Paul is particularly important to an understanding of the viewpoint of the New Testament as a whole, in that St. Paul\u2019s epistles are the earliest documents, the first written, that discuss who Christ is. \u00a0Though obviously these letters were written after the events described in the gospels and, in most cases, the events described in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul\u2019s written exhortations to the nascent Christian communities which he had established precede the setting down of the gospel accounts in writing. \u00a0If there was indeed some sort of \u2018development\u2019 of the understanding or the idea of Christ, from a \u2018lower\u2019 to a \u2018higher\u2019 Christology, one would expect to find in\u2026 <\/i> <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-254","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"Christ in St. Paul's Epistles - The Whole Counsel Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2018\/07\/17\/christ-in-st-pauls-epistles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christ in St. Paul's Epistles - The Whole Counsel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The Christology presented in the letters of St. Paul is particularly important to an understanding of the viewpoint of the New Testament as a whole, in that St. Paul\u2019s epistles are the earliest documents, the first written, that discuss who Christ is. \u00a0Though obviously these letters were written after the events described in the gospels and, in most cases, the events described in the Acts of the Apostles, St. Paul\u2019s written exhortations to the nascent Christian communities which he had established precede the setting down of the gospel accounts in writing. \u00a0If there was indeed some sort of \u2018development\u2019 of the understanding or the idea of Christ, from a \u2018lower\u2019 to a \u2018higher\u2019 Christology, one would expect to find in\u2026\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/2018\/07\/17\/christ-in-st-pauls-epistles\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Whole Counsel Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-07-18T04:02:35+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/blogs.ancientfaith.com\/wholecounsel\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/37\/2018\/07\/502B423E-3BE7-4CB8-86D6-D6A90A5EEAB3-360x200.jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. 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