The Divine Christology of the Apostle Paul: Retrospect and Prospect

Divine Christology places Paul's writings as I believe they were intended to be.

This book offers an introduction to the modern world of Pauline Christology studies. Rather than providing a detailed history of the field or even a complete overview of all the relevant positions, the authors chose to highlight the proposed Christological models of four notable scholars: Richard Bauckham, Larry Hurtado, Chris Tilling, and N. T. Wright. The first half of this book is devoted to explaining and summarizing these scholars’ takes on Paul’s Christology; highlighting their strengths, weaknesses, and differences from one another. The second half of this book is dedicated to the exegesis of key Christological texts in Paul and offering insight into how the above-mentioned scholars interpret them as well as how the authors themselves interpret them. The afterword of the book is another overview of several other scholars who have made recent contributions to the field of Pauline Christology. It should be noted that this book is NOT a comprehensive guide to all things Pauline Christology. It only sparingly touches on competing or “unorthodox” Christologies and is written from the perspective of standard, trinitarian theologians. Overall, a good book for someone looking for a simple intro to the major views/texts on Pauline Christology.

Over the years there has been a slew of books on Paul and how he came to view Jesus as divine. I remember one of the first books I read on the topic was Richard Bauckham’s Jesus and the God of Israel: God Crucified and Other Studies on the New Testament's Christology of Divine Identity. Then I was introduced to Larry Hurtado’ s work. Granted, there have been other scholars that have tackled the topic as well. In this book, the authors discuss the work of Bauckham, Hurtado, Chris Tilling and N.T. Wright. All four scholars here have a common understanding that Paul the apostle portrays Christ as a meaningfully divine figure. Yet concerning the precise ways in which Christ is presented as a divine figure in Pauline writings and concerning the central factors in Paul’s construct of divine Christology, they have some notable differences and disagreements Why Does the Divine Christology of Paul the Apostle Matter? As the authors say, “In many other parts of Paul’s letters imply, Jesus was the center of the apostle’s life and ministry and the recipient of his unreserved devotion (e.g., 1 Cor 2:2). But how was Paul able to reconcile his Jewish monotheistic faith (or his commitment to the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and the first two commandments of the Decalogue) with his devotion to Jesus as a divine figure? How could a teacher in Israel, who once was so passionately devoted to the worship of the one God and was willing to do violence against a perceived threat to this worship from the early Christians, see his faith in Jesus as the fulfillment of the Torah (Rom 10:4)? This was undoubtedly a crucial question in the first century, and it remains so two millennia later. Many people still claim—both at the scholarly and popular levels—that worship of Jesus as divine was impossible within Jewish monotheistic environments. Consequently, they argue the divine Christology of the New Testament reflects either a pagan influence over early Christians or an anachronistic projection of later theology into earliest Christian writings. Fortunately, we are not the first ones to wrestle with this important question of how Jewish monotheism and Christ’s divinity go hand in hand.”- pgs. 1-2. The authors rightly note that, throughout his letters, Paul holds to what we might call the highest Christology, as he depicts Jesus (1) as the “one Lord” of Israel (1 Cor 8:4-6; Rom 10:9), (2) as the embodiment of God, who humbled himself through his incarnation (Phil 2:6-11; Rom 9:4-5), and (3) as the ruler and sovereign of the creation and the new creation (Col 1:15-20; 1 Thess 3:11-13; 2 Cor 5:10-11). -pg. 5. Consequently, the Lord Jesus, according to Paul, is due the worship that is reserved for Israel’s God alone. How did this happen? The authors note that Bauckham, Hurtado, Tilling, and Wright have advanced the conversation and provided profound insights into both the exegetical and theological foundations of Pauline divine Christology. They offer suggestions on how to sharpen their work (chap. 6). But there is no doubt that they have moved the conversation forward and shed light on various facets of Paul’s high or divine Christology. Richard Bauckham In Bauckham’s Christology model, he wants to move past the topic of Jewish monotheism and Christology from the Greek philosophical perspective of function and ontology. While, ontology focuses on the attributes that are seen as intrinsic to God’s essence or being, such as eternality or immutability, function, on the other hand, deals not with intrinsic attributes but with actions. Bauckham proposes that questions about monotheism should move beyond matters of “what divinity is—divine nature,” and focus instead on the more encompassing matter of “who YHWH, the unique God, is—divine identity.” Bauckham explains what he means by identity, as he states: “Reference to God’s identity is by analogy with human personal identity, understood not as a mere ontological subject without characteristics, but as including both character and personal story (the latter entailing relationships).” While not diminishing the value of function and ontology altogether in describing God, Bauckham proposes that the divine identity paradigm includes both these categories along with other dynamic realities, such as the story of God’s relationship to creation and his people.”- pgs. 14-15. Bauckham provides three key texts that he believes fueled early Christian interpretation to bind Jesus the sufferer with the God of Israel: Isaiah 52:13: “Behold, my servant shall act wisely; he shall be high and lifted up, and shall be exalted.” Isaiah 6:1: “In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple.” Isaiah 57:15: “For thus says the One who is high and lifted up, who inhabits eternity, whose name is Holy: ‘I dwell in the high and holy place, and also with him who is of a contrite and lowly spirit, to revive the spirit of the lowly, and to revive the heart of the contrite.’” What is immediately evident when comparing these texts is the overlap between the “servant” of Isaiah 52:13 and the “Lord” in Isaiah 6:1—both of whom are described as “high and lifted up.” The “servant” finds a further connection to the “Lord” via Isaiah 57:15 since there the Lord appears simultaneously exalted and present with the lowly. Bauckham asserts that a connected reading of these three Isaianic texts was instrumental for early Christian exegesis. -pgs. 18-19. Key Pauline texts in support of Bauckham’s furthers his case for Paul’s Christological monotheism, and particularly the inclusion of Jesus in the divine identity by appealing to texts such as Romans 10:13; Philippians 2:6-11; and 1 Corinthians 8:5-6. Romans 10:1- pgs.22-25. Larry Hurtado Larry Hurtado’s contribution to the study of Paul’s Christology has become impossible to ignore. Hurtado’s work can be seen from two angles: (1) a response to William Bousset’s influential history-of-religions approach that situated the emergence of devotion to the divine Christ in the Hellenistic context, and (2) a continuation and development of the scholarship of Martin Hengel and the early works of Bauckham that provided a nudge toward early and high Christology in a Jewish context. According to Hurtado’s own words, the focal point of his 1988 One God, One Lord is to point out “the religious devotion to the figure of Christ in first-century Christianity, especially the reverencing of Christ in ways that connote a view of him as in some way divine.” Hurtado maintains this focus in subsequent publications as seen in his magnum opus, Lord Jesus Christ (2003), and How on Earth Did Jesus Become a God? (2005). Unlike many other scholars working in the field of New Testament Christology, who tend to focus primarily on theological categories, confessional rhetoric, and christological titles, Hurtado gives his primary attention to corporate worship practices of the Roman world and, particularly, of ancient Judaism and early Christian movements. - pgs.30-31. Hurtado does find in Second Temple Jewish writings the presence of both intermediary figures (exalted angels and patriarchs) and the personifications of divine attributes (especially Word and Wisdom) with unusually lofty language applied to some of those figures. Hurtado, however, still argues that Second Temple Jews regarded Israel’s God as the only legitimate recipient of their worship (i.e., sacrifices and other liturgical acts including prayers and hymns). - pg. 31. Hurtado claims that innovation of the Jewish tradition is observable in the following ways: 1. “Hymnic practices” that give central attention to Jesus and his salvific work (e.g., Phil 2:6-11; Col 1:15-20; Eph 5:14; cf. Rev 4:11; 5:9-10, 12-13). 2.“Prayer and related practices,” in which the risen Jesus is featured as a mediator of prayers (e.g., 2 Cor 1:3-4; Rom 1:8) and as a recipient or corecipient of prayers (e.g., 1 Thess 3:11-13; 2 Thess 2:16-17; 2 Cor 12:8-9; cf. “Grace and peace” greetings at the openings of Paul’s letters and “grace benedictions” at the closings of his letters). 3.“Use of the name of Christ” in baptismal rites (e.g., Acts 2:38; 8:16; 10:48) and other related references (e.g., Rom 6:4; 1 Cor 6:11; Gal 3:27). 4.“The Lord’s Supper,” i.e., a liturgical meal of early Jesus-followers, whose practice predates Paul’s own teaching and ministry (1 Cor 11:17-34) and in which Jesus has a central role (1 Cor 10:14-22). 5. ‘Confession of faith in Jesus” (e.g., 1 Cor 1:2; Rom 10:9-13 especially with the YHWH/Lord language of Joel 2:32 [MT 3:5] appropriated for Jesus;58 cf. 1 Cor 16:22 containing the Greek transliteration of the Aramaic phrase μαράνα θά, which means, “Come, Our Lord!”). 6.“Prophetic pronouncements of the risen Christ” either given or inspired by him (e.g., 1 Cor 12:10 in the context of 1 Cor 12:4-11; Rom 12:6; 1 Thess 4:2, 15-17; cf. Rev 2–3 in the context of Rev 1:9-16), which display an extraordinary aspect of early Christian worship behavior especially when such oracles are appreciated against the backdrop of Old Testament warnings about speaking prophecies in the name of any other figure but Israel’s God (e.g., Deut 13:1-11). Hurtado emphasizes that these six features, which overlap with one another to some degree, reflect not only remarkable beliefs about Jesus among early Christians but, more significantly, the latter’s common liturgical practices in public settings. Early Christians rejected the veneration of other deities—in line with the Jewish tradition (cf. 1 Cor 8–10)—yet they offered Jesus a cultic and liturgical sense of worship as to a deity.- pgs. 40-41. Chris Tilling Chris Tilling’s book Paul’s Divine Christology (2012) gives attention to two questions triggered by the increasing scholarly interest in Second Temple Jewish literature, as shared between the proponents and opponents of a Pauline divine Christology in the post-1970s scholarship: (1) “How does Paul’s Jewish-style faith in God affect our understanding of his Christology?” and (2) “Where, if at all, is there evidence in the Pauline corpus for (or against) a divine-Christology?”5 These post-1970s questions are, in fact, what Tilling himself attempts to answer in his own investigation. Tilling subdivides the post-1970s answers to the first question into four options: (1) a divine Christology is simply impossible in light of Paul’s commitment to strict monotheism (e.g., Maurice Casey); (2) Second Temple Judaism had notable ditheistic tendencies that facilitated a high God and a second, lesser deity within its theology proper and was, thus, ready for a sort of divine Christology that views Jesus as a second god (e.g., Margaret Barker); (3) traditions of exalted intermediary figures within Second Temple Judaism prepared a way for a divine view of Jesus (e.g., William Horbury); and (4) Paul integrates a strict and firm Jewish commitment to God’s uniqueness and a divine Christology (e.g., Bauckham and Hurtado)- pgs. 44-45. Tilling at last turns to address the primary concern of his study—whether the Pauline corpus presents a divine Christology. In his attempt to validate his conclusions concerning the ongoing discussions and debates surrounding Pauline divine Christology, Tilling raises four specific points favoring his case for a divine Christology in Paul. The first point concerns the substantial overlap in language between God-relation and Christ-relation within the Pauline corpus. While some differences also exist between the two (e.g., greater emphases on God’s righteousness, devotional accountability to God, and on glorifying God, as well as specific descriptions explicitly applied only to God such as the language of immortality and predestination), the similarities between the two are far more substantial than those differences. For instance, both God and Christ are characterized by “faithfulness, love, grace,” “forbearance and patience,” “glory, peace, mercy, welcoming of sinners,” “truth,” “oneness,” and “impartiality” in Paul’s letters. Similarly, Paul uses common devotional language for God and for Christ, namely, expressions concerning “service and slavery,” “boasting,” “knowing,” “loving,” “fearing,” “hoping in,” “praying to,” “believing in,” “turning to,” “living or being alive to,” “pleasing,” “presenting [oneself] to,” “praising,” and “[being] eschatologically accountable before God.”- pgs. 57-58. N.T. Wright N. T. Wright’s approach is the “YHWH’s Return to Zion” paradigm. Thus, the fulfillment of YHWH’s promised return to Zion in the person and work of Jesus the Messiah best accounts for Paul’s divine Christology Wright identifies four elements in Second Temple thought often associated with YHWH’s return. First, in some writings, there is the idea that God’s rule and reign would be enacted through a messianic agent or king. Wright provides Psalm 2 as an example (“The kings of the earth set themselves . . . against YHWH and his anointed . . . [God speaking] ‘I have set my king on Zion, my holy hill’”). Second, at the time of God’s restoration, there is an expectation of a renewed covenant. God will be faithful to his promises and prove himself righteous to his people. The very term δικαιοσύνη (“righteousness”), when referring to God’s actions, reveals “the fact that Israel’s God has been faithful to the covenant.” Third, Wright notes there existed an expectation that God’s saving acts would be observed among the nations, leading to God being glorified throughout the world.He cites as an example both Isaiah 2:2-4 (“YHWH’s house shall be established. . . . All the nations shall stream to it. Many peoples shall come and say, ‘Come, let us go up to the mountain of YHWH’”) and Isaiah 49:5-6 (“I will give you as a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth”).A fourth element of the future hope associated with YHWH’s return is resurrection. This hope is grounded in God being the creator and judge who deemed the original creation in Genesis 1 to be “good,” and finds its fullest expression in the books of Daniel and 2 Maccabees. – pg. 73. Wright sees these four elements “flesh out the vision of YHWH’s return and the establishment of his kingdom.” This vision points to God’s victory over oppressing nations and is grounded in the faithfulness of God’s character. And, as Wright states, “it foregrounded particularly the notion of presence: YHWH would return to live in the midst of his people. This would be the ultimate vindication of Israel as YHWH’s people, but behind that it would be the vindication of monotheism itself.” The authors also mention names of other scholars that have done work on Paul’s Christology such as David Capes Christological appropriation of OT YHWH/κύριος texts, Gordon Fee’s Exegetical high Christology, Crispin Fletcher-Louis Exclusive-inclusive monotheism, Matthew Novenson Jewish messianic language and grammar, Joshua Jipp Conceptual messianic precedents, Ruben Bühner’s Second Temple superhuman messianic traditions ,Matthew Bates Trinitarian prosopological exegesis , and Wesley Hill’s Hermeneutics of trinitarian relations. While the authors provide a critique of all four model’s proposed by Bauckham, Tilling, Wright, and Hurtado, they also provide a chapter on Paul’s high Christology in the book of Colossians (Ch 7), and a chapter on why texts that seem to point to Jesus being subordinate to the Father doesn’t end up pointing to an adoptionist Christology (Ch 10). For someone like me who does full time missionary/apologetic work to people from a variety of religious backgrounds, this is an important topic. Overall, this is an excellent resource for those that have been following this debate for the last 20 years or so.