Introduction to the Book
Chapter 1: Introduction
It is a simple title for a deep and complex chapter which sets the stage for a picture of Paul in the first century based on his own words. This is also one pastor’s journey which I sharewith many, including those who don’t like or understand Paul and his letters. It must be admitted that with thirteen letters in the New Testament ascribed to him it is easy to find things that are controversial. This book never shies away from those issues. But I also make it clear that Paul di NOT write all those letters.
Throughout the book I also discuss the significant differences between Paul as described in the Acts of the Apostles—more often simply noted as “Acts”. I bring a skeptical eye to many aspects of this account especially where there is a vivid contrast with what we find in Paul’s letters. It also helps to understand how there were a number of accounts describing Paul in the late first century and early second century which account for what the scholar Benjamin White calls the “remembered Paul”. [Remembering Paul, New York: Oxford University Press, 2014]
Paul has also been called upon through the centuries in all the theological and ecclesiastical issues that have marked church history. Paul, for example, was said to have rejected Judaism in choosing to be a Christian. It is a sad part of our story, and it doesn’t square with what we find in the seven letters that most scholars agree he wrote. They are Romans, 1 & 2 Corinthians, Philippians, Galatians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon.
Most important to this book is that I am not focusing on Paul the dogmatic theologian. This book owes a debt to Professor George Lyons who dissertation for his PhD focsed on the autobiographical details in Galatians and Philippians. Including the other five letters I as emphasizing the presence of Paul, his voice and personality, in each document. This also places Paul in the culture and politics of Rome in the early decades of the first century in the common era.
After an overview of all the main chapters in the book I conclude the introduction discussing some problematic terms. It will surprise many to see this terms that are challenging when we look for Paul in the first century. They are:
Gentile
Jew
Church
Apostle
Christian
Look in any English bible and these words are all over, and in Paul’s letters. (One exception: Paulnever knew the word “Christian.”) Paul knew these words only in Greek, of course. The problem comes with translations.
Gentile is the English word for ethné in Greek. To be sure Paul discussed the ethné quite often, but it is a word Paul used based on his roots in Judaism to refer to all others in the world. No one would have ever identified themselves as a gentile. And Paul would not have known the words Judaism or Jew. He was an ioudaioi, the Greek word for someone from Judea. That was the word others in Paul’s world knew for those we would call Jews. What is remarkable is that Paul began his life knowing all who did not belong to Judea, came to the stunning conclusion they (the ethné) were meant to known worship tjhone God all Judeans knew. That was at the heart of Paul being an Apostle to the Gentiles, or in the book Paul Found, an apostle to the ethné.
In this book I rarely refer to Paul as an apostle. Part of the problem is that we need to unpack this word which literally means “one who is sent.” That is at the heart of Paul’s witness to his own coming to faith in Jesus as Messiah, and how he felt like a prophet commissioned to take this message to the whole world. In the church world we talk about bishops being in apostolic succession. Bishops have distinctive titles, and vest with special clothes for worship. Paul had no idea about this. It’s better to think of Paul as an envoy or ambassador for Jesus as Messiah.
Why would church be a problem? The answer is that what Paul called “ekklesia” (the Greek word that gets translated as church) was not a building or an institution in his time. It was a gathering or an assembly of like-minded people. The term also had some political connotations to the extent that some scholars think that Roman authorities could easily suspect an ekkleisia worshipping a crucified man as being subversive. What also mattered to Paul’s use of this word is that it is based on the conjunction of Greek words that mean “called out from.” I want us to realize that those early followers of Jesus Messiah were taking part in an assembly of common sharing and faith that was quite unusual and noticeably different.
I also don’t talk about first century Christians. Paul would not have known the term. It appears only three times, as it is, in the New Testament. It is simply much better to know there were people claiming Jesus as Messiah, or as the Christ (the Greek word), and thinking of him as the Lord of their lives.
At the very end of the “Introduction” I have an Excursus with the question “Can the Historical Paul Ever Be Found?” Part of the answer, noted earlier, is that we have pictures of Paul in Acts and the Pastoral Epistles of what we can call a “remembered Paul.” We have letters to be sure that bear Paul’s names, but at least three for sure come from pseudonymous authors. It wasn’t a crime to write those letters, and we can read them as giving honor and place to Paul as his memory was part of their story. The premise of this book, however, is that whenever there is a difference between the Paul of later documents, and the Paul from his seven letters, we ought to believe what Paul wrote, and not what others wrote about him decades later. As I note at the end of this opening chapter, “Who Paul he is depends on who is seeking him, and what is their historical context.” That was true for me and may be true for many of my readers. If you were ever wondering if you could admire and understand Paul this may be the book you’ve been looking for. It certainly is my story;