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  • From: "John C. Hurd" <John.Hurd AT Squam.org>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: The pre-Galatians Paul
  • Date: Fri, 02 Apr 1999 10:18:11 -0500


I cannot resist responding to Frank Hughes' provocative post of this
morning.

>My own ideas about Paul are that it is difficult and probably
misleading to think of Paul in terms of straight-line development.

Yes. Paul does not grow his theology from first principles, but instead
develops theological solutions to the problems which arise in the course
of his ministry. That is why it is so important to be clear about the
sequence of events in his life.

>I look on 1 Thessalonians as the last and only remnant of "the early
Paul," i.e., the Paul before the Jerusalem Conference and
>Galatians.

What happened to the period between the Conference (Gal. 2:1-10) and the
writing of Galatians? I would locate the "Previous [Corinthian]
Letter", 1 Corinthians, the "Severe [Corinthian] Letter", Philippians,
and 2 Cor. 1-9 in this period. (See my posting of Mar. 31.)

>Then the big turning point is what has been called the "Judaizer
crisis." This is where Paul begins to develop his
>categories of flesh vs. spirit as well as justification by faith.

The categories of "flesh" and "spirit" are well developed in 1 Cor. 15
in dealing with the problem of the death of the first Christians. The
first warning against Judaizers appears in Philippians and also the
first expression of justification by faith (Phil 3:9).

>What Paul is doing is going around forming Gentile or mostly-Gentile
congregations.

Yes, that accords with his self-understanding as Apostle to the Gentiles
and with his agreement with the Jerusalem apostles (Gal. 2:7-9).

> Then, when Paul sees that he wants to go to Spain (a la Romans
15:14ff.),

In Paul's mind the Judaizers represent a violation, indeed an abrogation
of the Jerusalem agreement. And one cannot fight city hall. Therefore
Paul says, "I no longer have any room for work in these parts" (Rom.
15:23) and determines to move on the the first area not already
evangelized west of Illyricum, i.e., Gaul and Spain. [See John Knox's
presidential address to the SBL, "Rom 15:14-33 and Paul's Conception of
His Apostolic Mission," JBL 83:1-11.]

>he realizes that he wants Rome to become his missionary center west.
He then writes Romans to . . . .

We can save the purpose of Romans for another day!

>So at this turning point Paul realizes that since the Jerusalem
Agreement is deader than a doornail,

Yes, indeed.

>So, anyway, 1 Thess is important because it is the only witness to the
pre-Galatians Paul, who is very likely pre-justification by faith as
well.

In 1 Thessalonians Paul used the phrase "work of faith" (1:3), an
expression unthinkable in Galatians and Romans. (See C. H. Buck, "The
Date of Galatians," JBL 70 [1951], 113-122.) So also in 1 Corinthians
faith is a special spiritual gift given to a few in order, e.g., to move
mountains. The whole of the Corinthian correspondence, except 2 Cor.
10-13, is "pre-Galatians" and innocent of justification by faith as the
key doctrine of salvation.

And now it is time to get ready for Good Friday services.
-- John

:::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::
:: Prof. John C. Hurd Internet: John.Hurd AT Squam.org
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:: Toronto, Ont. M4N 1V5 FAX (24 hours): 485-7320






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