Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought— Part Eleven

Last updated on: February 7, 2017 at 1:28 am by Ben Witherington

Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought— Part Eleven 2017-01-17T13:32:39-05:00 Ben Witherington

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

pp. 158-59 Bewildering is his suggestion that Paul visited south Galatia with Barnabas in the late 30s, but did not found a congregation there, but rather in north Galatia.

pp. 160-61—he offers a range of dates and says we can’t be precise. And he says what matters more is the order of the letters, rather than the dates, with 1 Thess. first up to bat.

pp. 163-65— Sanders reminds that he is reading Paul as a historian and for historical purposes, and while he is fine with other sorts of readings, he is not trying to do a theological reading etc. of Paul. Sanders says this requires getting behind the text, following small clues in the text. [The problem with this whole approach is that it amounts to taking bits and pieces from the text and constructing a different whole, and a different perspective on the whole. Historians sometimes need to do this, but it is fraught with difficulties and can lead to a skewing of what Paul actually said and did. In particular, both Jerry Sumney and John Barclay have rightly warned us of the considerable dangers in mirror reading Paul’s text to try and reconstruct, for example, who his opponents were. Sumney even sets up detailed criteria for evaluating such things.]

p. 166–Sanders urges that it is right to ask what the text presupposes, since we enter the conversation in the middle of things. He suggests the approach of listing the topics of the letter, and even memorizing the topics. Paul was not a johnny one note, with the one note being justification, which as Sanders says, doesn’t even come up in some of the letters.

pp. 167-68—he explains the problem with relying on translations. And he notes the oddity that only Christians seem to have given official status to one or another translation, even though they know that translations are not perfect and that the Bible was originally written in Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek.

p. 169 “Paul’s letters were not essays on selected themes that were revised and polished at leisure, nor did the editor who collected the letters rewrite them to take out the rough patches.” His proof for this are the anacolutha such as we find in Gal. 2.4-5.

pp. 169-70 “My picture of Paul as he dictated…is this: he paced, hands behind his back, forehead forward and dictated in bursts—not in the measured tones that reflect that the letter was previously composed in his mind. The mention of one word will call to mind another word, and this may lead to a digression. He is sometimes heated as he dictates—angry at an opponent, reacting vigorously against what he regards as personal slurs. In this mood, he sometimes curses and threatens. But he is never unmindful of the wisdom of conciliation, and he treats the recipients with respect— sometimes with strong praise.”

p. 170— He pictures Paul in each city having a small room, perhaps littered with scraps of leather, but not scrolls, he probably didn’t carry around a pile of scrolls, but rather worked from his memory of the Bible. He worked with his hands, told visitors about Christ, occasionally dictated to a scribe. He was always in a hurry, to convert as many as possible before the Lord returned. He was under daily pressure and constant anxiety once he had established churches to worry about (2 Cor. 11.28).

p. 171— Sanders plans to pay attention to two threads— the relationship of justification to being one person with Christ, and secondly to change and development. His response to unforeseen issues are the most interesting parts of the letters.

p. 172— Sanders sees a development in Paul’s thought in eschatology, but also in his thought about the inner spiritual life and the way in which Christians begin to be transformed. We see the development in the discussion about suffering, receiving the Spirit, and being one person in Christ. “Development doesn’t mean ‘retraction’. On the contrary, I find no instance in which Paul retracts what he earlier thought, but rather a good deal of movement towards a richer fuller description of the meaning of life in Christ.”

Uncategorized

Previous Post

February 6, 2017

Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought--- Part Ten

Next Post

February 8, 2017 Paul the Apostle, His Life, Letters and Thought--- Part Twelve

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Uncategorized

Select a Month October 2026 September 2026 August 2026 July 2026 June 2026 May 2026 April 2026 March 2026 February 2026 January 2026 December 2025 November 2025 October 2025 September 2025 August 2025 July 2025 June 2025 May 2025 April 2025 March 2025 February 2025 January 2025 December 2024 November 2024 October 2024 September 2024 August 2024 July 2024 June 2024 May 2024 April 2024 March 2024 February 2024 January 2024 December 2023 November 2023 October 2023 September 2023 August 2023 July 2023 June 2023 May 2023 April 2023 March 2023 February 2023 January 2023 December 2022 November 2022 October 2022 September 2022 August 2022 July 2022 June 2022 May 2022 April 2022 March 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 November 2021 October 2021 September 2021 August 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 March 2021 February 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 October 2020 September 2020 August 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 August 2012 July 2012 June 2012 May 2012 April 2012 March 2012 February 2012 January 2012 December 2011 November 2011 October 2011 September 2011 August 2011 July 2011 June 2011 May 2011 April 2011 March 2011 February 2011 January 2011

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz