Christ in Me, Christ in You: An Introduction to Paul and His Letters Diocese of West Texas Fall 2012 SESSION ONE Paul s Revelation: Christ in Me, Christ in You Understanding essential Paul calls us to engage the theological perspectives and moral reasoning that shape every aspect of Paul s letters to his churches. We start by listening to parts of Paul s own spiritual autobiography as he has handed it down to us, little by little, in his various letters. We will summarize his autobiography in chronological order, to the extent that is possible from reading Paul s letters. First, Paul tried to destroy the church. To establish a timeline of what can be known about Paul s life, mission, and ministry, we must start with his life before his encounter with the risen Christ and before he became a follower of Jesus. Initially, as a Jewish Pharisee committed to the Jewish Law, by his own admission Paul was violently persecuting the church of God and trying to destroy it (see Galatians 1:13-14; Philippians 3:4-6; 1 Corinthians 15:9). In Acts of the Apostles 7:54-8:2 we get a more graphic snapshot of Paul s role as a persecutor of the church in the story about the stoning of Stephen, one of the first Christian martyrs. Why would Paul the Pharisee try to destroy the church, the sect within Judaism that proclaimed Jesus as messiah? We have nothing from Paul s own hand that tells us directly why he was originally persecuting the church. Nevertheless, by looking closely at a few statements in his letters, we can probably identify a few of his earliest Pharisaic beliefs about the Jesus movement. First, Paul the Pharisee was likely outraged that the followers of Jesus were worshiping as Messiah a crucified criminal who was cursed by God under the Jewish Law. Crucifixion was an extremely harsh Roman punishment reserved only for those committing insurrection - crimes against the state. Based on Paul s interpretation of scripture, this crucified criminal, Jesus, was not blessed by God, but in fact was cursed by God.
2 We hear this early interpretation of God s curse on Jesus surface in one of Paul s later arguments, where he is taking the other side of the debate, as he quotes Deuteronomy 21:23 in Galatians 3:13: Galatians 3:13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us for it is written, Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree [directly quoting Deuteronomy 21:23]. When someone is convicted of a crime punishable by death and is executed, and you hang him on a tree, 23 his corpse must not remain all night upon the tree; you shall bury him that same day, for anyone hung on a tree is under God s curse. You must not defile the land that the Lord your God is giving you for possession (Deuteronomy 21:22-23). In other words, according to this interpretation of Deuteronomy, Rome s crucifixion of Jesus placed Jesus under a curse from God; therefore, reasoned Paul the Pharisee, as one who is cursed by God, surely Jesus cannot possibly be God s messiah, God s anointed one (Greek: christos). Second, it is also likely that Paul the Pharisee saw this worship of a crucified messiah as a threat to the continued wellbeing of Jewish communities. From Paul s perspective: These early churches were playing fast and loose with the Jewish Law, manifested by their unqualified openness to Gentiles, thereby compromising the Israel s purity and putting them at risk with their God. The church s enthusiastic worship of a messiah crucified by Rome as a political insurrectionist, combined with their view of the approaching kingdom of God that would include Gentiles, would probably put Jewish communities at risk with Roman authorities because of the social and political volatility of their message. A revelation, however, turned Paul s world upside-down, re-orienting his zeal for God in a new direction. We only have one text from Paul where he writes at any length about his first encounter with the resurrected Christ. Gal. 1:11 For I want you to know, brothers and sisters, that the gospel that was proclaimed by me is not of human origin; 12 for I did not receive it from a human source, nor was I taught it, but I received it through a revelation [apocalypsis] of Jesus Christ.! 13 You have heard, no doubt, of my earlier life in Judaism. I was violently persecuting the church of God and was trying to destroy it. 14 I advanced in
3 Judaism beyond many among my people of the same age, for I was far more zealous for the traditions of my ancestors. 15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles, I did not confer with any human being, 17 nor did I go up to Jerusalem to those who were already apostles before me, but I went away at once into Arabia, and afterwards I returned to Damascus.! 18 Then after three years I did go up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas [Peter] and stayed with him fifteen days; 19 but I did not see any other apostle except James the Lord s brother. Paul s earlier interpretation of Jesus as a crucified criminal, cursed by God, is demolished in an instant through his personal experience of the resurrected Christ. His zeal for destroying the church is now turned to zeal for the church, a zeal for proclaiming Jesus as the Jewish Messiah, and for including Gentiles in this Jewish messianic movement. According to Galatians 1:16, Paul says Christ was revealed in me. Paul did not see a ghost, or have a vision of the risen Christ outside himself; he had a mystical experience of the risen Christ in him. Galatians 1:15 But when God, who had set me apart before I was born and called me through his grace, was pleased 16 to reveal his Son in me, so that I might proclaim him among the Gentiles... This statement in Galatians 1:16 suggests that the risen Christ came alive in Paul in some mystical, but real way. Thus, Paul is able to say later in Galatians 2:19-20: I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me. In other words, the crucified, risen Christ is now making himself seen and known to others through the ways that Paul proclaims and embodies the crucified Christ in his own life and ministry. Thus, in Phil 1:20, Paul can say, it is my eager expectation and hope that I will not be put shame in any way, but that in all boldness, as always, Christ will now be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death. Similarly, Paul speaks about how he publicly embodies Christ crucified when he comes to a new city (see Galatians 3:1-5; 1 Corinthians 2:1-5).
4 Paul s mysticism is a bodily one, because he knows the risen Christ intimately from inside-out and the risen Christ continues to make himself known to others in and through the way Paul carries out his ministry in the world. The revelation of Christ in Paul was not a conversion experience, but a calling or commissioning of Paul as a Jewish prophet. After Paul s encounter with the risen Christ, he remained a Jew, but a different kind of Jew: a follower of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah. Paul had to change some of his beliefs, his conduct, and his community, but he continued to understand himself as a faithful Jew. In fact, Paul characterizes this encounter with the risen Christ using allusive language that echoes the prophetic call/commission of earlier Jewish prophets:...god who had set me apart before I was born... (Galatians 1:15); Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I consecrated you; I appointed you a prophet to the nations [the Greek word translated as nations can equally be translated as Gentiles ] (Jeremiah 1:5; see also Isaiah 49:5). That this experience of the risen Christ did not result in Paul s conversion to another religion is also attested in another autobiographical statement from Paul in Philippians: Philippians 3:3 For it is we who are the circumcision, who worship in the Spirit of God and boast in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh - 4 even though I, too, have reason for confidence in the flesh. If anyone else has reason to be confident in the flesh, I have more: 5 circumcised on the eighth day, a member of the people of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew born of Hebrews; as to the law, a Pharisee; 6 as to zeal, a persecutor of the church; as to righteousness under the law, blameless.!! 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of Christ. 8 More than that, I regard everything as loss because of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things, and I regard them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but one that comes through the faith of Christ, the righteousness from God based on faith. 10 I want to know Christ and the power of his resurrection and the sharing of his sufferings by becoming like him in his death...
5 As we see from this passage, Paul does not denigrate his former life as a zealous Jewish Pharisee. In fact, Paul says his former life in Judaism was blameless under the Jewish Law (v. 6). Instead, he simply says he has found something of surpassing value - something even better than the blamelessness of his earlier life in Judaism under the Law. The surpassing value is knowing Jesus Christ and the power of his resurrection. Following this experience of the risen Christ in Paul, he embodies Christ in his own life so that Gentiles, too, might have their own personal experience of the crucified and risen Christ who is now alive in Paul. After this revelation of Christ in Paul, he sets out to proclaim Christ by word and deed to the Gentiles. We hear this purpose in a variety of ways in Paul s own language: 1 Corinthians 11:1 Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ. 1 Corinthians 4:14 I am not writing these things to shame you, but to admonish you as my beloved children. 15 For though you might have ten thousand moral tutors in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. 16 I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. 17 For this reason, I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. Philippians 3:17 Brothers and sisters, join in imitating me, and pay close attention to those who walk according to the example you have in us. Philippians 4:9 Keep on practicing the things that you have learned and received and heard and seen in me, and the God of peace will be with you. For Paul, the goal is for Gentiles to encounter the crucified and risen Christ in Paul and in all those who walk in the ways of Christ, so that Gentiles, too, might be transformed into the image of Christ, and Christ might come alive in them, both individually and collectively, just as Christ has come alive in Paul (see Galatians 2:19-20).
6 2 Corinthians 3:18 And all of us, with unveiled faces, seeing the glory of the Lord as though reflected in a mirror, are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to another, for this comes from the Lord, the Spirit. Galatians 4:19 My little children, for whom I am again in the pain of childbirth until Christ is formed among you [the you is actually plural, so among you rather than in you ]. Jesus Christ comes alive in individuals and in communities of people who walk together in the ways of Christ. What about the story of Paul s Damascus road experience, where there was a light from heaven as the risen Christ appeared and spoke to him? Most of us know best this story of Paul s conversion from the Acts of the Apostles, where the story is told three different times with some important variations in each story (see 9:1-31; 22:4-16; 26:9-18). Acts is a limited source for what really happened in the life of Paul. It was written at least 40-50 years after the events in Paul s life. While Acts is based on numerous traditions about the importance of Paul and his ministry in the early church, it is primarily a theological interpretation of Paul s life and ministry rather than a factual history as we now understand that term. For example Acts never mentions the fact that Paul wrote letters to his churches, even though there was already a collection of Paul s letters in circulation by the time Acts was written. Questions for Reflection Questions for an individual doing the study: Can you tell a story about a time in the last week when Christ came alive or was living in you? What specific things did you do or say that helped you recognize it was Christ coming alive in you or being revealed to you? Can you tell a story about a recent time when a revelation turned one of your beliefs or practices upside-down, or caused you to question your certainty about an accepted belief or practice? What steps, if any, have you taken to change your beliefs or practices since that revelatory experience? In Paul s own story, he was a persecutor of the church until the risen Christ was revealed in him. Can you tell a story about a recent time in your life when God revealed something to you that caused you to stop opposing the beliefs or practices of another person or group?
7 Questions for a church or other group doing the study together: Can you tell a story about a recent time when you saw Christ come alive or living in a member of your group? What specific things did that person do or say that helped you recognize it was Christ coming alive in that person? Has Christ been revealed to your group in any surprising ways? Paul tells us that we should pay close attention to the people who walk in the ways of Christ and model him for us in our lives. Identify some of the people in your group or church who model Christ for you. Paul tells the church in Galatians 4:19 that he wants Christ to be formed among you. What things characterize a group where Christ has been formed among them? Questions for a Vestry or Gathering of Church Leaders: Paul tells the church in Galatians 4:19 that he wants Christ to be formed among you. What things characterize a Vestry (or other group of church leaders) where Christ has been formed among you? As a leadership group, you have a responsibility for modeling Christ to the congregation as a group. What does it mean to model Christ as a group? How does your vestry concretely model Christ for the congregation? What things might you do as a group that would be even more faithful in modeling Christ to your congregation? As a leadership group where Christ is formed among you, you also have the responsibility from time to time to speak a word of the Lord that challenges your congregation to be more faithful. In what ways might your congregation need you, as a group, to model Christ by critiquing or challenging your congregation?