Aim of the course. The aim of this course is to prepare the student for future exegesis coursework through an investigation of the backgrounds, origins, circumstances, and character of the New Testament books. In order to advance into deeper engagement with the Word of God, students must establish a foundational understanding of the historical context of the New Testament and the earliest Church as well as a basic familiarity with the issues surrounding the scholarly study of the New Testament, today. At Gordon-Conwell, the course ‘Introduction New Testament’ traditionally seeks to supply this need and so lay the foundation for more detailed engagement with individual New Testament books.

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An Introduction to the New Testament

The present study consists of a comparison of the impact of the Christ-event on the existence of the elect in Colossians and 1 Peter. As such it is a study in the theological anthropology of two significant New Testament texts. The main argument of this thesis is that Colossians and 1 Peter contain distinctive emphases in their understanding of: the σάρξ (“flesh”) of the elect (anthropology), the temporal axis of salvation (eschatology), the extent to which the elect participate in the “heavenly” sphere (cosmology), and the means to live rightly (agency). Because a NT author’s beliefs prior to faith in Christ reflect a particular cognitive environment formed by the author’s historical setting and cultural milieu, setting the author’s views in the context of Early Jewish texts throws fresh light on his thought-world and understanding of the new existence. I argue that many of the features distinguishing Colossians from 1 Peter stem from the possibility that Colossians reflects the thought-world of 4QInstruction and 1 Peter that of the Hodayot.
	The thesis has the following structure. Chapter 1 explains the reasoning for comparing Colossians and 1 Peter by showing their manifold similarities with one another including their respective Christologies which undergird their remarkably similar paraenetical material. The question is raised why, if the epistles end up offering almost identical paraenesis, they have such distinctive theological patterns of thought. Chapter 2 is an overview of scholarship demonstrating that this question has not been adequately answered. This is due partly to an emphasis on the recipient context and to reading each respective author’s theology primarily as a response to the Sitz im Leben of the recipients. The overview will also demonstrate that both authors draw from the HB and EJL to interpret the impact of the Christ-event, but do so with distinctive language, emphases, and metaphors. Chapter 3 will analyze 1 Peter’s understanding of the new existence locating it within the author’s worldview in which suffering is a significant aspect of being God’s ‘end of days’ people. Chapter 4 will explore the Hodayot and demonstrate the manifold ways in which it provides antecedents to ideas identified in 1 Peter. Chapter 5 will analyze the worldview of the author of Colossians and his understanding of the new existence including his emphasis on the elect as possessing the “mystery” of God. Chapter 6 will explore 4QInstruction and demonstrate the manifold ways in which it provides antecedents to ideas identified in Colossians. Chapter 7 will conclude the thesis drawing the threads together and summarizing the distinctive emphases of Colossians and 1 Peter in their respective understandings of the new existence and the means to live rightly.

New existence and righteous living : Colossians and 1 Peter in conversation with 4QInstruction and the Hodayot

In this article I shall argue for two points: first, that Col 1. 15–20 exhibits, without the deletion of any of its parts, a clear structure which can, in some meaningful senses, be called ‘poetic’; second, that the passage, read as a poem in the way I shall suggest, exhibits a characteristically Pauline form of what we may call Christological monotheism. This will point on to some further suggestions regarding the place of the passage within Colossians as a whole.

Poetry and Theology in Colossians 1. 15-20

The study begins with an introduction which defines rhetorical criticism, traces its development from the Church Fathers to the present, examines methodologies, and summarizes the major sources of classical theory and epistolary rhetoric. The classical methodology of Kennedy is chosen, and its five steps constitute the five chapters of the thesis. The objectives are to understand the intent of the author, the persuasive power of the text upon the original audience, and how the author has transmitted his intent through the text. In Chapter one Colossians is established as a legitimate rhetorical unit with definable introduction, body, and conclusion. Theories regarding the integrity of the text and incorporation of traditional materials are examined. Classical theories of arrangement are discussed and commentators' outlines are examined. An Aristotelian outline is proposed. Chapter two defines the rhetorical situation as a complex of persons, events, objects, relations, times, and places which interact to compel the production of discourse to alter an exigence. The relationship of rhetorical situation to argumentation is discussed and the situation proposed by commentators for Colossians is summarized before investigating the letter's rhetorical complex. The question of authorship is treated and Pauline authorship is proposed. Principal characters, recipients, place and date of writing, and general content are examined. The exigence is reconstructed, with emphasis placed not on "heresy" but on the opportunity presented by the return of Onesimus to his master to encourage and instruct the Colossians in mature knowledge and conduct. The rhetorical constraints used are identified, including Paul's personal ethos, tradition, and propriety. Finally, rhetorical problems facing Paul are noted: he did not personally know his audience, lacked first-hand information of the situation in Colossae, and was prevented by imprisonment from a personal visit. Chapter three examines the letter's stasis and genus. Classical stasis theory is summarized and types of stases explained. The proposition of Colossians is examined to discover authorial intent. The causa is complex, consisting of two interrelated rational, definite questions, both exhibiting qualitative stases. Classical theories of genera are discussed and Aristotle's tripartite division is chosen as a model. Colossians' core goals of instruction and modification of behavior indicate a deliberative document which relies heavily upon epideictic. Chapter four contains a detailed examination of the letter's parts, including the author's management of materials and use of style to accomplish his purpose through the argumentation. The prescript is included under the exordium for practical purposes. The causa is identified as honorable, and the exordium is shown to be a principium which acts as an introduction, and in Colossians also resembles a narratio by recounting events which have led up to the present situation. It employs epideictic in a series of encomia to gain the good-will and attention of the audience and further strengthens the ethos of the author. The Apostle declares what he wishes to accomplish in the propositio: that his audience have full knowledge of God's will in order to please the Lord in everything by bearing fruit and increasing

Rhetorical analysis of Paul's Epistle to the Colossians

Supremacy of Christ in Col. 1:15-20 is essential to Christian faith. Many attempts have been made to examine this passage and mostly from the theological point of view. The aim of this article is to reexamine this passage and propose an analysis from the perspective of Christian education (with the implications) by firstly exegeting the passage in Colossian’s context. The exegesis begins with providing the translation form the Greek text, proposing the structure followed by demonstrating the critical issue in each section of the structure, and finally summarizing the principles. The next step is to demonstrate the analysis from the perspective of Christian education on every section in the structure, followed by the significance of this passage in Christian education.

https://ojs.uph.edu/index.php/DIL/article/download/1887/723

Christ’s Supremacy: Colossians 1:15-20 and Its Implication in Education

The purpose of this paper is to argue that the author of the Epistle to the Colossians took his great Christological statements in i. 9–23 and ii. 6–15 direct from Jewish sources. I am denying on the one hand the thesis that he was writing as a creative theologian who drew from time to time on a store of theological ideas which he made his own, and on the other hand the thesis that he was citing ‘hymns’ that were already complete entities. He neither created a Christology nor cited one or two commonly agreed pieces of liturgy; rather, he put together a great number of distinct but related statements which already existed in his sacred traditional sources.

https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/S0028688500008687

J. C. O'Neill

Papers

The Source of the Christology in Colossians