Mission to the Gentiles: The construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul
TL;DR: In this article, the authors explore the construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul, and illustrate how Paul himself describes the system of changed relationships: turning away from the idols towards the living God, being in Christ or being part of the body of Christ.
Abstract: Paul allowed pagans to become members of the newly founded communities of Christ-believers and thus members of God’s covenant people, Israel, without becoming circumcised. However, even if many of the ‘pagan Christians’ who became members of the new messianic movement had a background as God-Fearers in the frame of diaspora synagogues, the radicalism of their ‘step in faith’ can hardly be overestimated. With their turn from different pagan cults and their gods to the mysterious God of Israel and his crucified and risen Son, Jesus Christ, a whole coordinate system of human relationships, expectations, hopes and norms must have changed. This paper explores the construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul. It is illustrated how Paul himself describes the system of changed relationships: turning away from the idols towards the living God , being in Christ or – together with others – part of the ‘body of Christ’. Moreover, these three dimensions of new relations – to God , to Christ and to the fellow believers in Christ – correspond to three reference points for ethical decisions in Pauline communities: the command to love one another , the idea of human conscience (as a voice coming from God ) and the idea of the ‘ethos of Christ ’.
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24 Dec 2020
TL;DR: In this paper, a comparative study of salvation in modern time, with first century practice of the same is presented, and the authors explore how, in pursuit of practising their salvation, the community of Matthew in Antioch had to contest the Roman Empire, accommodate Diaspora Judaism, and identify with the emerging Jesus Movement.
Abstract: This article was prompted by my fervour to find out how modern and ancient cultures influence Christian conception and the practice of salvation. To address this issue, I decided to do a comparative study of salvation in modern time, with first century practice of the same. On the one hand, I focused on exploring salvation as reflected in the Gospel of Matthew 5.17–20, because most scholars believe that this Gospel addresses a multi-cultural community composed of Gentiles and Judeans. On the other hand, to observe modern practices of salvation, I interviewed a focus group through a questionnaire and telephone calls in 2011 and 2019, respectively, to briefly explore the case of St James Anglican Parish at Kajire Village in Taita-Taveta County, Kenya. The overall goal of the article is to explore how, in pursuit of practising their salvation, the community of Matthew in Antioch had to contest the Roman Empire, accommodate Diaspora Judaism, and identify with the emerging Jesus Movement. Consequently, employing literary analysis and what I call “social identity political theory” (SIPT), I have argued that a culturally conditioned practice of salvation is prone to the promotion of group dominance. To address this problem, Matthew advances an inclusive view of salvation that entails the construction of a superordinate Christian identity, which has the potential to support a Christocentric perspective of salvation.
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Book•
01 Jan 2003
TL;DR: In this paper, Esler provides an illuminating analysis of this epistle, employing social-scientific methods along with epigraphy and archaeology, concluding that the apostle Paul was attempting to facilitate the resolution of intergroup conflict among the Christ-followers of Rome, especially between Judeans and non-Judeans, and to establish a new identity for them by developing a form of group categorization that subsumes the various groups into a new entity.
Abstract: What is the purpose of Paul's letter to the Romans? Esler provides an illuminating analysis of this epistle, employing social-scientific methods along with epigraphy and archaeology. His conclusion is that the apostle Paul was attempting to facilitate the resolution of intergroup conflict among the Christ-followers of Rome, especially between Judeans and non-Judeans, and to establish a new identity for them by developing a form of group categorization that subsumes the various groups into a new entity.
131 citations
"Mission to the Gentiles: The constr..." refers background in this paper
...In his important monograph on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Esler (2003) describes Paul’s role towards the reshaping of the identity of the Roman community in the following way:25...
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...In his important monograph on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Esler (2003) describes Paul’s role towards the reshaping of the identity of the Roman community in the following way:25 I am concerned with the way in which Paul sought to exercise leadership in relation to the Roman congregations by…...
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...In his important monograph on Paul’s letter to the Romans, Esler (2003) describes Paul’s role towards the reshaping of the identity of the Roman community in the following way:25 I am concerned with the way in which Paul sought to exercise leadership in relation to the Roman congregations by reinforcing the fundamental common identity his addressees shared in relation to God and Christ, especially to the extent that his success in such a strategy would mean creating a particular form of unity between Judean and Greek ethnic subgroups previously accustomed to mutual hostility and conflict....
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Book•
26 Dec 2004
TL;DR: Malherbe as mentioned in this paper argued that Paul's parenesis needs to be situated within a broader understanding of exhortation, one that takes fuller account of the types of parennesis practiced by the popular philosophers.
Abstract: The Letters to the Thessalonians, by Abraham J. Malherbe. AB 32B. New York: Doubleday, 2000. Pp. xx + 508. $50.00. [Reprinted with permission from Bryn Mawr Classical Review. This new volume will fascinate for several reasons, not least because of the felicitous marriage of material and commentator: Malherbe is in many respects ideally suited to comment on the Thessalonian correspondence. Not only does he possess an enviable familiarity with Greek popular philosophy and its literary conventions-including ancient epistlography-he has also worked fruitfully for many years on Paul's letters to the Thessalonians. The particular distinction of this volume, therefore, resides in Malherbe's ability to situate Paul's epistles within the larger literary and philosophical context of his day. Malherbe is able to illustrate in what respects Paul participates in these literary and philosophical conventions and where he departs from them. Either way, he helps to explain just why it is that the apocryphal correspondence between Paul and Seneca should have made such sense to the ancients. Nor can it be said that Malherbe's subject matter is without interest since it consists of what are generally conceded to be the earliest extant Christian documentsPaul's two letters to the church he founded in Thessalonica, probably written from Corinth about 50-51 C.E. These letters were directed at a small non-Jewish group of believers and provide vivid glimpses into Paul's missionary practice among Gentiles, as well as into the travails experienced by a recently-formed house church, numbering probably a few dozen believers. Put simply, the letters "open windows onto newly founded Christian communities as no other documents do. They reveal the challenges recent converts faced and how Paul, aware of their problems, acted pastorally in writing to them" (p. xi). It is this pastoral dimension that receives particular emphasis in Malherbe's commentary. He maintains that it was not just the Thessalonians' theological development that was of concern to Paul, but their emotional, moral and spiritual nurture as well. Here Malherbe departs somewhat from the perspectives of a number of previous commentators in establishing the purpose of I Thessalonians. Given that the letter is usually divided into two main components, an "autobiographical" (I:2-3:10) and a parenetic or hortatory segment (4:1-5:22), interpretations have tended to concentrate on one or the other of these features. Most commonly, the letter's purpose has been established from the autobiographical segment, especially 2:1-9, which are thought to constitute Paul's apologetic against opponents variously identified as pagans, Jews, spiritual enthusiasts, or Gnostics. This apology is seen to inform the epistle as a whole, with the second half of the letter providing a generalized exhortation with no specific application to the Thessalonians. Less often, the parenesis of 4:1-2, 10-12 has been taken as the core of the letter, leading to the surmise that the purpose of the letter is hortatory. Malherbe takes issue with both these views. Against the apologetic interpretation, he observes that the letter provides no basis whatsoever for positing any adversaries. And while he is not out of sympathy with the parenetic stance, he maintains that its scope needs to be broadened considerably: first, it should be recognized that the autobiographical component of the letter is also hortatory in that it provides Paul's converts with a trustworthy modelnamely, himself-to imitate. Second, Paul's parenesis needs to be situated within a broader understanding of exhortation, one that takes fuller account of the types of parenesis practiced by the popular philosophers. Malherbe derives this broader understanding of parenesis from authors such as Seneca, Plutarch, Cicero, Epicurus, and Pliny, who, especially in their letters, show how exhortation was commonly used to instruct and to shape communities or individuals. …
63 citations
Book•
01 Jan 1997
53 citations
"Mission to the Gentiles: The constr..." refers background in this paper
...Wilckens (1987) writes: Was das Gewissen bezeugt (Röm 2,15), ist Gottes Forderung, inhaltlich identisch mit dem, was das Gesetz den Juden sagt (V 14): das Gute, das zu tun ist (12,2), im Gegensatz zum Bösen, dem Gottes Zorn gilt (Röm 13,5)....
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01 Jan 2004
24 citations
"Mission to the Gentiles: The constr..." refers background in this paper
...For more information on Paul’s use of cultic metaphors, see Hogeterp (2006)....
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