Pauline Themes

1
Pauline Themes
Mysticism 2 Corinthians 121-4 It is necessary
to boast nothing is to be gained by it, but I
will go on to visions and revelations of the
Lord. I know a person in Christ who fourteen
years ago was caught up to the third
heavenwhether in the body or out of the body I
do not know God knows. And I know that such a
personwhether in the body or out of the body I
do not know God knows was caught up into
Paradise and heard things that are not to be
told, that no mortal is permitted to repeat.
Comment Although Paul puts this in the third
person, almost everybody thinks he is talking
about himself. Paul, by the way, is having a very
difficult time here practicing the humility he
believes he should practice.
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The Conflicted/Reconciled Self Romans 714-84
For we know that the law is spiritual but I am
of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. I do
not understand my own actions. For I do not do
what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. Now
if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law
is good. But in fact it is no longer I that do
it, but sin that dwells within me. For I know
that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in
my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot
do it. For I do not do the good I want, but the
evil I do not want is what I do. Now if I do what
I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but
sin that dwells within me. So I find it to be a
law that when I want to do what is good, evil
lies close at hand. For I delight in the law of
God in my inmost self, but I see in my members
another law at war with the law of my mind,
making me captive to the law of sin that dwells
in my members. Wretched man that I am! Who will
rescue me from this body of death? Thanks be to
God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with
my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with
my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin. There is
therefore now no condemnation for those who are
in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of
life in Christ Jesus has set you free from the
law of sin and of death. For God has done what
the law, weakened by the flesh, could not do by
sending his own Son in the likeness of sinful
flesh, and to deal with sin, he condemned sin in
the flesh, so that the just requirement of the
law might be fulfilled in us, who walk not
according to the flesh but according to the
Spirit. Flesh for Paul means, not our bodies,
but our lower nature. Bodies are destined for
resurrection flesh is not. The Gospel of John
uses flesh in a more positive way (as in The
Word became flesh).
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The Conflicted/Reconciled Self (continued) Galati
ans 219-21 For through the law I died to the
law, so that I might live to God. I have been
crucified with Christ and it is no longer I who
live, but it is Christ who lives in me. And the
life I now live in the flesh I live by the
faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me and
gave himself for me. I do not nullify the grace
of God for if justification comes through the
law, then Christ died for nothing. 2 Corinthians
516-19 From now on, therefore, we regard no one
from a human point of view even though we once
knew Christ from a human point of view, we know
him no longer in that way. So if anyone is in
Christ, there is a new creation everything old
has passed away see, everything has become new!
All this is from God, who reconciled us to
himself through Christ, and has given us the
ministry of reconciliation that is, in Christ
God was reconciling the world to himself, not
counting their trespasses against them, and
entrusting the message of reconciliation to us.
4
Eschatology (teaching about the end) Paul
expected Christs return in his own lifetime We
who are left alive until the Lord comes will
be caught up in the clouds to meet the Lord in
the air. (1 Thessalonians 415-17) The time we
live in will not last long. While it lasts,
married men should be as if they had no wives
buyers must not count on keeping what they buy,
nor those who use the worlds wealth. For the
whole frame of this world is passing away. (1
Corinthians 729-31) Listen! I will unfold a
mystery we shall not all die, but we shall all
be changed in a flash, in the twinkling of an
eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will
sound, and the dead will rise immortal, and we
shall be changed. (1 Corinthians 1551-52)
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The Centrality Preeminence of Jesus

• Paul sees the Risen Jesus in several roles
  (Harris)
• 1) As Gods revealed Wisdom (1 Corinthians 1-4)
• 2) As the divine Lord through whom God rules
  (Philippians 211 Romans 109 1 Corinthians
  1524-28)
• 3) As the means by whom Gods Spirit dwells in
  believers (Romans 8 1417)
• 4) As the second Adam (Romans 512-21 1
  Corinthians 1521-24, 45-49)
• 5) As the head of his body the Church (1
  Corinthians 1016-18, 1212-30 Romans 12)
• 6) As liberator from sin, Torah and death
  (Galatians 3-5 Romans 3-7)
• For Paul, ultimate reality is not simply God, but
  something more complex and elusive The Communion
  of Gods Spirit in Jesus Christ
• The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, the love of
  God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit be with
  all of you. (2 Corinthians 1313)
• The communion of Gods Spirit in Jesus Christ is
  the ultimate reality here and now and the
  ultimate destiny of all creation.
• Communion Mutual Indwelling (a union that
  preserves differences) God, the risen Jesus and
  the Spirit indwell one another together they
  indwell creation, and vice versa together they
  indwell believers, and vice versa believers
  indwell one another (are members of one
  another) in the one body of Christ (Romans
  125).
• In a sense, God simply is the original communion,
  into which we are being drawn.

6
Justification by Grace Alone, through Faith Alone

• Grace unmerited favor, unconditional love
• Justification being put right (Lutherans
  being declared right Catholics being made
  right)
• Faith Objectivelythe faithfulness of God, Jesus
  and the Spirit subjectivelynot blind belief,
  but awakening and responding to the grace of God
  already at work in ones life.
• Joint Catholic-Lutheran Statement By grace
  alone, in faith in Christs saving work and not
  because of any merit on our part, we are adopted
  by God and receive the Holy Spirit, who renews
  our hearts while equipping and calling us to good
  works.
• Romans 620b-21 Where sin increased, grace
  abounded all the more, so that, just as sin
  exercised dominion in death, so grace might also
  exercise dominion through justification leading
  to eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

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Justification (continued) Romans 321-31 But
now, apart from law, the righteousness of God has
been disclosed, and is attested by the law and
the prophets, the righteousness of God through
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who
believe. For there is no distinction, since all
have sinned and fall short of the glory of God
they are now justified by his grace as a gift,
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus,
whom God put forward as a sacrifice of atonement
by his blood, effective through faith. He did
this to show his righteousness, because in his
divine forbearance he had passed over the sins
previously committed it was to prove at the
present time that he himself is righteous and
that he justifies the one who has faith in Jesus.
Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By
what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of
faith. For we hold that a person is justified by
faith apart from works prescribed by the law. Or
is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of
Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God
is one and he will justify the circumcised on
the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through
that same faith. Do we then overthrow the law by
this faith? By no means! On the contrary, we
uphold the law.