P. Sanders (Paul and Palestinian Judaism, 1977)
“Paul departed not from judaism because he thought it was a religion of works, but because he believed that God had revealed a new way through Christ. Their conflict was not with the Torah, but with its uniqueness.”
(Sanders, hold 6: “The Pattern of Religion in Paul”)
Why it matters question
“Apostle Paul, or rabbi Saul” is not a rhetorical game: condenses an actual tension between their jewish identity farisea and his mission among the gentiles. Academic research modern, supported in philology, history of judaism from the Second Temple and archaeology, understands Paul as a jew of the diaspora that, after an experience revelatoria, reconfigures itself —without abandoning— their matrix biblical to announce that the God of Israel has acted in Jesus the Messiah and has been open to the nations belonging to the people of God without requiring circumcision nor the full observance of the Torah.
1) Sources and methods (what do we know with a greater degree of certainty)
Primary sources:
- Authentic letters (according to consensus): 1 Thessalonians, Galatians, 1-2 Corinthians, Romans, Philippians, Philemon. They are the strongest foundation to rebuild Paul.
- Letters disputed: 2 Thess, Col, Eph (considered by many to be indebted to Paul; others, later).
- Pastoral: 1-2 Tim, Titus (most of the judges after the Paul historical).
- Acts of the Apostles: valuable but theologically redacted; useful if it contrasts with the cards.
- Archaeological data: e.g., registration of Gallio (Delphi), to date the proconsulado of Gallio in Achaia, and anchor the stay of Paul in Corinth ~50-52 d.C.
Method: priority to the authentic letters; Acts to fill holes with caution; check chronological with epigraphy.
James D. G. Dunn (The Theology of Paul the Apostle, 1998)
“The center of Paul's thought is not justification by faith, but the participation in Christ: a union transformative that redefines the human, ethnic, and religious.”
(Dunn, cap 3: “The Gospel According to Paul”)
(2) the Identity, training and languages
- Name: Saul (Hebrew/arámeo) and Paulos (Latin/Greek) — use bilingual typical of the diaspora.
- Source: jewish tribe of Benjamin, pharisee (Phil 3:5; Gal 1:14).
- Roman citizenship: mentioned in Acts; non-committable for the cards, but plausible for a jew a sheltered port city.
- Education: training farisea solid in Scripture (LXX and oral traditions). The claim to have studied with Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) is plausible, but not verifiable out-of-Fact.
- Languages: koine Greek (letters), knowledge of Hebrew/arámeo (biblical exegesis), familiarity with Latin legal/administrative environment (imperial).
3) Chronology minimum (approx.)
- c. 5-10 d.C. birth (Tarsus or environment of the diaspora).
- c. 30-33: persecution of the ekklēsia.
- c. 33-36: so-called “disclosure” of the Messiah (Gal 1:15-16).
- c. 46-49: mission Barnabas (Cyprus/Asia Minor).
- 48-49: controversy Antioch (Gal 2); “Council” of Jerusalem (Gal 2; Acts 15).
- 50-52: Corinth (confirmed by the inscription of Gallio).
- 55-57: writing 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, Romans.
- 58-60: detention (Caesarea).
- c. 60-62: Rome (Acts concludes here).
- c. 64-67: dying in Rome under Nero (a tradition later).
4) Routes, networks, and economy of movement
- Key cities: Antioch, Ephesus, Corinth, Philippi, Thessalonica, Rome.
- Model of bra: manual labor (weaver canvas/carpentry textile; 1 Thess 2; 1 Cor 9), hospitality local leaders (Phoebe in the church at Cenchreae, Prisca and Priscilla).
- The collection for Jerusalem (1-2 Cor; Rom 15): gesture theological and political welding unit between judeo-christian and gentile.
N. T. Wright (Paul and the Faithfulness of God, 2013)
“Paul did not abandon monotheism, or the election of Israel; the reconfigured around the Messiah. In his vision, the one God had done what she always promised, but in a way that nobody expected.”
(Wright, volume 1, section IV: “Reimagining Monotheism, Election, and Eschatology”)
5) Core theological according to the authentic letters
5.1 Christ and the event
- Messiah, crucified and risen as apocalyptic event who inaugurates the new creation (1 Cor 15; Gal 1).
- Participation: believers “in Christ” (ἐν Χριστῷ), co-crucified/co-resurrected (Rom 6; Gal 2:19-20).
5.2 Justification and Torah
- Justification for the fidelity/trust (πίστις) of/in jesus Christ (discussion translation: pistis Christou).
- “Works of the law”you : not as ethics in general, but identity markers (circumcision, diet, calendar) that not imposed on gentiles (Gal 2-3; Rom 3).
- The law is holy, but it is not the middle of incorporation of the gentiles; governs the flesh/sin until Christ (Rom 7-8).
5.3 Spirit, ethics and community
- Spirit as the power of new life (Gal 5; Rom 8).
- Charisms as gifts plurals for edification (1 Cor 12-14); the primacy of love (1 Cor 13).
- Ceia/Baptism: real participation in Christ (1 Cor 10-11; Rom 6).
5.4 Israel and the nations
- Rom 9-11: partial rejection, not final; hope re-graft; antisupersesionismo explicit (not boast against the “branches”).
John G. Gager (Reinventing Paul, 2000)
“Paul never preached against the jews; he spoke to the gentiles. His project was not to destroy the law, but to extend the pact without requiring circumcision.”
(Gager, introduction)
6) scholarly Readings contemporary (three main currents)
- New Perspective on Paul (E. P. Sanders, J. D. G. Dunn, N. T. Wright)
- It re-reads the “judaism” as nomismo pactual (not legalism of merits).
- “Works of the law” = signs identity; Paul fight exclusivismos ethnic more than a course pelagianism.
- Apocalyptic literature (J. Louis Martyn, M. de Boer, Beverly Gaventa)
- Emphasizes inrush of God releases of Powers (Sin, Death) and not just an adjustment in forensics.
- Christ as act of new creation that restores the subject and cosmos.
- Readings radical/philosophical and anti-imperial (Taubes, Agamben, Žižek; Crossan/Horsley; Elliott)
- See Paul as critic of the the roman empire (subtextos in 1 Thess 1; 1 Cor 8-10; Rom 1-4; 13),
- and as thinker universalist whose ekklesía it embodies a alternative policy.
(Important: these currents are not mutually exclusive; many studies combine elements.)
7) Women, gender and slavery
- Partner: Phoebe (diakonos/prostatis, Rom 16:1-2), Prisca (Rom 16:3), Junias (Rom 16:7, “outstanding among the apostles”).
- Gal 3:28: “there is no longer jew/Greek... male/female” in Christ → base for a equality baptismal.
- Texts send silence or subordination (1 Cor 14:34-35; 1 Tim 2) are matches played (interpolation/later editing or the local context).
- Bondage: Philemon sample strategy persuasive more than abolitionist; planting seeds for reconfiguring the master-slave relationship “in the Lord”.
8) Sexuality and morality
- 1 Cor 5-7: ethics community, conjugal fidelity, the charism of celibacy; the marriage as well and the continence as charisma, not imposition.
- Rom 1: diagnostic idolatry of the nations; exegesis current warns not to isolate the passage of Rom 2 (judgment against the one who judges) or your intention rhetoric.
Paula Fredriksen (Paul: The Pagans’ Apostle., 2017)
“Paul was a jewish apocalyptic expected the imminent redemption of Israel and of the world. Ever envisioned the founding of a new religion.”
(Fredriksen, cap 2: “Paul within Judaism”)
9) Political and civil obedience (Rom 13)
- Two lines read:
(a) Civic order as containment of evil (traditional reading).
(b) Irony/relativization under the lordship of Christ (reading anti-imperial). - Minimum consensus: it is not servility; Rom 12-13 required non-violence, hospitality, common good.
10) Strategy and epistolary rhetoric
- Epistolary genre greco-roman with adaptations jewish; use of diatribe (the interlocutor dummy: Rom 2-3), pomp, catalogues of virtues/vices.
- Co-authors and networks (Silvanus, Timothy, Third); carriers that interpret the letter (Phoebe in Romans).
- Close with greetings and the list of co-workers (Rom 16) that maps the network density missionary.
11) Mystical paulina
- Visions and revelations (2 Cor 12), but without triumphalism; the seal is the weakness and the power in the frailty (2 Cor 4; 12).
- The mystical is not evasive: it results in praxis community and ethics cruciform.
12) Death and legacy
- A martyr in Rome low Nero (64-67 d.C., patristic tradition).
- Legacy: universalization the people of God, theology of grace, ekklesía transnational; at the same time, the object of bad reads jewish exegesis modern has corrected with force.
Krister Stendahl (Paul among Jews and Gentiles, 1976)
“The problem of Paul was not the fault, but how to include the gentiles in the people of God. The Reform read his personal anguish where he spoke of the universal mission.”
(Stendahl, conference “The Apostle Paul and the Introspective Conscience of the West”)
13) what Rabbi Saul or Paul?
- Remains Saul: its self-understanding is jewish, farisea, cristocéntricamente reread.
- Is apostle: “sent to the gentiles” by revelation, without breaking with Israel.
- The formula is more faithful to the state of the research: “the apostle, Saul of Tarsus, a pharisee of the Messiah Jesus”. The dichotomy dissolves: rabbi and apostle in the same vocation.
Annex: timeline summary of letters (dating common)
- 1 Tes (c. 50-51, Corinth).
- Gal (c. 48-55; most: 54-55).
- 1 Cor (c. 54-55, Ephesus).
- 2 Cor (c. 55-56, Macedonia).
- Rom (c. 56-57, Corinth).
- Phil and Lwf (captivity: c. 60-62).
(Disputed/Pastoral: to subsequent or school pauline.)
Conclusion
Paul did not “abandoned” judaism: reviewed Writing as a pharisee convinced that God had revealed to the Messiah, crucified and risen one, and therefore opened belonging to the people of God to the gentiles without requiring them to become jews. From the evidence available, the more accurate is to maintain a yes and yes: rabbi Saul as to your identity and training; apostle Paul in terms of his commission and missionary practice.
Jacob Taubes (The political theology of Paul, 1993)
“Paul was not a theologian of the soul, but a revolutionary time: in him, the story is in two parts.”
(Taubes, inaugural conference in Munich, 1987)
