Since the 1970s, scholars have sought to place Paul the Apostle within his historical context in Second Temple Judaism. Paul's relationship to Judaism involves topics including the status of Israel's covenant with God and the role of works as a means to either gain or keep the covenant.
The inclusion of Gentiles into the early Christian movement provoked a controversy between Paul and other Apostles over whether the gentiles' faith in Christ exempted them from circumcision. Paul did not deem circumcision necessary for gentiles, because he thought that God included them into the New Covenant through faith in Christ. This brought him into conflict with the Judaizers, a faction of the Jewish Christians who believed Mosaic Law did require circumcision for Gentile converts. Eventually, adherents of Paul's view became more numerous, and this among other related developments led to the creation of Christianity as distinct from Judaism.
Overview
Paul's influence on Christian thinking is considered to be more significant than that of any other New Testament author. According to Krister Stendahl, the main concern of Paul's writings on Jesus' role, and salvation by faith, is not the individual conscience of human sinners, and their doubts about being chosen by God or not, but the problem of the inclusion of Gentile (Greek) Torah-observers into God's covenant.
Paul draws on several interpretative frames to solve this problem, but most importantly, his own experience and understanding. The kerygma from refers to two mythologies: the Greek myth of the noble dead, to which the Maccabean notion of martyrdom and dying for one's people is related; and the Jewish myth of the persecuted sage or righteous man, the "story of the child of wisdom." The notion of 'dying for' refers to this Christian martyrdom and the persecution of Christians in the Roman Empire. 'Dying for our sins' refers to the problem of Gentile observers of the Torah who, though faithful, are not Jewish by birth and are therefore 'sinners' and excluded from God's covenant. Jesus' death and resurrection solved this problem of the exclusion of the Gentiles from God's covenant, as indicated by .
The inclusion of Gentiles into Judaism posed a problem for the Jewish-Christian identity of some of the proto-Christians, since the new converts did not follow all the tenets of the Mosaic Law; circumcision in particular was regarded as a token of the membership of the Abrahamic covenant, and the most traditionalist faction of Jewish Christians (i.e., converted Pharisees) insisted that Gentile converts had to be circumcised as well. Paul objected strongly to the insistence on keeping all of the Jewish commandments, considering it a great threat to his doctrine of salvation through faith in Jesus. According to Paula Fredriksen, Paul's opposition to male circumcision for Gentiles is in line with the Old Testament predictions that "in the last days the gentile nations would come to the God of Israel, as gentiles (e.g., ), not as proselytes to Israel."Larry Hurtado (December 4, 2018), "When Christians were Jews": Paula Fredriksen on "The First Generation" For Paul, Gentile male circumcision was therefore an affront to God's intentions. According to Larry Hurtado, "Paul saw himself as what Munck called a salvation-historical figure in his own right", who was "personally and singularly deputized by God to bring about the predicted ingathering (the "fullness") of the nations ()."
For Paul, the sacrifice of Jesus solved the problem of the exclusion of Gentiles from God's covenant, since the faithful are redeemed by participation in Jesus' death and rising. According to and Acts chapter 15, Paul discussed the issue with the leaders of the Jerusalem ekklēsia, agreeing to allow Gentile converts exemption from most Jewish commandments, which opened the way for a much larger Christian Church, extending far beyond the Jewish community. Hurtado notes that Paul valued the linkage with "Jewish Christian circles in Roman Judea", which makes it likely that his Christology was in line with, and indebted to, their views. Hurtado further notes that "[i]t is widely accepted that the tradition that Paul recites in must go back to the Jerusalem Church."
New Perspective on Paul
E. P. Sanders introduced a new perspective on Paul with his 1977 publication Paul and Palestinian Judaism.Paul and Palestinian Judaism 1977 SCM Press According to Sanders, Western theology has misunderstood the Judaic context of Paul's religious views. Law-keeping and good works were not means to enter the covenant (legalism), but a sign of being in, and a means of keeping, the covenant. Sanders called this pattern of religion "covenantal nomism". Sanders' perspective calls the traditional Protestant understanding of the doctrine of justification into serious question.
Sanders' publications, such as Paul and Palestinian Judaism in 1977 and Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People in 1983, have since been taken up by Professor James D. G. Dunn, who coined the phrase "New Perspective on Paul";J.D.G. Dunn's Manson Memorial Lecture (4 November 1982): 'The New Perspective on Paul' BJRL 65 (1983), 95–122. and by N. T. Wright, then Anglican bishop of Durham. Wright notes the apparent discrepancy between the Epistle to the Romans and the Epistle to the Galatians, with Romans being much more positive about the continuing covenantal relationship between God and his ancient people than is Galatians. Wright contends therefore that works are not insignificant. According to Wright, Paul distinguishes between works which are signs of ethnic identity, and those which are a sign of obedience to Christ.
Within the last three decades, a number of theologians have put forward other "New Perspectives" on Paul's doctrine of justification, and even more specifically on what he says about justification by faith. According to Simon Gathercole, "Justification by faith" means God accepts Gentiles in addition to Jews, since both believe in God. Paul writes in his letter to the Romans, "For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from observing the law. Is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles too? Yes, of Gentiles too, since there is only one God, who will justify the circumcised by faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith". Faith is the central component of Paul's doctrine of justification—meaning that Gentiles don't need to become Israelites when they convert to Christianity, because God is not just the God of one nation, but Gentile and Jew alike.Gathercole Simon, "What Did Paul Really Mean?" (Christianity Today, 2007)
Sources
The Book of Acts contains an account of Paul's travels and deeds, his conflicts with Greeks and Jews during the Julio-Claudian dynasty, and his interactions with the original Apostles of Jesus. The value of the historical information in Acts, however, is challenged by some scholars. They believe that it was written from a perspective of reconciliation between Pauline Christianity and its opponents, so portrays Paul as a Law-abiding Jew and omits his dispute with Peter, only briefly mentioning the split with Barnabas. Irenaeus in the 2nd century was the first of record to quote Acts, and he used it against Marcion of Sinope, who rejected the Hebrew Bible entirely (see also Marcionism).
Paul's background
Jewish background
Paul was from a devout Jewish family based in the city of Tarsus,Wright, G. Ernest, Great People of the Bible and How They Lived, (Pleasantville, New York: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc., 1974). one of the largest trade centers on the Mediterranean coast.Montague, George T. The Living Thought of St. Paul, Milwaukee: Bruce Publishing Co. 1966. It had been in existence several hundred years prior to his birth. It was renowned for its university. During the time of Alexander the Great, who died in 323 BC, Tarsus was the most influential city in Asia Minor.
Paul's family had a history of religious piety ().1st Timothy, 2nd Timothy, and Titus may be "Trito-Pauline", meaning they may have been written by members of the Pauline school a generation after his death. Apparently the family lineage had been very attached to Pharisaic traditions and observances for generations; Acts quotes Paul referring to his family by saying he was "a Pharisee, born of Pharisees". In he states that two of his relatives, Andronicus and Junia, were Christians before he was and were prominent among the Apostles. Acts says that he was an artisan involved in the leather or tent-making profession. This was to become an initial connection with Priscilla and Aquila, with whom he would partner in tent-making and later become very important teammates as fellow missionaries. Paul referred to himself as an observant Jew in the letter to the Philippians:
While he was still fairly young, he was sent to Jerusalem to receive rabbinical education at the school of Gamaliel, one of the most noted rabbis in history. Some of his family may have resided in Jerusalem, since later the son of one of his sisters saved his life there. Nothing more is known of his biography until he takes an active part in the martyrdom of Stephen, a Hellenised diaspora Jew.
Although we know from his biography and from Acts that Paul could speak Hebrew, modern scholarship suggests that Koine Greek was his first language.Frederick Fyvie Bruce (1977), Paul, Apostle of the Heart Set Free, p. 43Dale Martin (2009), Introduction to New Testament History and Literature, lecture 14: "Paul as Missionary". Yale University. In his letters, Paul drew heavily on his knowledge of Stoic philosophy, using Stoic terms and metaphors to assist his new Gentile converts in their understanding of the Gospel and to explain his Christology.
Greek background
Hellenistic Judaism was a movement which existed in the Jewish diaspora and the Holy Land that sought to establish a Hebraic-Jewish religious tradition within the culture and language of Hellenism. The major literary product of the contact of Judaism and Hellenistic culture is the Septuagint (begun in the 3rd century BC). Major authors are Philo of Alexandria (died c. 50 AD), Josephus (died c.100 AD), and some would claim also Paul. The decline of Hellenistic Judaism in the 2nd century AD is obscure. It may be that it was marginalized by, absorbed into, or became Early Christianity.
Recently, Talmudic scholar Daniel Boyarin has argued that Paul's theology of the spirit is more deeply rooted in Hellenistic Judaism than generally believed. In A Radical Jew, Boyarin argues that Paul the Apostle combined the life of Jesus with Greek philosophy to reinterpret the Hebrew Bible in terms of the Platonic opposition between the ideal (which is real) and the material (which is false).
Gentiles and circumcision
Before Paul's conversion, Christianity was part of Second Temple Judaism. Gentiles who wished to join the early Christian movement, which at the time comprised mostly Jewish followers, were expected to convert to Judaism, which likely meant submission to adult male circumcision for the uncircumcised, following the dietary restrictions of kashrut, and more. During the time period there were also "partial converts", such as gate proselytes and God-fearers, i.e. Greco-Roman sympathizers which made an allegiance to Judaism but refused to convert and therefore retained their Gentile (non-Jewish) status, hence they were uncircumcised and it wasn't required for them to follow any of the commandments of the Mosaic Law. Paul insisted that faith in Christ (see also Faith or Faithfulness) was sufficient for salvation, therefore the Mosaic Law wasn't binding for the Gentiles.
Paul's conversion The Epistle to the Galatians says that, prior to his conversion, Paul was a Pharisee who "violently persecuted" the followers of Jesus.
Pillars of the Church