The story of Christ in
Paul’s Letters
Jesus as the
soon-coming Lord: 1 and 2 Thessalonians
1
Thessalonians is a pastoral letter of exhortation to a Gentile Christian
community facing affliction and perhaps persecution. 2 letter continues to offer
encouragement and hope in light of the second coming of Christ. The
Thessalonians focuses on the end story namely parousia, the coming of the Lord as eschatological Savior and Judge
to rescue his people. Jesus’ own suffering on the cross and victorious
resurrection lay the foundation for the future hope of resurrection for the
afflicted Christians. The Lord Jesus Christ is elevated at the right hand of
God will return soon to take up the believers both those who dies and live in
Christ to be with him eternally.
Jesus as the Wisdom of
God: 1 Corinthians
1
Corinthians contains the key elements of the Christological doctrine developed
in subsequent creeds and formulations of the first centuries; Jesus’
preexistence, death, resurrection and second coming.
TO
combat the issues of church division Paul holds up to the Corinthians a view of
Christ as the embodiment of God’s wisdom. The Corinthian were boasting about
their own wisdom (logos), but Paul underlines the special nature of Christ’s
wisdom namely the cross. Only the crucified Christ, a “stumbling block,”
qualifies as true wisdom and God’s power in weakness (1:23-24). In fact, the
cross of Christ is the focus of Paul’s preaching and faith (1:17). By virtue of
the cross, Christ is not only our wisdom but also our righteousness, holiness
and redemption (1:30).
Jesus as the
Reconciler: 2 Corinthians
Paul
argues that in Christ a new spiritual covenant has been made and that he has
been appointed as minister of that covenant. In 2 Corinthians, Paul also calls
Christ the image of God (4:4) and relates the light of Christ that shone into
his heart on the road to Damascus to the light of God that shone at the
creation of the World. The focus of this letter is the exposition of the role
of Christ as the agent of reconciliation. In Christ, God has reconciled the
world to himself the world that because of sin was in enmity with God, so that
we may become the righteousness of God; Christ not only bore our sin but was
‘made sin’ for our sake (5:17-12). This pattern of reconciliation is depicted
as the model for overcoming divisions in the church (6:1-9).
Jesus as Our
Faithfulness: Galatians
The
pastoral issue in Galatians is faith in Christ vis-à-vis the Jewish faith.
Paul’s Christological emphasis once again is on the death of Christ (3: 1). And
also emphasize is also shown that he is not indifferent to future hope (5:5).
Paul’s argument is based on the story of Israel (Ch.3-4). Paul also reminds his
readers that it is only in and through Christ that the original promise of
blessings to all nations given to Abraham comes fulfillment since Christ has
reverse the curse of law changing it into blessing (3:13-14).
Paul
highlights here the all-important significance of Christ’s story for the
salvation of not only the people of Israel, to whom the promise of blessing was
given in the beginning of their history, but also all nations of the world.
Jesus as Our
Righteousness: Romans
Romans
is a missionary letter from Paul to the congregation at Rome, whom Paul seeks
to extend his missionary endeavors. He offers the most detail exposition of his
theology and Christology. Paul shows the hopelessness of the human
situation-both for Jews and for Gentiles- as a result of sin (Ch.1-3). In fact,
so hopelessness is their condition that death is the only expected result
(Ch.5). In Ch.6-8 Paul gives further exposition of the possibility of life
based on faith in Christ. In Ch.7, pail is recounting his story before and
after his conversion on the basis of the faithfulness of Christ. In Ch.8, Paul
also develops the importance of the role of the Holy Spirit with regard to
salvation and spiritual life. This is one of the main sources for a Christology
that recently has come to be known as Spirit Christology. In the overall aspect
of Romans, the death and resurrection of Christ serve as the focal point.
Jesus as Humble
Servant: Philippians
Christology
of Philippians is viewed only through the lens of the Christ hymns 2:5-11, but
this is not all that Philippians says about Christ. The main purpose of the
letter are to admonish the Philippians to carry on with their lives in a way worthy
of the gospel of Christ. To further the proclamation of the gospel and to thank
the Philippians for their gift to him. Also provides a fruitful pastoral exposition
of Christology.
In
the light of the coming of parousia,
Paul reassures them of the certainty of their salvation. Paul own story is link
to that of Christ. Christ is his life and death (1:21). His death and
resurrection are part of Christ’s (3:9-11), and knowledge of Christ is the
highest goal of his life. Therefore he is ready to forsake everything for
Christ’s sake (3:7-8).
Christ
hymn (2:5-11) falls into two section: verse 6-8 provides the narration focus on
the humility of Christ while verse 9-11 explain how God vindicated Christ
because of his obedience. Christ humbled himself and unlike the first Adam, he
empty himself. For centuries, kenosis Christology (Greek term kenosis
‘emptying’) has maintained that as a result of this emptying, Christ divested
himself of divine prerogatives so that he no longer enjoyed divine status this
is not what Paul mean as it sever the relationship between the preexistent and
the incarnate Christ. What Paul means is that Christ did not take advantage of
his divine status but rather was content to be in human form, to the point of
surrendering himself to death on the Cross. This kind of humble attitude is an
example to Christian who are called to consider other higher than themselves
(2:1-4).
The
second part of the hymn (2:9-11) shows that on the basis of his obedience,
Jesus was exalted by God and was given a name above every other name, kyrios, the Lord.
Jesus as the Embodiment
of Fullness: Colossians
According
to Colossians, “Christ is all, and is in all” (3:11). J.B.Lightfoot says “The
doctrine of the Person of Christ is here (in Colossians) stated with greater
precision and fullness than in any other of St.Paul’s epistles.” Most scholars
agree that Christology plays a vital role in this prison epistle. Hymnic passage
1:15-20 talks about Christ as the one in, through, and for whom all things were
created and reconciled. It has two parts: Verses 15-18 tell us that Christ is
the image of the unseen God and the beginning of all creation because all
things were created in him. Christ is also the head of the Church. Verses
1:18b-20 identify Christ as the origin (the Greek term arche also means “beginning”) of everything, visible and invisible
and the firstborn from the dead in whom the fullness of God dwells.
One
of the most distinctive Christology claims in Colossians is found in 2:6-23,
where Paul intends to show the inadequacy of all human wisdom and traditions in
light of the fullness of Christ. Paul states that “in Christ the fullness of
the Deity lives in bodily form” (2:9 also 1:19), Christ represent divine
fullness.
Jesus as mystery:
Ephesians
Ephesians
origin, authorship and other background issues have been debated, as has its
theology, especially whether it represents authentic Pauline theology or is a
development that goes beyond Paul.
The
most distinctive feature of the Christology of Ephesians is that it is closely
linked to ecclesiology. Paul views of the Church here is that of a new
humanity, composed of Jews and gentiles alike (2:11-22), which is in the process
of growing into fullness of Christ (4:13).
The
Christ story in Ephesians begins with blessings along the lines of Jewish berakah. The mystery of salvation has
been disclosed to the elect; for others it is still unknown (1:9-10). Paul uses
unique expression: God’s plan of salvation is summed up in Christ (1:10). Which
occur only in Romans 13:9. Christ not only bring peace but is peace in his
person, which goes back to OT concept of shalom, which means not merely peace
but wholeness, happiness and well-being.
Ephesians
is between Christology and ecclesiology. In 1:21-22, Paul makes this connection
clear. According to this passage, the enthroned Christ is the head of the
Church, which is his body. In Ephesians, Paul writes more about the mystery of
Christ that has been hidden for ages and had now been revealed to Paul and
through him to other Christians. This mystery is that the gentiles have become
fellow heirs of the promises of the gospel (3:6). As a result, god has affected
in Christ a reconciliation, the eradication of enmity between God and human
beings and also between the two alienated groups of people, namely the Jews and
the gentiles. These two groups now form a new person in Christ (2:15).
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