Winter 1984 - 1985 - Quarterly Review

QUARTERLY REVIEW, WINTER 1984
us to see clearly to whom and therefore to what problem Paul was
writing. Paul never wrote a letter to a synagogue of Jews advocating
that they abandon the Torah. He did write against Gentiles infatuated
with Jewish ways and intent on playing at being Jews and frequently
his criticism of them was itself quite Jewish: "Circumcision indeed is
of value if you obey the law; but if you break the law, your
circumcision becomes uncircumcision" (Rom. 2:25).
According to J. Christiaan Beker in his Paul the Apostle: The Triumph
of God in Life and Thought, the model of Paul as the originator of catholic
Christianity was the model of Paul as having liberated Christianity
"from its so-called Jewish limitations. Paul the catholic theologian was
the 'universalist,' and the key to his achievement was his antipathy to
everything Jewish" (p. 339). Beker declares that "this popular picture
of Paul as the originator of catholic dogma and the enemy of Judaism
is completely erroneous" (p. 340). Contrary to the traditional view,
Beker comments frequently upon Paul's "lack of narcissistic
self-concern and introspection," and on his reticence "about his
conversion experience" as contrasted with the fact that Paul was
"extremely outspoken about his apostleship" (pp. 4-5). He attributes
much of the interest in Paul's "conversion" to turn-of-the-century
scholarship with "its strong psychological and romantic interests"
and contends instead that Paul is preoccupied by his call to the
apostolate and gospel as service to the world (pp. 6, 8,10). It is Beker
who points out, illuminatingly, that Paul never speaks of Christ as
having "fulfilled" the promises of God to Israel. In place of such an
expression, Paul says that Christ "became a servant to the circumcised
to show God's truthfulness, in order to confirm the promises given to
the patriarchs, and in order that the Gentiles might glorify God for his
mercy" (Rom. 15:8-9). The verb bebaidsai is "to ratify or confirm."
Also, Beker points out that Paul maintains a tension between God
and Christ, so that Christ is never "fused" with God (p. 344). For
instance, Paul tells the Corinthians, "Let no one boast of men. For all
things are yours. . . and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's" (I Cor.
3:21,23). Paul's is a theocentric, not christocentric, christology. Paul's
christology is affirmed against the prospect or horizon of God's final
eschatological kingdom "that will break into history and transform all
creation in accord with the messianic promises" (p. 345), a
consummation which will take place only with Israel's participation in
it. These natural olive branches will be grafted back "into their own
olive tree" (Rom. 11:24; emphasis mine).
The works of Markus Barth, W. D. Davies, and E. P. Sanders are
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