Paul's Faith and the Power of the Gospel

431 Pages·1983·25.703 MB·English

by  Daniel Patte

~UL'
1\IT
. and the
.POWE
of the
GOSPEL
A Structural Introduction
to the Pauline Letters
DANIEL
PATTE
,......... -
A Structural Introduction to the Pauline letters
Paul's Faith and the Power
of the Gospel
DANIEL PATTE
FORTRESS PRESS PHILADELPHIA
Paul's Faith and the Power of the Gospel
Biblical quotations, unless otherwise noted, are from the Revised Standard
Version of the Bible, copyrighted 1946, 1952, © 1971, 1973 by the Division
of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ
in the U.S.A., and are used by permission.
COPYRIGHT © 1983 BY FORTRESS PRESS
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored
in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, elec
tronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the
prior permission of the copyright owner.
Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data
Patte. Daniel.
Paul's faith and the power of the Gospel.
Bibliography: p.
Includes index.
1. Bible. N. T. Epistles of Paul-Theology. 2. Paul,
the Apostle, Saint. 1. Title.
BS2650.2.P37 227'.06 82-7416
ISBN 0-8006-1682-0 AACR2
9605E82 Printed in the United States of America 1-1682
A Franz J. Leenhardt, pour s~n 80eme anniversaire .
a
et Gabriel Vahanian
Contents
Preface xiii
Abbreviations xxiii
1. An Invitation to Rediscover Paul's Faith 1
On Reading Paul's Letters 2
Reading as Seeing Dimly in the Mirror of Our
Pre-Understandings 3
A Descriptive Reading 6
Studying the Characteristics of Paul's Faith 7
Fundamental Questions for Our Reading of
Paul's Letters 9
Believing and Knowing: Convictions
and Ideas 10
The Motivating Power of Convictions 12
Convictions Undergirding a Discourse 14
Faith as Convictional Pattern 21
Our Reading of the Pauline Corpus 27
2. Galatians: For Freedom Christ Has Set Us Free 31
Galatians and the Modern Reader 32
First Reading: Historical Context 34
Second Reading: Conflicting Systems
of Convictions 39
vii
viii Paul's Faith and the Power of the Gospel
An Emotional Letter 40
Repetitions, Metaphoric Language, Strange
Reasonings, Contradictions 42
Systems of Convictions in Conflict 46
Third Reading: There Is Neither Jew
nor Greek 48
The Organization of a System of Convictions 49
Freedom and Bondage (Gal .. 1:3-5
and 4:1-10) 52
The Gospel: A Freeing Power? 57
The Power of a System of Convictions 58
Being under the Power of the Gospel and
Freed by It 60
A Gospel Open to New Revelations? 63
The Gospel in Relation to Judaism and Hellenistic
Religions 67
The Gospel and the "Other Gospel" 67
The Gospel and Judaism 67
The Gospel and Hellenistic Religions 69
The Gospel and pharisaic Judaism 72
Fourth Reading: Works of the Law, Faith, and
Righteousness 76
Justified through Faith (Gal. 2:15-16) 77
The Works of the Law 81
Questions for Discerning Paul's System of
Convictions 83
3. The Pharisaic Faith and Paul 87
The Convictional Pattern of Pharisaic Judaism 88
Modern Readers and Pharisaism 92
The Multiplication of the Laws 95
Chosen People of a Gracious God 96
The Election 100
The Vocation and the Law 100
Contents ix
A Closed View of Sacred History 104
Discovering the Will of God in New Cultural
Situations 109
"The Way to Walk" as the Chosen People 112
Pharisaic Judaism and the Gospel as Systems of
Convictions 117
4. First Thessalonians: Beloved and Chosen by God 122
Modern Readers and 1 Thessalonians 124
First Reading: Historical Context 124
Second Reading: The Organization of
the Argument 127
Paul, the Thessalonians, God, and the Lord
Jesus Christ (1 Thess. 1:1-2 and 5:23-28) 128
The Typological Pattern of Paul's System of
Convictions (1 Thess. 1:3-3:6) 131
Implementing the Faith
(1 Thess. 3:7-5:22) 147
Paul's Faith as Manifested in 1 Thessalonians
(4:13-18) 148
5. Philemon and Philippians: Consider Others as
Better Than Yourselves 155
Modern Readers and Philemon and
Philippians 157
Philemon: First Reading-Historical Context 158
Philemon: Second Reading-The Organization
of the Argument 159
Philippians: First Reading-Historical
Context 164
Philippians: Second Reading (A)-The Organi-
zation of the Argument of a Letter Fragment
(3:2-4:1) 168
The Type/Imitator Pattern of the Dialogic
Level 169
x Paul's Faith and the Power of the Gospel
Paul as Type for the Believers: The
Warranting Level 171
Philippians: Second Reading (B)-The Organi-
zation of the Argument of the Main Letter 175
An Exhortation to Rejoice: The Dialogic
Level 176
A New Vocabulary for the Type/Imitator
Pattern: The Warranting Level 178
The Believers' Vocation 186
6. The Cross, the Resurrection, and Scripture 190
The Cross as Reconciliation: Christ as the
Center of Paul's Theology 191
The Cross: Salvation or Promise of
Salvation? 191
A System of Convictions and Its Expression in
Theological Arguments 192
Sacred History as the Framework of Paul's
Theological Thinking: Reconciliation and
Justification through Faith 194
Scripture, the Kerygma, and the Believers
Experience 208
Scripture as Promise and Type
(Galatians 3) 208
Justification as the Overcoming of a Hopeless
Situation (Romans 4) 214
The Resurrection and the Believers
Experience (1 Cor. 15:1-9) 222
7. Romans: The Gospel as Power of God for Salvation-
An Overall Presentation of Paul's Faith 232
The Characteristics of Paul's Faith 233
A Radical Charismatic Faith 233
An Eschatological Faith 236
A Typological Faith 238
Other Aspects of Paul's System of
Convictions 241
Contents xi
The Argument of Romans and Its Historical
Context 244
The Nature of This Text 244
Addressing a Conflict between jewish and
Gentile Christians 246
A Letter Sent Also to Ephesus? 250
Evil in Paul's Theological Argument 251
Sinners without Excuse and under the
Power of Sin 252
Evil in Sacred History 253
Evil in Pau)' s System of Convictions 256
The Pagans as Typical Sinners
(Rom. 1:18-32) 257
The Jews as Typical Sinners and the Power
of Sin (Rom. 7:7-25) 263
The Gospel as Power of God for Salvation 277
Freed from the Law of Sin and Death 277
The Power of Sin Is the Law 278
Destroying the Power of an Idolatrous
System of Convictions 281
The Uniqueness of Christ as the New Type
of Divine Intervention 286
Christ as Manifestation of God's Power
for the Salvation of the Jews (Rom. 8:1-4) 287
Political Authorities as Servants of God
(Rom. 13:1-7) 290
Gentile Believers as Manifestations of
God's Power for the Salvation of the
Jews (Rom. 11:13-14) 291
Paul as Manifestation of God's Power
for the Salvation of the Gentiles 293
8. First and Second Corinthians: Faith, Hope,
and Love-Implementing Pau]' s Faith in the
Life of the Church 297
Pau]' s Stormy Relationship with the Corinthian
Church 298