Paul – In Triplicate!
Reading, preaching, and teaching Paul requires us to think on three levels at the same time. The first, widest, and most fundamental horizon within which we must read Paul is apocalyptic . That’s a slippery word, of course, susceptible of various meanings. I use it here though in a very basic core sense to point to Paul’s governing conviction that in the death and resurrection of Jesus the turning, indeed, the end of the ages, has dawned and new creation has begun. Galatians 6:14-15 is characteristic: “ But as for me, God forbid that I should boast about anything except for the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ. The world has been crucified to me through him, and I have been crucified to the world. Being circumcised or not being circumcised doesn’t mean anything. What matters is a new creation” (CEB). New Creation, then, is the most comprehensive and hermeneutically decisive level of Paul’s thought. ...