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11 - What Did Paul Think God Is Doing in Christian Communities?

from Part III - Paul’s Theological Discourse

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2020

By
Susan Grove Eastman
Edited by
Bruce W. Longenecker
Bruce W. Longenecker
Affiliation:
Baylor University, Texas
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Summary

For Paul, the social ethos of Christian communities grows directly out of Christ’s movement into the sphere of sin and death, there to rescue derelict humanity through the radical solidarity of the cross and the power of the resurrection. This movement reverses hierarchies and destabilizes social norms, in visible, counterintuitive ways: the inclusion of socially incompatible members, the redistribution of resources, solidarity with all humanity in its most desperate cry for liberation, and the creation of a fellowship in which diverse people with divergent backgrounds and different gifts grow together into moral agents shaped by Christ’s self-giving love.

Keywords

indwellingtransformationunity and diversitypractical wisdom
Type
Chapter
Information
The New Cambridge Companion to St. Paul , pp. 210 - 224
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2020

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References

Further Reading

Barclay, John M. G. Paul and the Gift. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2015.Google Scholar
Eastman, Susan Grove. Paul and the Person: Reframing Paul’s Anthropology. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2017.Google Scholar
Fowl, Stephen E. Philippians. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Hellerman, Joseph H. The Ancient Church as Family. Minneapolis, MN: Fortress Press, 2001.Google Scholar
Hooker, Morna. “Interchange in Christ.” Journal of Theological Studies, 32, no. 2 (1971): 349–361.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Käsemann, Ernst. “On Paul’s Anthropology.” In Perspectives on Paul. Translated by Kohl, J., 1–31. Mifflintown, PA: Sigler, 1996 (1969).Google Scholar
Käsemann, Ernst. “The Cry for Liberty in the Worship of the Church.” In Perspectives on Paul. Translated by Kohl, M., 122–137. Mifflintown, PA: Sigler, 1996 (1969).Google Scholar
Longenecker, Bruce W. Remember the Poor: Paul, Poverty, and the Greco-Roman World. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans, 2010.Google Scholar
Migliore, Daniel. Philippians and Philemon. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 2014.Google Scholar
Mitchell, Margaret M. Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of the Language and Composition of 1 Corinthians. Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox, 1991.Google Scholar
Moses, Robert. “Discerning the Body of Christ: Paul, Poverty, and the Powers.” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40, no. 4 (2018): 473–493.Google Scholar
Tannehill, Robert. “Participation in Christ: A Central Theme in Pauline Soteriology.” In The Shape of the Gospel: New Testament Essays, 223–227. Eugene, OR: Cascade, 2007.Google Scholar

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