According to a certain strand in the orthodox Christian theist tradition, God's impassibility is engendered by his immutable nature. For if God cannot change then he cannot experience pain or sorrow. This fundamental principle was appropriated from Plato, who maintained that a being who is perfect can experience neither sadness, pain, nor sorrow. Some modern Christian theists, however, concede that this is perhaps the most questionable aspect of certain forms of orthodox Christian theism.

For some time scholars have recognised that Paul's exegesis of Scripture was influenced by rabbinic hermeneutics. As early as 1900 H. St. John Thackeray argued that Paul utilised rabbinic methods of interpretation to confute the Jews. In a number of cases, he wrote, particularly where the original sense of Scripture is not adhered to, ‘we may undoubtedly see the influence of his rabbinic training in the use to which the Old Testament is put and the inferences drawn from it.’ In 1911 H. Lietzmann described Paul's treatment of the desert sojourn in 1 Cor. 10.1–11 as ‘the Haggadic method’, implying a comparison with rabbinic method. Following this same line of argument A. F. Pukko in 1928 asserted that Paul utilised Hillel's seven principles of rabbinic exegesis. According to Pukko, ‘As an interpreter of the Old Testament Paul is above all a child of his time. The methods of interpretation and deduction which he learned in the Rabbinical school emerge frequently in his work.’

Where does one look for theological thinking in the Ecumenical Movement today? The first answer is obvious. From virtually its beginning, the Movement comprised two wings, whose respective functions are clearly enough indicated by the names under which they began to operate. The Life and Work element promotes the greatest possible degree of cooperation; the Faith and Order component works for theological and ecclesial understanding and consensus. For many reasons, among which is certainly to be reckoned the powerful presence of so-called Third World Churches as members, chief attention has swerved perceptibly to the Life and Work aspect: social justice evokes more interest than justification by faith, and the tendency is to be more concerned with bread than with God. Despite this, the theological work of Faith and Order continues.

I have no doubt that the discomfort of sitting on one horn of a dilemma may awaken lively hopes of the cushioned ease its alternative horn affords; but the hopes are delusive. Sit there, and the horn will presently enter your soul. (FS8, p. 119)