target="_blank" rel="nofollow" href="#ulink_f5d288c1-f672-52dc-b631-ab401a2b6c7f">94. Ibid., 27.
95. Best, Ephesians, 40–44.
96. Ibid., 43.
97. O’Brien, Ephesians, 34–36.
98. Muddiman, Ephesians, 20–24.
99. Ibid., 145–64.
100. Ibid., 29, 154.
101. Sterling, “From Apostle to the Gentiles to Apostle of the Church,” 74–98.
102. Ibid., 76–89.
103. Ibid., 88.
104. Arnold, Ephesians, 46–47.
105. Works that post-date the studies of Snodgrass, Best, Muddiman, and O’Brien and are still supportive of the Exalted Apostle Theory include MacDonald, Colossians and Ephesians; Standhartinger, “Colossians and the Pauline School”; Standhartinger, Studien zur Entstehungsgeschichte und Intention des Kolosserbriefs; Harding, “Disputed and Undisputed Letters of Paul,” 162; Sumney, “Paul’s Vicarious Suffering Colossians”; Sterling, “From Apostle to the Gentiles to Apostle of the Church”; Marguerat, “Paul après Paul.”
2
Paul’s Identity in the Undisputed Letters
Paul in His Own Words
This chapter will explore the contours of Paul’s apostolic calling and ministry as revealed in his undisputed letters. The complex picture of Paul emerging from these letters is comprised of several important components, which are established by select biblical passages.106 In later chapters, literary similarities between some of these passages in the undisputed letters and passages in either non-Pauline or disputed letters will be examined in more detail. The goal of the chapter, however, is to understand the overall picture Paul painted of his calling and ministry.
There is a group of interlocking themes that relate to Paul’s calling as an apostle of Christ. These themes include the account of Paul’s revelation from Christ on the road to Damascus, his sense of God’s grace in choosing and empowering him, the revelation of the mystery of the gospel to Paul, the Old Testament foundations of Paul’s ministry perspective, Paul’s standing as an apostle in relation to the other apostles, and Paul’s ministry through suffering and imprisonment. One topic that is not examined in a separate section, but is analyzed as it surfaces in the other sections throughout the chapter, is the Gentile-orientation of Paul’s ministry. Though the rest of the themes have significant overlap with one another, for the purposes of this chapter they will be examined in separate sections.
Paul’s Account of His Damascus Road Experience
Paul’s Damascus road call is an appropriate place to start, since he recognized this experience as uniquely formative in his ministry direction. In Paul’s letters, this episode is depicted primarily in Gal 1:11–17.107 Paul aims to defend the divine origins of his gospel and apostleship in this passage. He does so by pointing to his encounter with Christ on the road to Damascus.
The whole passage, especially Gal 1:11–12, reiterates an emphasis begun in Gal 1:1, where Paul states that God, and not any human authority, gave him his status as apostle. Paul’s assertion in Gal 1:11–12, that Jesus himself gave Paul the gospel message, defines the argument he will unfold in the verses that follow.108 Paul is insistent that his ministry arises not from human but from divine authority. The similar wording in Gal 1:11–12, this time applied to the gospel and revelation (ἀποκαλύψις ’Ιησοῦ Χριστοῦ)109 received by Paul, suggests that Paul’s gospel, apostleship, and revelation are intricately connected to one another and to the Damascus road event. In no uncertain terms, Paul asserts that God supernaturally bestowed this calling and message upon him.
Paul also speaks of this calling and encounter with Christ as having arrived through the grace of God (1:15). Paul views his appointment to ministry as a product of grace because he recognizes that he had been an unlikely candidate for such a privileged task. In his prior aggressive opposition to the church and pursuit of advancement in Judaism (Gal 1:13–14), he had revealed his loyalties quite clearly. Only an abrupt, divine act of grace, ordained from before his birth, had altered the course of Paul’s life and ministry (1:15). This sudden change of direction conforms to the accounts of Paul’s Damascus road experience in Acts. The topic of God’s grace to Paul will receive further attention in the next section.
The grace of God on the way to Damascus is mentioned within the context of the revelation of God’s son (1:16). The infinitive clause ἀποκαλύψαι τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐν ἐμοί completes the verb εὐδόκησεν from 1:15. This verb has God as its subject, though the manuscript testimony is divided as to whether God is mentioned explicitly.110 Either way, the head verb highlights God’s initiative as a key feature of Paul’s call.111 The infinitive clause is open to several interpretations. First, Paul might be referring simply to God’s revelation of Christ to Paul, with the preposition ἐν reinforcing the dative ending and indicating that Paul is the indirect object of the clause.112 Second, ἐν might entail its more common locative nuance (“in”), emphasizing the inward quality of Paul’s apprehension of the revelation, though not necessarily to the exclusion of a tangible, outward event.113 Third and less likely, the preposition might carry an instrumental sense (“by” or “through”), so that Paul is designated as the vessel for displaying Christ to the nations.114 Whatever the interpretation, the clause reiterates that Paul beheld Christ in a special act of revelation during his journey to Damascus. The content of this revelation will be examined more closely later in this chapter.
The purpose for God’s revelation to Paul is stated simply as preaching Christ among the Gentiles. Paul thus attributes the source of his Gentile mission to his Damascus experience. This focus on the Gentiles is repeated in Gal 2:2, 7, 8. Central to Paul’s self-concept is his divinely bestowed calling to bring the gospel to the Gentiles.
Less explicit allusions to the Damascus road event are found elsewhere in the undisputed letters.115 Among these passages 1 Cor 9:1 and 15:8 most likely refer to Paul’s Damascus road encounter. Both references are brief. In 9:1, Paul’s purpose is to supplement the description of his apostleship. His mention of seeing the Lord is tied closely to his identity as an apostle. His vision of the Lord most likely points to his experience on the road to Damascus. In 1 Cor 15:8 Paul contends that the risen Christ appeared to him, just as he had to other apostles. The claim once again is used to establish the basis of Paul’s apostleship. This comment generates a recollection of Paul’s past as a persecutor, along with gratitude for God’s grace in calling him despite that past (1 Cor 15:9–10). Given the similar collection of themes in Gal 1:13–16, this passage is best interpreted as a reference to Paul’s Damascus transformation. Both of these passages support the notion that much of Paul’s self-perception as an apostle and minister stems from his certainty of having met with Christ unexpectedly on the way
