Paul and the Hope of Glory

An Exegetical and Theological Study

Constantine R. Campbell

• Publisher: Zondervan Academic
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9780310521228
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

A Unique Study of Pauline Eschatology that Is Both Exegetical and Theological

One of the trajectories coming out of Constantine Campbell's award-winning book Paul and Union with Christ is the significance of eschatology for the apostle. Along with union with Christ, eschatology is a feature of Paul's thinking that affects virtually everything else.

While union with Christ is the "webbing" that joins Paul's thought together, eschatology provides the "shape" of his thought, and thus gives shape to his teaching about justification, resurrection, the cross, ethics, and so forth. There is considerable debate, however, about Paul's eschatology, asking whether he is a "covenant" or an "apocalyptic" theologian.

In Paul and the Hope of Glory Campbell conducts a thorough exegetical study of the relevant elements of Paul's eschatological language, metaphors, and images including "parousia, " "the last day, " "inheritance, " "hope, " and others. He examines each passage in context, aiming to build inductively an overall sense of Paul's thinking. The results of this exegetical study then feed into a theological study that demonstrates the integration of Paul's eschatological thought into his overall theological framework.

The study is comprised of three parts:

• The first part introduces the key issues--both exegetical and theological--and sets the parameters and methodology of the book. It also offers an historical survey of the scholarly work produced on Paul's eschatology through the twentieth century to the present day.
• The second part contains the detailed exegetical analysis, with chapters on each important Pauline phrase, metaphor, and image related to eschatology.
• The third part turns its attention to theological synthesis. It recapitulates relevant conclusions from the evidence adduced in part two and launches into theological discussion engaging current issues and debates.

This volume combines high-level scholarship and a concern for practical application of a topic currently debated in the academy and the church. More than a monograph, this book is a helpful reference tool for students, scholars, and pastors to consult its treatment of any particular instance of any phrase or metaphor that relates to eschatology in Paul's thinking.

PART 1

INTRODUCTORY MATTERS

CHAPTER 1

INTRODUCTION AND METHODOLOGY

1.1 PAUL AND THE HOPE OF GLORY

All’s well that ends well.

It will all be worth it in the end.

He who laughs last laughs loudest.

It ain’t over till the fat lady sings.

We live with the often unspoken understanding that the end gives the final shape to all things. For all the drama of a good sporting match, the game is ultimately shaped by the end and who comes out on top. Nothing could be truer if we are to understand Paul’s eschatology—what happens in the end shapes everything that has come before.

The theme of eschatology in the writings of the apostle Paul is vast, rich, and immensely profound. His entire theological outlook was shaped by it, as was his life.¹ While it has a genuine simplicity about it, Paul’s eschatology is also complex once we explore the details. This is amply demonstrated in the scholarly literature, which evinces relatively little uncertainty about the big picture of Paul’s eschatological thought, but also wages sophisticated debates concerning particular issues. Indeed, from a wider perspective, “eschatology has always been one of the most disputed fields within New Testament exegesis.”²And, as explored below, this even includes what is meant by the term eschatology, which will require careful articulation.

Not only must eschatology be defined, but what we mean by Paul’s eschatology must likewise be handled with care. As will become evident, once we understand Paul’s beliefs about the “end,” the term eschatology itself necessarily undergoes redefinition. After all, if the “end” has already come, then eschatology cannot refer just to the end of all things anymore. In fact, we will see that eschatology for Paul includes the full sweep of the end, the present, and the past, with each informing and shaping the others.

Such an insight, and others like it, arise from engaging Paul’s writings through detailed exegesis. And yet, if our definition of eschatology is already fluid, it may not be immediately obvious to know what to look for in exegesis as we attempt to unpack Paul’s eschatological vision. Building on the advances of previous scholarship, this book represents a fresh investigation of the Pauline material, examining the minutiae and moving through to the wide spheres of Paul’s thought. The work is therefore self-consciously exegetical and theological, allowing exegesis to shape theology and vice versa.

1.2 WHAT DO WE MEAN BY “ESCHATOLOGY”?

According to Jörg Frey, the term eschatology was first coined in the seventeenth century, in the title of the fifth part of the work of theological dogmatics by Philipp Heinrich Friedlieb, published in 1644.³ The etymology of the term involves the Greek word eschatos (ἔσχατος), which means “last,”⁴ so that eschatology is the study of “last things”—the end of human history as a whole or the end of human life.

While the term eschatology seems simple enough when considered from an etymological perspective, that’s where the simplicity ends. During the twentieth century it saw a broadening of meaning, largely due to the influence of theologians such as Karl Barth and Rudolf Bultmann, who used it differently from its traditional reference to the “last things.” Instead, “these theologians used the term to express timeless realities or the ultimate perspective on human existence in the present.”⁵ Since then, the rudimentary task of agreeing on what should or should not be included when discussing the eschatology of the New Testament has proven a challenge, leading to intense debates.⁶

The most obvious blurring of meaning is at the level of temporality. Instead of referring strictly to “last things,” eschatology is now regularly used to refer to the so-called “overlap of the ages,” the “already-not yet,”—otherwise known as inaugurated eschatology.⁷ Inaugurated eschatology is a widely accepted feature of the New Testament in general, and of Paul in particular. As explored below in chapter 3, Paul perceives that the age to come at the eschaton has broken into the present through the resurrection of Christ. This means that the old age and the new age now coexist in an overlapping fashion. Hence Paul’s eschatology can no longer be restricted to “last things” since the “end” has already dawned in the “middle” of time, as it were.⁸ His eschatology must therefore include certain elements of contemporary existence. Indeed, Paul’s eschatology cannot even be restricted to the present and the future, but also includes the past, as Wolter states:

The specific distinction of Paul’s eschatology can be recognized in how he interrelates firstly the past, with Christ’s death and resurrection, the proclamation of the Gospel, and the conversion of the believers; secondly, the present situation of the Christian communities; and thirdly, the future, with the aforementioned expectations as parts of one single eschatological narrative.”⁹

Once the dualism of ages is acknowledged as a key feature of Paul’s eschatology, it immediately introduces a further element of blurring, this time at the spatial level. A key characteristic of the old age is its reign of sin and death—cosmic overlords who control and shape the age over which they rule. But the new age is ruled by Christ by the power of the Spirit. The two overlapping and competing ages therefore introduce the notion of overlapping and competing realms, or dominions. Such realms are spatial in nature since they mark out the “territory” over which their rulers exercise influence and power, controlling those who belong to them. Thus, eschatology is now not only a temporal concept but is inevitably spatial as well. The two-age structure of Paul’s eschatology therefore necessarily includes a cosmological element.¹⁰

1.3 AN EXEGETICAL-THEOLOGICAL APPROACH

For all the emphasis on Paul’s writings as occasional, missional documents, there can be little doubt that Paul was a theologian. Of course, he was not a systematic theologian in the technical sense, but this does not mean he was “a jumbled, rambling sort of thinker, who would grab odd ideas out of the assortment of junk in his mental cupboard.” Rather, as Wright adds, “the more time we spend in the careful reading of Paul, and in the study of his worldview, his theology and his aims and intentions, the more he emerges as a deeply coherent thinker.”¹¹ More boldly, Dunn claims that “Paul was the first and greatest Christian theologian.”¹² This means that a proper approach to Paul must be theological as well as exegetical. In fact, the ideal way to approach a theological writer such as Paul is to hold exegesis and theology hand in hand.

This explains the macrostructure of this book (detailed below),...