Paul on the Human Vocation

Reason Language in Romans and Ancient Philosophical Tradition

Simon Dürr

• Publisher: De Gruyter
• Year: 2021
• eBook ISBN: 9783110750638
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Studies

Paul's use of ?????? ??????? in Rom 12.1 has long fascinated and puzzled interpreters. This study proposes a new explanation of Paul's reason language in Rom 12.1 based on a detailed investigation of ancient philosophical texts on the role of human beings in the cosmos, in which reason language and the idea of a vocation of human beings are closely connected. It argues that Paul here appeals to the idea of a human vocation in order to claim that Christ-followers are able to fulfil their human vocation by living in such a way that their lives produce signs of the new creation inaugurated in Christ.
This case is made by establishing the central role of reason in ancient discourse on what it means to be human more broadly, and in particular in Epictetus, who provides the clearest parallel for Romans. These contextualisations allow for a fresh reading of Paul's argument in Romans, where the relevance of these traditions is shown, not least for how Rom 12.1–2 frames Rom 12–15.
The study thus contributes to the recent scholarly trend of exploring Paul in ancient philosophical contexts and advances the discussion on the integration of Paul's "theology" and "ethics" within an ancient cultural encyclopedia.

1 Introduction to the problem

1.1 The problem: Why does Paul use reason language in Rom 12.1?

The goal of this book is to explain Paul’s surprising use of reason language in Romans 12.1 (λογικός).¹ Paul does not use the word λόγος or λογικός at an earlier point in the letter in a way that might prepare us for its appearance in Rom 12.1.² This word never appears in the Greek traditions of the Old Testament and the Apocrypha (the “Septuagint”). And yet he uses it in this important transition in the letter’s argument (Rom 12.1 – 2):

(1a) I invite you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God,

(1b) to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God,

(1c) which is your reason-related (λογικός) service-to-God (λατρεία).

(2a) Do not be conformed to this world,

(2b) but be transformed by the renewing of your mind,

(2c) so that you may discern what it is God wants

(2d) – the good and acceptable and complete.³

Modern readers may find Paul’s use of reason language surprising because it is taken for granted that Paul writes about “religion” and that “religion” and “reason” are somewhat antithetical.⁴ For an explanation of Paul’s use, however, the relevant question is how the ancients used reason language and what they thought such language might imply. Hence, this book is going to explore central strands from the broad philosophical and wider cultural traditions that centre on the theme of reason within ancient discourse.

Interpreters of Paul have adduced many parallels that use the word λογικός in attempts to explain Paul’s language here by a reconstruction of some traditionsgeschichtlich “background”. But some of these reconstructions have too readily assumed that the relevant texts belong to certain already fixed categories (“religion”, “ethics”, etc.). We propose here a fresh reading of some of these texts in terms of different categories. These emerge from our reading of the wider tradition and are needed for an explanation of what Paul is doing in Rom 12.1 – 2.

Among these parallels, there is a famous passage by the philosopher Epictetus, Discourse 1.16.20 – 21, which has often been cited but without appreciating its full force because it has never before been fully explored in its own right with a view to explaining Paul’s language in Rom 12.1. This study provides an in-depth reading of Epictetus 1.16 in its own context and suggests that this text may offer the best parallel for understanding what Paul is doing in Rom 12.1.

In order properly to appreciate Epictetus 1.16 as a parallel, such a reading needs to look at the role of the section cited by the interpreters (1.16.20) in the light of the entire Discourse (1.16 as a whole). Furthermore, it needs to contextualise the parallel on the map of ancient philosophy and within its broader cultural setting. Our reading shows that the broader rubric to which it belongs is ancient discourse on what it means to be human and more specifically discourse about the role of human beings within the cosmos.

This identification rests on three characteristics of such discourse. First, the human endowment with reason and speech (the two go closely together for ancient views) is taken to be one of the most prominent characterisations of what makes humans human, of that which is peculiar to human beings (at least in the earthly sphere). Second, this view is given expression in the definition of human beings as “mortal rational animals” (θνητὰ λογικὰ ζῷα). And third, it is assumed that looking at a thing’s peculiarity, and especially that of which something is uniquely capable, provides a reliable guide to determine its function, end, and purpose. In this way speaking about human beings as those endowed with reason can function, within the ancient cultural encyclopedia,⁵ as a way of claiming that this or that way of living is that to which humans are meant to aspire.

At this point there are profound intellectual and cultural differences between the ancient views on humans and their role in the wider world and those prevalent in the modern West. For the purpose of a historical exegesis of Paul’s reason language it is important to be aware of them. The ancient conception of human reason is that which allows us to be in touch with the world. The world, then, is understood as a place of meaning with which human beings need to be in touch in order to realise their purpose.⁶ While not universally accepted, such a view is a fixed part of the ancient social imaginary. But this perspective is almost unintelligible to the modern Western outlook, in which reason has been described as more instrumental, concerned with finding means rather than determining ends, and in which the world is made up of stuff that is not concerned with the affairs and worries of humankind, and so meaning has to be constructed and projected, rather than “seen”. The classical definition of human beings as “mortal rational animals” no longer commands widespread assent and, in any case, would be understood to mean something quite different now, given the shifts in how we understand the world, ourselves and human reason.⁷ This implies the need for a method that looks at broader contexts than the usual traditionsgeschichtlich approaches.

1.2 A new solution in outline

Looking at the relevant parallel texts and especially at the work of Epictetus suggests explaining Paul’s use of reason language in Rom 12.1 as an allusion to the definition of human beings as animals endowed with reason. This understanding is prominent in ancient philosophical as well as broader cultural discussions. The definition of human beings in terms of rationality condenses central themes of ancient anthropology and needs to be understood within the horizon of the ancient cultural encyclopedia. Within this horizon, it is natural to assume what might seem strange to many today, namely that human beings have a purpose and function within the cosmos, understood as a larger and ordered whole, and that this function has to do with their unique position in the order of things. Humanity’s position in the cosmos is based upon their endowment with reason. We argue that Paul is aware of these traditions and expects his readers to understand him as making a point about the endowment with reason as the human proprium in Rom 12.1.

Broadly, the argument is as follows: human beings are understood in many Greco-Roman contexts as having a role in the wider cosmos and that role is based on their place and their unique capacity. This capacity is founded upon the human endowment with reason which enables humans to fulfil their purpose if they use reason rightly. Among those texts which discuss what it means to be human and share the idea that human beings have a purpose in the cosmos⁸ one will find different conceptions of what that purpose is concretely, what the cosmos is like, how it is to be understood, and what the right exercise of reason entails. Nevertheless, there is agreement on these points in general terms: that humans have a role in the cosmos, that this role is based on what is constitutive for humans and makes them distinct, and that what constitutes their distinctness, on earth, is human reason. We argue in this book that Paul too endorses these general points and that in Rom 12.1 he draws on the philosophical traditions and language relevant to discourse about such themes. Human beings have a role in the larger cosmos and their reason gives them the potential, given certain conditions, to fulfil that role.

But explaining that Paul uses reason language in Rom 12.1 in order to make a point about the human role in the cosmos in a way that is intelligible within the ancient encyclopedia does not yet provide an answer to what he thinks the role of human beings is concretely and why he would choose to talk about this in his letter to the Romans. To get at this, the textual unit Rom 12.1 – 2 needs to be understood in its place in the letter and in relation to the overall aims of the letter.

Rom 12.1 – 2 is an important transition between the argument of Rom 1 – 11 and of Rom 12 – 16. Most scholars accept that both parts belong together despite their noticeable differences, which have been variously characterised as a transition from a dogmatic section to one about ethics, or from a theoretical to an applied section. Just how these two parts belong together is a matter of ongoing debate and is tied up with larger questions in Pauline scholarship, such as how “theology” and “ethics” (or the “indicative” and the “imperative”) relate in Paul, a question that owes much of its felt urgency to the fact that it can be used as a platform to debate the modern theological questions about “justification by faith” and what this doctrine is thought to imply about human “works”. It can also sometimes be framed as the distinction between theory and praxis, where Paul first teaches his hearers what to think and then goes on to tell them what to do.⁹ More recent scholarship sees these ways of characterising the parts and their relationship as inadequate and has come up with attempts to integrate them more closely.¹⁰ The exegesis of Rom 12.1 – 2 as the transitional piece plays an important part in these ongoing debates. Our novel explanation of why Paul uses reason language in Rom 12.1 – 2 has implications for this debate and offers a contribution to these recent attempts at integrating “theology” and “ethics”.

In order to state how our explanation of Paul’s reason language in Rom 12.1 contributes to the integration of these broader categories in which Paul’s thought is discussed, we need to answer the larger question of what the overall aims of Paul’s writing the letter were. Paul is writing his letter to the communities of Christ-followers in Rome, which he has not himself founded, but in whose ways of living together he seems to have an interest and which he includes in his plans for the future. Our study joins those interpretations that see Paul concerned with the formation of particular kinds of communities and hold that Paul wrote Romans to promote a particular way of living in these communities.¹¹ Paul understands his own role as that of an “apostle of the Gentiles” (Rom 11.13) and he writes his letter to a partly unknown audience. Thus he is introducing himself through expounding at great length what his own ministry is about at the same time as he is trying to win them for or further encourage them in a certain way of living in these communities.

What is this way of living about? This we submit is the relevant question. Paul’s basic belief is that Jesus of Nazareth is Israel’s messiah, who died and was raised to new life, and that these recent events have marked the inauguration of a new age, in which a new way of life has become possible for human beings, one...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Copyright
• Contents
• 1 Introduction to the problem
• 2 The semantics of λογικός and the definition of human beings
• 3 The wider Greco-Roman discourse on being human and the idea of a human role in the cosmos
• 4 Epictetus and the idea of a human calling based on human reason
• 5 Romans as a letter about being human
• 6 Rom 12.1 – 2 as an exhortation to genuine humanness
• 7 The vision of integrated (missional) existence in Rom 12 – 15
• 8 Paul on the human vocation: Concluding summary
• Abbreviations and Conventions
• Indexes