The "Man Christ Jesus"

The Humanity of Jesus in the Teaching of the Apostle Paul

Stephen Oliver Stout

• Publisher: Wipf and Stock
• Year: 2011
• Print ISBN:
  9781610972871
  9781498259958
• eBook ISBN:
  9781630877101
• Topic: Theology & Religion
• Subtopic: Biblical Criticism & Interpretation

Does the Apostle Paul have any use for the person of Jesus presented in the Gospels? Critical scholarship thinks not, but this book argues that Paul not only mentions more than seventy specific details of the historical Jesus, but he also commends the character of Jesus and echoes His teachings repeatedly in his letters and sermons-in full agreement with the Gospel accounts. Stout examines Paul's intriguing description of the "Man Christ Jesus" (1 Tim 2:5) and suggests that this title fulfills the OT expectation of God appearing in human history as a man. In his incarnated humanity, the Man Christ Jesus accomplished salvation in the historical events of his life and death, and in his resurrected humanity, he appeared to Paul on the Damascus Road-rooting Paul's Christology deeply in human experience. Furthermore, Stout shows how Paul rests his concept of salvation on a neglected aspect of his doctrine-that the entire church is associated with the historical events of the life, death and resurrection of Jesus, an association which also unites his church with one another in fellowship and service. This book, then, demonstrates that Paul's gospel rests upon Jesus as a man of history who brings salvation into human history in his life, death, and exaltation as the "Man Christ Jesus."

1

Introduction: Jesus and Paul, or, Jesus or Paul?

In what has traditionally been considered one of the later epistles of the apostle Paul,1 the aging evangelist reminds his disciple Timothy that the gospel message proclaims “God our Savior, who desires all men to be saved and to come to the knowledge of the truth” (1 Tim 2:3–4). The particular truth in Paul’s mind follows in the next sentence: “For there is one God, and one mediator also between God and men, the man Christ Jesus, who gave Himself as a ransom for all, the testimony borne at the proper time” (1 Tim 2:5–6). Much has been written about the items of Paul’s soteriology stated in this confession: his monotheism, his view of Jesus as mediator and ransom,2 and the eschatological framework of the revelation of salvation.3 Sometimes, however, the obvious can easily be overlooked, for what has not received much attention is the succinct identifying phrase, the “Man Christ Jesus” (ἀnthropos Christòs Iēsoῡs; a;nqrwpoj Cristo.j VIhsou/j). Here Paul is not referring to the heavenly Lord as he has done so earlier in the epistle (1 Tim 1:2, 12, 14, 16, and possibly 1:174) but rather to the earthly Jesus, proven by the ensuing reference in 1 Tim 2:6 to His death (presumed in the theological explanation of His giving as a ransom) and to His witness, a topic repeated at the close of this letter when Paul charges Timothy before “Christ Jesus, who testified the good confession before Pontius Pilate” (1 Tim 6:13). In both instances, Paul bases his arguments upon historical events in the life of Jesus that were familiar to Timothy, even though this epistle may have been written before the composition and circulation of any written Gospel records.5

Based upon this unique biblical phrase, the “Man Christ Jesus,”6 it is the contention of this study that the apostle Paul not only affirms the humanity of the “Man Christ Jesus” in his teachings and sermons, but he also understands salvation as an association of the church with the historical events experienced by the “Man Christ Jesus.” In order to defend this proposition, this work presents evidence that the “Man Christ Jesus” preached by Paul as the mediator of salvation between God and humanity is the same as the Jesus of history presented in the four Gospels—there is not “another Jesus” apart from the one Paul proclaimed (2 Cor 11:4).7 The methodology used to prove this thesis follows an investigation of the humanity of Jesus as presented in the autographed epistles of Paul8 as well as in his sermons recorded in the Book of Acts,9 demonstrating that the humanity of Jesus is far from being of little or no concern to Paul—as often asserted by critical scholarship in its assumption that Paul discards the historical Jesus in 2 Cor 5:16.10 Instead, the findings of this book will show how frequently the apostle refers to the Jesus of the Gospels, revealing that the human Jesus of history serves as the foundation not only of the apostle’s Christology but also of his Soteriology in the distinctly Pauline concept that the church is associated with the “Man Christ Jesus” in the acts of His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension. Thus, this book supports the historical continuity between Jesus and Paul, as Michael Bird succinctly observes, “According to Paul, Christology is understanding the ‘man Christ Jesus’ (1 Tim 2:5) and the ‘gospel of Christ. . . .’”11

The importance of such a study on the “Man Christ Jesus” remains pertinent, since writings continue to appear insisting that Paul was the originator of a divine Christ who has little or no connection to the historical, human Jesus;12 thus, one must choose between Jesus or Paul—and invariably, the apostle is rejected. This perspective continues to resurface despite the efforts of conservative scholars to refute the contentions of the critics, as the Cambridge scholar Lightfoot divulged the fallacies of Baur in the late nineteenth century;13 as Machen14 and Rawlinson15 corrected the comparative-religions intrusion of Wrede and Bousset upon Paul in the early twentieth century; as F. F. Bruce exposed Bultmann’s existential imposition on Paul;16 and as Kim tackled Dunn’s new perspectives on Paul at the turn of the twenty-first century.17 One would have supposed that the reasoned arguments presented by A. M. Hunter to “liberal Protestantism” in demonstrating the unity between “The Lord and The Apostle” would have silenced all attacks,18 but a new generation of critics has arisen, spearheaded by the bestselling novel of Pullmann19 and the prolific writings of B. D. Ehrman, packaging the same faultfinding in new popular garb.20

For all their differences, critical scholars share the same basic rejection of the orthodox Christian belief that the miraculous occurred within human history, thus casting doubt on the doctrines of revelation, inspiration and canonicity in their claim to read the Bible like any other book.21 Critical scholarship has insisted that since the supernatural cannot be verified scientifically, interpretation must call into question Paul’s Damascus Road conversion, dismiss his claim to have received his gospel by divine revelation (Gal 1:12), and insist that his explanation of Jesus is an imposition of Hellenistic mythology22 or Jewish apocalyptic legends.23 Paul’s teachings are viewed as no better than any other ancient source, and perhaps they may be worse.24 In this sort of climate, it is no wonder that serious inquiry into Paul’s view of Jesus has been sparse,25 although a steady stream of studies into the relationship between Jesus and Paul has appeared over the past two centuries,26 some arguing for continuity27 but many contending for discontinuity.28 In general, however, James Dunn notes that critical scholarship “maintains that Paul knew or cared little about the ministry of Jesus apart from His death and resurrection,”29 following on the remark of Baur, that “the only question comes to be how the apostle Paul appears in his epistles to be so indifferent to the historical facts of the life of Jesus.”30

While evangelical scholars have responded to defend the continuity between the teachings of Jesus and that of Paul,31 many have conceded to the critical assertion that Paul shows at best only nominal interest in the historical Jesus, so that in-depth exploration of Paul’s concept of the humanity of Jesus has been all but neglected.32 Instead, it is the thesis of this study that the apostle actually shows quite the opposite: he constantly refers to the historical “Man Christ Jesus” in his sermons and letters as the basis of his gospel message in that he presumes the actual life and events of Jesus of Nazareth.33 An examination of these references will reveal that Paul is in complete agreement with the portrayal of Jesus found in the four Gospels, as he cites (by our count) seventy-one separate incidents from the life of Jesus, so that if the Gospels were unavailable, a skeletal biography of Jesus could be reconstructed strictly from the testimony of Paul, who, after all, is the earliest literary source of the historical Jesus.34 This study will show that in referring to the human Jesus, Paul uses the common literary practice of allusion rather than employing extensive citation—based upon the assumption that he shares the same knowledge of this Jesus with his original readers.

Yet it is apparent that Paul does not present a narrative biography of Jesus, a fact he states in another oft-discussed comment: “Even though we have known Christ according to the flesh, yet now we know Him thus no longer” (2 Cor 5:16). At first blush, Paul seems to indicate that to know only the Christ of the flesh (the historical Jesus) is insufficient, due to the obvious reason that He is no longer present in an earthly existence.35 This deduction, however, overlooks the fact that had there been no historical Jesus, Paul would have no heavenly Lord to proclaim as Savior and Lord. Instead, the apostle makes the key historical events in the life of the “Man Christ Jesus” the foundation of his soteriology in that he associates the entire redeemed community with Christ in His life, death, burial, resurrection, and ascension.36

This association of the church with Christ in His historical works is a unique Pauline concept pervading his entire understanding of salvation, but it has been greatly neglected in theological studies, in part due to the imprecise translation of Pauline terminology in English versions and also because association with Christ is presumed to be identical to the well-known and oft-discussed teaching of union in Christ.37 This study shall argue, however, that the mystical union in Christ more properly falls under the theological category of regeneration, whereas on the other hand, association with Christ roots in the historical realities of the earthly humanity of Jesus. Association thus relates to Paul’s teaching on imputation with Christ as “the One Man” (Rom 5:15). This distinction shows that association with the historical Christ takes precedence soteriologically over union in Christ: there could be no participative union in Christ without the historical-redemptive association with Christ, because the believer’s union in Christ is the dynamic experience that rest...

Table of contents

• Title Page
• Note on Style
• Acknowledgments
• Foreword
• Preface
• Abbreviations
• Chapter 1: Introduction: Jesus and Paul, or, Jesus or Paul?
• Chapter 2: The “Man Christ Jesus” in the Context of 1 Timothy 2:1–6
• Chapter 3: The “Man Christ Jesus” in the Epistles of Paul
• Chapter 4: The “Man Christ Jesus” in the Presentation of Paul in the Acts of the Apostles
• Chapter 5: The “Man Christ Jesus” in Association with His People
• Chapter 6: Implications of the “Man Christ Jesus” in the Teaching of the Apostle Paul
• Chapter 7: Conclusion: The “Man Christ Jesus” in the Teaching of Paul
• Appendix 1
• Appendix 2
• Appendix 3
• Bibliography