AS SAUL OF TARSUS WAS TRAVELING TO DAMASCUS to arrest adherents of a new sect of Judaism having the audacity to claim that the Messiah had been executed and risen from the dead, he encountered the risen Christ and experienced a radical turning point (see the three accounts in Acts 9; 22; 26). Some years later, writing a letter to his ministry supporters in Philippi, he confesses: “Whatever gain I had, I counted as loss for the sake of Christ. Indeed, I count everything as loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish, in order that I may gain Christ and be found in him” (Phil 3:7-9). As this passage and many other parts of Paul’s letters imply, Jesus was the center of the apostle’s life and ministry and the recipient of his unreserved devotion (e.g., 1 Cor 2:2).
In what sense, however, was Paul able to reconcile his Jewish monotheistic faith (or his commitment to the Shema of Deuteronomy 6:4 and the first two commandments of the Decalogue)1 with his devotion to Jesus as a divine figure? How could a teacher in Israel, who once was so passionately devoted to the worship of the one God and was willing to do violence against a perceived threat to this worship from the early Christians, see his faith in Jesus as the fulfillment of the Torah (Rom 10:4)? This was undoubtedly a crucial question in the first century, and it remains so two millennia later. Many people still claim—both at the scholarly and popular levels—that worship of Jesus as divine was impossible within Jewish monotheistic environments. Consequently, they argue the divine Christology of the New Testament reflects either a pagan influence over early Christians or an anachronistic projection of later theology into earliest Christian writings. Fortunately, we are not the first ones to wrestle with this important question of how Jewish monotheism and Christ’s divinity go hand in hand. The history of the church provides a rich pool of resources for this matter, and in recent decades, capable scholars, including the ones whom we will introduce in the subsequent chapters, have dealt with this very question intensely, advancing the conversation in meaningful directions.
The current landscape of Pauline Christology studies can, however, be overwhelming for many. There are several monographs and PhD dissertations that provide meticulous treatments of some specific details. But the discussions and arguments in these studies are technical and sometimes convoluted, leaving the non-specialist at a disadvantage when trying to benefit from those treatments.2 There are, on the other hand, introductions to the issues of Christology and Pauline theology, but the discussions centered on Paul’s view of Christ, especially his divinity, are often not sufficiently specific, nuanced, or updated in those volumes.3
Most of the literature gravitates toward the extremes on a spectrum, from intricate or complex treatments to broad or general overviews of various topics. Because of this, there is a need for books that fill the gap between the two extremes. This book seeks to help fill that gap on the subject of Paul’s divine Christology. While the conversations in the academy are robust, it is important that such conversations continue to shape what is happening in the church. Far from being an inconsequential matter in theology, how we interpret Paul’s understanding of Jesus shapes our personal spiritual formation as well as the very ecclesiology around which we build our Christian communities! The intent of this book is to guide the reader into the more detailed and often perplexing conversation
