Paul’s idea of God’s empire: the limited scope of his gospel

Did Paul proclaim a universal gospel? “Of course he did,” you mutter. Or: “Of course he did, you nutter!” What use is a non-universal gospel?

Well, on the train from Jeddah to Medina, I came across this paragraph in Neil Elliott’s Paul the Jew under Roman Rule: Collected Essays (2024):

Indeed, Paul’s proclamation of Jesus as kyrios, the “lord of God’s empire,” relied heavily on Roman political concepts, and “could easily be understood as violating the ‘decrees of Caesar’ in the most blatant manner.” As Calvin Roetzel and John L. White have shown, the very breadth of his eschatological vision—of an oikoumenē of nations, united in faithful obedience to a single lord—relies upon Hellenistic, and most especially Roman, political ideology. (124)

2 comments | Read more...
What is an “evangelical”?
According to the classic definition, an “evangelical” is a person who believes in and acts upon the “gospel”—in New Testament Greek the euangelion. As understood by evangelicals, the gospel is a statement about the significance of Jesus’ death on the cross: by his “blood” he made atonement… ()
Does Paul say that every tongue will “acknowledge” Jesus as YHWH?
In his encomium in praise of the exalted Christ in Philippians 2:6-11, Paul says that “in the name of Jesus every knee should bow… and every tongue acknowledge (exomologēsētai) that Jesus Christ is Lord” (Phil. 2:10-11*). Interpreters of the Early High Christology school often point… ()
Does Paul include Jesus in the “Shema” in 1 Corinthians 8:6?
I have dealt with this question a few times, most recently in “How Paul can proclaim one Lord Jesus Christ and not compromise Jewish monotheism,” and in a chapter in In the Form of a God: The Pre-existence of the Exalted Christ in Paul. But it has come up again: ()
Does Mary speak Elizabeth’s Magnificat? I may have a solution to the problem
There’s something odd about Mary’s Magnificat. Why does it occur at this point in the narrative, at the moment of her arrival at the house of Zechariah and Elizabeth, rather than after the annunciation? Why is it based so obviously on the story of Hannah’s barrenness and the… ()
The “book of the origin of Jesus Christ” and what really happened at Christmas
This is how we traditionally debunk the Christmas traditions to get at what the story was really all about: there was no star the night Jesus was born; we do not know how many wise men there were; Joseph and Mary were not turned away from an inn; Jesus was not born in a stable (are we… ()
Some comments on Christianity and politics
Paul asked me what I thought of his essay “The Biggest Fallacies About Religion and Politics” on Daily Kos. Paul, I think it’s a great essay, well worth reading. I agree with the general thesis that “Christianity” (for want of a better word) is always “political” (for want of a better word). But… ( | 2 comments)
Where is God in the present crises facing the church and humanity? See my book…
I ended my last post agreeing in principle with Ian Paul that preachers need to take the historical dynamics of the biblical narrative seriously, but disagreeing over the scope of that contention. It is not history only insofar as it sets up the conditions for the existence and mission of the… ( | 7 comments)