ST PAUL
The theologian and his legacy
The beginning of this Year of St Paul set us off on a path of discovery,
endeavouring to see St Paul as he really was, the man in the context of
his times and locations. We learned a great deal, even down to his
appearance, his temperament and most importantly the great depth of his
love for Christ and the remarkable extent of his apostolic activity and
teaching through Christ living in him.
Now, at the end of that year, we can step back a little to consider the
whole picture of the great saint’s life. Many modernists have tried to
present St Paul as the” inventor” of Christianity, in effect to separate
his teaching from the “real” Christ and his teachings. They claim to
want to “re-discover” this “real” Christ. But, in reality their
objective is to sideline the Church and “discover” a Christ who is just
another very good man among many and that neither “he” nor “his” Church
is essential for the complete modern man.
But neither Jesus Christ and His Church nor St Paul can be circumvented by such deceits.
St Paul is the very model of a faithful follower of Christ. He is the
centre of St Paul’s life and being, the object of all St Paul’s hopes.
Christ’s Church has become St Paul’s home, more, his mother and his
family. He is the loving servant of Our Lord and His Church, and in a
very real sense, the first great theologian. Standing at the gateway of
the true new age, St Paul is a man of towering historic significance
whose lamp held high still lights our way 2,000 years later. Small in
stature, his work for Christ has made him a giant of history.
Christ’s Divinity
His reflection upon Christ’s life, actions and teachings is profound,
thorough, comprehensive and intellectually coherent. His writings reveal
this exhaustive reflection on all that Christ is, said and did. He
affirms that Christ, the Word who was to be made flesh, had existed
eternally – he is the Creator of the World (Coloss. 1: 16 – 17) and is
superior to all created beings (Eph. 1: 21) and everything is by Him, in
Him and for Him (Coloss. 1:16). He is the Son of God since all eternity
(2 Cor. 1:19; Romans 8:3, 8: 32; Coloss. 1: 13; Eph. 11:6 & more)
St Paul directs to Christ the praises due to God (2 Tim. 4:18, Romans
16:27) and prays to Him as the equal of the Father (2 Cor. 12: 8 -9,
Romans 10: 12; 1 Cor. 1: 2). He prays to Him for grace, mercy and
salvation which are God’s alone to give (Romans 1: 7, 16: 20; 1 Cor. 1:
3, 16: 23 & more). He affirms that before Him every knee shall bow
in Heaven, on Earth and under the Earth (Phillip. 2: 10). In Christ St
Paul acknowledges all the Divine attributes – eternal existence (Coloss.
1: 15 – 17), He is all-powerful (Coloss. 1: 16) and He is infinite
(Coloss. 2: 9). He is identified with the God of the Old Covenant (1
Cor. 10:4, 10: 9, Romans 10: 13, 1 Cor. 2: 16, 9: 21). He clearly
describes Him as our “great God and Saviour Jesus Christ) (Titus 2: 13)
and “God over all things” (Romans 9: 5).
Christ’s Humanity
St Paul equally affirms the real humanity of Jesus Christ. He is the
“second Adam” (Romans 5: 14, 1 Cor. 15: 45-49) the descendant of the
Patriarchs (Romans 9: 5, Gal. 3: 16). He is the “seed of David,
according to the flesh “(Romans 1: 3) “born of a woman” (Gal. 4: 4) like
all men.
The integrity of St Paul’s presentation of the astounding reality of God
made Man can only be attributed to Divine inspiration. Many in
succeeding centuries were to stumble into grave heresy when considering
this same subject. Docetism denied Christ’s human nature, Arianism
denied His Divine Nature, Nestorianism proposed that He was two persons –
one human and one Divine, Monophysitism claimed He had but one “fused”
nature, Appolinarianism diminished His human nature and later Lutherans
did likewise with their heretical concept of Kenosis.
We marvel all the
more at St Paul’s divinely inspired presentation – coming first in the
detailed written exposition of the mystery and implications of the
Incarnation he avoids the multiplicity of possible errors and with
simple elegance unfolds the Truth.
Christ Our Saviour
St Paul expounds the doctrine of the Redemption of Man achieved by
Christ’s sacrificial death. In recounting the concepts involved in the
sacrificial nature of His death, the payment of our ransom from past
servitude to sin and Christ substituting Himself for us in Regard to
punishment due, St Paul avoids every excess which many later writers -
especially Lutheran - would fall into.
He shows with clarity the correct way to consider the facts. The Father
offers His Son to manifest His justice because of His mercy toward us.
Christ is our Redemption by virtue of His Sacrifice, which derives its
value from His Divine being and Love in obedience to the Father. We
co-operate by understanding and accepting God’s teaching and thus
obtaining the fruits of the Redemption.
“But thanks are to God, that you who were once slaves of sin have become
obedient from the heart to the standard of teaching to which you were
committed, and, having been set free from sin, have become slaves of
righteousness”. (Romans 6: 17- 18)
Christ’s Second Coming
St Paul is powerful in his description of the Parousia or Second Coming
of Christ and the General Judgement Which will follow the Resurrection
of the Dead. “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ,
so that each one may receive good or evil, according to what he has
done in the body.”(2 Cor. 5: 10)
Conclusion
At the end of the Year of St Paul our sentiments are not those common to
most conclusions - the “well that’s that” attitude does not arise. No,
our sentiments are quite different. We have followed St Paul carefully
and with keen interest – we know we can never compete with him as a
model servant of Christ, but we are eager to hurry after him, eager to
try to do far more than we have with our lives as followers of Christ.
St Paul is, in that inspirational sense, still with us. Blinded,
enlightened, inspired and martyred St Paul indeed “fought the good
fight” and beckons us on, an inspiration for every one of us.
St Paul Apostle and martyr
Pray for us.
TONY DIXON
COPYRIGHT. This article first appeared in the June, 2009 issue of FOUNDATION.
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