Pauline Literature Fr. Chris Shocklee, MA. Syllabus Course: Pauline Writings Instructor: Fr. Chris Shocklee, MA – Contact info Texts Objectives Assignments.

Pauline Literature

Fr. Chris Shocklee, MA

Syllabus

• Course: Pauline Writings• Instructor: Fr. Chris Shocklee, MA– Contact info

• Texts• Objectives• Assignments & Grades• Short Papers (next slide)

Short Papers

• 1-2 pages• Format

– Introduction– When and to whom?– Relationship to audience– Context of passage/pericope– Explain its meaning (exegesis)– Apply its meaning

• Sources – texts for the course• Topics• Note: Choice of Passage (encouraged not required)

Course Format

• Part 1 - Overview of Pauline Letters• Part 2 - More Thorough Analysis of Ephesians

Topics for the Day

• Biography of St. Paul• Introduction to Pauline Letters• 1st Thessalonians• Galatians• Introduction of Ephesians– Authorship, Date, & Community

Biography – Paul of Tarsus

• Birth– Saul of Tarsus– Born first decade A.D.– Jewish – tribe of Benjamin (same tribe as King Saul)

• Pharisee• “Hebrew” (speaking)

– Roman Citizen by Birth (Tarsus)• Greek Speaking• Tarsus – Mark Antony & Augustus grant citizenship

– City of Education

Youthful Years

– Youth• Educated by Gamaliel (Acts 22:3) in Jerusalem

– Gamaliel – member of the Sanhedrin (Acts 5:34ff)» School of Hillel (Pharisee)

– (Other famous Gamaliel at Jamnia)

• Still quotes the OT via the LXX

– First Recorded Christian encounter• Martyrdom of St. Stephen (Acts 7:58ff)

– A recognized Teacher• Authority for legal decisions (Acts 9:1-2, 22:4-5, 26:12)• Probably not officially a Rabbi (unmarried) (NJBC)

– though possibly widowed

Conversion

• Conversion (Acts 9:1-19, 22:5-16, 26:12-18)• Road to Damscus

– Bright Light– “Why are you persecuting Me?”– Left Blind

• Damascus– Ananias

» Vocation to the Gentiles

• Withdraws to Arabia (Gal 1:17)• Begins to Preach in Damascus

– Has to escape (Acts 9:23-25)

Mission Begins

• Missionary years– Spends time with “Cephas”/ “Peter” (Gal 1:18)– Circa 46 AD sent with Barnabas and begins to be

called Paul (through remainder of Acts) (Acts 13:2,9)

– Saul/Paul• Hebrew/Gentile name• Name for family / Name for outside (Gentile) world• Paul = Gentile name (mission to the Gentiles)• Change of name = change of mission in OT & NT

1st Missionary Journey

1st Missionary Journey

• Begins and ends in Antioch• Timeframe 46-49 AD (est.)• Perga – Parting with John Mark• Stoned to death in Iconium • Cured a cripple in Lystra• Large response of the Gentiles (Acts 14:27)• Question raised: Need you be Jewish to be Christian?– Antioch (Peter vs Paul) (Gal 2:11-2) 49 AD– Leads to Council of Jerusalem (Acts 15:1-11) 49 AD

2nd Missionary Journey

2nd Missionary Journey

• Going out further (AD 50-52)• Sets out with Silas• Joined by Timothy at Lystra (Acts 16:1ff)• First convert in Philippi – Lydia (Acts 16:14f)• Imprisoned for exorcising “spirit of divination”

(Acts 16:16ff)• Athens – Philosophers – unmoved• Corinth (more than a year) (Acts 18:1ff)

3rd Missionary Journey

3rd Missionary Journey

• Circa 54 – 58 AD• Asia Minor• Ephesus (two years) (Acts 19:4ff)• Writes 1st Corinthians• Those making idols run him out of Ephesus (Acts

19:23ff) (silversmiths)• 2nd Corinthians, Romans• Heads to Jerusalem to help suffering Christians• Ephesus on the way

Imprisonment

• Rescued by Romans from Jewish crowd(Acts 21:27ff)• Sanhedrin (Pharisees vs Sadducees) (Acts 22:30ff)• Roman citizenship rights – trial in Caesarea

– Felix (two years in prison, circa 58 – 60 AD)– Porcius Festus (successor), Paul appeals to Caesar – Sent to Rome

• Rome– House arrest for years– Writes many of his letters– Possibly released for a time to be rearrested– Probably beheaded around 67 AD under Nero– Burial spot is where St. Paul-Outside-the-Walls now is

Pauline Letters

• Romans• 1st & 2nd Corinthians• Galatians• Ephesians• Philippians• Colossians• 1st & 2nd Thessalonians• 1st & 2nd Timothy• Titus• Philemon• (Hebrews)

1st Thessalonians• Earliest NT writing

– AD 50 – 51 (When in Paul’s Life?)• Who are the Thessalonians

– Thessalonica – trade city– Church founded by Paul, Silvanus, & Timothy (2nd MJ)

• Forced out of the city by Jews• Timothy came back to follow up

– Majority were Gentiles• Format of Letter

– Greeting– Shared Memory & Purpose of the Letter– Exhortation– Conclusion/Farewell

Chapter 1

• 1:1 “in God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ: Grace to you and peace.”

• Thanksgiving– “your work of faith and labor of love and

steadfastness of hope” (faith, love, hope)– Turning away from Idols• Conversion

Chapters 2 & 3

• Paul’s time in Thessalonica– “not as the word of men but as what it really is, the

word of God” (2:13)– Time cut short– “For you are our glory and joy”

• Timothy’s Report– “I sent that I might know your faith, for fear that

somehow the tempter had tempted you and that our labor would be in vain” (3:5)

• Blessing 3:11ff

Chapter 4

• Purity, Love, & Labor– 4:3f “For this is the will of God, your sanctification: that

you abstain from immorality; that each one of you know how to control his own body* in holiness and honor”

– 4:6 “wrong his brother”– 4:9-12 – loving and working to earn respect of outsiders

• Coming of the Lord– Why were they concerned?– “God will bring with him those who have fallen asleep”

4:14– Continues into Chapter 5, why?

Chapter 5• Coming of the Lord (cont.)

– 5:1 – “the times and the seasons”– 5:2 – “the day of the Lord will come like a thief in the night”– 5:5 – “sons of the light and sons of the day”– 5:8 – “breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet the hope of

salvation”– 5:11 – “encourage one another and build one another up”

• Final Exhortation & Blessing– 5:16ff “Rejoice always, pray constantly, give thanks in all circumstances”– 5:23 “may your spirit and soul and body be kept sound and blameless at

the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ”– 5:26 “Greet all the brethren with a holy kiss” – 5:28 “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with you.”

Galatians

• Early to mid 50’s AD• Galatian – ethnic and territorial term• Format (commentators disagree) (ICSB:NT)– Introduction 1:1-9– Paul’s Apostolic Authority (1:10-2:21)– Paul’s Apostolic Gospel (3:1-4:31)– Christian Life & Liberty (5:1-6:10)– Conclusion (6:11-18)

Chapter 1• Introduction

– 1:1 – “Paul an apostle”– 1:3 – “Grace to you and peace from God the Father and our Lord

Jesus Christ”– 1:6 – “I am astonished that you are so quickly deserting him who

called you in the grace of Christ and turning to a different gospel”• What’s missing from 1st Thessalonians?• What kind of tone does this set?

– 1:9 – “If any one is preaching to you a gospel contrary to that which you received, let him be accursed.”

• Paul an Apostle– 1:12 – “I did not receive it from man, nor was I taught it, but it

came through a revelation of Jesus Christ”– 1:16f – “to reveal his Son to me” – “went away into Arabia”– 1:18 – “went up to Jerusalem to visit Cephas” (Mt 16:18)

• Why see Cephas?

Chapter 2

• 2:1ff – the Gospel as open to the Gentiles– 2:10 “only they would have us remember the

poor”– 2:11ff – Paul & Peter at Antioch– 2:15ff – “We ourselves … who know that a man is

not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ” – (Joint Declaration on Justification)

– 2:21 “if justification were through the law, then Christ died to no purpose”

Paul’s Apostolic GospelChapter 3

• 3:1 – “O Foolish Galatians”• 3:6 – “Abraham ‘believed God, and it was reckoned to

him as righteousness’”• 3:19 – “Why then the law?”• 3:24 – “So that the law was our custodian until Christ

came, that we might be justified by faith”• 3:27 – “For as many of you as were baptized into Christ

have put on Christ” – Faith & Baptism?• 3:28 – neither Jew nor Greek, slave/free, male/female

– “you are all one in Christ Jesus”

Chapter 4

• We were children under the Law– What is the Law? NT usage: Law & Prophets?– OT in light of the NT

• 4:5 – “so that we might receive adoption as sons.”

• 4:7 – “So through God you are no longer a slave but a son, and if a son then an heir.”

• 4:21ff – Hagar & Sarah – who? What? Why?

Chapter 5

• 5:1 – “Christ has set us free; stand fast therefore, and do not submit again to a yoke of slavery.”

• 5:6 – “For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision nor uncircumcision is of any avail, but faith working through love.”

• 5:12 – “I wish those who unsettle you would mutilate themselves”

• 5:13 – “only do not use your freedom as an opportunity for the flesh, but through love be servants of one another”

• 5:15 – “but if you bite and devour one another take heed that you are not consumed by one another.” – (to chew/tear flesh)

• 5:16ff – Flesh vs Spirit

Chapter 6

• 6:9 – “let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we do not lose heart.”

• 6:11ff – “I am writing to you with my own hand”

• 6:18 – “The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit, brethren”

Ephesians

• Catholic Commentary on Sacred Scripture– Midlevel commentary– Not heavy academic, not just reflection either

• Heavier Commentaries– The Navarre Bible, Sacra Pagina, New Jerome

Biblical Commentary, Anchor Bible Commentary

Authorship

• Principle: The held opinion holds weight– Burden of proof lies with those presenting a new view of

authorship / dating• Questions raised: differences in vocabulary, style, and

theology• Answers to these questions: use of scribes and Paul’s

own educated background (see CCSS website)• Held opinion – St. Paul• Significance of the argument – effects on

Interpretation and Protestant view of authority

Paul’s Relationship to the Community

• Three years (Acts 20:31)• 4th Largest city in Roman Empire– Artemis – main deity– Among others– Significant Jewish Community

• Paul begins with the Jewish Community – why?• Significance of Paul having success with those

practicing magic? (Acts 19:19)

Ephesians

• Not just those in Ephesus– Region around as well

• Circular letter (encyclical)• Jews & Gentiles• Addresses the Gentiles particularly

Format

• Ch 1 – Greeting• Ch 1 – 3 – Content of Faith (indicative)• Ch 4 – 6 – Advice & Exhortation (imperative)• Ch 6 – Conclusion

Themes

• Christ – who He is, what He has done• Union with Christ –past, present, future

connection to Christ• Christian Identity – Identity before / Identity

after• Holy & Righteous conduct (define Holy?

Righteous?) – Living the faith• The Church – Church as universal, Church as

Christ’s body