Bible Alive "Faith in Paul"

Analysis of
Faith in Paul

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Let us Pray
We bow our knees before you, Father,
from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,
that according to the riches of your glory you may grant us to be strengthened with might through your Spirit in the inner human being, and that Christ may dwell in our hearts through faith; that we, being rooted and grounded in love, may have power to comprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and height and depth, and to know the love of Christ which surpasses knowledge, that we may be filled with all the fullness of God.
Amen.

Course Breakdown
Bible Alive: The Prophets
What is faith?
Who and what are prophets?
What is prophecy?
What you need:
Bring your Bible and a heart open to prayer.

Faith
Summary of Old Testament Faith
It is aman, that is, solidity, firmness, support, security and is corporate, NEVER just an individualistic experience.
It is covenantal and bestows identity.
This faith trusts more than it intellectually assents to, and obeys.
It is expressed through repentance, obedience and trust.
And it moves from the fear of the Lord to reverence and love in wisdom in the environment of peace.

Abrahamic Faith
Look at Gen 15:6 and Rom 4:3.
Abram put his faith in the LORD, who credited it to him as an act of righteousness.
For what does the scripture say? “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness.”

Faith & Justice
To what is faith connected in the mind of Paul?
For Paul, faith is connected to justice.
Aman-Faith means that the human being is DOCILE.
It is to hold oneself at the disposal of God; it is to be COMPLETELY open to God.
Aman-Faith is a SUPREMELY FREE ACT, a CONFESSION of radical insufficiency AND a trust that one will receive ALL from God.
Faith is SELF-ABDICATION. It abdicates self-sufficiency AND any delusion of support from others than God.
Aman is a leap into the saving mystery of God.
In abandoning self-reliance and completely resting oneself to God, the human being makes the JUST response to God’s initiative.
It is also the ONLY RESPONSE that is ADEQUATE to God’s offer which is a gracious and gratuitous promise of salvation.
Paul takes this nexus of faith and justice (or justification) and develops it.

How??
How is this thing (of which faith is intimately connected) achieved for Paul?
Justification is achieved for Paul through faith and baptism.
As RuldolfBultmann says, there never was a time in the life of the Church when there was no Baptism.

Paschal Mystery Incorporated
Col 2:12—and you were buriedwith him in baptism, in which you were also raised with him through faith in the working of God, who raised him from the dead.
Eph 2:1-6—And you he made alive, when you were dead through the trespasses and sins in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience. Among these we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, following the desires of body and mind, and so we were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. But God, who is rich in mercy, out of the great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up with him, and made us sit with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus
Phil 3:10-11—that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain the resurrection from the dead.
What does Baptism incorporate us into?
The death, burial, and resurrection of Jesus.

In-corpus-ation
What else does Baptism incorporate us into?
1 Cor 12:12-14, 27—For just as the body is one and has many members, and all the members of the body, though many, are one body, so it is with Christ. For by one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free—and all were made to drink of one Spirit. For the body does not consist of one member but of many … Now you are the body of Christ and individually members of it.
The Body of Christ.
What is the relationship between Baptismal event and the Christ-event?
They are, for all practical purposes, identical.
Paul wrote First Corinthians in the spring of 56 or 55 (maybe as early as 54) from Ephesus that “in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body—Jews or Greeks, slaves or free.”
This takes us back to the early 30s, just after Jesus’ death.
The origin of baptism then comes not from the later Hellenistic churches but in the Jewish-Christian Church.

Purification
What does Baptism do?
Read Eph 5:26—Husbands, love your wives, as Christ loved the church and gave himself up for her, that he might sanctify her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the word, that he might present the church to himself in splendor, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing, that she might be holy and without blemish.
It purifies us.

Death & Life
What have we become in Baptism?
Read Rom 6:1-11.
We have become dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus.
And what does it require of us?
Rom 6:12-23 goes on to say that we must lead a wholly different kind of life, “not under the law but under grace.”

Moral Life & Baptism
What is the Christian moral life?
2 Cor4:8-12—We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed; perplexed, but not driven to despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; struck down, but not destroyed; always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus may also be manifested in our bodies. For while we live we are always being given up to death for Jesus’ sake, so that the life of Jesus may be manifested in our mortal flesh. So death is at work in us, but life in you.
What does Baptism celebrate?
The Christian moral life is a LIVING OUT OF the paschal mystery that our Baptism celebrates.

Paul’s Understanding of Baptism
What is Baptism for Paul?
It is the initiation event which is a process of TOTAL identification with Christ.

Reconciliation & Liberation
What, for Paul, is faith the key of?
Read Eph 2:8-9—For by grace you have been saved through faith, and this is not from you; it is the gift of God; it is not from works, so no one may boast.
For Paul faith is the key to reconciliation with God.
According to Paul faith liberates us from sin.
To be liberated, one must simply confess one’s helplessness and make oneself open to divine grace, according to Paul.

Faith & Life for the Just
What, according to Paul, is faith for the justified or therighteous?
Rom 1:17—For in it is revealed the righteousness of God from faith to faith; as it is written, “The one who is righteous by faith will live.”
Gal 3:11—And that no one is justified before God by the law is clear, for “the one who is righteous by faith will live.”
Phil 3:9-10—…and be found in him, not having any righteousness of my own based on the law but that which comes through faith in Christ, the righteousness from God, depending on faith to know him and the power of his resurrection and (the) sharing of his sufferings by being conformed to his death…
Faith is the principle of life for the righteous.

New Creation
What is faith in conjunction with baptism (according to Paul)?
2 Cor5:17—So whoever is in Christ is a new creation: the old things have passed away; behold, new things have come.
Faith, in conjunction with Baptism, effects a NEW CREATION.

The Central Object of Faith
Who for Paul is the central object of faith?
Read Gal 2:20—…yet I live, no longer I, but Christ lives in me; insofar as I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God who has loved me and given himself up for me.
The central object for faith is Christ.

Hearing the Kerygma
Is faith for Paul just a matter of believing in Christ, or is it something more?
Rom 10:8, 13-15—But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith that we preach),…
For “everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
But how can they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone to preach?
And how can people preach unless they are sent? As it is written, “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring (the) good news!”
For Paul it is NOT ONLY a matter of believing in Christ. It is ESPECIALLY a matter of receiving the PREACHED WORD.
For Paul, faith comes through preaching.

Content of Preaching
Paul summarizes the content of the preaching in various ways.
2 Cor5:19—God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting their trespasses against them and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation.
Col 1:12-20—…giving thanks to the Father, who has made you fit to share in the inheritance of the holy ones in light.He delivered us from the power of darkness and transferred us to the kingdom of his beloved Son,in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins.
He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation.
For in him were created all things in heaven and on earth, the visible and the invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities or powers; all things were created through him and for him.
He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.
He is the head of the body, the church.
He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in all things he himself might be preeminent.
For in him all the fullness was pleased to dwell,and through him to reconcile all things for him, making peace by the blood of his cross (through him), whether those on earth or those in heaven.

Essence of the Kerygma
What is the ESSENCE of what is being preached and proclaimed?
Rom 10:9—if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
God was in Christ reconciling the world to God.
The man Jesus is Yahweh (“Lord”).
God has raised Jesus from the dead so that through his resurrection he might communicate NEW LIFE to those who believe and are baptized.

Exterior & Interior
Look again at Rom 10:9. What does this text indicate about faith? Is it simply interior?
…if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
NO. Faith for Paul is not simply interior.
For Pauline theology, faith must be expressed and confessed.

Summary of Confession
A GOOD SUMMARY of the Confession of Faith:
1 Tim 3:16—Undeniably great is the mystery of devotion,
Who was manifested in the flesh,
vindicated in the spirit,
seen by angels,
proclaimed to the Gentiles,
believed in throughout the world,
taken up in glory.

Security Issues
So with Paul, as with Acts of the Apostles, faith looks not only to the past but also to the future
1 Thess4:14—For if we believe that Jesus died and rose, so too will God, through Jesus, bring with him those who have fallen asleep.
So faith does give us a measure of security and confidence.

Faith & Insecurity
But to what extent is this security and confidence given us by faith according to Paul?
See 2 Cor5:7—for we walk by faith, not by sight.
Even though faith grants us a measure of assurance and confidence, it still retains a degree of obscurity.

Bookending Romans
Look at how Paul bookends his massive Letter to the Romans:
THE BEGINNING of Paul’s Letter to the Romans 1:5— Through him we have received the grace of apostleship, to bring about the obedience of faith, for the sake of his name, among all the Gentiles…
THE CONCLUSION to Paul’s Letter to the Romans 16:26— …but now manifested through the prophetic writings and, according to the command of the eternal God, made known to all nations to bring about the obedience of faith…

Something Similar
What is similar about both passages?
The phrase “obedience of faith.”
Opening Paul’s Letter to the Romans, we are greeted with the author (who refers to himself as the “bondslave” or “servant” of Jesus Christ) and that for him, faith and obedience comprise ONE INSEPPRABLE REALITY.
This is strange to many modern people, who hold “faith” and “obeying” as not only distinct and even contrary. Many tend to see obedience as slavish, and “faith” or anything “spiritual” as the “freedom to do what feelsright.”
For Paul, the greatest possible freedom to serve God.
For Paul, faith means obedience.

Obedience of Faith
Is faith then, for Paul, simply intellectual assent or emotional “YES!” to Jesus or the Apostolic preaching? If not, what is it also?
Paul explains in Romans why has received grace and apostleship—it was so he may “bring about the obedience of faith”.
You cannot understand Paul’s Letter to the Romans without understanding this phrase.
Many misinterpret Paul as saying that human beings are justified by faith apart from obedience to the Torah (the Instruction or Law; and this includes the Law in the Decalogue) and not only apart from erganomou, Greek for “works of the law” (see Rom 3:28).
If Paul did hold this, then for Paul obeying the commandments, and ultimately love, would be secondary and unessential to salvation; human justification for Paul would be “accepting Jesus into the heart as personal Lord and Savior.” (Cf. Mt 7:21).

Faith Formed by Love
Paul, like Jesus, held faith to be INCARNATE faith
For Paul justifying faith cannot be disembodied where one “accepts” a theoretical Jesus in the spirit or interior life or mind separated from “responding” secondarily with obedience. There is no such distinction in Pauline theology.
For Paul, human salvation is accomplished, not only by mental assent, but in a manner that is INCARNATED in love.
Paul never wrote “faith ALONE” about salvation.

Theology in Conflict
Paul developed his theology on the relationship between faith and justice in his conflicts with the Judaizers.
We see this in both Galatians and Romans.

One but Diverse
It is naïve to think of first century Christianity as monolithic in theological perspective.
When speaking about Paul’s cultural and theological backgrounds, as well as the Church of the first generation of Christianity (AD 30-70), one should not speak of “Jewish Christianity” and “Gentile Christianity,” for there were varying types of “Jewish/Gentile Christianity” The New Testament demonstrates at least the following diversities:

Group One—Judaizers
“Jewish/Gentile Christianity” Group One—
the Ultraconservatives, consisting of Jewish Christians and their Gentile converts (although they were not thrilled about these), insisting on FULL observance of the Mosaic law, including circumcision, for the believers of Jesus.
They believed that Gentiles had to become Jews to receive Jesus’ Messianic blessing.
Luke is more diplomatic with this group than Paul—Luke calls them “of the circumcision” (Acts 11:2) describing them “of the sect [haireses] of the Pharisees” (Acts 15:5).
Paul speaks of them more harshly, as “false brothers who slipped in to spy out our freedom” (Gal 2:4).
Paul’s entire Letter to the Galatians testifies to a group of Jewish Christians making inroads among his Gentile converts in Galatia, far off in Asia Minor.
These Judaizers, Acts identifies, as Christian Jews from the Pharisee movement.

More on Group One
Philippians 3 shows a fear of Gentile converts in Greece being influenced by Jewish Christian propaganda and 1:15-17 hints at such preaching where Paul is imprisoned (Rome? Ephesus?).
It is clear therefore that there was a MISSION to the Gentiles most ANTAGONISTIC to Paul AND this resulted in a Jewish/Gentile Christianity of the strictest Torah observance even beyond Palestine into some cities of Asia Minor and Greece, at LEAST.

Group Two: Center-Right
“Jewish/Gentile Christianity” Group Two—
The Moderate Conservatives, consisting of Jewish Christians and their Gentile converts, who did NOT insist on circumcision yet DID require that SOME JEWISH OBSERVANCES be kept by converted Gentiles.
Reading Acts 15 and Galatians 2, James (brother of the Lord and head of the Jerusalem church) and Cephas (Peter, first among the Twelve), whom Paul deprecates as “so-called pillars” (see Gal 2:9), with Paul nonetheless agreed that there should be no imposing circumcision on Gentile converts.
But certain Jewish observances, particularly kosher laws, WERE INSISTED ON by James, according to Acts 15:20.

More on Group Two
Certain “men from James” caused an embarrassment at Antioch over an issue of Jewish Christians eating with Gentiles, thus, presumably, breaking the food laws.
There is a suggestion in Acts (see Acts 15:14-15, 19-21, 22-29) that this demand was not originally Peter’s idea, he nonetheless went along with it peaceably as did other Jerusalem authorities, it is clear from Gal 2:11-14 that Peter acquiesced only under pressure.
The facts suggest that Group Two involves yet another missionary thrust, less liberal than Paul and less rigid than Group One:
Certain “men of James” demanding certain Torah observances arriving at Antioch (Gal 2:11-12)
James’ position on matters sent via letter to Gentile “brothers” in “Antioch, Syria, and Cilicia” (Acts 15:23)
Paul must debate contra imposing Jewish food sensibilities at Corinth (1 Cor 8)

Even More on Group Two
Group Two appears to scholars like Raymond Brown and John P. Meier as a mediating view (See Antioch and Rome: New Testament cradles of Catholic Christianity).
Without “demand for circumcision” while still preserving something of Jewish Law as a Christian inheritance, Group Two values openness.
The Jerusalem Apostles are believed to have belonged to this mindset of Jewish/Gentile Christianity. (Consider Mt 16:13-21 and 28:16-20 and the title to theDidache)

Group Three: Center-Left
“Jewish/Gentile Christianity” Group Three—
The Moderate Liberals, consisting of Jewish Christians and their Gentile converts, who neither insisted on circumcision nor required Kosher food laws.
Scholars hold Paul to be the main representative of Group Three in the New Testament; yet there were surely others.
Most probably the Jewish Christians he associated with during his missionary works would have shared his attitude (especially those with whom Paul worked after AD 50, the approximate time of his dispute with the “men from James”).
Gal 2:11-14 clarifies Paul’s vigorous resisting the views about Gentile Kosher observance of the “men from James” despite Barnabas accepting James’ position—despite what Luke says in Acts 15:22.
Although James imposed abstinence of food dedicated to idols (Acts 15:20,29), Paul did not require this of Christians (see 1 Cor 8).

More on Group Three
Paul the Moderate Liberal:
Because of this Kosher-issue Paul stops working with Barnabas (Gal 2:13; Acts 15:39) and likewise “face to face” opposes Cephas/Peter (Gal 2:11).
Scholars doubt that Paul would have permitted among his missionary companions diversity about the issue.
Scholars therefore identify a Pauline type of Jewish/Gentile Christianity.
This group is more liberal than that of James and Peter, at least regarding certain Torah obligations.

Even More on Group Three
Just HOW liberal was Paul?
Some think that Paul was at the far left extreme of Christianity as far as relationship to the Torah is concerned, given his rhetoric of Gal 3:10-13, 24-25.
Brown argues however that Paul was not systematic theologically (his modified perspective gets more nuanced in Romans than in earlier Galatians) and that there are ambiguities in his attitude.
Ambiguities include:
He expects Christians to live by the Decalogue and Judaism’s high morality in the second parts of many Pauline letters.
Acts 20:6, 16 gives the suggestion that Paul kept Jewish feasts mandated by the Torah.
In Acts 21:26, Paul, like the Jewish Christian leaders in Jerusalem, worships in the Temple.
The evidence of Acts 16:1-3 and the “problem of Paul’s son.” (for explanation, please see Antioch and Rome: New Testament cradles of Catholic Christianity, pp. 5-6)

Group Four: Hellenistic
“Jewish/Gentile Christianity” Group Four—
The Extreme Liberals, consisting of Jewish Christians and their Gentile converts, who not only did not mandate circumcision and Kosher observance, but saw no significance in the Jewish feasts and cult!
Meier and Brown hold that the New Testament presents evidence of a “considerable body” more radical than Paul as far as the Law was concerned (even though Paul’s opponents in Acts 21:20-21 associate him with this group!).
One reads of the “Gentile converts” of the “Hellenists” of Acts 6:1-6, who were probably called “Hellenists” because they were Jews raised saturated in Greek acculturation; perhaps they could only speak Greek.
A certain disdain for the Temple “where God does not dwell” is indicated in Stephen’s speech (Acts 9:29). This attitude is missing in Acts’ depiction of Paul.

More on Group Four
Scholars argue that an even more radical expression of Hellenistic thought is to be found in the Fourth Gospel and the Epistle to the Hebrews:
In John the law does not pertain to the followers of Jesus, just “the Jews” (see Jn 10:34, 15:25).
In John the Sabbath, Passover, and Tabernacles are all alien religious festivals “of the Jews” (Jn 5:1, 9b, 6:4, 7:2).
Jesus Body is to replace the Temple, which is to be destroyed (Jn 2:19-21).
The hour is coming when God will not be worshipped in Jerusalem (Jn 4:21).
Jesus replaces the Jewish high priesthood, sacrifices, and earthly Tabernacle in the theology of Hebrews.
Jewish Christians wrote the Gospel of John and Hebrews; the Fourth Gospel accepts Gentile converts (Jn 12:20-24) and neither work could conceive of Gentile believers as a “wild olive branch” like Paul did (Rom 11:24).

Pauline Polemic
It is not too difficult to imagine the conflict between Pauline thought and Group One, called “the Judaizers.”
Paul’s ideas of the relationship between faith and justice, a theme taken from the Old Testament, developed under conflicts with Group One Christians.
What provoked it was the rigid position of these ultraconservatives and ultimately, the Pharisaic position.

Pauline Contrast
The Jews who rejected Christ, Paul saw, held the position that one was justified by works of the law.
Paul contrasts justification by faith to justification by works.
Paul’s point: what is the proper foundation for a human being to stand on that is a JUST or ADEQUATE relationship to God so as to achieve salvation.
Paul held that the position of his far right opponents was this: a human being is made JUST by fulfilling the works of the law, and its observances—in this way was a human being justified, and thus present oneself to God.
A connection of MERIT exists in this theology of justification by works. One EARNS salvation.

More Contrasts
For Paul, this conflicted to the what was taught in the Scriptures.
The very idea that the Law could justify someone inverts the human relationship with God—one substitutes self-sufficiency (and hence self-glorification) before God in the place of God’s graciousness and gratuitous self-donation.
Paul opposes faith to “works of the Law.”
Paul opposes grace and favor to the idea of earning salvation as a salary.
Paul opposes the “justification of the unholy” (the human being’s effective INTERIOR transformation) to the forensic or legal justification of God who acknowledges the present human work.
To works performed BEFORE justification, Paul denies any worth—yet vibrant life streams out in the exercise of love from justifying faith (see Gal 5:6; Rom 8:4, 13:8-10; Gal 5:14).

Justification Described
Describing justification, Paul would say that would that one is justified by the grace alone of God in Jesus Christ by the power of the Holy Spirit through faith ENFLESHED in works of charity/love.
Faith according to Paul is also obedience. Faith demands a complete surrender to Christ.

The SINGLE Moment of Faith?
Can Paul think that faith is accomplished in a single act or moment?
2 Cor 10:15—We are not boasting beyond measure, in other people's labors; yet our hope is that, as your faith increases, our influence among you may be greatly enlarged, within our proper limits
1 Thess 3:10—Night and day we pray beyond measure to see you in person and to remedy the deficiencies of your faith.
Rom 14:1—Welcome anyone who is weak in faith, but not for disputes over opinions.
No way! For Paul faith cannot be accomplished in a single act because it can GROW and even become WEAK, and DIE. Another words, faith is DYNAMIC, not static.

What Makes Faith ALIVE?
What is the principle for faith to grow according to Paul?
Read Gal 5:6—For in Christ Jesus, neither circumcision nor uncircumcision counts for anything, but only faith working through love.
For Paul, the principle for faith is ALWAYS LOVE.

1 Cor2:2-16—
For I resolved to know nothing while I was with you except Jesus Christ, and him crucified.
I came to you in weakness and fear and much trembling,and my message and my proclamation were not with persuasive (words of) wisdom, but with a demonstration of spirit and power,so that your faith might rest not on human wisdom but on the power of God.
Yet we do speak a wisdom to those who are mature, but not a wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age who are passing away.

1 Cor 2:2-16 cont.
Rather, we speak God’s wisdom, mysterious, hidden, which God predetermined before the ages for our glory, and which none of the rulers of this age knew; for if they had known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written: “What eye has not seen, and ear has not heard, and what has not entered the human heart, what God has prepared for those who love him,” this God has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit scrutinizes everything, even the depths of God.
Among human beings, who knows what pertains to a person except the spirit of the person that is within? Similarly, no one knows what pertains to God except the Spirit of God.

1 Cor 2:2-16 cont.
We have not received the spirit of the world but the Spirit that is from God, so that we may understand the things freely given us by God. And we speak about them not with words taught by human wisdom, but with words taught by the Spirit, describing spiritual realities in spiritual terms.
Now the natural person does not accept what pertains to the Spirit of God, for to him it is foolishness, and he cannot understand it, because it is judged spiritually.
The spiritual person, however, can judge everything but is not subject to judgment by anyone.
For “who has known the mind of the Lord, so as to counsel him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

1 Cor 12:3—Therefore I want you to understand that no one speaking by the Spirit of God ever says “Jesus be cursed!” and no one can say “Jesus is Lord” except by the Holy Spirit.
Eph 1:17-18—that the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give you a spirit of wisdom and revelation resulting in knowledge of him. May the eyes of (your) hearts be enlightened, that you may know what is the hope that belongs to his call, what are the riches of glory in his inheritance among the holy ones…
Eph 3:14-17—For this reason I kneel before the Father,from whom every family in heaven and on earth is named,that he may grant you in accord with the riches of his glory to be strengthened with power through his Spirit in the inner self,and that Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; that you, rooted and grounded in love…
Col 2:2—…that their hearts may be encouraged as they are brought together in love, to have all the richness of fully assured understanding, for the knowledge of the mystery of God, Christ…

Sight BEYOND Sight
What for Paul is faith (think EYES)?
A sight. A way of seeing BEYOND sight.
What, by faith, are we able to “see” and “grasp” and “enter into”?
For Paul it is only through faith, the interior illumination of the Holy Spirit, that we are enabled to grasp and enter into the mystery of Christ’s death and resurrection.

From Ignorance to Knowing
How, according to Paul, does the believer pass from ignorance of God onto the knowledge and love of God?
Gal 4:8-9—At a time when you did not know God, you became slaves to things that by nature are not gods; but now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God, how can you turn back again to the weak and destitute elemental powers? Do you want to be slaves to them all over again?
Eph 4:18—…darkened in understanding, alienated from the life of God because of their ignorance, because of their hardness of heart…
Eph 5:8—For you were once darkness, but now you are light in the Lord. Live as children of light,…
2 Cor4:6—For God who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,” has shone in our hearts to bring to light the knowledge of the glory of God on the face of (Jesus) Christ.

Spiritual Action
How, according to Paul, does the believer pass from ignorance of God onto the knowledge and love of God?
For Paul, the believer passes from ignorance of God to the knowledge of God through the action of the Spirit.

Rom 8:11—If the Spirit of the one who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, the one who raised Christ from the dead will give life to your mortal bodies also, through his Spirit that dwells in you.
Rom 8:19-23—For creation awaits with eager expectation the revelation of the children of God;
For creation was made subject to futility, not of its own accord but because of the one who subjected it, in hopethat creation itself would be set free from slavery to corruption and share in the glorious freedom of the children of God.
We know that all creation is groaning in labor pains even until now;
and not only that, but we ourselves, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, we also groan within ourselves as we wait for adoption, the redemption of our bodies
Rom 8:29—For those he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son, so that he might be the firstborn among many brothers.

1 Cor6:15-20—Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Shall I then take Christ’s members and make them the members of a prostitute? Of course not! (Or) do you not know that anyone who joins himself to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For “the two,” it says, “will become one flesh.” But whoever is joined to the Lord becomes one spirit with him. Avoid immorality. Every other sin a person commits is outside the body, but the immoral person sins against his own body. Do you not know that your body is a temple of the holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been purchased at a price. Therefore, glorify God in your body.
2 Cor5:8—Yet we are courageous, and we would rather leave the body and go home to the Lord.

Phil 1:19-23—for I know that this will result in deliverance for me through your prayers and support from the Spirit of Jesus Christ.
My eager expectation and hope is that I shall not be put to shame in any way, but that with all boldness, now as always, Christ will be magnified in my body, whether by life or by death.
For to me life is Christ, and death is gain.
If I go on living in the flesh, that means fruitful labor for me. And I do not know which I shall choose.
I am caught between the two. I long to depart this life and be with Christ, (for) that is far better.

Phil 3:19-21—Their end is destruction. Their God is their stomach; their glory is in their “shame.” Their minds are occupied with earthly things.
But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we also await a savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.
He will change our lowly body to conform with his glorified body by the power that enables him also to bring all things into subjection to himself.
1 Thess4:17—Then we who are alive, who are left, will be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air. Thus we shall always be with the Lord.

Sacramental Paul
What, according to Paul, are all things oriented toward?
Everything is oriented toward union with God through Christ and the Holy Spirit.
Given this, we see how important for Catholics is the principle of sacramentality.

Paul’s Theology on Faith
Let’s summarize faith in Paul. Gather all these themes—
Faith is about justice for Paul. Faith is the key that liberates us from sin and death. Thus for Paul faith is the principle of life for the righteous.
Paul sees that with Baptism faith effects a new creation.
The central object of such faith is Christ, but Christ in the preached word—for Paul faith comes through preaching.
For Paul faith is incarnational, inexorably tied to obedience, and in fact is obedience.
Faith is not only mental, but an reality consuming the whole believer.
It is never a one-time event or confession; faith is dynamic and grows.
Faith also must be nourished for Paul for it may become sick and die.
The principle by which faith grows is love.
For Paul faith is vision of Christ in all things. For Paul this vision can only come from the indwelling Spirit who empowers us to leave ignorance and darkness and enter into the light of Christ. Faith shows Paul that all things are oriented toward union with God.

Bible Alive "Faith in Paul"

by BibleAlive on Oct 02, 2009

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Bible Alive "Faith in Paul" — Presentation Transcript