At this time, Paul is planning on traveling to Spain to preach the gospel to the Western reaches of the known world. At this time, he is in it for the long haul and seems to taking full advantage of the time prior to the the Parousia.
That’s interesting. I’ve always seen his enthusiasm to go West as a sign that he was anxious to go as far as he could in the short time that was left. Yet if Romans is composed in the 50s as most scholars seem to think it has been 20+ years since Jesus was resurrected. I guess I’ve always thought that early Christian apocalyptic fervor didn’t really begin to diminish until the aftermath of the First Revolt.
Stephen said
JAS said
And when Spain was not far enough, he just went out and martyred himself.
Ya know…I’ve always wondered whether our sources are so ambiguous about Paul’s fate because he actually went west on a mission trip and was never heard from again.
Along with most of the loot he collected for “the poor”?
Robert said
Welcome, Holfax, to the Readers Forum. Paul’s beliefs seem to have evolved somewhat over time. In 1 Thessalonians 4,13-18, his first extant letter, he seems to think the dead will rise and meet Jesus in the sky as he descends and Jesus will bring these risen dead with him to the earth. He seems to have this same sense of how things will be in 1 Cor 15,51-52. In 2 Cor 5,1-10 it seems that Paul’s ideas are evolving. At this time it seems that he is thinking in terms of some people being with the Lord in heaven in their eternal, spiritual bodies but this is still prior to the final judgment. And in Philippians 1,12-26 an imprisoned Paul is contemplating the possibility of his own imminent death, at which time he would go to be with the Lord.This development of ideas is presumably due to the passage of time. At first he expected the Parousia very soon. The Thessalonians seem to have been disturbed by the fact that some community members have died prior to the Parousia. In 1 Corinthians we hear of a practice of some being baptized for the dead, presumably reflection has occurred in which people were trying to make provision for others who did not have the opportunity to repent. By the time we get to Romans 9-11, Paul is theologizing about God’s purpose in some of Israel being hardened to allow for the conversion of the gentiles but ultimately he believes all Israel will be saved. At this time, Paul is planning on traveling to Spain to preach the gospel to the Western reaches of the known world. At this time, he is in it for the long haul and seems to taking full advantage of the time prior to the the Parousia.
I suspect Paul still thought of the Kingdom of God as an earthly kingdom, but later, after much more passage of time, theologians shifted their hope to heaven without thought of the earthly Kingdom of God. This seems to have become the mainstream belief in the fourth century as evidenced by Eusebius, who ridiculed earlier writers like Papias who had still hoped in an earthly Kingdom of God.
I suspect Paul made everything up and was forced to change his message after so many people died without the Lord coming.
CEJ said
Stephen said
JAS said
And when Spain was not far enough, he just went out and martyred himself.
Ya know…I’ve always wondered whether our sources are so ambiguous about Paul’s fate because he actually went west on a mission trip and was never heard from again.
Along with most of the loot he collected for “the poor”?
That’s my suspicion as well.
2 Cor. 9: “The point is this: the one who sows sparingly will also reap sparingly, and the one who sows bountifully will also reap bountifully. 7 Each of you must give as you have made up your mind, not regretfully or under compulsion, for God loves a cheerful giver. Thanks be to God for his indescribable gift!”
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