Soteriology of Jews and non-Jews in Paul's thought

Abstract

Since E. P. Sanders’ Paul and Palestinian Judaism was published in 1977, there has been a paradigm shift in Pauline scholarship, consequently much research has been published and focused on the New Perspective on Paul. In recent years, another stream of Pauline Studies has emerged, which goes beyond the New Perspective on Paul, which is called the Radical Perspective on Paul (RPP). This area of Pauline scholarship is also sometimes known as Paul within Judaism.

Since this new trend of Pauline scholarship has emerged, this thesis aims to dialogue with this group of scholars, Paula Fredriksen, Matthew Thiessen and Mark Nanos in particular, and seeks to explore Paul’s soteriological understanding in regard to Jews and non-Jews. RPP scholars emphasize that the Gentile audience of Paul’s congregations and letters is vital to understand them. In their view, the fundamental issue of the early Jesus movement is Paul’s accommodation of the non-Jews when Paul meets Jews and non-Jews in synagogues. In terms of terminology, RPP advocates highlight that Paul divides people into two groups based on ethnicity, namely Jews and non-Jews. While the Paul within Judaism school scholars classify people based on ethnicity as Jews and non-Jews (sometimes called Gentiles), and focus on the issue of Paul’s accommodation of non-Jews, the questions to be asked are:

1. Did Paul address his letters exclusively to ethnic Gentiles? 2. What did Paul think about the salvation of Jews and non-Jews in classifying people as Jews and non-Jews (e.g. 1 Cor 1:22-24), when he encountered people with different ethnicities in different places (e.g. Corinth, Galatia)? 3. What was the rationale behind Paul’s soteriology for Jews and non-Jews? 4. Did Paul believe that Jews were already in a covenantal relationship with God and that they needed to maintain that covenant relationship by observing the law, while non-Jews were saved by Christ? 5. Did Paul perceive that both Jews and non-Jews were saved by Christ in the same way?

In order to answer these questions, this project examines Paul’s four authentic letters, Galatians, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, and Romans, to determine the mechanism of salvation for Jews and non-Jews in Paul’s thought. These four letters are selected partly because they are considered as the Hauptbriefe, the principal letters of Paul, and partly because the RPP scholars concentrate on these letters in their research.

Therefore, investigating these letters enables a more in-depth dialogue with RPP scholars.

This thesis will argue that Paul understands that salvation through Christ applies equally to Jews and non-Jews. Paul’s soteriology for Jews and non-Jews is the same regardless of ethnicity, which means that after the first coming of Christ, both Jews and non-Jews are being saved through faith in Christ up to the second coming of Christ (Chapters 1-4). Since Paul’s explicit audience (to whom Paul writes) is a key issue for the Paul within Judaism scholars, each chapter will first discuss this and then it will examine Paul’s salvific thought concerning Jews and Gentiles. By going through Galatians (Chapter1), 1 and 2 Corinthians (Chapter 2) and Romans (Chapters 3-4), this thesis will argue that after the Christ event, Paul believed that salvation for Jews and non-Jews up until the second coming of Christ was possible exclusively through faith in Christ without distinction.