Paul and the Mission of the Church

P. Ware James

Description

Did Paul urge Christians to engage in mission? What would that have meant in his setting? What should the church be doing now? This essential study examines Paul's letter to the Philippians in its ancient Jewish context, making a convincing case that Paul expected churches to continue the work of spreading the gospel. Published in hardcover by Brill, it is now available as an affordable paperback.

Informations

• Publié par: Baker Publishing Group
• Date de parution: 01 juillet 2011
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781441236340
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

© 2011 by James P. Ware
Paperback edition published in 2011 by Baker Academic a division of Baker Publishing Group P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287 www.bakeracademic.com
Originally published in 2005 by Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands as The Mission of the Church in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism , Supplements to Novum Testamentum, vol. 120.
Reprinted by arrangement with the author
Ebook edition created 2011
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means for example, electronic, photocopy, recording without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
ISBN 978-1-4412-3634-0
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
For Jan with love and gratitude ipsa tibi blandos fundent cunabula flores
Virgil, Ecl . IV
CONTENTS
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Preface
Abbreviations

Introduction
PART ONE: CONVERSION OF GENTILES IN ANCIENT JUDAISM
Chapter One: The Problem of Jewish Mission
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Evidence of Gentile Converts
1.3 Evidence of Gentile Sympathizers or “God-fearers”
1.3.1 The Term “God-fearer” as a Designation for Gentile Sympathizers
1.3.2 The Number of Partial Converts in Antiquity
1.4 Evidence of Jewish Missionary Activity
1.5 Conclusion

Chapter Two: Conversion of Gentiles in Isaiah and Elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible
2.1 Introduction
2.2 The Nations in Isaiah and Elsewhere in the Old Testament
2.3 Conversion of Gentiles in Isaiah 40-55
2.4 The Servant of the Lord in Isaiah 40-55
2.5 Conclusion

Chapter Three: Conversion of Gentiles and Interpretation of Isaiah in Second Temple Judaism
3.1 Introduction
3.2 LXX Isaiah
3.2.1 Conversion of Gentiles in Greek Isaiah
3.2.2 The Servant in Greek Isaiah
3.3 Targum Isaiah
3.4 Sibylline Oracles 3.573-600
3.5 Wisdom of Solomon 2:12-5:13, 17:2-18.4
3.5.1 Wis 2:12-5:13
3.5.2 Wis 17:2-18:4
3.6 The Parables of Enoch 48, 62
3.7 Philo of Alexandria
3.7.1 On Repentance (Virt 175-186)
3.7.2 De specialibus legibus 2.162-67; De Vita Mosis 1.149; De Abrahamo 98
3.7.3 De Vita Mosis 2.43-44
3.8 Romans 2:17-29
3.9 Testament of Levi 14.3-4; 4QLevi-a ar 3-5 = 4Q213 3-5
3.10 Conclusion

Conclusion to Part One
PART TWO: MISSION IN PHILIPPIANS

Chapter Four: The Progress of the Gospel in Philippians 1:12-18a
4.1 Introduction
4.2 The Gospel in Philippians
4.3 Philippians 1:12-14: Paul’s Imprisonment and the Progress of the Gospel at Rome
4.4 Philippians 1:15-18a: Mission and Motives at Rome
4.5 Conclusion

Chapter Five: Suffering and Mission in Philippians 1:18b-2:11
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Philippians 1:18b-20: Mission and Salvation
5.3 Philippians 1:21-26: Consecration to the Gospel
5.4 Philippians 1:27-2:4: The Sign of Salvation
5.5 Philippians 2:5-11: The Example of Christ Jesus
5.6 Conclusion

Chapter Six: The Mission of the Church in Philippians 2:12-18
6.1 Introduction
6.2 Philippians 2:12-13: The Work of the Philippians and of God
6.2.1 Philippians 2:12 in its Literary Context
6.2.2 The Activity of God in Philippians 2:13
6.3 Philippians 2:14-15: Eschatology and Mission
6.4 The Meaning of the Verb ἐπέχω in Philippians 2:16a
6.5 Philippians 2:16b-18: The Church’s Mission and the Mission of Paul
6.5.1 The Priestly Activity of the Philippians in 2:17-18
6.5.2 Paul’s Apostolic Self-Description in 2:16b
6.6 Conclusion

Conclusion

Bibliography

Index of Modern Authors
Index of Biblical References
Index of Ancient Sources
Index of Selected Topics
Index of Selected Greek Words

Notes
Back Cover
PREFACE TO THE PAPERBACK EDITION
I am thankful for the enthusiastic reception which this work (originally published as volume 120 in the series Supplements to Novum Testamentum with the title The Mission of the Church in Paul’s Letter to the Philippians in the Context of Ancient Judaism ) has enjoyed among scholars of early Christian mission. I am also grateful to Baker Academic for undertaking this new paperback edition. This edition makes possible a wider dissemination of the book’s arguments and conclusions, which I believe make important contributions to current debates regarding both conversion of gentiles in ancient Judaism and mission in earliest Christianity. It will also be of interest to those who study, practice, or theologize about missions today.
Part One of the study offers an entirely new approach to the vexed question of whether the origins of the early Christian mission are to be sought in a prior Jewish mission to gentiles. This study documents a remarkably widespread and intense interest in conversion of gentiles among Jews in the second temple period. However, the context of this interest was not a Jewish consciousness of mission, but rather the expectation, shaped profoundly by the Scriptures, especially the book of Isaiah, of an eschatological pilgrimage of the nations to Zion, linked with an interest in present-day conversions as an anticipation of this future ingathering of the gentiles. This Jewish understanding, I argue, explains both the eagerness of many Jews to embrace gentile converts, and the lack of a Jewish mission to gentiles. Underlying the intense consciousness of mission evident in Philippians, I argue in Part Two of the study, is the conviction that the eschatological reign of Israel’s God, and thus the eschatological time of the conversion of the nations, had now come in Jesus Christ. The results of this study thus set in bold relief both the strongly Jewish character of Paul’s theology of mission in Philippians, and the uniqueness of the early Christian mission.
But at the heart of the study is its claim that Paul’s letter to the Philippians, a document of foundational importance for our understanding of the mission of the church in Paul’s thought, reveals that the active spread of the gospel through his churches held a crucial place in Paul’s missionary thinking. Paul did not understand his apostolic mission as fulfilled in his own preaching activity and the founding of established churches, as frequently asserted, but in the independent spread of the gospel from the churches he founded. Moreover, his radical call to the persecuted church at Philippi to hold forth the word of life, despite personal risk and suffering, reveals that Paul believed a mission to spread the gospel was at the core of their identity as followers of Christ.
This paperback edition is unchanged from the original hardcover edition. Thus the work interacts with the relevant scholarly literature up to 2005, the date of original publication.
James P. Ware Evansville, Indiana 2011
ABBREVIATIONS AB Anchor Bible AJT American Journal of Theology AnBib Analecta Biblica ANRW Aufstieg und Niedergang der römischen Welt ASTI Annual of the Swedish Theological Institute ATR Anglican Theological Review BAGD A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament , W. Bauer, W.F. Arndt, F.W. Gingrich and F.W. Danker BASOR Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research BDR Grammatik des neutestamentlichen Griechisch , F. Blass, A. Debrunner and F. Rehkopf. 16th ed. BETL Bibliotheca ephemeridum theologicarum lovaniensium BEvT Beiträge zur evangelischen Theologie Bib Biblica BibOr Biblica et orientalia BibSac Bibliotheca Sacra BIOSCS Bulletin of the International Organization for Septuagint and Cognate Studies BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands University Library of Manchester BKAT Biblischer Kommentar: Altes Testament BZAW Beihefte zur ZAW BZNW Beihefte zur ZNW CBQ Catholic Biblical Quarterly CIJ Corpus inscriptionum iudaicarum ConBOT Coniectanea biblica, Old Testament CRINT Compendia Rerum Iudaicarum ad Novum Testamentum DJD Discoveries in the Judaean Desert EKK Evangelisch-katholischer Kommentar EMZ Evangelische Missionszeitschrift ETL Ephemerides theologicae lovanienses EvQ Evangelical Quarterly ExpTim Expository Times FRLANT Forschungen zur Religion und Literatur des Alten und Neuen Testaments HNT Handbuch zum Neuen Testament HTR Harvard Theological Review HTS Harvard Theological Studies Int Interpretation JAC Jahrbuch für Antike und Christentum JBL Journal of Biblical Literature JETS Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society JJS Journal of Jewish Studies JPOS Journal of the Palestine Oriental Society JSJ Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic and Roman Periods JSNT Journal for the Study of the New Testament JSNTSup Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series JSOT Journal for the Study of the Old Testament JSOTSup Journal for the Study of the Old Testament Supplement Series JSP Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha JSPSup Journal for the Study of the Pseudepigrapha Supplements JTS Journal of Theological Studies LSJ A Greek-English Lexicon , Liddell, Scott and Jones. 9th ed. MM The Vocabulary of the New Testament , J.H. Moulton and G. Milligan NCB New Century Bible NovT Novum Testamentum NovTSup Novum Testamentum Supplements NTS New Testament Studies OTS Oudtestamentische Studiën PGM Papyri graecae magicae , ed. K. Preisendanz PWRE Pauly-Wissowa, Real-Encyclopädie der classischen Altertumswissenschaft RB Revue Biblique RevEx Review and Expositor SBLSCSS SBL Septuagint and Cognate Studies SBLDS SBL Dissertation Series SBLEJL SBL Early Judaism and Its Literature SBLSBS SBL Sources for Biblical Study SBT Studies in Biblical Theology SCJ Studies in Christianity and Judaism SJT Scottish Journal of Theology SNTSMS Society of New Testament Studies Monograph Series ST Studia theologica STDJ Studies on the Texts of the Desert of Judah TDNT Theological Dictionary of the New Testament , eds. G. Kittel and G. Friedrich ThQ Theologische Quartalschrift TLZ Theologische Literaturzeitung TZ Theologische Zeitsc