Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology

Paul, Apostle of God's Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology. By Thomas R. Schreiner. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001, 504 pp., $24.99.

To understand and articulate the thought of Paul accurately, a scholar must have ample tolerance for creative tensions co-existing in the same mind and a genuine appreciation of the missiological character of his extant letters. Thomas Schreiner succeeds on both accounts and has produced a thorough and readable presentation of the apostle's foundational theological convictions. Schreiner departs from the consensus critical view of seven authentic Pauline letters and builds his theology of Paul from the entire thirteen letter Pauline corpus, drawing heavily on Colossians, Ephesians, and the Pastoral letters in the process. He affirms that Paul's "inconsistencies" flow out of faithful application of the gospel to situational issues that arise as he lives out his dual calling as pioneer church planter and pastor of newly formed congregations. This is a refreshing departure from trends in contemporary scholarship that view the apostle as confused and contradictory.

Schreiner finds the "center" of Paul's thought not in a soteriological metaphor like justification or reconciliation but in the magnification of God's glory in Christ through the gospel. This expansive center is much more satisfying than the common narrower proposals but is not framed in a clear and concise manner. A more helpful summary which moves in the same direction is Gordon Fee's proposal of a "cluster-center" (God's Empowering Presence [Peabody: Hendrickson, 1994] 11-13).

I found the best chapters of the book to be those that catalogued Paul's views of suffering (chap. 4), the person of the exalted Christ (chap. 7), and faith and hope as the ground of perseverance (chap. 11). Though at times Schreiner seems to allow his Reformed perspective to be superimposed on the text, he is overall a careful exegete who deals with all of the biblical evidence related to a particular motif. The pattern is to raise an issue, cite one or more interpretive alternatives to the problem, then in an irenic manner provide scriptural and logical evidence for his own view. Suffering is to Paul the means of spreading the gospel, of legitimating the integrity of his ministry, and of confirming the truthfulness of his proclamation of Christ. The post-Easter enthronement of Christ as Lord speaks of his pre-existence, deity (Yahweh of the OT is Jesus of the NT), and effective redemption of the world. In an excursus on universalism, Schreiner argues that the "all" and "world" passages mean all without distinction rather than all without exception. This is a rare example where he dismisses alternative solutions much too quickly. Perseverance is rightly seen as the bridge between present faith and future inheritance. One could compare with profit Schreiner's exegesis with the fuller treatment of many of the same texts by Judith Gundry Volf (in Paul and Perseverance [Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1990]).

The author tackles each of the controversial texts in Paul with clarity though often without depth. The visit of Gal 2:1-10 is the Jerusalem council of Acts 15 (p. 51). To "fill up Christ's afflictions" (Col 1:24) is to extend through his own suffering the message of the all-sufficient death of Christ to the Gentiles (p. 102). The phrase "works of the law" refers to deeds or actions demanded by the Mosaic law in its entirety (p. 114). Here Schreiner dissents from the "new perspective" (E. P. Sanders, J. Dunn, et al.) that sees Paul's fight not with legalism but with Jewish ethnocentrism. It is unlikely that Paul would describe Christian believers by the language of Rom 7:13-25 (p. 132). Phil 2:6 is rendered correctly in the NRSV: "did not regard equality with God as something to be exploited" (p. 171). Righteousness in Rom 1:17, 3:21-22 is forensic rather than transformative (i.e. ethical), a reversal of earlier views expressed in his commentary on Romans (p. 208). Election involves the divine pre-temporal choosing of individuals to salvation along with the means of salvation, faith itself, as a divine gift to the individual (pp. 240-47). Though the Church is the new "Israel of God" (Gal 6:16), there is still a future for ethnic Israel when the end-time generation of Jews comes to faith in Jesus Messiah near or at his personal return to earth (pp. 481-83). Here and in many places Schreiner is to be commended for allowing the tension in the biblical data to stand rather than opting for a precise theological system that distorts part of the evidence.

Schreiner's is a broad-ranging work that can serve as an excellent introduction to the main lines of Pauline theology and their supporting data. As for exegetical detail and theological profundity, it cannot compare with the more extensive works of Herman Ridderbos (Paul: An Outline of His Theology [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975]) and James Dunn (The Theology of Paul the Apostle [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998]), which will continue to stand at the forefront of Pauline theologies in the English language.