The Mission to the Gentiles

Without a doubt, Paul is a dominant figure in the history and development of early Christian theology. One of the main reasons is that he wrote almost half of the New Testament. With few traditions referring to his existence, most of the resources that lead to his life and works are found in the New Testament, especially in the book of Acts. In the outset of theological framework where there were a handful of followers of Jesus proclaiming him as the resurrected Lord and soon to come, there was a general atmosphere of explaining the person and significance of Jesus Christ. For Paul, Jesus is the ground of unity of all Christian believers. No matter how popular Paul is in the development of Christian theology, Jesus is still the very foundation of it. Placher carefully maintains that the New Testament is not mere story of Paul or his perspective alone on Christ; it is a record of diverse expressions of faith in Christ and various perceptions of him. This “diversity of belief” in Christ is evident in the New Testament

The Second Coming

The coming of an expected Messianic figure has been anticipated by some apocalyptic Jewish writers. In relation to Christ’s return, this implies an end of the present age, the establishment of the kingdom of God, the resurrection of the dead towards the reception of their rewards and punishments. These various expectations created diverse impacts on the early believers of Christ since there was no general resurrection that occurred and certainly, the present is age is still continuous. Christ’s resurrection seemed to be an isolated case in the history. Some of the believers of Christ’s soon appearance slowly died away and many were concerned already. Even Paul assumes that Christ will return in their lifetime (I Thess. 4:14-15,17). This expectation was not abandoned by Paul but the odd thing that happened was that Paul and many early Christian believers gradually realized that they were wrong in their strict anticipations. And yet, this realization never made a major impact to shake their faith in Christ’s coming. There is no such crisis that occurred. The delay of the Second Coming was a part of faith in Christ but not essentially integral. In fact, gospel writers have various perceptions of Christ’s return. Luke seems to see the Second Coming as “far in the future.” He seems to perceive a worsening growth of evil in the apocalyptic whole and he rejected the imminent coming of Jesus. On the other hand, John depicted that “Christ had already come in glory.” In Christ’s preaching, the new age depicted has already begun and his life was a triumphant one. The place for the Second Coming was meager.

It is interesting, however, that apocalyptic hopes did not crumble down. The Book of the Revelation is full of imagery and visions of Christ’s return. Including the latest New Testament book, II Peter, is full of powerful hope of Christ’s Second Coming. Thus, in this scenario, two tensions are evident. Early Christians believed that Christ’s Second Coming was soon to occur. Other Christians believed not. And “all can find New Testament support for their positions.”

Jews and Greeks

So far, the tension concerning the relationship of faith and Christ’s Second Coming is not so serious, but the relationship between Christianity and Judaism was severed. The first Christians were Jews. Many remained Jews even if they believed in Jesus as the Messiah. Judaism is still as strong as ever in their religious orientation. From the start, the tension between the Jews and the Greeks was already serious. The twelve apostles were Aramaic speaking Jews and many among the Christian community demanded a fair share in the communal life the church exercised. Thus, the Greek-named deacons were organized to address some of the serious matters in the community life, especially among the Greek-speaking widows. However, the tension between Jews and Greeks was magnified due to the execution of Stephen, one of the seven deacons, by the Jewish leaders.

Judaism was a religio licita in the Roman Empire and the first Christians claimed to be a different kind of Jews because they confessed that since Jesus is the Messiah, only those who believed in him are the faithful Jews or truthful to Judaism. As a result, it created serious repercussions among the Christian community for Jews considered the Christians as not part of Judaism. It made Christianity, therefore, an illegal and unauthorized religion. They were subject to severe persecutions from the Jewish communities. Some Greek-speaking Jewish Christians left Jerusalem and some of those who are loyal to Jewish traditions remained. Those who were left behind experienced the devastating attack of the Roman Empire on 71 AD due to the rebellion of some Jewish nationals. But in Palestine and Syria, traditional Jewish Christian community survived also. After a few centuries, Christianity rapidly grew among the gentiles and Jews when a major issue was clarified. One does not need to become a Jew to be a Christian. This paradigm shift was largely influenced by Paul and the Greek-speaking Christians. Differences between Jews and Greeks are not a major concern in the unity of Christ. Issues like circumcision, dietary regulations, ancestral customs, and other laws are not worthy to be compared to “the unity of those who have faith in Christ”.

However, some gentile Christians took such paradigm shift as a license to sin. They believed that freedom from legalistic religious responsibilities is equivalent to persisting in sin that grace may abound. But Paul insisted that it should not be, for life as a Christian must be lived in gratefulness to God’s love and to stop living a life is sin. “No one with faith in Christ will want to continue sinning.” It is because living in sin injures the community of faith. The same is true in the excessive regard of the Law and misuse of spiritual gifts. Paul himself addressed social issues of his time, i.e. equality of men and women, homosexual activity, slavery, civil obedience, marriage, political issues, etc. Each of these matters must be interpreted in the context of his own time.

The Beginnings of Christology

Jesus Christ, in Paul’s new understanding, is the basis of life and the world. The question on the person and the significance of Jesus Christ was a great challenge to Paul and the early Christians. Speaking of Christ as the messianic hope among the gentiles was not familiar. Thus, Christians must find new ways to identify Jesus to their new audiences. Even in Judaism, the concept of the Messiah included various hopes and the early Christians “combined and modified” them in several ways. Jesus was a descendant of David but not a kind of political and military leader as was expected. He was considered as the apocalyptic Son of Man who was resurrected and soon to inaugurate the kingdom of God. Here, two-stage existence is implied—the earthly life and the apocalyptic return. As of Paul, he offered four stages of Jesus Christ’s life. “Jesus Christ (1) was with God before birth, then (2) lived a life on earth, and now (3) dwells with God in heaven awaiting (4) his second coming.” Christians claimed more concerning Jesus as not just the Son of God in reference to particular faithfulness to God’s will but that he has no human father—as God who volunteered to become human.

The early Christians borrowed ideas from the mystery cults and cultures. Stories of gods and goddesses, secret initiations, resurrected deity, union with deity in new life, hope beyond death, and emphasis on membership were analogies that Christians can find through joining the fellowship, becoming one in Christ the resurrected one, baptism, Lord’s Supper, resurrection, etc. But there is a new demand that Christians wanted from new converts. The worship of only One God and living a life of love is a prerequisite. Faith in this God must have an ethical difference. Much more, the resurrection mentioned in Christianity is a historical one, not a myth. Another analogy from the world beyond Judaism is the concept of the Savior. In those time where great rulers and kings conquered enemies, people confessed him as mighty savior. Yet Christians, on the other hand, proclaimed Christ as the Savior who transforms lives and the world. They also used the concept of the Wisdom of God or the Word (logos) of God. This rational principle that orders the world and guides human understanding is very popular among Greek philosophers, especially Philo, a contemporary of Jesus. In Jesus, the prophetic and creative Word of God became human. The Gospel of John used this concept to present Jesus as the Logos of God. The common ground of the early Christian’s understanding of Christ was that he transformed their lives and the world.

Cultural Applications

The contemporary church can find many analogies in its cultural contexts concerning the gospel of Jesus Christ. This is not just a missiological approach or concern but also a theological challenge in a positive sense. Early Christians have been doing contextualization ever since. Through time, the world has seen a man with a thousand faces and appearance in Jesus. Each prevailing times in the history have their own concept of Jesus and these concepts are popular within their contexts. This is an evidence of theology interacting with culture.

Today, the church should not be afraid to find ways and means to translate Jesus to the common people. Jesus is not a property of the church; instead, the church is owned by Christ and they must be responsible in contextualizing the theological concepts for the propagation of the kingdom of God. The church can use the myths, stories, rituals, ceremonies, and songs (even church building designs) of a certain culture and borrow some of their concepts where analogies are possible. To some extent, it is a way of filipinizing Filipino churches.

Questions

1. What is the motivating factor in modifying Christological concepts?

2. How is Christian theology, especially Christology, to face the life-value of the community?

3. What should be the attitude of the local theologian towards western theological concepts?

4. Is contextualization of Christological concepts a pragmatic approach? In what way?

5. What is the significance of meaningful communication of Christian theology among the community of believers?

synopsis: William C. Placher, A History of Christian Theology: An Introduction (Philadelphia, Pennsylvania: The Westminster Press, 1983), 32-42.