THE MILLENNIUM A. Paul and the Two Aeons Paul and His Writing

CHAPTER THREE THE MILLENNIUM A. Paul and the Two Aeons Paul and his writing have had a great influence on the development of Christianity. In fact, for our particular subject, Pauline writings are of great importance because they represent the belief that the Messiah had already come and was supposed to come a second time. There- fore, we must recall his work in order to expose further how time and its development seemed to be understood by the first Christians and how Paul’s interpretation of it influenced the development of Chris- tianity, particularly in Western society. In addition, it is necessary to remember that Paul’s eschatological hopes differed from those of Dan- iel . In fact, for Daniel, divine deliverance was imminent but still in the future, but Paul’s structure of thought was based on the fact that since the Messiah had already come and had died to initiate a new world , they were already living in a different time frame, a new age, although they were still waiting for the final coming of the Messiah and the establishment of the divine kingdom on earth. We are not going to discuss the polemics surrounding the work of Paul or his life as a Christian or a Jew. However, it does interest us to see when in time the apostle lived and what his concept of the future was. Without causing a complete rupture between Jews and Chris- tians, Paul did in a certain and cautious way distinguish between the community of the first covenant with Moses —the one ruled by the law—and the new covenant with Christ . He also made a distinction between the present that followed the death of Christ and the future that would come after His resurrection . However, it has to be clearly stated that he never says that the old covenant was opposed to the Messiah . When stating this existence of a new covenant, he never says that the Jewish people are excluded from the world to come; what he says is that there is a need to convert the gentiles by faith so that all people could later live in the divine kingdom. Nevertheless, it is clear that Paul assumes a tripartite time between the past, represented by the law of the covenant; the present, marked 88 chapter three by the covenant with Christ ; and the future divine kingdom of God on earth. This is similar to what we will later find in Revelation . The apostle expresses this theory in all of his works, but we find it more clearly expressed in his epistles to the Corinthian community. There- fore, we will only analyse at this time two different passages of that correspondence: (1) 1 Corinthians 15:20–28 and (2) 2 Corinthians 3:7–18, where the apostle uses in a detailed way this construction of historical time to explain to the community what was still expected from them while rebuking them for their behavior and their lack of faith. 1. 1 Corinthians 15:20–28 It will be helpful to consider the city of Corinth at the time Paul was writing and the mix of people that lived there. It is to these people, living in a city that had a bad reputation and was dominated by the habits of the empire, that Paul addresses his letter, notwithstanding the diverse origins and living conditions of the Christians. In reality, it is this same variety of people, their relationships, and their con- flicts regarding the way to practice their faith that created all of the questions that Paul answers and caused him to offer guidance to fol- low in the future. This is also a good example of Paul’s beliefs and of the principles by which he thought Christians should be living. From the reading of Paul’s answers, we can infer that some of the questions derive from the influence of the existing philosophical schools, which conflicted with Paul’s Christian teaching. It is to those people who dwell in an accessible place for the exchange of ideas, thoughts, practices, rituals, etc., that Paul writes, knowing in advance that his community was permeable to external influences. This transforms the city of Corinth and its people into a challenge for someone like Paul. How could he make the Gospel strongly take root and make people live according to its principles of community? In 1 Corinthians 15, Paul introduces the theme of the resurrection without any kind of prior preparation for his readers. It is an abrupt change of topic caused, according to the text, by rumors that have come to Paul’s ears and not because of any letter that he was already answering. As mentioned before, Paul ’s expectation included the second coming of the Messiah . For that, he underlined the importance of faith. In fact, he uses “resurrection ” as a synonym for a new era for the .

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