Is Saul of Tarsus Also Among the Prophets?”* Paul’S Calling As Prophetic Divine Commissioning

“IS SAUL OF TARSUS ALSO AMONG THE PROPHETS?”* PAUL’S CALLING AS PROPHETIC DIVINE COMMISSIONING Tony Costa Paul traces the origin of his calling and commissioning to his encounter with the risen Christ. Most would agree that Paul believed he had seen the risen Christ and that the genesis of Paul’s mission as an apostle can be traced back to this experience. This christophany created a paradigm shift in Paul’s worldview in which all things were now to be interpreted in and through Christ.1 The christophany thus marks the starting point of Paul’s ministry, a point Paul himself makes known in his letters (Gal 1:15–16; 1Cor 9:1; 15:8). Paul came to view the christophany not only as the origin of his calling, but he also came to interpret it in the light of the theophanies that marked the initial calling and commissioning of the Old Testament prophets. I will argue in this essay that Paul, in his cultural-theological world, perceived himself as a prophet, called and sent by God and his Son, and led by the Spirit. Paul’s self-perception of his calling and mission seems to have the hallmarks of the Old Testament and Second Temple prophets. I hope to establish this by approaching Paul’s prophet-apostolic calling from four perspectives: (1) Paul’s calling and mission in light of the resurrection of Jesus; (2) Paul’s calling as a divine prophetic commissioning; (3) prophetic calling and commissioning in Second Temple Judaism; and (4) Paul’s calling and the Jewish-Gentile mission. * I am taking the title for this essay from 1Sam 10:11–12; 19:24 where it applies to Saul, King of Israel. It is possible that Paul’s Hebrew name “Saul” (Acts 9:1, 4; 13:9) was derived from this Hebrew king who was the source of his namesake. Both King Saul and Paul were of the same tribe of Benjamin (1Sam 9:21; Rom 11:1; Phil 3:5). A similar article on this topic with a similar title appeared in J.M. Myers and E.D. Freed, “Is Paul also among the Prophets?” Int 20 (1966): 40–53. 1 In 2Cor 5:16 (RSV throughout, unless otherwise noted) Paul says that at one time, “even though we once knew Christ from a human point of view, we know him no longer in that way.” He indicates that he once viewed Christ diferently prior to his calling. In the following verse (2Cor 5:17) he notes that if anyone (Paul implicitly includes himself) is in Christ, that person is “a new creation” (καινὴ κτίσις) (cf. also Rom 1:3–4; Gal 1:15–16). 204 tony costa 1. Paul’s Calling and the Resurrection of Jesus A number of the Pauline letters provide an autobiographical sketch, often connected to the resurrection (e.g. 1Cor 9:1; 15:8). Paul’s calling, in fact, begins with his encounter with the risen Christ.2 This point is supported by Luke’s account of the calling of Paul (Acts 9:1–20; 22:3–16; 26:2–18). Paul believed that the risen Jesus appeared to him, and this christophany gures prominently in his letters. The christophany for Paul virtually becomes syn- onymous with his commissioning. To Paul, the risen Jesus was no longer viewed from a strictly human point of view, but was now “Messiah” (Rom 10:4), “Lord” (Rom 10:9; 1Cor 12:3; Phil 2:11), “Son of God” (Rom 1:3; Gal 1:16; 2:20), and “Savior” (Phil 3:20).3 The resurrection of Jesus created a profound paradigm shift in Paul’s perspective.4 While Paul seems to have had some 2 The event that transformed Paul’s life has historically been referred to as the “conversion” of Paul. This term can be misleading. A better term to describe this transformative event is the “calling” of Paul, for a number of reasons. The term “conversion” carries with it a modern day idea that entails changing from one religion to another. Certainly by modern standards it is argued that if a Jew becomes a Christian he/she has undergone a “conversion” or has “converted” (i.e. from one religion [Judaism] to another [Christianity]). By modern day standards, Judaism and Christianity are two separate religions. However, to apply this de nition of conversion to Paul’s calling into the Christian movement is anachronistic. When the Pauline letters are examined, there is no indication that Paul believed he was abandoning his religion for a diferent one. Rather, it appears that in accepting Jesus as Messiah, Paul believed his religion had reached its ful llment. In this sense, Paul saw Christian faith as “ful lled” or “completed” Judaism. Paul’s Jewish identity was important to him and he recalled this point of fact to his readers in at least three of his letters (Rom 11:1; 2Cor 11:22; Phil 3:5). Paul continued to maintain hope that his Jewish brethren would eventually recognize Jesus as Messiah and he devoted a considerable portion of his writings precisely to this theme (Rom 9–11). The term conversion for Paul would only be justi ably applicable in an intra-religious context in that Paul “converted” from being a Pharisee (Phil 3:5) to being a member of the Christ movement or a disciple of Jesus. But this sect was perceived within the parameters of Judaism. For similar arguments, see James D.G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 179; Raymond E. Brown, Introduction to the New Testament (New York: Doubleday, 1997), 427 n. 11; John A. Ziesler, Pauline Christianity (rev. ed.; Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1990), 8–9. It is signi cant that Paul never uses the term for convert- ing (ἐπιστρέφω) to describe his calling at the christophany. He does use this term, however, in 1Thess 1:9 to describe how his Gentile audience in Thessalonica “turned to God from idols” (ἐπεστρέψατε πρὸς τὸν θεὸν ἀπὸ τῶν εἰδώλων). Paul also uses ἐπιστρέφω in 2Cor 3:16, but the context (2Cor 3:14–16) deals with the unbelieving Jews who continue to have a veil over their heart when the law of Moses is read. 3 Some would add possibly “God” based on Rom 9:5. We will not deal with Rom 9:5 in this essay, due to the contestable nature of the passage. See Murray J. Harris, Jesus as God: The New Testament Use of Theos in Reference to Jesus (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1992), 143–172. 4 J. Christian Beker, Paul the Apostle: The Triumph of God in Life and Thought (Philadel- phia: Fortress, 1980), 182. Beker dismisses psychological factors proposed by some scholars.

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