Durham E-Theses Paul and the Triune Identity: Rereading Paul's God-, Christ-, and Spirit-Language in Conversation with Trinitarian Theologies of Persons and Relations HILL, WESLEY,ALLEN How to cite: HILL, WESLEY,ALLEN (2012) Paul and the Triune Identity: Rereading Paul's God-, Christ-, and Spirit-Language in Conversation with Trinitarian Theologies of Persons and Relations, Durham theses, Durham University. Available at Durham E-Theses Online: http://etheses.dur.ac.uk/3921/ Use policy The full-text may be used and/or reproduced, and given to third parties in any format or medium, without prior permission or charge, for personal research or study, educational, or not-for-prot purposes provided that: • a full bibliographic reference is made to the original source • a link is made to the metadata record in Durham E-Theses • the full-text is not changed in any way The full-text must not be sold in any format or medium without the formal permission of the copyright holders. Please consult the full Durham E-Theses policy for further details. Academic Support Oce, Durham University, University Oce, Old Elvet, Durham DH1 3HP e-mail: [email protected] Tel: +44 0191 334 6107 http://etheses.dur.ac.uk 2 PAUL AND THE TRIUNE IDENTITY: REREADING PAUL’S GOD-, CHRIST-, AND SPIRIT-LANGUAGE IN CONVERSATION WITH TRINITARIAN THEOLOGIES OF PERSONS AND RELATIONS BY WESLEY A. HILL SUBMITTED FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY AT DURHAM UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF THEOLOGY AND RELIGION 2012 2 Abstract This thesis rereads central texts of Paul’s letters to demonstrate that Paul’s speech about God, Jesus Christ, and the Spirit is intricately intertwined so that talk about any one of the three (God, Jesus, or the Spirit) implies reference to all of them together (God, Jesus, and the Spirit). The first part of the Introduction describes how the current landscape of Pauline scholarship has largely given up this way of articulating the dynamics of Paul’s God-, Christ-, and Spirit-discourse. Eschewing explicitly trinitarian language in favor of other conceptualities, much recent Pauline scholarship has opted for discussing the relationship between God and Jesus in terms of ‘high’ or ‘low’ christology. After summarizing this trend, the second part of the Introduction describes trinitarian theologies as representing a better approach that will serve to open a fresh angle on Paul, despite its conceptual difference from Paul’s own speech. The next four chapters defend that supposition with detailed exegesis. Chapter 1 considers how the identity of God is shaped by Paul’s christology: God’s identity is only what it is in relation to Jesus. Chapters 2 and 3 consider the converse: how the identity of Jesus is shaped by his relation to God. These latter two chapters also rebut the charge that Paul’s alleged ‘subordinationist’ christology renders a trinitarian, relational reading of the divine identity untenable. Drawing on the conclusion found in the history of trinitarian theologies that the oneness or unity between God and Jesus does not come into conflict with the distinction between God and Jesus, Chapters 2 and 3 argue that the mutuality that exists between God and Jesus is asymmetrical but not for that reason graspable with the concept of ‘subordinationism’. Chapter 4 brings the Spirit into the mutual, reciprocal relationship between God and Jesus. The Spirit’s identity is derived from God and Jesus’; yet the Spirit is also involved in the sequence of events whereby God and Jesus are identified. The Spirit’s identity is relationally determined, but also God and Jesus are who they are only by virtue of the Spirit’s agency which is exercised by God in the resurrection of Jesus. In this way, despite its historical distance from Paul and its different idiom, trinitarian theology is shown to illumine a way through interpretive difficulties in Paul’s letters that the more recent concepts of ‘high’ and ‘low’ christology have hitherto been unable to illumine. 3 Statement of Copyright The copyright of this thesis rests with the author. No quotation of it should be published in any format, including electronic, without the author’s prior written consent. All information derived from this thesis must be acknowledged appropriately. 4 Declaration This work has been submitted to Durham University in accordance with the regulations for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. It is my own work, and no part of it has been previously submitted to the Durham University or in any other university for a degree. 5 Contents Abstract………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….2 Statement of Copyright…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………3 Declaration…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….4 Contents…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………5 Abbreviations…………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………7 Acknowledgements……………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….8 Introduction: The Eclipse of Relations in the Interpretation of Pauline God-Talk……………………10 1. Pauline Monotheism and ‘Low’/‘High’ Christology…………………………………………………….12 i. ‘Low’ Christology………………………………………………………………………………………………14 ii. ‘High’ Christology…………………………………………………………………………………………….21 2. Pauline Monotheism and Christology: Assessment and Prospect………………………………27 i. Pauline Interpreters on the Distinction between High/Low Christologies and Trinitarian Theology………………………………………………….27 ii. Contextualizing the Problems with Trinitarian Biblical Interpretation………..29 iii. The Separation of Christology from Trinitarian Theology and the Origins of the Problematic of High/Low Christologies…….…..…………………………….31 iv. The Pattern of Trinitarian Theology: The Priority of Relations…………………….34 3. Contemporary Trinitarian Theologies as a Resource for Pauline Intepretation: Persons and Relations……………………………………………………………………………………………………..39 i. Persons in/as Relations? Understanding a Conceptual Category of Trinitarian Discourse……………………………………………………………………………….40 ii. ‘Persons-in-Relation’ in Contemporary Trinitarian Theologies……………………..45 iii. Interpretive Method: Retrieving a Trinitarian Conceptuality for Pauline Exegesis……………………………………………………………………………………….52 Chapter 1: God in Relation to Jesus……………………………………………………………………………………………..57 1. Establishing Textual Parameters…………………………………………………………………………………58 2. Texts in which God is Identified by Actions Done by/to/in Jesus………………………………60 i. The God who Gives Life to the Dead (Romans 4.24).…………………………………………62 ii. The Christ-Shaped Divine Telos (Romans 8.11).……………………………………………….71 iii. ‘The Primal Mark of God’s Identity’ (Galatians 1.1)……………………………………….74 3. Rereading Pauline God-Language in Light of Trinitarian Theologies…………………………81 i. The Preservation of ‘Monotheism’?………………………………………………………………….81 ii. Trinitarian Theologies as Hermeneutical Aids………………………………………………..83 Chapter 2: Jesus in Relation to God: Philippians 2.6-11………………………………………………………………87 1. Competition between Philippians 2.6-11a and 2.11b?…………………………………………………91 i. Hurtado’s Interpretation of Philippians 2.6-11………………………………………………..93 2. Elements of ‘Oneness’ and ‘Subordination’ between God and Jesus in Philippians 2.6- 11………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………98 i. The ‘Identification’ of Jesus with God……………………………………………………………...99 ii. The ‘Subordination’ of Jesus to God………………………………………………………………107 6 3. ‘Redoublement’ and Relationality in Trinitarian Theologies……………………………………109 4. Mutuality and Relations in Philippians 2.6-11: A Proposal for a Non-Competitive Relationship between 2.6-11a and 2.11b……………………………………………………………………….115 i. The Complementarity between Philippians 2.6-11a and 2.11b………………………115 ii. The Mutuality of Relational Identities…………………………………………………………..118 Chapter 3: Jesus in Relation to God: 1 Corinthians 8.6 and 15.24-28…………………………………………121 1. 1 Corinthians 8.6 as ‘Redoubled’ Discourse……………………………………………………………….122 2. 1 Corinthians 15.20-28 and Mutual, Asymmetrical ‘Subjection’……………………………….130 3. Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….143 Chapter 4: The Spirit in Relation to God and Jesus……………………………………………………………………144 1. The Theologically- and Christologically-Determined Identity of the Spirit…………….146 i. ‘The Relational Determination of the Spirit’s Identity’………………………………….146 ii. The Spirit of God’s Son………………………………………………………………………………..…149 iii. ‘The Lord is the Spirit’…………………………………………………………………………………..152 2. The Spirit’s Role in Determining the Identities of God and Jesus……………………………..161 i. The Spirit Identifies Jesus as Son-of-God-in-Power……………………………………….162 ii. The One who Raised, Jesus who was Raised, and the Spirit………………………….167 3. Against ‘Binitarianism’……………………………………………………………………………………………….172 Conclusion………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………….175 Bibliography………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………………180 7 Abbreviations All abbreviations of ancient literature, academic journals and monograph series follow the forms indicated in the SBL Handbook of Style: For Ancient Near Eastern, Biblical, and Early Christian Studies (Peabody, MA: Hendrickson, 2006). 8 Acknowledgements This study grew initially from conversations with John Barclay about the character of Paul’s ‘God-discourse’. To those early talks, when I was beginning work on my MA dissertation at Durham University and attending Professor Barclay’s ‘Paul and His Interpreters’ module in the Michaelmas term of 2007, I owe the first stimulus for this project. (Among the most helpful pieces of advice I received from Professor Barclay was, ‘Go have a look at Barth’s Epistle to the Romans’. That was the start of