Examining the Letters of St. Paul

Paul calls us "to serve a living true God." In his book Paul and his letters, Leander Keck believes that Paul focuses on the Jesus-event. Jesus is identified as God's Son who, having been raised from the dead and exalted to heavenly status will come as deliverer from the great judgment. This emphasizes Paul's theme of anticipation and participation.

"Christ died for our sins in accordance with the scriptures, he was buried, he was raised on the third day in accordance with the scriptures" (1 Cor 15: 3-4) Keck believes that this passage is the foundation of Paul's preaching; moreover, he believes that the cross and resurrection as a way of dealing with God's sin is at the core of Paul's preaching.

Paul characterized his own gospel of the cross as "foolishness to those who are perishing, but to us who are being saved it is the power of God; it is a stumbling block to Jews and foolishness to Gentiles, but to those who are called to Christ, it is the power of God and the wisdom of God. " (1 Cor 1:18, 1:23)

Keck believes that the Pauline mission practiced baptism in accord with receiving the Holy Spirit, while at the same time it understood the rite in a new way-as an act that made one a participant in Christ's death. Such an understanding of baptism is possible only if "Christ" is understood in a particular way. Keck believes that baptism "into Christ" was a rite by which one became a participant in Christ, the inclusive Man (person), the new Adam. This participation in Christ was not a "mystical experience" of conscious identification or absorption into Christ. To be baptized into Christ is to be included in the domain of Christ, His field of force.

As Paul says in Galatians: "For all of you who were baptized into Christ have clothed yourselves with Christ. There is neither Greek nor Jew, there is neither slave nor free person, there is not male or female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus, and if you belong to Christ, then you are Abraham's descendants." These statements support Keck's belief that Paul reasons this way because he believes baptism actually makes a person participate in Christ.

In light of reading Paul's letters, one comes to the conclusion that participation is a focus of Paul's theology. In Romans 6: 3-4, Paul says, "We were indeed buried with Him through baptism into death, so that, just as Christ was raised from the dead by the glory of the Father, we too might live in newness of life."

Keck believes that the anticipation is of the resurrection as Romans 6:8 supports, "If then we have died with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with Him." Participation in Christ's resurrection is therefore future. Keck also believes that Paul's statement, "Consider yourselves dead to sin and alive to God in Christ Jesus," means that the baptized are to claim now the new life of the future resurrection, but to do so as a warrant for a new ethic. This is why Paul's exhortations can be grounded in baptism.

Participation and anticipation refer to two modes of thinking about salvation. This discussion of baptism has already shown that for Paul the Christian participates in Christ. Anticipation is a basic Pauline way of thinking eschatologically about salvation. As Keck states in his book, "Anticipation is not an alternative to participation, but its eschatological horizon."

Jesus, to Paul, represents the beginning of the end; the beginning of the new age. Those "in Christ" are participants in the new creation. "Paul understood himself to be living between the 'already' and the 'not yet'." As Keck also says, "The future is no longer an extension of the present, but an alternative to it. To live by participation in what is not yet fully here is to live by anticipatory participation; it is to claim the life of the future ahead of time and so get out of step with the present. Participation accents the present accessibility of the future; anticipation accents the futurity of that in which one participates. Participation accents the "already"; anticipation the "not yet".

Paul's view is shaped by the Jewish apocalyptic view in which the old age was full of evil and sin. In the new age-God triumphs over evil. The turning point is Jesus' death; movement from the old age has already begun. Jesus' death is a battle won, the final victory comes when we triumph over death and are resurrected with Christ into a new life. Jesus' death assures us victory over death; moreover, it gives us a new life in Him. Jesus gives us courage to face difficulties and adversity in this life, knowing that we are participating in his life and will be resurrected with Him after death.