The Cradle, the Cross, and the Crown (93 page)

Third Missionary Journey

After returning to Antioch, Paul began his third missionary journey Paul traveled through Galatia and Achaia until he reached Ephesus where he spent two and a half to three years. This journey probably extended from around 51 to 54.
¹⁰⁴
At the conclusion of his stay in Ephesus, Paul traveled to Jerusalem. He likely arrived in Jerusalem in the early summer of the year 55.
¹⁰⁵
Soon after arriving in Jerusalem, Paul was arrested.

Paul's Arrest

After Paul was arrested in Jerusalem, the Roman tribune asked if he was “the Egyptian who raised a rebellion some time ago and led 4,000 Assassins into the desert” (Acts 21:38). Josephus discussed this event immediately after his treatment of the death of Claudius, which occurred in October 54 (Josephus,
Ant.
20.169—72). Assuming that Josephus's arrangement of his material is chronologically accurate, the question of the Roman tribune to Paul was probably not posed before early 55.

After Paul's arrest in the year 55, he was imprisoned for two years in Caesarea (55—57) before Festus succeeded Felix as procurator. Josephus does not clearly indicate when Festus replaced Felix.
¹⁰⁶
Felix was reconfirmed as procurator by Nero and continued to serve under the new emperor for some time.
¹⁰⁷
Since Nero began his rule in the year 54, it is unlikely that Festus succeeded Felix before 55. In Jerome's version of Eusebius's Chronicle, Festus's succession occurred in the second year of Nero's reign and the twelfth year of the reign of Herod Agrippa II. This would date the beginning of Festus's rule to the fall of 56. According to imperial policy, Festus would have been required to arrive at his post by late spring or early summer. Paul appeared before Festus soon after his arrival in Caesarea. Thus Paul likely appeared before Festus in the summer of 57.
¹⁰⁸

Paul's Final Years

Paul appealed to Caesar, traveled to Rome, and spent another two years under house arrest awaiting trial before Nero (58—60). According to Eusebius (c. 260—340), Paul was
released from prison after his defense before Nero.
¹⁰⁹
After his release Paul traveled to Crete, Asia, Greece, and perhaps Spain.
¹¹⁰
He was arrested again in Troas in the mid-60s, and soon afterward he was martyred in the second half of that same decade, no later than 68 (the year of Nero's death).
¹¹¹
Paul's martyrdom likely postdates the great fire of Rome in the year
64
, which sparked Nero's persecution of Christians.
¹¹²

Table 9.2: A Chronology of Paul's Life and Letters

STUDY QUESTIONS

1. How many letters of Paul are included in the NT?
   
2. How are the Quests for the Historical Jesus and the idea that Paul created Christianity related?
   
3. What kind of evidence did Wenham advance to support his claim that Paul was a follower of Jesus?
   
4. What is the main passage advanced by Bultmann to prove that Paul was not interested in details about Jesus' life?
   
5. Who sparked the “New Perspective” on Paul, and what is the title of his major work?
   
6. What is the label this scholar affixes to first-century Judaism?
   
7. What has the “New Perspective” correctly emphasized, and how should it be critiqued?
   
8. Which legal status enabled Paul to appeal to the Roman emperor?
   
9. Where was Paul from?
   
10. Who was Paul's teacher?
    
11. What does the name
    Paul
    mean?
    
12. When Paul was converted, what was the central tenet in his belief system that had to change?
    
13. What was the focus of Paul's gospel?
    
14. What difficulties are faced by the one who seeks to construct a chronology of Paul?
    
15. Why should the writing of Galatians be placed before the Jerusalem Council?
    

FOR FURTHER STUDY

Barnett, P.
Paul: Missionary of Jesus.
After Jesus, vol. 2. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008.

Barrett, C. K.
Paul: An Introduction to His Thought.
Louisville: Westminster John Knox, 1994.

Bird, M. F.
The Saving Righteousness of God: Studies on Paul, Justification, and the New Perspective.
Paternoster Biblical Monographs. Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2007.

Bruce, F. F.
Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1977.

Carson, D. A., P. T. O'Brien, and M. A. Seifrid, eds.
Justification and Variegated Nomism. 2
vols. Grand Rapids: Baker, 2001, 2004.

Dunn, J. D. G.
The Theology of Paul the Apostle.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Hawthorne, G. F., R. P. Martin, and D. G. Reid, eds.
Dictionary of Paul and His Letters.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993.

Hengel, M., and A. M. Schwemer.
Paul Between Damascus and Antioch: The Unknown Years.
London: SCM, 1997.

Kim, S. Y.
The Origin of Paul's Gospel.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982.

Köstenberger, A. J. and P. T. O'Brien.
Salvation to the Ends of the Earth: A Biblical Theology of Mission.
NSBT 11. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001.

Ladd, G. E.
A Theology of the New Testament.
Rev. ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1993.

Longenecker, R. N.
Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period.
2d ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999.

___________.
The Ministry and Message of Paul.
Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1971.

Piper, J.
The Future of Justification: A Response to N. T. Wright.
Wheaton: Crossway, 2007.

Plummer, R. L.
Paul's Understanding of the Church's Mission.
Paternoster Biblical Monographs. Milton Keynes, UK: Paternoster, 2006.

Polhill, J. B.
Paul and His Letters.
Nashville: B&H, 1999.

Ridderbos, H.
Paul: An Outline of His Theology.
Translated by J. R. De Witt. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1975.

Riesner, R.
Paul's Early Period: Chronology, Mission Strategy, Theology.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Sanders, E. P.
Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion.
Philadelphia: Fortress, 1977.

Schnabel, E.
Early Christian Mission. 2
vols. Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2004.

___________.
Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2008.

Schreiner, T. R.
Paul: Apostle of God's Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2001.

Thielman, F.
Paul and the Law: A Contextual Approach.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1994.

Wenham, D.
Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity?
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995.

Witherington, B., III.
The Paul Quest: The Renewed Search for the Jew of Tarsus.
Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998.

Wright, N.
Justification: God's Plan & Paul's Vision.
Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2009.

¹
See esp. Eckhard J. Schnabel,
Paul the Missionary: Realities, Strategies, and Methods
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 2008).

²
This organically develops from the quest for the historical Jesus (see chap. 3 above). If there is a discontinuity between the “Jesus of history” and the “Christ of faith,” the question naturally arises, “From where did Paul get his religion?”

³
F. C. Baur,
Paul, the Apostle of Jesus Christ
, trans. A. Menzies, 2 vols. (London: Williams & Norgate, 1875).

⁴
For an excellent survey of the early history of the debate, see J. M. G. Barclay, “Jesus and Paul,” in
Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
, ed. G. F. Hawthorne, R. P. Martin, and D. G. Reid (Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1993), 492–503.

⁵
W. Wrede,
Paul
(London: Green, 1907), 179. The original German edition is W. Wrede,
Paulus
, Religionsgeschichtliche Volksbücher 1 (Tübingen/Halle: Mohr, 1904). An important evangelical critique of Wrede's work was J. G. Machen,
The Origin of Paul's Religion
(New York: Macmillan, 1921).

⁶
Wrede,
Paul
, 180.

⁷
W. Bousset,
Kyrios Christos: A History of Belief in Christ from the Beginnings of Christianity to Irenaeus
, trans. J. Steely (Nashville: Abingdon, 1970; original German ed., 1913).

⁸
The German responses came from A. von Harnack, A. Jülicher, and A. Resch. English responses included those of J. Moffatt, C. A. A. Scott, and J. G. Machen.

⁹
R. Bultmann, “The Significance of the Historical Jesus for the Theology of Paul,” in
Faith and Understanding: Collected Essays
(London: SCM, 1952), 223.

¹⁰
For an excellent discussion of Bultmann's contribution to the debate, see Barclay, “Jesus and Paul,” 494–96.

¹¹
See especially R. Bultmann, “Jesus and Paul,” in
Existence and Faith
(London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1936), 201.

¹²
Barclay, “Jesus and Paul,” 497–98.

¹³
D. L. Dungan,
The Saying of Jesus in the Churches of Paul
(Oxford: Blackwell, 1971).

¹⁴
D. Wenham,
Gospel Perspectives 4: The Rediscovery of Jesus' Eschatological Discourse
(Sheffield: JSOT, 1984); D. Allison,
The End of the Ages Has Come
(Philadelphia: Fortress, 1985).

¹⁵
M. Thompson,
Clothed with Christ: The Example and Teaching of Jesus in Romans 12.1–15.13
(Sheffield: JSOT, 1991).

¹⁶
V. Furnish,
Jesus According to Paul
(Cambridge: University Press, 1993); A. J. M. Wedderburn, ed.,
Paul and Jesus: Collected Essays
(Sheffield: JSOT, 1989); D. Wenham,
Paul: Follower of Jesus or Founder of Christianity?
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1995); B. Witherington III,
Jesus, Paul and the End of the World
(Downers Grove: InterVarsity, 1992).

¹⁷
H. Maccoby,
The Mythmaker: Paul and the Invention of Christianity
(London: Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1986).

¹⁸
Wenham,
Paul
, 3.

¹⁹
R. Bultmann,
Theology of the New Testament
, trans. K. Grobel (New York: Scribner's, 1951–55), 1:237–39; id.,
The Second Letter to the Corinthians
(Minneapolis: Augsburg, 1985), 155–56.

²⁰
M. J. Harris,
The Second Epistle to the Corinthians
, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 429. Cf. N. T. Wright,
The New Testament and the People of God
, Christian Origins and the Question of God 1 (Minneapolis: Fortress, 1992), 408.

²¹
Notice the emphasis on “rights” and the “authority” of the gospel messenger in 1 Cor 9:2, 12, 15, 18.

²²
Wenham,
Paul
, 381.

²³
Ibid., 385.

²⁴
R. Bauckham,
Jesus and the Eyewitnesses: The Gospels as Eyewitness Testimony
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2006), 267.

²⁵
J. D. G. Dunn,
The Theology of Paul the Apostle
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 195.

²⁶
Wenham,
Paul
. See also S. Kim (“Jesus, Sayings of,” in
Dictionary of Paul and His Letters
, 474–92), who identified 25 instances in which Paul certainly or probably referred to or alluded to a saying of Jesus and over 40 possible echoes of a saying of Jesus. Kim's findings are similar to those of Wenham. Kim's discovery of extensive parallels between the teaching of Jesus and Paul led him to pose the thesis: “When in the Pauline letters an echo of a dominical logion is disputed, the burden of proof lies more heavily on those who would deny it, than on those who would accept it.”

²⁷
See chap. 3 above.

²⁸
L. Hurtado,
Lord Jesus Christ: Devotion to Jesus in Earliest Christianity
(Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 254.

²⁹
J. Marcus,
Mark 1–8: A New Translation and Commentary
, AB (New York: Doubleday, 2000), 432.