tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378025299582121922.post6465053248078586915..comments2023-10-26T06:30:14.934-04:00Comments on New Testament Perspectives: Thomas Schreiner on the 'Center' of Paul's theologyMatthew D. Montoninihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16771037323124064875noreply@blogger.comBlogger1125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6378025299582121922.post-74998398601070781792012-01-20T04:34:06.040-05:002012-01-20T04:34:06.040-05:00Yes Screiner's analogy of 'house' for ...Yes Screiner's analogy of 'house' for salvation and God for 'foundation of the house' proved quite illuminating to my imagination. In all Paul's letters in fact we will find the first paragraph directed to the foundation - God. Such as the one in Ephesians that came up at random when I opened the bible. But I know that in all the others, the pattern is if not identical, very similar. In Ephesians, the letter starts out: 'Paul, by the will of God an apostle of Christ Jesus, to God's holy people, faithful in Christ Jesus. Grace and peae to you from God our Father and from the Lord Jesus Christ.' That's the foundation of the house of Paul's center of theology - God. Not Jesus Christ alone... but God. <br /><br />The [house] that Paul is building is 'salvation' or as Schreiner writes 'the history of salvation'. I'd say salvation rather then history because Paul is not simply building upon the history but also upon his revelation of salvation. It is salvation that he defends so forcefully in Galatians, explains so methodologically in Romans and develops in Corinthians. So I think Schreiner is right in analogizing salvation with the 'house'. The compartments in the house are various and are addressed by Paul and relate to Christ as salvation has physically accomplished by Jesus. Jesus liberates from sin and the slavery of sin. Jesus replaces the law as the reference point to the status quo of being saved as the law is powerless in saving us but Jesus is powerful. These are the topics of Romans 6-8 in particular. Therefore, Jesus reconnects us to the Father and reconciles us to God as his death for us shows that God loves us. <br /><br />The theology of the cross is equivalent to the theology of salvation. The cross brings salvation, present now but yet not fully present because time is still running. It will become fully present when time stops and eternity happens. Because time is still running from our perspective as we have not yet entered the gates of eternity, salvation is expressed in terms of time, in terms of the cross of Jesus Christ that happened 'fully' in time. We are still in time and so the leitmotif of 'house' for me will rest on 'theology of the cross' which points to salvation but expresses it 'within time'. The cross for me, as for Paul, means also resurrection... For Paul wrote in 1 Corinthians 2, 2 'I decided to know nothing whilst I was with you except Jesus Christ and him crucified'. 'Cross' for Paul is not only death, but also resurrection.Alanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05095673316913800137noreply@blogger.com