For his sake I have suffered the loss of all things . . . that I may know him and the power of his resurrection, and may share his sufferings, becoming like him in his death, that if possible I may attain being raised up out from [among] the dead. (Philippians 3:8b, 10)
Even though this imitative language has generally been taken as generic, that is, as applicable to the suffering of any follower of Christ, in this context Paul has been contemplating his own immediate death, which he describes as “departing to be with Christ” (Philippians 1:23). He also uses a rare compound verb, meaning “to be raised up out of,” found nowhere else in Jewish or Christian writings. In the same way he had written to the Corinthians that as an apostle he was “always carrying in the body the death of Jesus” and “being given up to death for Jesus’ sake,” so that life would come to them (2 Corinthians 4:10–12). He is comparing his own state of suffering, for the sake of his followers, with that of Jesus. It is in this context that he speaks of being “absent from the body” but “present with the Lord,” again speaking of his suffering and death (2 Corinthians 5:6–9). The two passages are closely parallel and they seem to refer to Paul alone.
Paul refers to those who die “in Christ” before the return of Jesus as the “dead in Christ,” or those who have “fallen asleep.” This is in keeping with the Hebrew view that the dead “sleep in the dust” (1 Thessalonians 4:13; 1 Corinthians 15:20; Daniel 12:2). They do not “depart” to be with Christ when they die but they rise up to meet him, literally, “in the air,” at his coming, raised from the dead in their newly glorified bodies: “And the dead in Christ will rise first; then we who are alive, who are left, shall be caught up together with them in the clouds to meet the Lord in the air” (1 Thessalonians 4:16b–17).10
I am convinced, as Albert Schweitzer suggested, that Paul had come to believe in the latter years of his life that he would likely not live to see the return of Christ but that he was to receive a special reward immediately upon his death.11 Unlike others who “sleep in Christ,” awaiting the resurrection at Christ’s coming, Paul seems to believe that he will be raised up immediately out of Hades and taken to join Christ in heaven—being glorified together with him, as he has suffered and died with him. It is possible that he based this assurance of “departing to be with Christ” upon the special revelation he had when he was taken up into the third heaven and entered paradise. He indicates that he saw and heard things in that experience that he was not permitted to reveal (2 Corinthians 12:4).
We have no record of Paul’s last years, assuming he was executed during the reign of Nero, perhaps in A.D. 64 during the great persecution at Rome. Our last authentic letters are Philippians and Philemon, written most likely when he was being held under guard in Rome, perhaps between A.D. 60 and 62. He seems to contemplate his death, but also anticipates some possibility of his release.12
Given Paul’s extraordinary understanding of his special calling as an apostle, destined for a mission to the Gentiles ordained by God even before his birth, let’s examine the unique message that he preached. Paul offered a new and different message—a “revelation of Jesus Christ” that had now been revealed only to him as the Thirteenth Apostle—last but not least. Paul transformed the message of Jesus from earth to heaven. In the following chapters we will see to what extent he redefined the role of the Messiah, the kingdom of God, the people of Israel, and the revelation of Torah to launch his brand of Christianity on a collision course with Judaism and pave the way for a new and separate Christian faith.
FIVE
A COSMIC FAMILY AND A
HEAVENLY KINGDOM
Paul’s greatest revelation is largely unrecognized. It was his main inspiration and motivation but few have even heard of it. He describes it as “the revelation of the mystery that was kept secret for long ages.” The Greek word mysterion means “secret” and Paul believed that he had been specially chosen to reveal it (Romans 16:25). God purposely hid the secret from the beginning of time and only now, through Paul, was it being revealed. Paul says that if any of the rulers of the world had understood it they would not have crucified Jesus:
But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery [mysterion] that has been hidden that God decreed before the ages, for our glorification. None of the rulers of this age understood this; for if they had they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. (1 Corinthians 2:7–8)
So what was this hidden cosmic secret? It has something to do with what Paul describes here as glorification—but what does that mean? And why does he call Jesus the “Lord of glory” in this context?
If you took a poll among Christians who are reasonably informed about their faith, asking them the one great teaching for which Paul is most remembered, most would probably say “justification by faith.” Paul emphatically declared, “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God,” and that humans can be “saved” only by grace through faith in Christ, not by their good deeds (Romans 3:21–24). For the most part the theologians would agree. From the great Catholic thinker Augustine to the Protestant Martin Luther, Paul’s doctrine of “justification by grace through faith” has been considered the heart and center of his gospel message.
As central a teaching as “justification by faith” was to Paul, it could not be the secret revelation hidden through the ages to which he refers. To be justified means to be forgiven of one’s sins. It is a legal term, equivalent to an undeserved pardon granted a convicted criminal. Grace, as Paul uses the term, means unmerited favor. But grace was nothing new and it was definitely not hidden. Paul argues in his letter to the Romans that God has always dealt with humans in this way, including Abraham, the father of the nation, and David, its first great king (Romans 4:1–8). Without the grace and forgiveness of God, no human being could stand before the Creator at the Day of Judgment.
Justification, or being forgiven of one’s sins, is connected to another major concept of Paul—the notion of salvation. As with many of Paul’s terms, the English word has been used so often in theological contexts that its common meaning is easily missed. The Greek word soteria refers to being rescued. It is not a special religious word. Paul writes in Koine, the commonly spoken Greek of his day. Years ago I remember reading a letter from a sailor in the Roman navy. It was written in Greek on a scrap of papyrus and had been dated to the second century A.D. The sailor was writing home to his father, giving the family greetings, and he thanked the god Serapis that, although he was shipwrecked, he had been saved from drowning in the sea—using the same Greek word Paul used.1
To understand what Paul means when he writes about salvation we need to ask—rescued from what and rescued for what? Paul teaches that humans can be saved or rescued from the “wrath” of God’s judgment by having their sins forgiven (1 Thessalonians 5:9; Romans 5:9). But he sees this as merely a means to an end. To be saved, or forgiven of sins, is an essential first step, but it is only a means to a much greater end. It cannot be the center of Paul’s message; in fact it is subsidiary to a larger revelation—the mystery held secret since before the Creation.