Grace Presbyterian Church, Montclair, New Jersey

Menu for This Section

• Pastor's Pulse
• View from the Loft

Pastor's Pulse

by Paul Leggett, Pastor

Learning from the Apostle Paul

September 2008

“God is faithful; by him you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord.” – I Corinthians 1:9

From now until next June, much of the Christian Church will be observing the two thousandth anniversary of the birth of the apostle Paul (scholars believe that Paul was born between the years 8 and 9 of the first century). Paul remains the most critical interpreter of Christian faith in the apostolic era. He is the author of thirteen of the twenty-seven books of the New Testament. Yet Paul is not only challenging but sometimes difficult. Peter says as much, while also acknowledging that Paul’s writings are part of the “scriptures,” thereby also showing how early Paul was recognized as being an inspired writer on the same level as the Old Testament (II Peter 3:14-16).

Paul’s writings have also been central to the church’s attempt to understand the full meaning of salvation in Jesus Christ. At critical points in church history, a return to Paul’s writings, particularly to his Epistle to the Romans, has been the occasion for major corrections in the church’s belief and practice. This happened in the fifth century with Augustine, in the sixteenth with Martin Luther, in the eighteenth with John Wesley and again in the twentieth with Karl Barth. The past thirty years have seen a renewed interest in the study of Paul and particularly of his background as a Pharisee.

At the risk of oversimplification, I would suggest there are two central emphases in Paul’s epistles. The first is the faithfulness of God. Paul makes clearer than perhaps any other New Testament writer that salvation is a matter of God being true to God’s own promises (Romans 3:3-4). These promises go back to Abraham but are only finally fulfilled in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:6-14). Salvation is not a matter of our faithfulness but of God’s grace received as a gift in Jesus Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). All human confidence and boasting is therefore excluded (Romans 3:27). The second is the triumph of God. Paul’s faith invariably has a focus on the future. Paul sees the human dilemma as our captivity to alien powers, the powers of sin, death, hell and Satan. The existence of these forces points first to the freedom that the creation originally had, but which now has been distorted and misused by rebellion against God, a rebellion in which all humans have participated. The Law of Moses, the Ten Commandments and their exposition in the first five books of the Bible, accurately presents God’s will for humanity. Yet, through the corruption of sin, even the Law becomes a negative force. Second, the power of all these forces is broken in Jesus’ death on the cross (Colossians 2:13-15). His resurrection is the first evidence of the promise that sin, death, hell, Satan and even the law have no power over those who are in Christ. At the end of history God’s triumph over all opposition will be complete. “The last enemy to be destroyed is death” (I Corinthians 15:26).

There is much in Paul to renew and revive us, much to correct our misunderstandings and uncertainties. Therefore the pastoral staff is proposing that we devote this next program year to a special emphasis on the apostle Paul. We have been asked to participate in January with Immaculate Conception Roman Catholic Church in some joint services and studies related to the apostle Paul. My own personal detailed study of Paul began when I first read Martin Luther’s Commentary on Romans. Later I read John Calvin on Romans, then Charles Hodge, the great nineteenth century Princeton theologian, and also Karl Barth, probably the greatest theologian of the twentieth century. All have contributed to my understanding of the apostle Paul. I was also guided by special teachers, particularly William Lane at Gordon-Conwell Seminary and Christiaan Beker at Princeton Seminary.

Every time I have embarked on a study of Paul I have always learned something new. Paul, under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit, is always dynamic. His understanding of faith in Christ cannot be reduced to a simple formula. I remember Professor Beker saying that he thought the most prominent interpreter of Paul was Johan Sebastian Bach. For him Bach’s music caught the grandeur of Paul’s view of the majesty and triumph of God better than anything else.

Let us join together with churches around the world in celebrating this two thousandth anniversary of the birth of “Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel of God” (Romans 1:1).