THE STUDY OF PAUL AND THE DUAL NATURE OF SCRIPTURE: An Apology for Biblical Theology

For Christmas my mom and dad gave me some great books; in particular, some books that will be helpful for my New Testament Theology class in the Spring:

1. The Pauline Eschatology (Vos)
2. Justification and Variegated Nomism: The Paradoxes of Paul (Carson, ed.)
3. Paul: An Outline of His Theology (Ridderbos)
4. Paul: Apostle of God's Glory in Christ (Schreiner)
5. Dictionary of Paul and His Letters (Hawthorne, ed.)

My sister (who consistently surprises me with her sharp instincts) asked, 'Why so many books about Paul? Where are the books about Jesus?'

It's a fair question with a pretty easy answer. The Christian faith is a book-based religion, like Islam, but there is an important difference. Islam teaches that Muhammad was only a secretary for the archangel Michael (who was speaking for God). Muhammad had no creative input in the writing of Koran whatsoever. It was mere dictation--he heard the words and he wrote them down. Christianity is different. God the Holy Spirit caused inspired thoughts to 'rise up' in the minds of the authors of scripture. Just like many other paradoxes (not contradictions) in Christianity, these Words of the Bible are fully contrived by men and at the same time fully contrived by God. One helpful analogy is the dual nature of Christ. Christ was fully man and fully God. Scripture is the same.

Therefore, what we're looking for in discerning the meaning of Scripture is authorial intent--we want to know what Paul was thinking. He wrote those letters (half the New Testament) to other believers with the intention of those believers understanding his words. So, in the words of Tom Schreiner, our task in Pauline theology is to get inside Paul's mind, understand what he meant with those words, and explain those thoughts in our contemporary context.

To understand what God would have us understand from the text, we must understand what Paul was thinking when he wrote the text. The two are the same. And unfortunately, that task is much easier said than done. Paul was a First Century Jew. I'm a 21st C. South Carolinian. Our contexts bear little analogy. That's why the study of Paul's thought-life and worldview is so important.