British New Testament Society

Ephesians 2.11-22 negotiates conflicting intercultural relations by declaring peace and removal of hostility in Christ, reversing the socio-religious status of Gentile believers and establishing new terms for what it means to be included in the people of God. The paper explores what the abolition of the law in 2.15 meant: to which extent the observance of the law was abandoned and what were the social consequences of this theological claim to the recipient community. The paper examines the possibility that the abolition of the law referred to an abandonment of covenantal nomism as a principle of ethnic division while Torah- observance of Jesus-believing Jews was still retained; or whether the abolition of the law represents a distinctive Christianness which began to challenge the legitimacy of Israel apart from Christ, exhibiting early supercessionist concepts. The paper seeks to establish how Ephesians interpreted the work Christ: whether Christ was portrayed as eradicating the central pillars of Judaism and establishing the boundaries of a new movement; or whether he inaugurated eschatological reforms, such as gentile election and inclusion apart from the law, harmonising the co-existence of differing groups in one community marked by their shared religious experience.

Recent attempts to appropriate 1 Corinthians 11:3 have led to a reappraisal of its theological significance. Does the claim that man is head of woman entail the analogous, but heterodox, claim that the Son is subordinate to the Father? Whilst this passage is certainly relevant to Trinitarian theology, as a hermeneutic, this type of reading is seriously flawed. The hermeneutical framework of the passage is not principally that of creedal orthodoxy, hence the question to ask of it is not principally 'how does gender relate to the doctrine of God?' but rather 'to which theology of God is gender related?'

To this end, this paper examines several similarities between Paul's language of gender in 1 Corinthians 11 and his theological language elsewhere in the epistle, especially the language of 8:6. It draws upon conceptual similarities between Paul and extra-biblical writers, in order to argue that Paul's Corinthian theology is best described as christologically-modified Monotheism. The application of what will be seen to be theologically-loaded terms to males and females in 1 Corinthians 11 is therefore far from coincidental: it is an attempt to work through the implications of modified Monotheism for a humanity fashioned in God's image.

The current discussion on the household code in Ephesians is often placed within a general discussion on the codes in the New Testament. Following Balch's thesis on the apologetic function of the household code in 1 Peter, it has been argued that Ephesians, like other NT codes, adopt a patriarchal structure from either Hellenic or Hellenistic Judaism in order to encourage its readers to integrate into the wider society or as an apology to curb potential accusations against disruption of social order. I critique the underlining assumptions and basis for these positions and show the weaknesses thereof. I further examine Ephesians 5.21-6.9 against the background of the primary sources that have been used in the debate in order to establish that there is no such social engagement being purported in Ephesians. I demonstrate that Ephesians provides Christological motivations to a conventional norm as it seeks to promote solidarity in the households of its readers and its ramifications to the wider church, without any linkage with the outside world.

Traditional Protestant accounts of Paul’s theology are often criticised for their inability to relate justification by faith and the participatory categories of Paul’s thought. The two are driven apart by sharp distinctions between declaring and making righteous, between justification as a once for all external act and regeneration as an internal lifelong process. Justification by faith grants the believer right standing before God but it is not clear how it accomplishes union with Christ, making it possible for justification to be treated as a cold legal fiction divorced from any real sense of encounter with Christ. Contrary to popular misconceptions, these difficulties do not stem from Martin Luther. In his exegesis of Paul, Luther intimately connects justification by faith and participation in Christ in a way that effectively integrates the two. This paper explores the manner in which Luther does so, evaluating his exegetical conclusions and assessing their relevance for our contemporary attempts to understand the relationship in Paul’s theology between justification by faith and participation in Christ.

Books to be discussed are:
E Adams and D Horrell (eds) Christianity at Corinth (WJK, 2004), reviewed by Jorunn Økland
R Dutch, The Educated Elite in 1 Corinthians (Continuum/T&T Clark International , 2005), reviewed by Edward Adams
J Økland, Women in Their Place (Continuum/T&T Clark International, 2004), reviewed by Peter Oakes