Biblical scholars frequently discuss Paul’s relationship to his Jewish ancestral practices and heritage, a debate that is due in no small part to his inconsistency on the topic. Although some recent scholars have highlighted statements expressing Paul’s esteem for such credentials, the correct interpretation of his devaluation of them in Phil. 3.1–21 is a lingering scholarly problem. I argue that this text evidences adaptation of Stoic patterns of discourse that indicate that Paul’s devaluation does not depict his repudiation of such practices and credentials but his refusal to compare them to ‘knowing Christ’. His use of these patterns of discourse is designed to establish the first-order value of ‘knowing Christ’ and to model for the Philippians the epistemological evaluation he believed was crucial to their eschatological salvation.
AbstractΣυνɛίδησις is a relatively rare word, but a favourite for Paul, whose undisputed texts contain nearly half of its New Testament occurrences. In the 19th and 20th centuries, scholars debated the origin of the substantive and the possibility of Stoic influence, which led to a consensus that the term was not a technical philosophical one and Paul's use was not affected by Stoic thought. There is evidence, though, that the presence of συνɛίδησις in a few Stoic texts is due to its semantic relationship in Stoic discourse with συναίσθησις, the Stoic term for self-perception, which was a key component in their epistemological and ethical theory. This article argues that a reading of Paul's use of συνɛίδησις as Stoic self-perception explains the distinctive features of his use to which scholars have recently drawn attention, namely, the permanent and continuous operation of the συνɛίδησις, its ability to be passively impacted by the actions of others and the neutral or positive content of its reflexive knowledge. After a review of recent scholarship, I discuss the role of συναίσθησις in Stoic theory and the evidence for its semantic relationship to συνɛίδησις, then offer a reading of 1 Cor 8–10 demonstrating Paul's use of συνɛίδησις as self-perception.
Paul’s statements on law have recently been considered in the context of Hellenistic discourse, but these readings have not always included his “law of Christ.” Here I analyze this phrase in Gal 6:2 in comparison with the Stoic “law of nature,” arguing that both Paul’s negative and positive discourse on law and this particular phrase can be elucidated by comparison to Stoic ethics, which used similar discourse to, respectively, elevate a first-order good, endorse a second-order value, and reference a higher-order norm. I first discuss the Stoic theory of “natural law,” conventional laws, and their relationship to each other, then offer a reading of Gal 5:13–6:2 with reference to other statements in Galatians and 1 Cor 9:21. The metaphorical “law of Christ” in Gal 6:2 references a higher-order norm that could be placed in antithesis to conventional laws, including the Mosaic law, and could be used to challenge them. This metaphor portrayed the norm as functioning like a law in its ability to prohibit and command behavior, but more comprehensively than conventional laws. Paul posits a “law of Christ” as a shared standard of behavior for Jesus-believers that also grounds a qualified use of the Mosaic law.
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