Paul as Missionary: Identity, Activity, Theology, and Practice

Written by Trevor J. Burke and Brian S. Rosner, eds Reviewed By Brian J. Tabb

The premise of Paul as Missionary is that “before he was anything else Paul was first and foremost a pioneer missionary” (p. 1). Investigations of Paul's identity and work as a missionary typically begin with the narrative account of Acts. However, this collection of essays, edited by Trevor Burke of Moody Bible Institute and Brian Rosner of Moore Theological College, examines Paul's identity, activity, theology, and practice as a missionary through the lens of the apostle's own writings. This volume features a strong ensemble of contributors, most having published major commentaries or monographs on the Pauline epistles.

The four essays in Part One address Paul's missionary identity. The opening contribution by Seyoon Kim explicates Paul's identity as an “eschatological herald” of the gospel. Kim ably demonstrates that Paul develops his “understanding of his gospel, his apostleship, and God's plan of salvation by interpreting the Damascus revelation through the Scriptures, especially Isaiah” (p. 24). In chapter 2, James Thompson claims that the apostle's letters “continue and clarify Paul's catechesis” among the churches he founded (p. 33) and demonstrate his ongoing pastoral concern for their maturity and ongoing transformation (p. 36). In chapter 3, James Miller asserts that Paul's identity is at the same time “fully continuous with his ancestral self-understanding, yet in some way discontinuous with it at the same time” (p. 38). Paul's articulation of his “collective identity” in Romans, 2 Corinthians, Philippians, and Galatians is contextually conditioned by his circumstances and rhetorical goals. In chapter 4, Richard Gibson explains Paul's cultic language in Rom 15:16 against the backdrop of Isa61, concluding that the “significance of Paul's apostolic role is wholly derived from the Servant-Christ's mission, empowered by the same Spirit of God, and fulfilled as Paul 'preaches the gospel' of the Servant-Christ” (p. 61).

The essays in Part Two focus on Paul's missionary activity. Beverly Gaventa in chapter 5 asserts that the “underlying mission that comes to expression in Romans . . . is God's own mission” of saving the world from “Sin and Death” (p. 73). Gaventa proposes a somewhat novel interpretation of Rom 1:15, arguing that “evangelize” refers to Paul's “initial preaching of the gospel” to those in Rome who have not comprehended its full scope (p. 68). In the next essay Daniel Hays asserts, “Within the ethnically fluid world of first-century Hellenism, and using the terms of ethnic identity in that world,” Paul advocates a “new ethnic identity” for believers “in Christ,” which serves as their new “primary group identification, thus uniting them together” (p. 78). In chapter 7 Ayodeji Adewuya argues, “Paul understood suffering as an integral part of his missionary calling and practice” (p. 97). He helpfully explores the OT sacrificial background for the term “aroma” in 2 Cor 2:15 but too quickly jettisons the triumphal procession background of this passage, since Scott Hafemann has argued that the former unpacks the significance of the latter (2 Corinthians [NIVAC; Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2000], 110-11). Adewuya concludes that Paul's hope was “that his experiences and identification with Christ's sufferings would become normative for believers in general” (p. 98), though it is unclear how the texts cited in support (2 Cor 1:6; Col 1:24) demonstrate his thesis. In the next essay, Paul Barnett argues that Paul's prioritization of ministry to the Jews, his resolve to reach Gentiles also, and his grace-based, ritual-free message appear to have originated with Jesus.

Part Three, “Paul's Missionary Theology,” is the longest and strongest of the four sections. Arland Hultgren fittingly begins this section with a discussion of the relationship between Paul's Christology and Gentile mission. He maintains that Paul's mission “among the nations” was “profoundly and irrevocably” affected by his encounter with the crucified and risen Jesus on the Damascus road, who Paul understood to be “Messiah for the entire world” (pp. 116, 121). In chapter 10, Karl Sandnes examines 1 Cor 9:19-23, Paul's appeal for flexibility for the sake of the gospel. He claims that Paul only partially succeeded in “becoming all things to all people” during an initial period of ministry but prioritized Jewish culture and traditions in the context of mixed churches. Next, Trevor Burke responds to the frequent neglect of the Holy Spirit in Pauline missions studies and persuasively argues, “[T]he Holy Spirit is the controlling dynamic in Paul's role as missionary to the Thessalonians” (p. 4). In chapter 12, Brian Rosner demonstrates that the glory of God is “woven into the fabric of Paul's missionary theology and practice” (p. 168). God's glory sustains and directs the apostle's mission, interprets his missionary suffering, and provides focus and motivation for his ethical teaching. Next, Stanley Porter examines the important concept of reconciliation in 2 Cor 5:18-21 and Rom 5:9-11. He asserts that reconciliation is “an encompassing term” that provides the basis and the major essential components” of Paul's missionary theology (pp. 176, 179). In chapter 14, Roy Ciampa addresses “how Paul's theology of 'the gospel' sits at the heart of his missionary calling, self-understanding and view of God's purposes for the church” (p. 180). He helpfully observes that Paul's various articulations of the gospel message “reflect his contextualization of the gospel to speak to the issues he faced in his missionary work” (p. 184).

Part Four contains five essays rather loosely related to Paul's missionary practice. In chapter 15, William Campbell advances the thesis that Paul's gospel is at the same time “universal in outreach” and bound to particular contexts as “words on target.” Next, James Ware offers a detailed study of “the word of life” in Phil 2:16, claiming that “the hope of salvation which empowers mission is the bodily resurrection” (p. 215). Ware commendably detects allusions to Isa 52:13-53:12, Dan 12:2-3, and Wis 2:12-5:13, yet his discussion is somewhat obscured by recurrent problems with Hebrew citations (pp. 216-17), and many will be unpersuaded by his appeals to Wis2-5 as “a key Second Temple text focusing on the resurrection from the dead,” as he does not address the scholarly consensus that Wisdom's future hope is in the immortality of the soul, not resurrection. In chapter 17, Steve Walton investigates Paul's apparently contradictory policy on financial support in light of Greco-Roman patronage and Paul's missionary priorities. He demonstrates that a deeper consistency between the apostle's refusal (1 Cor 9) and acceptance (Phil 4) of financial gifts lies in “Paul's passionate missionary concern that the gospel message be available freely to all,” as well as in his “Christocentric and theocentric world view, which reframed human relationships in that light” (p. 232). Next, Michael Barram in his study of 1 Cor 9:19-23 proposes that for Paul, mission “is best understood not in terms of evangelism, but rather as a comprehensive salvific intentionality” (p. 241). Paul sought to cultivate a “missional consciousness” among the Corinthians that was flexible, holistic, purposeful, and salvific in intent (p. 241). Randolph Richards begins his concluding essay by observing that Paul was misunderstood in cross-cultural settings such as Corinth (e.g., 1 Cor 5:9-13), a claim that should have been further developed. He then quickly moves to an “exploratory, preliminary” survey of cultural differences between East and West and selects areas where Western interpreters “might be misreading Paul through our Western worldview” (p. 247), including individualizing communal promises (p. 259) and failing to grasp the relational aspects of grace and holiness (p. 260).

This volume has a number of strengths, including a superb group of contributors, deliberate attention to both Paul's Jewish and Greco-Roman context, and a sophisticated interdisciplinary approach to Paul's missionary identity and practice. The essays by Thompson, Hays, Porter, Ware, and Barram distill published monographs on their respective topics. In particular, the chapters on the Holy Spirit (Burke), the glory of God (Rosner), and Paul's financial support policy (Walton) stand out for arguing lucidly and giving attention to neglected facets of Paul's missionary theology and practice.

Nevertheless, there are some weaknesses in this volume. First, the treatment of the Pauline corpus is rather uneven, as Paul's “undisputed letters” (especially Romans, 1-2 Corinthians, Galatians, and 1 Thessalonians) receive close scrutiny, while Philemon and the so-called “disputed” letters of Paul are minimally engaged. First Timothy 2:7 is among the clearest declarations of Paul's missionary calling in the NT (“I was appointed a preacher and an apostle . . . a teacher of the Gentiles in faith and truth”), yet this important text receives a single parenthetical citation (p. 170) with no discussion. On this matter the recent contribution of Chiao Ek Ho is especially helpful as Ho effectively demonstrates that the Pastorals share the same missionary vision as Paul's “undisputed letters”(“Mission in the Pastoral Epistles,” in Entrusted with the Gospel [ed. Köstenberger and Wilder; Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2010], ch. 11).

Second, it would have been helpful for the editors to cross-reference the essays in this volume or allow the contributors to engage more with one another's work. This is particularly true of chapters 10 and 18, where both authors discuss 1 Cor 9:19-23 at great length but show no awareness of each other's contributions. As it stands, the nineteen essays function well individually but do not necessarily tie together well as a unified whole. Indeed, Porter (ch. 13) and Barram (ch. 18) cite their own work far more than the contributions of other scholars (26 and 19 references, respectively). Third, a sustained discussion of Paul's relationship with his coworkers in mission (e.g., Timothy, Titus, Epaphras, Epaphroditus, Tychicus) may have strengthened Part Four.

In conclusion, while Paul as Missionary will not be “all things to all people,” it is a substantial exegetical and interdisciplinary contribution to the study of Paul's missionary identity, activity, theology, and practice, and it deserves to be carefully consulted by NT scholars, missiologists, and graduate students.


Brian J. Tabb

Brian Tabb is interim president, academic dean, and professor of biblical studies at Bethlehem College and Seminary in Minneapolis and general editor of Themelios.

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