The Christology of St. Paul, Apostle to the Gentiles

Edgar A. Gamboa
THEO 60114-01
Rev. Fr. Jerome Murphy-O'Connor, OP

In the spring of 53 AD, critical news from Galatia reached St. Paul. Jewish Christians from Antioch had infiltrated the Galatian churches during St. Paul's absence. These "Judaizers" were enticing St. Paul's converts to undergo the rite of circumcision and to observe the ceremonial laws of the old Covenant as the indispensable means to sanctification and salvation. (1) They insisted on adherence to the Mosaic Law, while undermining St. Paul's apostolic authority by asserting that the gospel he had preached to them was not in accordance with the teachings of the original apostles in Jerusalem. (2) In a carefully crafted response (and not without restrained anger),St. Paul wrote the letter to the Galatians which manifest for the first time his distinctive Christology.

The Judaizers accepted the Messianic character of Jesus but based their arguments on the history of salvation -- Abraham's faith, God's covenant with Abraham and his descendants (cf. Gn 17.4-7), circumcision as the mark of the covenant (cf.Gn 17.10-14) and sacrament of inititation into the Jewish community (cf. Lv 12.3), the centrality of the Mosaic Law -- which, as a former Pharisee, St. Paul knew by heart (I was even more a zealot for my ancestral traditions." (Gal 1:14). While the letter was addressed to the Galatians, St. Paul intended his message for the Judaizers. To effectively deconstruct their arguments, St. Paul posed his thesis on Christ's humanity. Jesus was "born of woman" (Gal. 4:4), a card-carrying member of the human race, the pre-eminent descendant of Abraham and heir to the covenant. In the process of exploring Jesus'individual humanity (the historical Jesus), St. Paul gained further insights into Christ (the Cosmic Christ( and into the nature of the Christian community (the Ecclesial Body of Christ).

To St. Paul, the key element was pistis.