I explained this earlier,
I mean "primitive" not in a pejorative but in a descriptive sense, i.e., earlier in a sequence of development. Paul is looking for Jesus in the skies, not (yet) in his own body.Irish1975 wrote: ↑Sun Jan 03, 2021 10:58 am As for priority, the major question in my mind is how the theme of JC’s death compares in this epistle with all the other Paulines. In the four major epistles, and in Philippians too, Paul is constantly participating in the death of Christ. He carries the death of Jesus in his body. He bears the stigmata, etc. Finally, in Romans, the struggle with death and sin becomes cosmic, the salvation through the cross all-encompassing.
But not in 1 Thessalonians! Here there is no participatory mysticism at all. No sacrament of the Lord’s death. No “in Christ” langauge at all, except that the “dead in Christ” will soon rise with him at his imminent coming. That is to say, only the dead are in Christ, for the author of 1 Thss.
There appear to be two options. (1) say that there are two “Pauls” or that one Paul is a fake Paul, or (2) conclude that Paul’s gospel of Jesus Christ exhibits in 1 Thss an earlier stage of development. He simply hasn’t yet received the visions and revelations that fill out the later epistles, including the sacrament of the the Lord’s supper. In this earliest epistle, the whole substance of the Pauline faith consists only in the expectation of the imminent parousia. The believers are not yet living and dying “in Christ.”
Paul's theology of the cross, of dying in Christ, of bearing the death of Christ in our mortal bodies, etc. etc., which pervades his 4 major epistles, is nowhere evident in 1 Thessalonians.
In 1 Thss he does speak a great deal about his own sufferings and afflictions (as always). He does affirm the death of Jesus. But there is no mystical connection between the two, and this is a critical fact about the development of Paul's gospel. It came in stages, not all at once (assuming that 1 Thessalonians is in fact authentic).
To make the contrast perfectly clear, notice the difference between these two texts about the reason for Paul's glory and boasting:
May I never boast except in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, through which the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world.
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20
For what is our hope or joy or crown of boasting before our Lord Jesus at his coming? Is it not you? For you are our glory and joy.
And here Paul doesn't sound too eager to fill up what is lacking in Christ's sufferings--
For God has not destined us for wrath [οὐκ ἔθετο ἡμᾶς ὁ θεὸς εἰς ὀργὴν], but to obtain salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who died for us so that whether we wake or sleep we might live with him.
Granted, how we explain the peculiarly minimal theology of Christ's death in 1 Thss is up for debate. But we should at least acknowledge the obvious bare fact that it is minimal by comparison with the major epistles.
I think this is overblown. Paul's epistles are not mere reactions to circumstances. There is a whole lot more than "bits and pieces of his christology" in the epistles. They reflect Paul's gospel at the time of writing, and their occasional nature can't be used as a pretext for the idea that Paul's gospel never evolved or that he is somehow holding back what he really believes. I assume that's what you mean by "an argument from silence."Paul’s letters to his congregations were of an occasional nature, not theological treatises. Paul apparently taught his congregations about his Jesus Christ during his evangelizing visit. In his subsequent letters, he focused on issues and problems that arose within each group after his visit. We are able to patch together bits-and-pieces of his Christology --- and his own backstory --- when Paul found such information useful in his letters in support of, or to supplement his specific arguments addressing the specific issues that arose within each group.
This is an argument from the text.