Biblical Foundations of Salvation: Neither Jew Nor Greek
Paul Reveals the God Who Knocks Down Walls
We’ve journeyed through the biblical story from Creation to Exodus to Sacrifices to Exile. We’ve seen how this story continues in what Christians call the New Testament as God became human and demonstrated what God’s kingdom on earth looks like, culminating in God’s submission to humanity on the cross and rising from the dead to restore his exiled creation to Godself.
We’ve walked through the stories, and now we come to Paul, the great evangelist of the early Christian faith.
Paul is a fascinating character, not only because of his origins as an angry, bloodthirsty Pharisee, but because of how his writings have formed the Church through the millennia since his lifetime. I’d wager that there has been no other Christian thinker as influential or divisive as Paul—not that Paul himself was trying to be divisive, but that his words have been used to support opposing policies, doctrines, and political beliefs.
How ironic, since Paul’s primary goal was to preach inclusion and unity of the Gentiles with the Jews (c.f. Eph. 3:1-11).
We modern-day Christians often forget that Paul was Jewish. In fact, we forget that Jesus was Jewish and the entire movement following him was decidedly Jewish. We have misunderstood Paul if we say that Christianity is something entirely other than Judaism, or that Christianity has replaced Judaism (that is, supercessionism).
No, Christianity is a continuation of that great Jewish history that we have been exploring all along.
Paul’s contribution to this great narrative is that he connects the dots between the Old Testament’s message of covenant salvation to the world through Israel and the coming of Jesus as the fulfillment of the grand story.
Let me say that another way: Jesus, as a Jewish man, bridged the gap between Jew and Gentile (that is, non-Jewish people) in exactly the way that Israel was alway meant to do as the chosen people of God.
Recall God’s blessing to Abram:
“I will make you into a great nation,
I will bless you,
I will make your name great,
and you will be a blessing.
I will bless those who bless you,
I will curse anyone who treats you with contempt,
and all the peoples on earth
will be blessed through you.” (Gen. 12:2-3, emphasis mine)
Remember the mission placed before Israel as they stood at the mountain of God:
“Now if you will carefully listen to me and keep my covenant, you will be my own possession out of all the peoples, although the whole earth is mine, and you will be my kingdom of priests and my holy nation.” (Ex. 19:5-6, emphasis mine)
The duty of a priest was to represent God to the people; therefore, Israel, as a kingdom of priests, was meant to represent God to the nations.
The prophet Isaiah continues this theme:
“I will not keep silent because of Zion,
and I will not keep still because of Jerusalem,
until her righteousness shines like a bright light
and her salvation, like a flaming torch.Nations will see your righteousness
and all kings, your glory.” (Is. 62:1-2, emphasis mine)
The message from the very beginning, then, was that all the nations(1) would know God through the faith of the nation of Israel. This was how the creation mandate would be restored—Israel would show the nations what it looked like to be in relationship with the Creator, and the nations would enter worship God in response.
Of course, as we read the biblical story, we see that this is not entirely what happened. Israel failed in their God-given mandate. With each cycle of the judges and each unfaithful monarch, God’s people moved farther from their covenant with their God. Finally, God delivered them up to the nations to be carried into exile in lands far away.
There, they rediscovered what faithfulness meant. Jeremiah encouraged the people to live faithfully in the lands of their captivity so that their captors might know God, too (Jer. 29:4-7). Major Jewish players like Daniel and Esther demonstrated to their non-Jewish kings the glory and power of God, so much that the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar praised YHWH’s everlasting dominion (Dan. 4:34-37), the Persian king Cyrus publicly proclaimed YHWH’s sovereignty (Dan. 6:25-27), and the Medo-Persian king Ahasuerus decreed the protection of the Jewish people from the hands of the Medo-Persians (Est. 8:9-17). All three major Middle Eastern empires of the Iron Age confessed the power of YHWH and the protection of his people.
Coincidence? I think not. A kingdom of priests, indeed, only now it is as people who are far from their homeland.
Paul, then, contemplates how Jesus of Nazareth continues this narrative. From Paul has derived most Christian theology, so what he says about Jesus and salvation bears paying attention to.
Unfortunately, Christian traditions have far too often disconnected Pauline soteriology—that is, his theology of salvation—from the greater biblical narrative.
This has resulted in Western Protestantism’s overemphasis on personal, individual salvation, which, I might add, was largely a response to the medieval Roman Catholic Church’s teachings that one must earn or pay for salvation. Therefore, Protestant messages of salvation today largely sound like, “Jesus died for me and my sins so that I can escape hell.”
This could not be further from the gospel of salvation that Paul preached.
For one, Paul never mentioned hell. Instead, Paul’s soteriology was primarily concerned about uniting Jews and Gentiles.
“For I am not ashamed of the gospel, because it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, first to the Jew, and also to the Greek.” (Rom. 1:16)
“For the Scripture says, Everyone who believes on him will not be put to shame, since there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, because the same Lord of all richly blesses all who call on him. For everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.” (Rom. 10:11-13)
This was the message that caused great anger among the Jewish elite. When Paul stood up to explain his actions to the Jewish people, they listened up until he said that God commissioned him to be sent with his message to the Gentiles. At this point, they demanded his execution. (Acts. 22:21-22)
One cannot fault the Jews, really. It was their covenant unfaithfulness that had led to their exile. Their syncretism of pagan and Yahwist worship resulted in rejection by their God. Paul—and Jesus, for that matter—threatened to plunge Israel back into mixing with the pagans. The slippery slope argument is employed here—if we welcome the Gentiles, then how long will it be before we look just like them and God rejects us again? Their staunch protection of Jewish law and worship is an understandable reaction to threats of another exile.
It’s difficult to overstate how radical Paul’s message of Gentile inclusion was.
In his letter to the Galatians, he argues that the ancient symbols of covenant with God, circumcision and rigid adherence to the sacrificial laws, are no longer necessary because Jesus is the new basis of a new covenant, and the new symbol of this covenant is baptism.
In his letter to the Ephesians, he describes how Jesus metaphorically tore down the physical barrier preventing Gentiles from entering worship with the Jews at the Temple.(2)
He did this so that he might reconcile both to God in one body through the cross by which he put the hostility to death. He came and proclaimed the good news of peace to you who were far away and peace to those who were near. For through him we both have access in one Spirit to the Father. So, then, you are no longer foreigners and strangers, but fellow citizens with the saints, and members of God’s household, built on the foundation of the apostles and prophets, with Christ Jesus himself as the cornerstone. (Eph. 2:16-20)
To the Colossians, he writes,
For God was pleased to have all his fullness dwell in him, and through him to reconcile everything to himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, by making peace through his blood, shed on the cross. Once you were alienated and hostile in your minds as expressed in your evil actions. But now he has reconciled you by his physical body through his death, to present you holy, faultless, and blameless before him. (Col. 1:19-22)
I grew up hearing the interpretation that this reconciliation is specific to the individual’s restoration to God, but this doesn’t fit Paul’s context. No, Paul is concerned about reconciliation of all humanity and creation together in Christ, made possible by Christ’s sacrifice on the cross.
God wanted to make known among the Gentiles the glorious wealth of this mystery, which is Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Col. 1:27)
Jews and Gentiles alike are united in worship of this God who became human and suffered to redeem them from hatred, anger, social segregation, and war.
As the Gospel of John says, Jesus came and dwelt in the neighbourhood (John 1:14, MSG). This is the great mystery of the biblical story. Jesus came to live here with us, and not only for our sake, but for the sake of everyone.
This is Paul’s salvation. This is his message, for which he is martyred. This is the good news—that all people will be united in Jesus and confess that he is Lord (Phil. 2:9-11).
It’s no wonder that nearly all of Paul’s letters contain exhortations on how to live together as the people of God. After all, what might it look like if people from all races and nation attempt to live and worship together as a united community?
“Make every effort to keep the unity of the Spirit through the bond of peace… Let all bitterness, anger and wrath, shouting and slander be removed from you, along with all malice. And be kind and compassionate to one another, forgiving one another, just as God forgave you in Christ.” (Eph. 4:3, 31-32)
Salvation means ‘healing.’(3) Our relationship to God was broken at the Fall, but so were our relationships with others and with creation. Christ’s salvation heals these relationships. It delivers us from our hatred, segregation, and pride. We are invited to live together with those who are different from us, not to hunker down with those who are alike.
“There is no Jew or Greek, slave or free, male and female; since you are all one in Christ Jesus.” (Gal. 3:28)
Imagine being a Jew in the first century, ruled by the Romans and surrounded by Greek polytheistic practices. You look different from them in every way—your clothing, speech, facial hair, jewellery or hair coverings, worship rituals, and dietary practices. Now, Paul tells you, these things don’t matter. Everything that defines you as a Jew doesn’t matter; all that matters is whether you welcome your neighbour and work toward living together in unity as you worship Jesus together.
Imagine being a Black slave to a White plantation owner and being told that your social statuses and prejudices are worthless; all that matters is living together in unity and loving each other, treating one another kindly and with great respect as you worship Jesus together.
Imagine being a Ukrainian in Russian-occupied Ukraine and being told that your religious, political, geographical, and historical differences don’t matter; all that matters is being compassionate to one another and tearing down the barriers between your people as you worship Jesus together.
It’s not hard to see why Paul’s message—and Jesus’—was so offensive. It’s not difficult to understand why so many Christians were martyred for this faith that transcended social, economic, and political barriers.
Salvation is systemic social, racial, and communal healing.
Yes, placing your personal faith in Jesus is important; it’s where the journey begins. But it does not end here, nor do you embark on the journey alone. It is done together with others, regardless of their ethnicity, race, or cultural practices.
Jew, Christian, and Muslim.
Black, White, and Brown.
Male, female, and non-binary.
Can we join Jesus in knocking down the barriers between us and joining together as one humanity, reconciled together in Jesus Christ?
Footnotes
Greek ethnos, which is translated into the English word Gentiles in the New Testament, and nations in the Septuagint, the Greek translation of the Old Testament.
There was a four-foot stone wall separating the Court of the Gentiles from the Court of the Jews at the Temple (Herod’s Temple, built in 19 BC to AD 27). The Gentiles, no matter their devotion to YHWH, could not come nearer in their worship. Solomon’s original Temple did not have this design.
Other definitions of salvation include ‘deliverance’ and ‘redemption,’ both of which have significant thematic ties to the Exodus and Passover, where God freed Israel from bondage and created a new nation that would live in restored relationship with him, others, and creation.
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Photo by Aarón Blanco Tejedor on Unsplash.
Paul Reveals the God Who Knocks Down Walls