Mission to the Gentiles: The construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul

How to cite this article: Nicklas, T. & Schlögel, H., 2012, ‘Mission to the Gentiles: The construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul’, HTS Teologiese Studies/ Theological Studies 68(1), Art. #1217, 7 pages. http:// dx.doi.org/10.4102/hts. v68i1.1217 Mission to the Gentiles: The construction of Christian identity and its relationship with ethics according to Paul


Introduction
As is well-known, contrary to most other Christian missionaries, Paul allowed pagans to become members of the newly founded communities of Christ-believers without being circumcised. Even if some or many of the 'pagan Christians' who joined the new messianic movement had a background as God-Fearers in diaspora synagogues, the radicalness of their step can hardly be underestimated. With their turn from different pagan cults to the mysterious God of Israel and his crucified and risen Son, Jesus Christ, a whole system of human relationship, expectations, hopes and norms must have been changed. If we read later pagan critics of Christianity like Kelsos and Porphyry or Christian apologetics like Justin Martyr or Minucius Felix's Octavius, we can imagine what it must have meant to become a member of the Christian movement, adhering to a God without an image and obviously too weak to save even his own son from a death as a criminal. Paul himself speaks about 'the scandal of the cross' (1 Cor 1:18), which puts all kinds of human wisdom and power into perspective, an idea that must be seen as at least one key to his own ideas of preaching the Gospel. 1 Pauline mission thus had to achieve a radical change of the 'identity' of people who were becoming believers 'in Christ'. In this way, we are coming closer to our main topic -the relationship of Pauline 'mission' and 'ethics' in the new communities. A group's (or a person's) identity is deeply connected to matters of 'ethics', as Van der Watt (2006), for example, states: 2 relationship with 'God' and 'Christ' and then, closely related to this, the relationships to other members of the community had to become decisive.

The relationship with God
An important text regarding the first dimension -the relationship with God -is 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10. 3 Even if it is not possible to give a full exegesis of this text, at least some points should be mentioned: • Using the verb ἐπιστρέφω, which in later Christian literature became a technical term for 'conversion', 4 Paul describes a radical turn in a person's life. The Thessalonians turned towards God, that is the God of Israel, and away from the εἴδωλα, the 'idols'. • The vocabulary used also makes clear that this conversion meant a transition into the sphere of 'life' and 'truth' (cf. parallels in early Jewish texts like Joseph and Aseneth 11:10f. and Tob 14:6). God is 'living' and 'true', 5 and He has raised his son, Jesus, from the dead, obviously into an existence in the heavens, which allows Him to become the 'saviour' of the community in the coming time of 'wrath'. • If we read this passage against the background of Old Testament texts dealing with 'idols', the relationship becomes even clearer: 'idols' are 'no-things' (Is 41:29); they will be destroyed (Is 10:11; Ezk 6:4-6; Hs 8:4), according to some texts even by God himself (Mi 1:7; Zch 13:2), or thrown away (Is 30:22); they are dead and useless . Of course, we may not expect pagan converts to the 'Christ-movement' to have had all these Biblical ideas in mind. 6 The Christian Jew Paul, however, was conscious about this background.
Turning away from the 'idols' must, however, have been extremely difficult in a world where they were present at every corner (and in everybody's home). The fact that they still were a threat to the newly formed communities can be seen in the famous discussion about food offered to idols (1 Cor 8; 10:14-11:1; Rm 14:1-23). For the community of Corinth, the question whether it was allowed to eat meat sold at a pagan temple or offered at a banquet of (pagan) friends applied to their actual daily lives. Could it not be argued that there is only one God and there are no 'idols' in this world (1 Cor 8:4)? This would mean that eating food offered to idols would not make any difference. Would it be necessary to forego all friendships and relationships with pagans because it was possible to get food offered to idols at their meals (1 Cor 10:27)?
3.For my following argument, it is not relevant whether 1 Thessalonians 1:9b-10 goes back to an older pre-Pauline Christian confessional tradition or not.
For an examples of a critical discussion of the topic, see Wanamaker (1990:84-89 1 Thessalonians 1:9-10 answers neither the question concerning the concrete meaning of 'turning away from the idols' nor the meaning of conversion towards the God of Israel or how it changed believers' lives. The text gives only two dimensions of this new Christian identity, (1) δουλεύειν θεῷ, that is serving God (like a slave) and (2) ἀναμένειν τὸν υἱὸν αὐτοῦ ἐκ τῶν οὐρανῶν, that is, expecting his son from heaven. Describing a slave's total obedience to his master, the verb δουλεύειν (see also Rm 6:15-23) surely does not picture a very attractive kind of activity. The emphasis of the phrase, however, seems to be on θεῷ. That means that the believers, who had been slaves of the dead idols before, are now doing service to the true and living God. Whilst dimension (1) speaks about a new relation to God (2) adds a Christological dimension with its mainly focus on the future. Although 1 Thessalonians 1:10 focuses on the believer-God relationship and accentuates the future aspect of the believer-Christ relationship, 7 it already describes two main dimensions of relationships that define the 'new' identity of a pagan 'Christbeliever'.

The believer's relationship with Christ
Even if the list of texts speaking about the believers' holiness is quite impressive (and surely not complete), in many 7.For a new evaluation of this dimension, see Luckensmeyer (2009).
8.For an overview of the early Jewish theology of Schekhina and its development, see Frankemölle (2006:155-168). For more information on Paul's use of cultic metaphors, see Hogeterp (2006).
Pauline arguments the relationship between believer and Christ seems even more important. Believing in Christ πιστεύειν εἰς Χρίστον (see for example Gl 2:16) -does not only mean to accept certain truths about Christ (even if 1 Cor 15:3-5 formulates a very early Credo), but to establish a relationship which radically changes the believer's existence.
As far as I understand this, according to Paul, the believer virtually becomes a part of Christ and Christ a part of him. That's why Paul can say that it is not he who lives, but Christ who lives in him (Gl 2:20) 9 or that being baptised means to be crucified with Christ (and to be united with him at his resurrection) (cf. Rm 6). That is why images, like the idea of the believer being 'in Christ', are meant very concretely.
Being 'in Christ', however, changes another relationship fundamentally: The believer is never only in relationship with Christ but also with other believers who are 'in Christ'.
The fact that their identities should now be fully determined by their Christ-relationship forms the basis of the idea that distinctions outside their identity as believers should not really count anymore. One of the clearest examples for this notion is Galatians 3:26-29 where we read that believers are 'clothed' with Christ (Gl 3:27). What we perhaps would call a (mere) 'symbol' used in baptismal rites until today should be understood as a 'reality' for Paul. Being 'in Christ' or being 'clothed with Christ' makes the impossible possible. It is the only reason why seemingly irreconcilable differences between Jew and Greek, slave and free man or man and woman do not count any more. Put even better: They are not there anymore: 'There is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man, neither man and woman, because all of you are one in Christ' (Gl 3:28).
It is this idea about the believers' Christ-relationship that allows Paul to refer to believers as 'co-buried with Christ through their baptism' and to refer to baptism as 'baptism into his death' (both Rm 6:4). Moreover, the idea of the believers' being 'in Christ' can be connected to their identity as 'new creation' which possibly finds its best expression in 2 Corinthians 5:17: 'So that, if anyone is in Christ, she or he is a new creation; the old passed away, behold the new has come' (see also Gl 6:15; Rm 6:4). The 'new' identity of being a Christ-believer, being 'in Christ', is not just a formula or a symbol but has ontological consequences -the believer is a 'new creation '. 10 In these ways, being 'in Christ', of course, also works as a boundary marker against outsiders. A community where the 9.For an interpretation of this passage, see for example Baumert (2009:49)

Being 'in Christ' and being part of a 'Body of Christ': Mutual relationships
The new 'Christian' identity in relationship with God and to Christ, however, should never be misunderstood as something that addresses mainly the believing individual.
Being 'in Christ' always means sharing this 'identity in relationship' with others. In other words, being 'in Christ' means being part of a community of believers who are a 'body of Christ' (1 Cor 12:12-31, esp. 12:27, and Rm 12:4-5) and who call each other 'brothers ' and 'sisters'. 11 The 'new identity in relationship' to Christ thus renews and redefines the believer's relationships to his or her fellow believers, an idea which is also expressed in Galatians 3:26-29 mentioned above.
Of course, these ideas describe an ideal. Pauline letters tell us that more often than not the corresponding reality was quite different. In other words, Paul's description and/or creation of an idea of new identity-in-relationship was surely not always identical with the images believers created about their identity. Moreover, 'identity' is not necessarily something stable but can be subject to changes over the course of a person's life -not only in the radical way of a conversion but also by growing through processes of learning. 12 And in addition to this, a person's idea of his or her identity in a certain context can be quite different from the same person's idea in another context of his or her life. In other words, a person acting as a 'Christ-believer' in the gatherings of the community can behave as an ice-cold businessman when he is doing his job. His new identity in relationship with Christ thus influences only parts of the person's life. 12.For this dimension of identity applied to the early Christian movement, see Meyer (1986).
13.For a more detailed interpretation of Paul's argument in Philemon, see Nicklas (2008).
owner, Philemon, 14 Paul's central argument seems to relate to the fact that Onesimus' identity has changed totally after his conversion and baptism (Phlm 10). The one who had been 'useless' is now εὔχρηστος ('useful'; v. 11

Changing principles for ethical decisions
With the fact that he and his co-missionaries did not expect the new believers to be circumcised, the Pauline idea of a mission to the Gentiles created a major problem for the identity of his churches. Some laws of the Torah worked as 'boundary markers' and helped Jewish or Christian-Jewish communities to define their identities against outsiders, and the Torah as a whole can be understood as the expression of how to live one's life in relationship with God who elected Israel and made it his very own people. How was it possible to express a relationship with this God if one was obviously not part of God's Covenant with Israel but member of a Pauline community of pagan Christians?
This new background made it necessary to redefine not only the believers' identity in the relationship with God, Christ and their fellow believers. It also made it necessary to redefine God's (and Christ's) will for behaviour that is appropriate to this system of relationships.
Of course, now and then Paul gives lists with rules for correct behaviour (cf. for example Rm 12:9-21 and 1 Th 5:12-22) or catalogues of virtues like Galatians 5:22-23 and Philippians 4:7-9. Additionally, in Galatians these virtues are distinguished from the (negative) 'works of the flesh' (Gl 5:19-21). However, these lists alone are surely not enough for creating Christian 'ethics' in the relationship with God, Christ and fellow believers − other techniques are needed. I would like to introduce three of them. Interestingly, each of these three can be connected to one of the dimensions of mutual relationship addressed above.

The Love Command
To my mind, the first technique has to do with mutual relationships between the members of the community. If we take a closer look into at least some of Paul's ethical arguments, it becomes clear that he actually did not totally abandon the 'law' in his pagan Christian communities. At least in some of his ethical discussions, he comes back to the idea of a fulfilment of the law and gives, comparable to Jesus (see Mk 12:28-31 par.), a central commandment to fulfil the whole of the law. However, in this context, it is interesting that he concentrates on Leviticus 19:18 about the love of one's neighbour and does not speak about Deuteronomy 6:5 concerning the love of God. One of the clearest examples is Galatians 5:14 where − at the end of a letter full of the harshest criticism of opponents expecting the Galatians to become circumcised − he writes that 'the entire law is fulfilled in one word: love your neighbour as yourself' (Gl 5:14). We can compare this to Romans 13:8-14 where we find the words, 'whoever loves the other has fulfilled the law' (Rm 13:8b). A few lines later, he adds some of the Ten Commandments (Ex 20:13-17; Dt 5:17-21) and again states that 'all these commandments are summed up in one word: love your neighbour as yourself. Love does not harm the neighbour. Therefore love is the fulfilment of the law' (Rm 13:9b-10). At least in the context of these writings, the main focus of the love command seems to be connected to mutual love within the community. Even if Romans 13:8a speaks about any kind of debts which should not be left outstanding, the formulation of the love command in 13:8b reads as follows: 'love one another' (ἀλλήλους)! 15

The Relationship with God
Even if the concept of 'human conscience' seemingly does not play a major role in Paul's concrete ethical arguments, it should be mentioned here because of its enormous Nachgeschichte. If the Torah is the expression of a relationship between the Israelites and their God, that is God's word to Israel about his will, the question emerges which dimension of ethical argument expresses this relationship in a context where the Torah loses (or changes) its importance. My thesis is that, at least in Romans 2:12-16, the idea of human conscience replaces the idea of a God speaking to Israel in the Torah. It is exactly this new situation of speaking to pagan Christians, who are not circumcised members of the Covenant, that makes it necessary to emphasise the idea of human conscience as strongly as Paul does. With Paul's use of the idea of a human 'conscience', an old boundary can be broken down. Even if God spoke to Israel in very special ways and even if Israel will remain his Chosen People forever (see Rm 9-11), he not only spoke to Israel but speaks to every human being. This is happening − perhaps not directly, but mediated via his or her conscience. With this, it is possible to argue that even Christian communities that do not observe the Torah are able to do God's will.

For God did not call us for impurity, but in sanctification …
Both sentences not only speak about the believers' sanctification, but connect it to the believer-God relationship, mentioning the will of God − the holy one! − or his 'calling' of the believers. Whilst the verses between 4:3 and 7 give concrete ethical exhortation (on matters of sexuality), 4:8 comes back to the question of the 'believer-God' relationship: '… the person who rejects this rejects not man but God …' (1 Th 4:8a).
In addition to this, 1 Thessalonians 4:3-8 wants to create a difference, an ethical boundary marker in relationship with outsiders. The (here male) believers should learn how to acquire their own wives 'in holiness and honor, not in lustful passion as the pagans do who do not know God' (1 Th 4:3b-4; translation Malherbe). Interestingly, Paul's teaching here is more or less working with typical Early Jewish prejudices about pagan behaviour. 18 The Christian Jew, Paul, asks the pagan Christian community not to behave in the way Jews think about pagan behaviour. The reason for that is their new relationship with God.

The 'Mind' of Christ
However, as far as I understand Pauline theology, the most important relationship for the believer is his or her relationship with Christ. As I see it, several important ethical guidelines, which developed from the relationship between Christ and the believer, could be discussed. I would like to mention at least one. 19 In his 2005 monograph Paulus und die Gesinnung Christi, Strüder argues that 1 Corinthians 2:16c can be seen as a key to Pauline ethical argumentation (Strüder 2005): ἡμεῖς δὲ νοῦν Χριστοῦ ἔχομεν, a sentence sometimes understood as 'but we have the spirit of Christ'. 20 However, the fact that Paul speaks about the πνεῦμα several times in this context makes it quite obvious that πνεῦμα and νοῦς have to be distinguished here.
I cannot give a full outline of Strüder's argument, but perhaps a few points can be helpful. In his analysis of 1 Corinthians 1-4, Strüder not only shows the fundamental integrity of these chapters but also demonstrates the importance of the term νοῦς for the whole of the argument (cf. Strüder 2005:9-132). One 18.Cf. the parallels quoted by Malherbe (2000:226).

Conclusion
Other ideas could be added. We have not spoken about the idea of the πνεῦμα Χριστοῦ as we find it in Galatians 5:13-26 and have only touched on the important fact that believers are not just seen as being 'in Christ' but as awaiting Christ as the coming one. 24 However, even if a lot of work remains to be done, at least a few conclusions seem possible.
In his important monograph on Paul's letter to the Romans, Esler (2003)  Even if I am sure that Paul was not always (and perhaps not very) successful in his reshaping of the identities of believers addressed in his letters, I share at least two points with Esler's assessment: • Whilst it seems to be extremely difficult (or perhaps impossible) to say anything about how Pauline Christians constructed their identity in different contexts of their lives, at least one dimension of Paul's work was to create, define, form, shape, reshape or influence believers' identities. Even if we do not know how successful Paul really was during his lifetime, the mere fact that his communities survived as Christian communities in a partly very hostile world is at least astonishing and should be seen as a great result of this process of identity-formation. • One of the fundaments of the Pauline construction of Christian identity is the idea that Christian identity is identity-in-relationship. Whilst πιστεύειν εἰς Χριστόν creates a relationship with Christ Jesus which, for example, can be described as being 'in Christ', it is also meant to be in a relationship with the 'true and living God' (1 Th 1:9). This relationship with the 'holy one' allows the members of the community to be addressed as 'holy'. Being 'in Christ', however, means to be deeply connected to a community of fellow believers, called 'brothers' and 'sisters', who form the 'body of Christ'. This system of positive relationships also means that other relationships are now excluded. Conversion to God means an aversion from the idols, drinking the Cup of Christ does not allow one to drink the cup of the demons; living in a community where there is neither Jew nor Greek, neither slave nor free man and neither man nor woman should at least create a boundary to groups where these differences still matter. Not to be misunderstood: I am speaking about Paul's attempts to construct Christian identities -not about the corresponding social realities.
Interestingly, the three dimensions of new shaping the identity of Pauline Christ-believers can be related quite 24.For the impact of this dimension on the ethics of 1 Thessalonians, see for example Schnelle (2003:193-196).
clearly to principles of ethical decisions found in Paul's letters. I briefly discussed the ideas of human conscience, the believers' sanctification (both corresponding to the believer-God relationship), the 'mind of Christ' (believer-Christ) or the command to love one's neighbour (believer-believer). Moreover, these principles not only correspond to the three dimensions of believers' 'identity-in-relationship' but can be connected to concrete ethical demands.
Finally, it is perhaps possible to go one step further. If for Paul Christian identity is 'identity in relationship', it is this relationship (and its success) that makes possible justification. In this case, a text such as Galatians 2:16 could be understood in the following way. It is not the ἔργα of the Law that render a person justified (the focus being not on 'Law', but on ἔργα) but rather the 'faith of Jesus Christ', that is Christ's relationship with God shown in his crucifixion and resurrection. This relationship corresponds to our πιστεύειν εἰς Χριστόν which in turn establishes a relationship with Christ and thus to God. This does not mean that believers should not love one another and thus 'do' and 'fulfil' the law (Gl 5:14). This love, however, does not save them, but it is only an expression of their 'identity in relationship' to the true and living God and his Son Jesus Christ the saviour (1 Th 1:9-10).