Volume 7O:l Jan- Z f m Table o f Contents - p- The Faith of Christ: A Lutheran Appropriation of Richard Hays's P r o m ............................................................................ Arthur A. Just Jr 3 Listening to Intertextual Relationships in Paul's Epistles with Richard Hays ................................................................... Charles A. Gieschen 17 Looking at the Moral Vision of the New Testament with Richard Hays Dean 0. Wenthe ............................ 33 Walk This Way, A Theme from Proverbs Reflected and Extended in Paul's Letters Andrew E. Steinmann and Michael Eschelbach .................... 43 With a View to the End: Christ in the Ancient Church's Understanding of Scripture Joel C. Elowsky. ...................................... .. .............................. 63 A Curriculum from and for the Church John T. Pless ............................................................................... 85 We apologize for publication delays in recent years. We assure you that all overdue issues are in process and will be mailed as each is printed. We plan to be back on our normal quarterly publication schedule by Jan- 2008. Thank you for your patience! The Editors The Faith of Christ: A Lutheran Appropriation of Richard Hays's Proposal Arthur A. Just Jr. When Richard Hays published The Faith of Jesus Christ in 1983, it sent a ripple through New Testament scholarship that stiU may be felt todav.1 Its republication in 2002 signaled that his book has real staying power.2 This new volume is not a rewrite of his original work. It is rather a fresh re- presentation, accompanied bv a winning foreword by Luke Timothy Johnson and a reflective in&oduction by the author himself about the theological implications of his thesis. It also includes two appendices, one by James D. G. Dunn and Hays's response to Dunn that represent part of the debate in the Pauline Theologv Group of the Society of Biblical Literature from 1991 over the phrase: "the faith of Jesus Christ" Many Lutherans may neither be familiar with the name, Richard Hays, nor with his book, The Faith of Jesus Christ. Some may even be wondering why we devoted several articles to engage his u?itings. As you will come to see, Richard Hays has much to say to our Lutheran context and to the larger Christian community of which we are a part. My approach in this study is quite simple. I will begin by drawing out the major thesis of his book for those not familiar with his work. I will then spend the remainder of the essay discussing the theological implications of his thesis for an interpretation of Paul and its impact on Lutheran theolog. I. The Faith of Jesus Christ in Galatians: What's at Stake? Hays's thesis is quite simple: "A s t o y about leszls Christ is presupposed by Paul's argument in Glatians, and his theologicaI r+ction attempts to articulate the meaning of that story."' As he himself notes, his study is not simply a matter of the subjective versus the objective genitive but has more to do with the riarrative substructure of Galatians and Paul's other Epistles. Richard B. Hays, The Faith ofJesus Christ: An Imestigation of the Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:11:11, SBLDS 56 (Chico, CA: Scholars Press, 1983). Richard B. Hays, The Fat ttr of Jesus Chnst: The Narrati~e Substructure of Galatians 32- 4:I 1 (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co., 2002). 3 Hays, The Faith o f J e s l ~ ~ Chr is t (2002), xxiv; emphasis original. Arthur A. Fst Jr. is Proffisor of Exegetical Thpology, Dean of !he Chapel, and Director of the Deaconess Program at Cimcordia Theological Seminary, Fort Wayne, Indiana. 4 Concordia Theological Quarterly 70 (2006) However, we must deal briefly with the grammar. My starting point will be Galatians 215-16, and then Galatians 2:20 wiLl be examined. Galatians 2:16 places before us in stark reality the issue at stake. Galatians 2:16 -The Hub of the Debate The sigruhcance of Galatians 216 cannot be overstated. In his commentary on Galatians for The Nezu llnerpreter's Bible, Richard Hays calls it "a prscis of the argument of the entire Ietter."a The phrase "works of the law" occurs five times in eleven verses, and they are contrasted with faith. Everything depends on the interpretation of Sta n i o ~ ~ w s ' IquoC X P L U T O ~ in this verse, perhaps the most theologically dense passage in the Pauline corpus.' The following diagram shows not only its chiastic structure,6 but provides also a schema to present the major theological issues. The translation here is from the Enghsh Standard Version, which takes the genitive as objective: faith in Christ.' 2.15 jpe i s bivet ' IouGa^lot ~ a i O ~ K it i0vGv cipap~wloi - 2.16 E ~ ~ ~ T E S [sf?] ~ T L a 03 St K ~ L O ~ T ~ L 6v%pw~ios 2 t ZWWV kpov b i a v p i Siia T~OT€TE~)S 'Iquoii XPLUTOD. c ~ a i f p~^Ls €is Xprmov 'Iquow h ~ i m ~ w a p ~ ~ . b' iva S t ~ a t & G p c ~ &K rim~tas X ~ U T O V ~ a i OL;K k t Lpy~v V ~ ~ O V . a' ~ T L h t Lpy~v & ~ O U 06 SLKUL&~UCTUL n6ua ucipt. 2.15 We ourselves are Jews by birth and not Gentile sinners, 2.16 yet we know that a a person is not justified by works of the law b but through faith in Jesus Christ, c so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, b' in order to be justified by faith in Christ, and not by works of the law a' because by works of the law no one will be justified. 4 Richard B. Hays, "The Letter to the Galatians: Introduction, Commentary, and Reflections," in rile Nm Inferpreter'~ Bible: Second Corintlzianj-Philemon, Vol. XI (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 2000), 236. See also Graham Stanton, "The Law of Moses and the Law of Christ," in Paul nnd thp Mosa~c Law, ed. James D. G. Dunn (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdrnans Publishing Co., 1996), 103, who describes this as "the nerve center of Galatians." ' J. Louis Marqn, Galahans: A New Translation mth Introduction and Commentary, The Anchor Bible 33A (New York Doubleday, 1998), 263. 6This chiastic structure is adapted from Martyn, Galatians, 250. 7 7he Holy Bible: The English Standard Version (U'heaton, IL: Crossway Bibles, 2001). One of the only translations that renders the genitive as subjective - the faith of Christ - is the King James Version; The Holy Bible: 1611 Edition, The King James Version (Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson, 1990). lust: The Faith of Christ 5 The main clause of the sentence, and the center of the chiasm, is "so we also have believed in Christ Jesus" ( ~ a i i p ~ l s €is XPLOT~V 'Iq~oEv ~ T ~ L O T E ~ O ~ ~ E V ) , a clear reference to our faith in (€is) Christ. Grammatically and structurally, faith in Christ is at the center of Paul's programmatic statement. Is, however, faith in Christ at the theological center of Paul's argument? Clearlv the clauses surrounding the phrase "faith in Christ" deal with justification (6t~at6w), for Paul is stating in no uncertain terms that justification is not by "works of the law" (a and a'-it ipywv v6pov) but through/bv faith @-St& i'ii~T€us and b ' - i~ TT~OTEWS). Although these clauses &e very familiar to us, let us look at these words with fresh eyes. To begin, entertain for a moment a translation of the Greek verb S L K ~ L ~ U , which we normally translate as "to justify" or "to declare righteous," with the following translation from J. Louis Martyn's Galatians commentary: "God's making right what has gone ~ m n g . " ~ Hays agrees with Martyn's translation: "Thus the verb 'justify' points not merely to a forensic declaration of acquittal from guilt but also to God's ultimate action of powerfully setting right all that has gone wrong."g What has gone wrong is very dear to Paul as he writes to the Galatians. Humanity is enslaved in the present evil age to the forces of sin (1:4), the flesh (5:13), and the elemental spirits of the universe (525; 6:16). Luther's triad of sin, death, and the devil captures Paul's view of what has gone wrong in the cosmos. Hays sees the esc!mtological ramifications of this perspective on 6~~atow: "'Justification,' however, is the eschatological act of God. Thus, when he refers in v. 16 to being 'justified,' Paul is speaking of God's world- transforming eschatological verdict as it pertains to individual human beings."lO The question facing Paul, the Galatians, and his opponents is this: How does God make things right? Does God make things right through works of the law? No! Does he make things right through our personal faith in Christ? Yes! Does he make things right through Christ's faithful death in our behalf? Yes! Paul's opponents are suggesting the first solution to our human plight: God is making things right bv our observance of God's law, particulaxlv the observance of Jewish cust&ns like circumcision and the dietary laws. Paul writes the Galatians in order to persuade them to reject this notion of justiEication. Two issues are important to Paul's argument and exploring the difference between them may help us affirm what we believe, teach, and confess about the relationship between grace and faith. Maqm, Galaham, 250. Hays, The Neiil Interpreter's Bible, 237. 'Ways, 7he N m Interpreter's Bible, 237. See also his "Excursus: The Language of Righteousness," in The Nez~l Interpreter's Bible, 238. 6 Concordia Theological Quarterly 70 (2006) The issues are how to understand the prepositional phrases 616 -' II LDTEOS 'IqaoC X ~ L U T O ~ and ZK n i a ~ ~ w s X ~ L U T O ~ . If we take them as objective genitives thev would be translated as "faith in Jesus Christ" and "faith in Christ," referring to our belief that Jesus is the one who gave himself in behalf of our sins. The accent here is on our faith, which grasps the objective realities of Christ's atoning death and vindicating resurrection. This is the traditional understanding of these prepositional phrases, and Luther's understanding as well, and it contrasts nicely with works of the law, a contrast between human observance of the law or human faith, even though human faith has a divine origin." If we take the genitives as subjective genitives,l2 however, thev refer to Christ's faith, that is, Christ's faithful death in our behalf whered"he died faithfully for human beings while looking faithfully to God," as Martyn suggests.13 We are declared righteous by God, then, either by our observance of the law or by Christ's faithful death in our behalf. Here human action is clearly contrasted with divine initiative. Our human observance of the law is set against Christ's action where he "gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age" (Gal 1:4). Here P a d s apocalyptic gospel is placed at the center of how God is making things right in a world where things have gone very wrong. Now please note that this interpretation of the genitives in 2:16 does not suggest anything as radical as, for example, a justification of the sinner by works, experience, or whatever. In fact, even if you understand this as Christ's faithful death in our behalf, our faith in Christ still stands at the center of the chiasm in the main clause of 2:16: "so we also have believed in Christ Jesus."l4 To interpret these two genitives as Christ's faithfuI death in our behalf allows the atonement for sin, God's apocalyptic invasion and rescue, to be that which is contrasted to the observance of the --- - - l1 See Marem, Galatians, 271. " See M a r t 3 Galatians, 251 n 127. Here, Martyn prefers calling this an authorial geniti~e . ' 5 blartyn, Galatians, 271. 14 Cf. Moi& Silva, Explorations in Exegetical MPthod: Galatinns as a Test Case, (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 1996), 174. Silva understands the genitives as objective (i.e., faith in Christ), but makes a point of accenting objective justification: "To recognize the apocalyptic overtones of this clause is not to undermine the traditional application of the verse, since in this very passage Paul is stressing the sigruficance of faith for his own personal -yes, present-justification and that of his Jewish-Christian contemporaries. Mv point, however, is that this truth is set within the context of cosmic, eschatological realities. In other words, the 'subjective' experience of justification is not divorced from the 'objective' judgment at the end of the age. On the contrary, it is grounded in that final judgment, so that our sense of assurance (6. Gal 4:6-7) is not a psychological strategy that by-passes reality, but rather a proleptic manifestation of God's righteous verdict." Just: The Faith of Christ 7 law as the means through which God is making things right." The accent, then, is on God's objective act in Christ on the cross and in his resurrection for the life of the world. We might translate the Greek in this way: A human being is not declared righteous (a) bx- works of the Law; but rather (b) by Jesus Christ's faithful death in our behalf (c) even we have believed in Christ Jesus so that we are declared righteous (b') by Christ's faithful death in our behalf (a') not bv works of the law.'^ Galatians 2:20- Reinforcing the Argutnent Another passage in Galatians, occurring immediately after 2:16, helps illustrate this understanding of the phrase: "the faith of Jesus Christ." Translating the genitive in 2:20 as a subjective genitive, the passage may be rendered as follows: 220 It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh 1 live by the faithfulness of the San of God, who loved m e and gave himself for me. This verse is a climax to Paul's argument that he died to the law through the law-, having been crucified with Christ. He is speaking here of his participation in Christ's death where he leaves behind his life of law- observance because of the atoning death of Jesus on the cross. U h t is important to Paul here is not his faith in Christ, but Christ's faithfulness in giving up his life on the cross (here the genitive TOF vioC TOC BEOF ("of the Son of God") is dependent on i v ria-^^ ("bv the faithfulness"). Thus, the life he now- lives is Christ's life because Chriit lives in him. And what is it that marks this life? Christ's faithfulness unto death. "Paul is not claiming fi w-n, GuIoha?~+, 97-105. le This section is a revision from Arthur A. Just Jr., "Uuist and the Law in the Life of the Church at Galatia," in The Lnir in Holy S~riptrcre: E 5 . y ~ fia the Concordia k l o g i c a l Seminary Syrnpiurn, ed. Charles A. Gischen (St . Louis: doncordia Publishing House, 200.1), 173-187. 8 Concordia 27wological Quarterly 70 (2006) that he lives now bv 'believing in' the Son of God; he has, in fact, just (rhetorically) deniedany continuing personal agency at all. Instead, it is now the pistis of the Son of God, Jesus Christ's own self-giving faithfulness, that moves in and through him."1; Hays cites Martyn's felicitous summar).: "Christ's faith constitutes the space in which the one crucified with Christ can live and does live."'R This entire phrase "by the faithfulness of the Son of God" is modified both grammatically and theologically by two participial phrases that stand in apposition to 706 r i o t Toil 6rov ("of the Son of God"), namely, TOC c i y a ~ j u a v ~ o : VE K U ~ ;iupu&lr;os iac-rdv ;nip ipoc ("who loved me and gave himself for me"). The grammatical thrust here is on the word faitlz, which must be considered with the genitive "of the Son of God." Is it not more plausible, in light of Paul's running argument about Christ's death on the cross in our behalf and our participation in that cross, that the participles "who loved me and gave himself for me" mod& the whole phrase? If so, it would make little sense for this to refer to our faith in Christ, but would bring a definitive climax to Paul's argument concerning what the cross entails. Hays's summary of its meaning is incisive: "The whole context portrays Christ as the active agent and Paul as the instrument through which and/or for whom Christ's activity comes to expression. Indeed, this unrelenting emphasis on the priority of Christ's (or God's) willing and doing over any human will or action is the theological keynote of the whole Ietker."'9 Both h?art>m and Hays compare this passage from Galatians M-ith Romans 5:15 to demonstrate how Paul is using the word faith here in Galatians as the equivalent to his use of the word grace in Romans. The following diagram from Hays illustrates this perfect] Y: Rom 515 . . . the free gi/t in grace, namely the grace of the one man Jesus Christ Gal 220 . . . I live in faith, namely the faith of the Son of God As Martyn observes: "Just as in Rom 5:15 the lifegiving grace is specified as the grace 'of Jesus Christ,' so here the life-giving faith of which Paul speaks is specified as the faith ofthe Son of God."20 And as Hays points Hays, 7 k Neu? Interpreter's Blble, 244. ]Ways, T 7 r ~ h'ezr~7 Interpreter's Bible, 244, citing Martyn, Galatians, 259. 19 Hays, nw Faith of Jesus Utrist (2M32), 155. 3 M a e n , Gulaflam, 259. Just The Faith of Christ 9 out, since Paul immediately follows Galatians 220 with a reference to grace, it is fair to conclude that "Grace is embodied in Christ's faithful death for our sake."'l LI. The Faith of Jesus Christ in Interpreting Paul The genius of Hays's book, The Faith oflesus Gr i s t , is that he chooses to establish the subjective reading from Galatians 3:13:11, or what Luke Timothv Johnson caUs "the hardest passage."" I will not rehearse his arguments here, but rather encourage you to test for yourselves through Hays's book the interpretation of the genitive as Christ's faithfulness rather than our faith in Christ in the other passages in Galatians where it pertains. Instead, we will consider the impact of the phrase "the faith of Jesus Christ" on an interpretation of Paul and, secondly, on our Lutheran theologv. It is to this first topic that we now turn. Needless to say, h s understanding of the phrase "the faith of Jesus Christ" is not %=&out controversy. People have lined up on both sides of the genitive, and oftentimes with passionate rhetoric. Both sides are persuasive, but it appears as if the tide is turning toward the subjective genitive, and the grammatical and theological afguments for this reading are difficult to dispute. There is even a growing body of literature that demonstrates that the "consensual exegesis" of tradition supports the subjective genitive reading: the faith of Christ.5 Hays has thoroughly addressed ever)- possible objection to his thesis over these last twenty years. To include as an appendix to his book James D. G. Dunn's spirited defense of the traditional understanding (i.e., the objective genitive: faith in Christ) shows his confidence in his own interpretation. The Question of the Narrative Structure From the beginning, Hays has insisted that wrhat he wants people to see as the core of his argument is the subtitle of his book, "The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:l-411." Let me return now to his thesis statement that 1 cited at the start of this essay: "A story about Jesus Christ is preszlppwd by Paul's argzfrnent in Galatians, and his theological rqflection attenzpts to articzdate the meaning of that story." It is refreshing for someone of Hays's stature to suggest that the story of Jesus is foundational to Paul's theological stance in Galatia. Paul is not to be seen as some loose cannon within first-century Judaism, but rather a faithful disciple of Jesus who was =: Havs, The Vex? Interpreter .; B?bl~, 244 Hays, The Fmth qffesuc U~nst fZUOZ), m. For example, see Ian G. Walb, The Ealth of lesus Qznst rn Early Chnshan Trudrhon, SXTS3HS 81 (Cambridge, LTC Camhdge ~ n i l e r s i t ~ Ress, 1995), Ad for an opposing p i n t of view, see Roy A Harrin-ille 111, "FISnS CRISTOc- Witness of the Fathers," i';ui.T 36 (1994): 233-241. 10 Concordia Tkeological Quarterly 70 (2006) shaped and formed by the teachings of Jesus. Luke Timothy Johnson summarizes this significant aspect of Hays's thesis: Havs's studv suggests a closer link between Paul and the Gospels than has often been seen. Simply to state that Paul's thought has a narrative substructure is to make stronger the connection between his letters and the Gospel genre. But Hays also sees in the narrative fragments of Galatians an implicit link between the proclamation of the cross, the incarnation, and even pre-e~istence.~* The implications of this thesis for interpreting Paul are enormous. &%at stands first and foremost for Paul is not our faith in Christ, but Christ's incarnation, atonement, resurrection, and our participation in his life through Baptism and Eucharist. "The thing that matters is the message of the text, the stoq that it tells and interprets."z This is why it is so important to interpret the genitives as subjective (faith of Christ) and not objective (faith in Christ). This in no way suggests that our faith in Christ is not a significant issue for Paul, but it is not the overarching one. Paul's theology is much more cosmic than even Lutherans are willing to grant, and Havs's thesis about the narrative substructure of Galatians comple&ents the apocalyptic perspective promoted by J. Louis Marh-n. The Apocalyptic Perspective To interpret Paul's Galatian letter, we must read it through the apocalyptic events of Christ's incarnation, his death on the cross, and his resurrection from the dead, which have forever changed the cosmos. For it is at the aoss where the Messiah and the Law collide: "For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse . . . Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us-for it is written, 'Cursed be every one who hangs on a tree"' (Gal 3:10, 13).26 Martyn has suggested that "Paul is concerned in letter form to repreach the gospel in place of its counterfeit. Rhetorically, the body of the letter is a sermon centered on factual and thus indicative answers to two questions, '&%at time is it?' and 'In what cosmos do we actually live?'"2; To answer these two questions, Paul reveals his apocalyptic theology that is centered in Christ's incarnation and his death on a cross. The story of Jesus as narrated in the Gospels is now the story of the cosmos. The time we now live in is eschatolo~cal time, the eighth day, and the world in which we - 2 Hays, nre Faltl~ ofJesus Ci~rrst 12002), xiv. Hays, The Faltll of J e w s Uinst R002), xxvn. M a e n , Gulatlans, 318. ' blart).n, Gulatrans, 23; emphasis mine. Just: The Faith of Christ 11 dwell is the new creation. That is why Paul needs to provide us with a map for this world in which we now actually live.28 This world is defined by Paul in his opening thesis statement to the Galatians, which describes the greater reality that "Our Lord Jesus Christ . . . gave himself for our sins to deliver us from the present evil age" (Gal 1:4, TOG M v ~ o s i a c ~ b v i*&p TGV 6papr~t1) ipGv, 6 ~ w s i 6 i A q ~ a ~ fipfis :K TOG ai&vo< TOG EVEUT&')TO< rovqpoii). Here is Christ's substitutionary atonement and the language of the new creation: Christ's death liberates us from an evil age in which we were enslaved in order to deliver us into a new age where "the world has been crucified to me, and I to the world" (Gal 6:14). The one who gave himself for our sins now says, in the words of Luke's institution narrative: "This is my body which is being given on behalf of you" (Luke 2219, TO i r i i i p CpLv ;Trip 6pGv 6~66p~v) . The body Christ gave on the cross in our behalf is now given to the Galatians in a eucharistic feast of body broken and blood poured out where grace is given as gift, and peace is experienced as health, wholeness, and salvation itself.29 Hays admits, when he first wrote his thesis, this apocalyptic perspective was not as prominent as he would now make it. Here is his assessment now of the significance of this apocalyptic perspective on his thesis: Paul's theology in Galatians rests upon an apocalyptic narratib-e about the end of the old age and the beginning of a new one. Within that story, the death of Christ is the crucial turning point, the event in which he rescues humanity from slavery. MarQ-n, in his commentary on Galatians, has emphatically endorsed the interpretation of r;io;-~s'IqooE. XPLUTO~ as "the faith of Jesus Christ," understanding it as a reference to the cross as Christ's act of giving himself up to rescue us from the present evil age. Once we see the death of Jesus as the decisive act in God's eschato1ogicaI invasion of a world previously held in thrall to hostile powers, several elements of the letter become clearer when read within the framework of Paul's cosmic story of liberation.30 Hays continues with numerous examples of this apocalyptic accent in Galatians (e.g. 1:19; 426; 5:5; 5:17; 5:21; 6:5; 6:7-9; 6:16), all of which do not occur in Gal 3:1-4:11, the section isolated by him for his studv. But two of the most apocalyptic passages in Galatians do occur within &e limits of his study: Gal 3:13-14 and 4:3-6. He deals with the similarities and differences between these passages, but in his original thesis and his later reflections on the apocaIyptic in Galatians, these passages are not part of his analysis. See Mart)-n, Galaka~ , 482 n 8 3 See hlartyn, Galatinns, 88. " Hays, The Faith ofJesus Christ (2002), xxxix. 12 Concordia Theological Quarterly 70 (2006) What could be more apocalyptic than Christ's redeeming us from the curse of the law (3:13-14) or his invasion into the world and into us when the fullness of time had come (4:4-6)? For Martyn, both of these passages figure prominently in his analysis. In fact, he notes that the "'fullness of tirne' is a clear apocalyptic and that "the motif of cosmic warfare is focused first of all on the cross . . . making the cross the foundation of Paul's apocalyptic theoIogy."32 This combination of narrative substructure and apocalyptic theology provide the hermeneutical key to unlock Paul's theology in Galatians. Galatians must be read through the lens of the incarnation and death of Jesus as invasive events instead of our faith in Christ. This raises a number of issues for further consideration in New Testament studies. First, if the Gospels are clearly underlying Pad's theology, then the origins of the Gospels need to be revisited, especially as they relate to Paul. Hays begins to explore this in the section of his introduction entitled "Paul's Gospel Story within the Matrix of Early Christianity" where he notes: Paul was less theologically distinctive than is generally supposed -that is, that his Christology and soterioIogy are closely in sync with Hebrews, with the Deutero-Pauline letters, and with the writing usually thought to represent 'early catholicism'- and that, despite the near-total absence of synoptic Jesus tradition in Paul's letters, his story-grounded preaching marks a point on a historical trajectory towards the composition of wetten narratives.33 He then makes what he calls a provocative suggestion: "that Paul's Gospel story presages the development of the gospel genre," citing Joel Marcus's article "Mark-Interpreter of Paul" as an example of an evangelist recording Paul's theolog);, particularly because of their common interest in the theology of the cross." Second, an even more fanciful suggestion is this: Could the Gospels be circulating even earlier than scholars often suggest? It seems that the origins of the Gospels correspond to the periods of evangelization, placing Matthew's Gospel during the Jewish (Petrine) mission, AD 30-46, the earliest period of the church's life. How, then, did the Galatians come to know the narrative substructure? Through Paul, or through Matthew, whose Gospel may have been read in the liturgical assemblies of Galatia? If the Galatians were essentially a Gentile congregation, would not Martyn, Gahtians, 99. 3 Martyn, Galatians, 101. 33 Hays, 77w Faith of Jesus Christ 12002), xlii-xliii. 3 Hays, The Faith of Iesus Qzrist (2002), xliv. Just: The Faith of Christ 13 Matthew's so-called Jewish Gospel seem strange to their ears, and would not Paul, an interpreter of Jesus, using the narrative of Jesus as his substructure, be an excellent catechist as he uses Matthew's story of Jesus as a means of evangelizing these Gentiles in Galatia? Third, these questions raise for me the need to continue to explore the relationship between Pad and Luke. Galatians must always be read alongside of Acts, and there are some intriguing possibilities that develop when one tries to reconcile Acts and Galatians instead of pitting them against each another. Any reconstruction of a firstcentury chronology is tenuous at best, but the dile~llma posed between Galatians 2 and Acts 15 may not be as daunting as once supposed. Perhaps the unspoken issue in both Galatians 2 and Acts 15 was "the faith of Jesus Christ," namely, that some had forgotten to see the world through this apocalyptic lens of Jesus' incarnation and atonement, and were instead focused on issues of ethnicie that required keeping some aspects of the Jewish law. When both Luke and Paul refer to the gospel, are they not referring to this apocalyptic gospel that now redefines the world and the time in which we live? Fourth, Luke's relationship with Paul raises other issues for interpreting the writings of both Paul and Luke. Did Paul's catechesis of these Gentiie Galatians through the story of Jesus, and his subsequent battle with his opponents over this apocakptic gospel, become programmatic for his entire Gentile mission? What might Luke have l e a d from Paul's experience when, if Bo Reicke is correct, Luke sewed the Philippian congregation between AD 51 and 58 (bekeen the "we" sections in Acts 16:lO-17 and Acts 20:5)?35 If he, moreover, composed his Gospel after meeting with Paul and Mark in Caesarea Maritirna between AD 58 and 40, as Bo Reicke has also suggested, how has Luke's relationship with Paul influenced the way he wrote his Gospel?% How- did the narrative substructure of Paul's epistles influence the composition of the Gospels of Luke and Mark? Eusebius claimed that "Paul was actually accustomed to quote the Gospel according to S t Luke. When writing about some Gospel as his own, he used to say, 'According to my Gospel.'"3~ Perhaps there is more truth to Eusebius's claim than we might expect Luke is the Gentile Gospel precisely because he does what Matthew did not do, that is, provide the template for I' Bo Reicke, Re-examining Paul's litters (Harrisburg, PA: Triniv Press International, 2001), 92. + Bo Reicke, The Roots of the Synoptic Gospels (Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1986), 168- 170. 3; Arthur A. Just Jr., ed., Ancient Uzristian Grnmentaty on Scn'pfure: Vol III: Luke (Downers Grove, IL: Inten-arsity Press, 2002), 2; cited from Ecclesiastical History 3.4, Fathers o f the Church 19:12-13. 14 Concordia Theological Quarterly 70 (2006) catechizing Gentiles bv a still Jewish-Christian church, which explains why Luke includes so m&y details about such things as the temple and Passover. n1. The Faith of Jesus Christ and Lutheran Theology What, then, is the significance of Hays's thesis-reading the phrase "the faith of Jesus Christ" as a subjective genitive-on Lutheran theology? "Justification by grace through faith" is the chief article, the most important of all Christian teaching, as we hold from our confessional writings, even though justification figures prominentIy in only two New Testament documents: Galatians and Romans.= The Gospel of Luke records Jesus using the language of justification, particularly in the parable of the Pfiarisee and the publican, but it certainly is not a dominant way for him to speak of the gospel. Preaching the kingdom of God and the image of a new creation are the primary ways Jesus speaks of his apocalyptic invasion into our world as the creator come to his creation in order to set it free from the bondage to sin, death, and the devil. For Paul there are other themes in his theology, such as union with Christ39 or participation in Christ-the very title of a section of Hays's introduction: "Participation in Christ as the Key to Pauline Soteriology." Here again is Luke Timothy Johnson's assessment of the significance of this accent in Hays: He proposes that his position helps solve the long-standing debate between Pauline scholars over the question whether "justification by faith" or "partidpation in Christ" is more central to the Apostle's thinking. Hays says that it is a false opposition. If one grasps that the faith that makes righteous is Jesus' owm faith and that his story is one in which, by Baptism, Christians have been incorporated, the two sides of the debate can best be seen as moments in the same narrative process.m Hays encourages his readers to become caught up into the story of Jesus Christ. In a mysterious way, Jesus has enacted our destiny, and those who are in Christ are slutped by the pattern of his selfgiving death. He is the prototype of redeemed humanity. . . . Jesus is not merely a good moral example; rather, his stoq transforms and absorbs 38 S, ~p ~ , 2 - 3 ; SA n,l; SD m,a 39 See for example Carl E. Braaten and Robert W. Jenson, Union pith U ~ r i s t : Die Neu? Finnish Interpretation of Luther (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmam Publishing Co., 1998). W Hays, ThP Faith of Christ (2002), xiv. Just: The Faith of Christ 15 the world. The old world has been crucified and ne\\- creation has broken in through Jesus' death and resurrection (Gal 634-15)." For Lutherans, there is much to reflect on here, challenging not only the 1%-av h-t think of Paul, but how- we ourselves do theology. For both justification by grace through faith and participation in Christ are keys to our theoloc. Perhaps we have accented justification at the expense of participation in Christ which may explain lvhy our sacramental theolop has, until recently, seemed a secondan. construct to our Christology and rcclesiolog~-. For Hays, "The greatest strength of the exegesis set forward in Faith of Jesus Qlrist-and in the work of others who have come to understand the expression -~OTL< ' IqmS Xp~oroC as a short-hand reference to Christ's action-is that it explains how Paul's understanding of the 7 i ~ - L : of Jesus is integrally related to his understanding of b l ~ a ~ o o i , l > q . " ~ ~ To illustrate this, Hays shows how his thesis relates to participation in Christ: 1. "nre fiitl;/klnt.ss of Jesus Clzrisf" rqfers first of all to I~is graciou5, se!f- sacrificial death on a cross. . . . 2. Jesus Christ enrhodie the nrrcT crention and enlbrace us in his life. . . . 3. rite cross, as Cllrist's snzling action, is God's actimr of -L-iari, God's Jemontration of + . fidelity to the promise made to AErdmnr.'> Richard Hays has opened up for us a w-indo~u into Paul's theology through Tlre Faitlr of Jesu Christ that places the atonement at the heart of Paul's gospel. The challenge for Lutherans is to maintain a sacramental theolog- that embraces both the apocalyptic aspect of the narrative substructure of Paul and his participatory soteriology. Havs did not engage in any formal development of this in his book, but he lays the foundation upon which such a theolog- could be formed. Who better to do this than a Lutheran, for m-ho better-could demonstrate through Paul's theo1og:- that the search for the historical Jesus ends at the Euchanst.Q "- Havs, The Faith ~:fJesus C71ri.l i2UO1). sxix; emphasis original. ' Hays. B e Faith yffrslci C l ~ r i s t 12002). X ~ X . Hays, The Faitlr of /csus U~rist 12002), LXX-uxxiii; emphasis original. This insight came from a personal conversation with \%.inthrop Brainerd