The Theological Centre Of Pauline Theology As It Relates To The Holy Spirit

The theological centre of Pauline theology as it relates to the Holy Spirit Mark Pretorius* Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics University of Pretoria Abstract The issue as to what constitutes the “heart of Pauline theology” is a contentious one in academic debates. The traditional view is the one fostered by the Reformers and perpetuated by generations of Protestants namely that “justification by faith” is the key to Paul’s theology. Unfortunately, upon careful reading of Paul’s letters, the inadequacy of such a view becomes apparent as such a focus would fail to cast the net broadly enough to capture all of Paul’s theological concerns. In saying this and without denying the presence of other determining factors, especially Christology and eschatology, shape the framework of Paul’s pneumatology. There is no doubt that in their eschatological significance, the death and resurrection of Christ control Paul’s teaching on the work of the Spirit within the lives of believers. It could then be argued that as part of the fundamental core of Paul’s understanding of the Gospel, the Spirit is rather close to the centre of things. 1. INTRODUCTION Does Paul have a theology? Paul, as Albert Schweitzer (1931:377) has put it, is “The patron-saint of thought in Christianity.” One need not agree with Schweitzer’s particular analysis of Paul’s thoughts, yet theology is what Paul is doing all the time (Fee 1994:2). Is this to suggest then, that Paul is a (systematic) theologian (Gaffin 1998:573)? Yes and no, depending on how one defines theology. Obviously Paul does not write systematic theology, at least not as one usually conceives of it. Gaffin (1998:573) contends that his writings are “occasional” – that is, genuine letters, pastoral pieces addressing specific problems and circumstances, in particular church situations. The question then is, does Paul’s theology have a “centre”? By that metaphor I mean principally to affirm that there is in his letters an identifiable hierarchy of * Mark Pretorius is a PhD student in the Department of Dogmatics and Christian Ethics, with Prof Dr Johan Buitendag as supervisor. HTS 62(1) 2006 253 The theological centre of Pauline theology as it relates to the Holy Spirit interests. Some concerns of Paul as Gaffin (1998:574) puts it, are more important to him than others. It seems then that present in the overall coherence of his teachings is a pattern, in which each part is more or less dominant in relation to the rest. Dunn (1998:21-22) writes that older alternatives to Paul’s theology are still posed and defended, particularly in German scholarship. He cites Bultmann and Ernest Käsemann, in particular, who insist with tremendous conviction, that the centre of Paul’s theology is “justification by faith” (see Bultmann 1960:70; Käsemann 1970:405). This, however, is emphatically rejected by Neill and Wright, who contend that “Paul’s doctrine of the Spirit is far more central and characteristic than his doctrine of justification by faith” (1988:203). Further to this argument is Ulrich Wilkens’ belief that the theology of the cross stands firmly at the centre of Paul’s theology and Albert Schweitzer’s suggestion that the central feature is to be found in “participation in Christ”. Dunn (1998:20) suggests that the problem with the imagery of centre or core or principle, however one might put it, is that it is too fixed and inflexible. It encourages the impression from the start that Paul’s theology was static and unchanging. He quotes Achtemeier who prefers to speak of a “generative centre,” which he finds in Paul’s “conviction that God raised Jesus from the dead” (Achtemeier:138-40). This alternative model as given by Achtemeier, is in my view the closest that one may hope to get to Paul’s “centre” within his theology. This model – if one could call it that – i