New Test. Stud. vol. 44,1998, pp. 400-^419 Copyright 1998 Cambridge University PressPrinted in the United Kingdom

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTIONIN ITS JEWISH CONTEXT*

ALAN F. SEGALBarnard College, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA

Paul describes his discipleship and mission, in short his apostolate, interms of his vision of the resurrection of the exalted Christ. The gloriousbody of Christ and the spiritual body are similar in substance becauseone is transformed into the other, a conclusion based on his own experi-ence of visions of the risen Christ in a body but not a physical body innormal sight. This notion of Christ's risen activity contrasts stronglywith the later gospel description of the risen Christ. It comes out ofJewish apocalypticism, revalued to express his new Christian vision ofthe end.

Paul stands firmly within the Jewish apocalyptic-mystical tra-dition. His understanding of the end of time and the resurrection isfirmly apocalyptic. He describes his own spiritual experiences interms appropriate to a Jewish apocalyptic-mystagogue of the firstcentury. I want to show that apocalyptic in Paul's case impliesmystical revelation. Many of his discussions of resurrection dependdirectly on the apocalyptic end, an intuition about history which hereceived from personal revelation.

Let me begin with apocalypticism and his concept of discipleship:For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had amongyou, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesuswho delivers us from the wrath to come. (1 Thess 1.9-10)Here, we see a characteristically Pauline use of an apparently

kerygmatic formula concerning resurrection in a missionary con-text. That approaching resurrection is what justifies the mission.Having turned from idols, Paul's converts learn to wait for God'sson from heaven, who will rescue them from the coming wrath.This seems in some respect a violation of the apocalyptic passagein Dan 7.13 where the role of the son of man figure is to bringjudgment. But one supposes the protection of innocent is part of

* Main paper delivered at the 52nd General Meeting of the SNTS in Birmingham in August1997.

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 401

the larger role of judgment. And the proof that all these things areabout to happen is that Jesus, the son, was raised from the dead.

A similar formula can be found in the salutation of the Letter tothe Romans where Jesus is mentioned as seed of David accordingto the flesh but, more importantly, son according to spirit andpower, our Lord as a result of the resurrection. Lord is, of course, adivine title and resurrection is what God, not the messiah, wouldeffect at the end of time in apocalyptic literature. Jesus' lordship isinherent in the resurrection, the transformation from his earthly,fleshly state to his spiritual and powerful state. Thus the relation-ship between flesh and spirit is homologous with the relationshipbetween son of David and son of God. We shall see that it is alsohomologous with the distinction between physical bodies andspiritual bodies. It is the hypothesis of this paper that this contrastis due to Paul's experience: he received an apocalyptic-mysticalvision of the Christ but never met the man Jesus in the flesh at all.Consequently, his entire explanation of the distinction betweenflesh and spirit is congruent with his experience of revelation,including his high evaluation of spirituality in Christianity and hislack of attention to the person of Jesus as he appeared in life.Though the contrast is characteristic of Pauline thought, someof the vocabulary may well have preceded Paul's uses and havebeen part of the primitive tradition. On the other hand, like theexpression 'become a life-giving Spirit' in 1 Cor 15.45, Paul mayhave added the notion of power to the salutation.1 In the main,however, the emphasis of the contrast between these two statesseems to me to express his post-Christian experience of polemicand argument over his very apostolate. Because this is a questionof emphasis rather than the specific interpretation of a singlepassage, it will be necessary to outline his thought from this pointof view, rather than attempt a tight demonstration.

Paul's use of kerygmatic resurrection traditions appears to growout of Jewish missionary literature, in which the promise of resur-rection and the fear of the end of time feature prominently, as onewould expect in an apocalyptic preacher. At the same time, thespecific nature of his personal vision of Christ changes the qualityof that apocalyptic prophecy so that Paul forever alters thattradition for Christian apocalypticism afterwards (1 Thess 4.13-18). This passage explains that the resurrection of all Christianswill follow closely upon the coming of the Lord, also explicitly

1 See P. Perkins, Resurrection: New Testament Witness and Contemporary Reflection (1st ed.Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1984) 219.

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called both Jesus and Christ, a very interesting and importantidentification. This formula both shows Paul to be entirely withinthe Jewish mystical tradition and to have made importantChristian modifications in it. But it does not go on in detail aboutthe nature of the apocalyptic end. Instead Paul features the issueof resurrection. Paul is not as concerned with the punishment ofsinners as he is with the rewards of the faithful, in this case, hisgentile converts. But the contrast appears again to be related to hisconversion experience and the nature of his knowledge of theChrist.

In 1 Thess 4, the resurrection of all living believers immediatelyfollows upon the resurrection of the dead. Jesus will keep faithwith the dead, called those who have fallen asleep as in Dan 12(tcov Koip-conevcov) and Isa 26. Thus, Paul reproduces a typical apoca-lyptic pattern, though his apocalyptic pattern has several uniqueand quite identifiably Christian characteristics.

Other passages which include primitive statements of thekerygma about resurrection would include Rom 4.24-5; 8.34; 10.9;and2Tim2.8-13:2

It will be reckoned to us who believe in him who raised Jesus our Lord fromthe dead,who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for ourjustification. (Rom 4.24-5)It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand ofGod, who indeed intercedes for us.3 (Rom 8.34)because4 if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in yourheart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10.9)Remember Jesus Christ, raised from the dead, a descendant of David thatis my gospel, for which I suffer hardship, even to the point of being chainedlike a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endureeverything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain thesalvation that is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.The saying is sure:

If we have died with him, we will also live with him;if we endure, we will also reign with him;if we deny him, he will also deny us;if we are faithless, he remains faithful for he cannot deny himself. (2 Tim 2.8-13)

Paul is most dependent upon this traditional imagery whenspeaking about the future judgment. But as R. Tannehill suggests,

2 See Perkins, Resurrection, 219-28.

3 Or 'Is it Christ Jesus . . . for us?'

4 Or 'namely, that'.

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 403

Paul emphasizes not visions of the end so much as the life of thebeliever in the risen Christ.5 But the simplest way to connect thetwo ideas is merely to attribute both to the saving action of God.2 Cor 4.14 contains a short summary of that belief: 'knowing thathe who raised the Lord will bring us with you into his presence'.Resurrection is the beginning of this process of transformation andsalvation.

It is difficult to explain why exactly Paul de-emphasizes tra-ditional notions of the end of time in place of the experience of thepresence of Christ except to say that this appears to be a con-sequence of his own spiritual experience. In place of any floriddescription of the end of time, Paul elaborates on the relationshipbetween resurrection and apostolic commissioning, which is deeplyconnected to his own conversion (call) in Galatians and hisdescription of resurrection in 1 Corinthians 15.

For instance, we see the connection made clearly when Paul isaccused of antinomianism: 'Paul an apostle not from men northrough man, but through Jesus Christ and God the Father, whoraised him from the dead' (Gal 1.1).

The greeting emphasizes the connection between apostolicauthority and resurrection, especially as Paul, otherwise, is fond ofrather more simple formulas in his correspondence (1 Cor 1.1;2 Cor 1.1 and Rom l . l ) . 6 In 1 Cor 9.111 Paul again responds toaccusations that appear to have been levelled at his missionaryactivity. And once again, he emphasizes resurrection and his per-sonal vision of Christ: 'Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have Inot seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in theLord?' (1 Cor 9.1). It is this question which appears to occasion theremarks of 1 Cor 15, concentrating so fully on resurrection. Thus,with Paul we can begin to discuss the effect of Jewish mystical andapocalyptic visions not just as a warning of the end of time and asvindication for those who stay faithful to the precepts of Judaismbut as an important spiritual experience within the life of anindividual Jew (in this case a Christian but Paul might not haveunderstood the difference; he never uses the term Christian).

Now, in 1 Cor 9, Paul uses the perfect tense of opdco (to see) todescribe his visionary experience (OOK ei(xl eXevQepoq; otnc e{|xl doto-

q; ox>%\ 'ITIOOUV TOV icupiov f||icov ecopaica; ox> TO epyov \iox> h\ieic, eaxe

5 R. C. Tannehill, Dying and Rising with Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology (BZNW 32;

Berlin: Topelmann, 1967) 130ff. See also Perkins, Resurrection, 295.6 Perkins, Resurrection, 197.

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ev icoptcp;). This suggests that Paul is emphasizing that his visionwas equivalent to normal seeing, just as you and I might see eachother. But Paul actually does not want to stress the ordinariness ofthe seeing here. He is aware of and very conscious of the specialnature of his revelation. Rather it is the continuity with othersthat Paul wants to stress, not the nature of the seeing.7

Much more often Paul wants to demonstrate that his vision ofChrist was of the same type and order as that of the other apostles.In 1 Cor 15.57 and elsewhere Paul uses the aorist passive 6kp6r| todescribe this kind of seeing. The visionary language works inseveral ways at once. First, it follows the tradition of the LXX fordescribing visions. In the Septuagint the aorist passive form isused frequently with the sense of visionary seeing or seeing adivine being. Again, it is important to note that Paul uses the verysame verb and form to describe his own seeing and that of theoriginal apostles. This demonstrates his contention that he is theirequal in every way. Conversely this suggests that the originalapostles saw no more than he did. Of course, the original apostlessaw and knew the Jesus of the flesh. But it is not their experienceof the teacher Jesus which is important in this context. And thereason for this is that it is not the earthly Jesus who preaches anddemonstrates that the resurrection has already started. Ratherthe vision of the risen Jesus makes this clear. Because Jesus hasbeen seen or revealed in this very way, we know that the generalresurrection has begun and we also know that Paul and all thosewho saw him in his transformed state are the first apostles andprophets of this new epoch in human history.8 It is very importantto note that Paul knows this because of his visions, in which theembodied Christ was revealed to him.

Paul's references to apocalypses and visions, as well as heavenlyascent, also put him squarely within apocalyptic tradition. Theplural is very important in this context because it states surelythat Paul's reception of revelation was progressive. Although theaccount of Paul's ecstatic conversion in Acts is a product of Luke'sliterary genius, Paul gives evidence for ecstatic experience inthe justly famous passage 2 Cor 12.1-10. As in Gal 1, Paul callsthis experience an apokalypsis, an apocalypse, a revelation. Justas in Acts and Gal 1, the actual vision is not described. Unlike

7 See, for example, the discussion of T. Lorenzen, Resurrection and Discipleship: Interpretive

Models, Biblical Reflections, Theological Consequences (Maryknoll: Orbis, 1995) 127-46.8 Joost Holleman, Resurrection and Parousia: A Traditio-Historical Study of Paul's Eschato-

logy in 1 Corinthians 15 (Leiden: Brill, 1996).

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 405

Luke's general description of Paul's conversion and Gal 1, however,this passage contains hints of a heavenly vision or possibly twodifferent ones, depending on whether the paradise visited in theascension can be located in the third heaven.9 Thus, the vision isboth mystical and apocalyptic.10 Similar ascensions can be seen inapocalyptic literature - for instance, 1 Enoch 39.3; 52.1, and 71.1-5as well as 2 Enoch 3, 7, 8, 11 and 3 Baruch 2. Paul's referenceto the third heaven confirms the environment of Jewish apoca-lypticism and mysticism. Paul's experience differs from otherJewish mystics in that he identified the angelic seated figure inExodus, Daniel and Ezekiel as Christ. Leaving aside the specialChristian polemic that the man on the throne is the messiah Jesusand is also greater than an angel, Paul's statements are importantevidence for the existence of first-century Jewish mysticism.Notice, however, that Paul does not know whether this journeytakes place in the body or not. This ambiguity will parallel hisvision of Christ.

The information contained in 2 Cor 12 is so abstruse and esotericthat it must be teased from context and combined with our meagreknowledge of apocalypticism and Jewish mysticism. While tech-niques of theurgy and heavenly ascent were secret lore in rabbinicliterature (see b. Hagiga 13a-15b), rabbinic literature starts in the

9 Paradise or the garden of Eden was often conceived as lying in one of the heavens, though

the exact location differs from one apocalyptic work to another. See M. Himmelfarb, Tours ofHell: The Development and Transmission of an Apocalyptic Form in Jewish and ChristianLiterature (Philadelphia: University of Pennsylvania, 1984). 2 Enoch, for example, locatesthem in the third heaven. But 2 Enoch may have been influenced by Paul's writings, eventhough the shorter version mentions worship in the Temple in a way that suggests it is still inexistence, thus antedating 70 CE.

1 0 In different ways, the close relationship between mysticism and apocalypticism has been

touched upon by several scholars of the last decade, myself included. See my Two Powers inHeaven: Early Rabbinic Reports About Christianity and Gnosticism (SJLA 25; Leiden: E. J.Brill, 1977); I. Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkabah Mysticism (Leiden-Cologne: Brill,1979); and now especially C. Rowland, The Open Heaven: A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaismand Early Christianity (New York: Crossroads, 1982) and Jarl Fossum, The Name of God andthe Angel of the Lord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin ofGnosticism (WUNT 1.36; Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1985). The Pauline passage is also deeplyrooted in Jewish and Hellenistic ascension traditions, which imposed a certain structure ofascent on all reports of this period. See also my 'Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic Judaism,Early Christianity and their Environments', ANRW 2.23.2 (Berlin: W. de Gruyter, 1980)1333-94; M. Dean-Otting, Heavenly Journeys: A Study of the Motif in Hellenistic JewishLiterature (Frankfurt-New York: Peter Lang, 1984); I. P. Culianu, Psychanodia I: A Survey ofthe Evidence of the Ascension of the Soul and its Relevance (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1983). Culianuhas also published a more general work, Experiences de VExtase: Extase, ascension et r&citvisionnaire de I'helUnisme au moyen age (Paris: Payot, 1984), introduction by Mircea Eliade.The verb harpazo in Greek and its Latin equivalent rapto is sometimes shared with paganascensions (sol me rapuit, etc.), but also probably initially denotes both the rapture of visionand the specific heavenly journeys of Enoch (Hebrew: laqah = Greek: metetheken).

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third century, so without Paul we could not demonstrate that suchtraditions existed as early as the first century.11

Most people understand the passage to refer to Paul himself.12Although Paul says he is boasting, he does not explicitly ident-ify himself as the ecstatic voyager, since rhetoric demands hismodesty and he says that nothing will be gained by his boasting.This follows from his statement that charismatic gifts cannotthemselves prove faith (1 Cor 1213). Paul may actually be tact-fully revealing some secret information about his own visions inthis passage, but doing it in such a way that he cannot be accusedof breaking confidentiality.13

When Paul is not faced with a direct declaration of personalmystical experience, he reveals much about the mystical religion asit was experienced in the first century. Paul himself designatesChrist as the image of the Lord in a few places: 2 Cor 4.4; Col 1.15(if it is Pauline), and he mentions the |iop(pr| of God in Phil 2.6.14More often he talks of transforming believers into the image of hisson in various ways (Rom 8.29; 2 Cor 3.18; Phil 3. 21; 1 Cor 15.49;see also Col 3.9). These passages are critical to understandingPaul's experience of transformation, resurrection, and conversion.They must be seen in closer detail to understand the relationship

1 1 Whether or not Paul's experiences typified the rabbis has been debated vigorously with

acute attention to the implications for rabbinic rationalism. The debate misses the obviouspoint that the evidence for these experiences occurs all over Judaism in the Hellenistic periodand is coterminous with Pharisaic Judaism. If Paul is the mystic, there is a close connectionbetween this apocalypticism and Pharisaic Judaism. Precisely what the connection is stillcannot be defined, but Paul gives us interesting hints about it. It is ironic that scholars whoaccept almost all rabbinic datings at face value seem reluctant to believe these traditions,supposing that all mystical experience is something despicable for the rabbis. Debating thereliability of talmudic reports that the early rabbis engaged in such practices regularlybecomes somewhat theoretical, when the Mishnah's testimony for the first century is nowsuspect on general methodological grounds, according to J. Neusner, The Rabbinic Traditionsabout the Pharisees before 70, 3 vols.: The Masters, The Houses, Conclusion (Leiden: Brill,1971).

1 2 See W. Baird, 'Visions, Revelation, and Ministry: Reflections on 2 Cor 12.1-5 and Gal

1.11-17", JBL 104 (1985) 651-62. See also C. Forbes, 'Comparison, Self-Praise and Irony:Paul's Boasting and the Conventions of Hellenistic Rhetoric', NTS 32 (1986) 1-30. Paul doesnot say that the man saw nothing, he only mentions what the man heard. While we are on thesubject of difficulties, a significant exception to the identification of Paul with the mystic isMorton Smith, Clement of Alexandria and a Secret Gospel of Mark (Cambridge: HarvardUniversity, 1975); Jesus the Magician (New York: Harper and Row, 1978). He believes thatthe passage refers to Jesus, although Paul never met the man Jesus. As we shall see, thepassage is probably another record of the kind of experience Paul had in meeting the risenChrist, this time in heaven.

1 3 Alan F. Segal, Paul the Convert: The Apostolate and Apostasy of Saul the Pharisee (New

Haven: Yale University, 1990) 40-51.1 4

In this section, I am particularly endebted to G. Quispel, 'Hermetism and the NewTestament, Especially Paul', ANRW2.22, forthcoming.

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 407

to Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism, from which they derivetheir most complete significance for Paul. Paul's longest discussionof these themes occurs in an unlikely place in 2 Cor 3.18-4.6. Herehe assumes the context rather than explaining it completely:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are beingchanged into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comesfrom the Lord who is the Spirit (fi|ieiq 8e navxeq dvociceKaA/onnivG) Ttpoacmtco ir\vSo^av icupioi) KaTOjrtpi6|ivoi TTIV OOTHV eiicova (iETanop

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skin of his face shines with light, as the Bible states (Exod 34.29-35). Moses thereafter must wear a veil except when he is in thepresence of the Lord. Paul assumes that Moses made an ascensionto the presence of the Lord, was transformed by that encounter andthat his shining face is a reflection of the encounter.

So far Paul is using strange and significant mystical language.But what is immediately striking about it is that Paul uses thatlanguage to discuss his own and other Christians' experience inChrist. Paul explicitly compares Moses' experience with his ownand that of Christian believers. Their transformation is of thesame sort, but the Christian transformation is greater and morepermanent. Once the background of the vocabulary is pointed out,Paul's daring claims for Christian experience become clear. Thepoint, therefore, is that some Christian believers also witness atheophany as important as the one vouchsafed to Moses, but theChristian theophany is greater still, as Paul himself has experi-enced. The Corinthians are said to be a message from Christ (3.2),who is equated with the Glory of God. The new community ofgentiles is not a letter written on stone (Jer 31.33), but it isdelivered by Paul as Moses delivered the Torah to Israel. The newdispensation is more splendid than the last, not needing the veilwith which Moses hid his face. Paul's own experience proved tohim and for Christianity that all will be transformed as Moses was not just the face but the whole body.

Thus, Paul's term, 'the Glory of the Lord' must be taken both as areference to Christ and as a technical term for the Kavod (TOD),the human form of God appearing in biblical visions. In 2 Cor 3.18,Paul says that Christians behold the Glory of the Lord (TTIV 86^av

as in a mirror, and are transformed into his image (xf|vevKova).16 For Paul, as for the earliest Jewish mystics, to be

!6 The use of the mirror here is also a magico-mystical theme, which can be traced to theword ys occurring in Ezekiel 1. Although it is sometimes translated otherwise, ysi probablyrefers to a mirror even there, and possibly refers to some unexplained technique for achievingecstasy. The mystic bowls of the magical papyri and Talmudic times were filled with waterand oil to reflect light and stimulate trance. The magical papyri describe spells which use asmall bowl that serves as the medium for the appearance of a god for divination: e.g., PGM IV,154-285 (Betz, pp. 40-3), PDM 14.1-92, 295-308, 395-127, 528-53, 627-35, 805-^0, 841-50,851-5 (Betz, pp. 195-200, 213, 218-9, 225-6, 229, 236-9). The participant concentrates onthe reflection in the water's surface, often with oil added to the mixture, sometimes with thelight of a lamp nearby. Lamps and charms are also used to produce divinations, presumablybecause they can stimulate trance under the proper conditions. The Reuyoth Yehezkel, forinstance, mention that Ezekiel's mystical vision was stimulated by looking into the watersof the River Chebar. It seems to me that Philo appropriates the mystic imagery of the mirrorto discuss the allegorical exposition of scripture. See The Contemplative Life 78 andD. Georgi, Die Gegner des Paulus im 2. Korintherbrief (Neukirchen: Neukirchener, 1964) 272-3. Paul's opponents then look into the mirror and see only the text. But because Paul and

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 409

privileged enough to see the Kavod or Glory (56a) of God is a pro-logue to transformation into his image (eiiccov), to his selem (D1?^ ), asthe Hebrew of Gen 1.26 puts the phrase. This is parallel to thejourney Enoch makes to the divine throneroom where he is trans-formed into the figure on the throne, the son of man. In 3 Enoch,he becomes the angel Metatron. Paul does not say that all Chris-tians have made the journey literally but compares the experienceof knowing Christ to being allowed into the intimate presence ofthe Lord. But we have good reason to suspect that he himself hasmade that journey; at the very least he knows others who have.

The result of the journey is to identify Christ as the Glory of God.When Paul says that he preaches that Jesus is Lord and that Godlias let this light shine out of darkness into our hearts to give thelight of knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ' (4.6), heseems clearly to be describing his own call or conversion andministry, just as he described it in Gal 1, and just as he is explain-ing the experience to new converts for the purpose of furtheringconversion. His apostolate, which he expresses as a propheticcalling, is to proclaim that the face of Christ is the Glory of God that he has the face and marks of the crucified messianic candidatewhom God has vindicated through resurrection. It is very difficultnot to read this passage in terms of Paul's later description of theascension of the man to the third heaven and conclude that Paul'sconversion experience also involved his identification of Jesus asthe 'image' and 'Glory of God', as the human figure in heaven, andthereafter as Christ, son, and saviour. Or at least this is how Paulconstrues it when he recalls it.

The identification of Christ with the Glory of God brings atransformation and sharing of the believer with the image aswell. This is the same as regaining the image of God which Adamlost. This transformation is accomplished through death and re-birth in Christ, which can be experienced in direct visions as Paulapparently did, or subsequently by anyone through baptism. Butthe important thing is to note how completely the theophaniclanguage from Greek and Jewish mystical piety has been appro-priated for discussing what we today call conversion. It is Paul'sprimary language for describing the experience of conversion,because it gives a sense of the transformation and divinizing thathe feels is inherent in his encounter with the risen Christ.

Ecstatic ascensions like the one described in 2 Cor 12, and

those truly in Christ actually behold the Glory of the Lord, they have a clearer vision on thetruth.

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spiritual metamorphoses like 2 Cor 3 are strangely unfamiliar tomodern Jewish and Christian religious sentiments. Neither Chris-tianity nor rabbinic Judaism transmitted these lively mysticalJewish traditions of the first century openly. But in the context ofthe first few centuries, the combination of these two themes ofascension and transformation, both inside and outside Judaism,normally suggested the gaining of immortality and the contextof Jewish mysticism also connects with the issue of theodicy.Dan 12 suggests that those who lead others to wisdom (or 'theenlighteners' D'^ 'Dtonn) will shine as the brightness of the heavensOp-in -imD wnr) , like the stars (D'3D"DD), and that they will beamong those resurrected for eternal reward. This scripture impliesthat the teachers or apostles or the missionaries will be trans-formed into angels, since the stars and angels are equated con-tinuously and from the very earliest levels of biblical tradition (e.g.Judg 5.20 and Job 38.7). This means, by the way, that Paul hasevery right to expect his own transformation at the end of time andsuggests another reason why apostolic status is so important tohim. The Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch 3771) contains the interest-ing narration of the tranformation of Enoch into the son of man,but no one can be sure that this is not itself a Christian addition tothe text, since it agrees so completely with the transformation thatPaul outlines.17 Without Paul we could not suppose that thisexperience is evidenced in the first century because the date of1 Enoch is uncertain. Nor would we know that the mystic experi-ence was even possible within Judaism. What Paul is suggestingtherefore is that the transformation of Jesus into Lord makes hima divine creative and is the beginning of the fulfilment of thepassage in Dan 12 that the wise will shine like the brightness ofthe heaven and that those who show people this truth will becomeangels.

Paul's famous description of Christ's experience of humility andobedience in Phil 2.511 also hints that the identification of Jesuswith the image of God was re-enacted in the church in a liturgicalmode. In Phil 2.6, the identification of Jesus with the form of Godimplies his pre-existence. The Christ is depicted as an eternalaspect of divinity which was not proud of its high station but

1 7 The romance of exaltation to immortality was hardly a unique Jewish motif; rather it

was characteristic of all higher spirituality of later Hellenism - witness the Hermetic litera-ture. Even in a relatively unsophisticated text like the magical Recipe for Immortality (the so-called Mithras Liturgy) of third-century Egypt, the adept gains a measure of immortality bygazing directly on the god and breathing in some of his essence.

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 411

consented to take on human shape and suffer the fate of humanity,even death on a cross (though many scholars see this phrase as aPauline addition to the original hymn). This transformation ofform from divinity is followed by the converse, the retransfor-mation into God. Because of this obedience God exalted him andbestowed on him the 'name which is above every name' (Phil 2.9).For a Jew this phrase can only mean that Jesus received the divinename Yahweh, the tetragrammaton YHWH, understood as theGreek name icopioq, Lord. We have already seen that sharing in thedivine name is a frequent motif of the early Jewish apocalypticismwhere the principal angelic mediator of God is or carries the nameYahweh, as Exod 23 describes the angel of Yahweh. Indeed theimplication of the Greek term (xopcpri, 'form', is that Christ has theform of a divine body identical with the Kavod, the Glory, andequivalent also with the EVKCOV, for man is made after the eiKcov ofGod and thus has the divine H-opcpri (Hebrew rviD"l). The climax ofPaul's confession is that 'Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of Godthe Father' (Phil 2.11), meaning that Jesus, the messiah, hasreceived the name Lord in his glorification, and that this name, notJesus' private earthly name, is the one which will cause every kneeto bend and every tongue confess.18

In paraphrasing this fragment from liturgy, Paul witnesses thatthe early Christian community directed its prayers to this humanfigure of divinity along with God (1 Cor 16.22; Rom 10.9-12; 1 Cor12.3) - all the more striking since the Christians, like the Jews,refuse to give any other god or hero any veneration at all. Whenthe rabbis gain control of the Jewish community they vociferouslyargue against the worship of any angel and specifically polemicizeagainst the belief that a heavenly figure other than God can forgivesins (b. Sanh. 38b), quoting Exod 23.21 prominently among otherscriptures to prove their point. The heresy itself they call believingthat there are 'two powers in heaven'.19 By this term the rabbislargely (but not exclusively) referred to Christians who, as Paul

18 The bibliography on the Pauline and post-Pauline hymns in Phil 2.6-11 and Col 1.15-20

appears endless. See E. Schillebeeckx, Jesus: an Experiment in Christology (New York:Seabury, 1979); M. Hengel, 'Hymn and Christology', in E. A. Livingstone, ed., Studio. Biblica1972, 173-97, reprinted in Hengel, Between Jesus and Paul, 78-96; J. Murphy-O'Connor,'Christological Anthropology in Phil. 2.6-11', RB 83 (1976) 25-50 and D. Georgi, 'Dervorpaulinische Hymnus Phil. 2:6-11', in E. Dinkier, ed., Zeit und Geschichte, Dankesgabe anRudolf Bultmann (Tubingen: Mohr, 1964) 263-93, esp. p. 291 for bibliography. Kasemannemphasizes that Paul's metaphoric use of the body and its separate parts is characteristic ofparaenetic sections, emphasizing the relationship between the believer and the risen Lord.See Schweizer, TDNT 7,1073.

19 Segal, Two Powers in Heaven.

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says, do exactly what the rabbis warn against - worship the secondpower.20

Concomitant with Paul's worship of the divine Christ is trans-formation. Paul says in Phil 3.10 'that I may know him and thepower of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becominglike him in his death' (av|j.|iop(pi6n.vo

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may even have survived from a pre-Christian setting because Pauldoes not mention resurrection here at all. Clearly glorification isdoing the job of resurrection in this passage. Likewise, in Rom 12.2Paul's listeners are exhorted to *be transformed (nexanopcpovaGe) byrenewing of your minds'. In Gal 4.19 Paul expresses another butvery similar transformation: 'My little children, with whom I amagain in travail until Christ be formed (|xop(pco0f\) in you!' Thistransformation is to be effected by becoming like him in his death(a-o|i(iop(pi^ 6|a.evoq T(p GavaTW onkou Phil 3.10).

Paul's central proclamation is: Jesus is Lord and all who havefaith have already undergone a death like his will also share in hisresurrection. As we have seen, this proclamation reflects a baptis-mal liturgy, implying that baptism provides the moment wherebythe believer comes to be 'in Christ'. Christianity may have been aunique Jewish sect in making baptism a central rather than apreparatory ritual, but some of the mystical imagery comes fromits Jewish past.

Paul speaks of the transformation being partly experienced bybelievers already in their pre-parousia existence. His use of thepresent tense in Rom 12.2 and 2 Cor 3.18 underscores that trans-formation as an ongoing event. However in 1 Cor 15.49 and Rom 8it culminates at Christ's return, the parousia. This suggests thatfor Paul transformation is both a single, definitive event yet also aprocess that continues until the second coming. The redemptiveand transformative process appears to correspond exactly with theturning of the ages. This age is passing away, though it certainlyremains a present evil reality (1 Cor 3.19, 5.9; 2 Cor 4.4; Gal 1.4;Rom 12.2). The gospel, which is the power of God for salvation(Rom 1.16), is progressing through the world (Phil 1.12; also Rom9-11). This is why Paul does not prophesy about the comingworld with exaggerated visions of the end of time. For Paul thatworld has already started (1 Cor 2.610). Paul writes in the con-text of considerable communal argumentation and factionaldispute. His interpretation of the gospel has been called intoquestion by his opponents. He avers that his only source is the

religion's mysticism unless it is the conscious and explicit intent of the mystic's vision to do so.See R. C. Zaehner's Hinduism and Muslim Mysticism (New York: Schocken, 1969); S. Katz,'Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism', in S. Katz, ed., Mysticism and PhilosophicalAnalysis (London, 1978). In this case the language is not even primarily Christian. The basiclanguage is from Jewish mysticism, though the subsequent exegesis about the identificationof the Christ with the figure on the throne is Christian; the vision of God enthroned is the goalof Jewish mystical speculation.

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risen Christ; his only proof (ev anodei,zi, 1 Cor 2.6) supplied by theHoly Spirit. 22

In this context, Paul speaks of those who are qualified (ev toigzekeioiq, 2.6), the mature ones who evidently share his perspectiveand, perhaps, his revelation. At Qumran too, knowledge andperfection (Din) were expected of the membership and only theperfected ones (D^D'on) had access to the full secrets of the sect(1QS 1.8; 2.2; 3.3, 9; 5.24; 8.20f; 9.2, 8f, 19).23 This mystery isfurther described as the revelation of the crucified messiah (2.8),which clarifies that it is not a secret mystery in the way thatQumran was. Although it needs to be taught and it is not evidentlyuniversally accepted, it does not itself need to be secret. It finds itsparticular adherents. The issue of hiddenness or being stored up(D33 ,nP3a), is quite characteristic of Jewish mysticism and seems tohelp conceptualize the identity of the transformed figure ratherthan any Greek concept of the immortal soul.

In 1 Cor 15, Paul sums up his entire religious experience in anapocalyptic vision of the resurrection of believers. Paul begins witha description of his previous preaching and suggests that if hislisteners give up belief in the resurrection then they believe inChrist in vain. Paul claims instead to have given them, indeedemphasized as the first importance, the true teaching, as he hadhimself received it. And that teaching is simply that Christ died forsins in accordance to scripture, that he was entombed and rosethree days later, all in accordance with scripture. There is no doubtthat this is the earliest Christian teaching with regard to theresurrection: it is part of the primitive kerygma or proclamationof the church. He does not specify which scripture he means.Nor does he begin a demonstration of the reality of resurrectionfrom scripture or from philosophical principles. For him, it has thereality of an experience related to others. The reports of those whohave witnessed it, including himself, are sufficient to demonstrateits reality. Nor does he recount a vision in typical apocalypticfashion, as we might have imagined. Instead he lists the witnessesto the post-resurrection appearances of Jesus: Peter (calledKepha), the twelve, and the five hundred. Some of those five hun-dred have died but most are still alive. Again he uses the typicalapocalyptic language of sleeping and awakening, which has itsroots in Dan 12 and Isa 26 (tiveq 8e Koi|iri9r|aav). Then he lists the

22 M. Bockmuehl, Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity(WUNT 2.36; Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1990; repr. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerd-mans, 1997) 158. See also 1.18 and Rom 1.16.

2 3 Bockmuehl, Revelation, 159.

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apostles and finally himself. So Paul again uses the resurrection asa significant part of his apostolic commissioning. They are all equalin vision of the risen Lord.

This list has seemed to most scholars to be already reduced to aformula before Paul recites it for us: it is a formula passed to himfrom earlier tradition, as he himself says. Notice that in thisearliest recital of the resurrection tradition there is no empty tomband there are no witnesses to the resurrection itself. Instead, forPaul, the resurrection is demonstrated by the post-Easter appear-ances, in which he equally shares. This is crucial for understandingPaul's claim to be an apostle. He is the equal of every other disciplebecause he is equally a witness to the resurrection. Jesus' teach-ings are secondary to his continued life after death. Paul is anapostle because it is not so much Jesus' human form that isimportant but his resurrected form which commissions persons tohis service.

Of course, those cultures professing a belief in an immortal soulcould have accounted for these appearances too. But Paul appar-ently does not count himself among those who believe in thisconcept of the immortal soul. Perhaps he polemicizes against thedoctrine of the immortal soul, since he is writing to a gentileaudience. Perhaps he senses that invoking the Greek concept of theimmortal soul changes the saving event of Jesus' resurrection intoa natural occurrence and perhaps he does not even know of thePlatonic notion explicitly. For him, as for the Jewish apocalyp-ticists, death was final and whatever survived death was a poorshadow or shade of what preceded it. Instead, the apocalypticistwaits for the resurrection of the body, which is normally the signthat the end is upon us. And indeed it is the reward of themartyred righteous to have eternal life on earth or as heavenlyangels for having enlightened the world:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven todespair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed,always carrying in the body the death of Jesus, so that the life of Jesus mayalso be manifested in our bodies. (2 Cor 4.8-10)It is therefore evident that these spiritual experiences of the

Christian form analogies to the life and death of Jesus. And moreconcretely it means that the believer must be ready to acceptsuffering as part of Christian discipleship.24 For Paul there is notmuch recognition that a resurrection without the end is verystrange. Paul apparently feels that the end will shortly arrive.

2 4 Lorenzen, Resurrection and Discipleship, 158.

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And, as we know, the demonstration that the age has begun is theactual appearance of Jesus to him.

Paul in contradistinction to some later gnostic traditions -begins from supposing that the death and burial were real, hencethe resurrection was actual and in accordance with scripture(1 Cor 15.3). Paul then lists those to whom the post-resurrectionJesus appeared. Clearly, in Paul's understanding the post-resur-rection appearances rather than the physical presence of Jesus areprimary. He includes himself modestly in the list of those to whomJesus had appeared. But if the list had been made up of thosewho knew Jesus in the flesh, Paul would have been left out. Thecorruptible flesh of the earthly Jesus is not the point for Paul,obviously. He is deliberately widening a concept of apostle toinclude persons like himself, for to him, it is Jesus the heavenlyredeemer, who was revealed to him, who is the proof of faith, notmerely those who may have heard Jesus' preaching.

Paul then asserts that all these people saw the same thing andpreach the same thing and believe the same thing. And indeed,Paul asserts that the Corinthians had believed exactly that whenhe was there with them. In verses 12-19 Paul claims that thedeniers of the resurrection of the dead are denying the gospelwhich they had received and initially believed. He begins a seriesof arguments which ends in the reductio ad absurdum that 'ifChrist has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vainand your faith has been in vain'. Obviously this argument onlymakes sense to believers; no one else would see the absurdity ofthe conclusion. But, for Paul, it is the bodily resurrection of Jesusthat guarantees that God's plan for the final destruction of the evilones of the world is already set in place. For if the soul is immortaland that is the highest form of immortality to be achieved as thePlatonists believed, it is available to all as a natural right and thesacrifice of Christ is hence unnecessary.

In verses 208 Paul stops arguing against enemies and beginsarticulating his own notions. He shows that the resurrection ofChrist entails the resurrection of all the righteous dead as Christ isthe 'first fruits of them who have fallen asleep' (v. 20), yet againusing the term which is clearly dependent upon Daniel 12 and, inturn, Isaiah 26 (see also others like LXX Ps 87.6). Probably then,the scriptural passage that Paul had in mind earlier (1 Cor 15.3)is none other than Dan 12.2 again. His argument is made onthe basis of analogy from Adam. Just as death came from Adam,so eternal life comes from Christ. But Christ is the first, thenthose who belong to Christ. At the end, Christ will hand over the

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kingdom of God to the father, after he has destroyed every (evil?)power. Again Paul is making clear reference to the son of manpassage in Dan 7.13 (though he never actually uses the term) whenhe says that Christ must reign until he has put all his enemiesunder his feet. There are, of course, other enthronement passagesin the Hebrew Bible but no others in which the reign of justice ismade dependent upon the enthroned figure. Although Paul neveruses the term 'son of man' he clearly identifies the Christ withthe 'son of man' figure on the throne in Dan 7.13. This is quiteimportant to note, for Paul shows the antiquity of that position,without affirming to us that 'son of man' was a title. It is not a titleyet in Paul's day; he knows the passage by its content. In this, heseems rather to be working in a Jewish context in which anyscripture can be read as prophecy, not by any association of anypre-existent titles to Jesus.

In 1 Cor 15.35 Paul begins a brief exposition of the nature of theresurrection body; it is here that we see most clearly the comp-lementarity between his experience of the risen Christ and hisnotion of the resurrection body. He is, in this passage, outlining anotion of immortality which has nothing to do with an immortalsoul directly; it is an offshoot of Jewish apocalypticism, out ofwhich the Christian kerygma grows. But it may also be cognizantof the beliefs of the audience; perhaps this is why he ignores theimmortality of the soul. Instead, he fastens on the notion of spiritto explicate how the physical body of believers will be transformedby the resurrection. His argument has nothing to do with whathappened to Christ during the passion nor does he mention anyempty tomb. His argument is by analogy with experience since heis trying to keep faith with his own experience of the spirit.

Paul's use of language of the body is entirely unique. The termfor physical body is not exactly what one might expect. Neither theterm oS(xa oapKiKov nor the term aG>\ia (puoiKov occurs; rather theterm which occurs is aG>\ia.-yx>xiK6v, a word which can mean naturalbody but is not the most obvious term, since it is a combination ofthe term for soul and the term for body. Although it means literallyan 'ensouled body', it has been taken as an oxymoron in Platonicthought. In fact, because yx>x"h could be taken to mean life in thephysical sense in a non-Platonic setting in Greek it is notnecessarily a problem, strange though it may look. It does occurfrequently in Hellenistic literature with this meaning. Indeed thatis what it means here - yvx(\ - with the simple meaning of 033.25

2 5 See, e.g., TDNT 9, 661.

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Paul may be just clarifying that he means everything that theGreeks take as a natural body. The contrasting term a>|ia nvev\ia-XIKOV is also a complete contradiction in terms for anyone in aPlatonic system: 'It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritualbody. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body'(aneipexax aa>n,a \^V%IKOV, eyeipetai aco|ia 7cvet>|j.omK6v. et eativ a>|i.ayoXiKov, ECTXIV Kai TrveujiatiKOV, 1 Cor 15.41).

It may be that, in this place, Paul is behaving somewhat like avery sophisticated minority opinion in Greek culture, thinking thateverything, even the soul, is a kind of body - albeit a refined andindestructible one. After all, he distinguishes between the earthlybody and the resurrection body. But, if so, he is likewise andI think primarily speaking out of his apocalyptic Judaism. He isentirely consistent with his Hebrew past. Paul (and Josephus too)gets away with this because he is speaking to a Greek audience butnot necessarily a Platonic one. They are both using Greek languageto approximate the Hebrew concepts. But it is not an interpretatioGraeca; rather the converse, figuring a Hebrew notion in Greekdress.

In any event Paul acknowledges the bodily aspect of the resur-rection in the sense that the body is visible while the soul (ifhe even knew the term) is invisible. He uses the term spirit topreserve the previous identity of those resurrected in their newperfected state. It is also the predominant view of the New Tes-tament, except Hebrews, John, and 1 and 2 Peter, where \|/t>xr|evidently refers to the physical life of persons and animals. Noticethat for Paul life in its most basic sense, psychic life, is also bodilylife as we should expect but even pneumatic spiritual life is bodilyas well. We have already seen that the spirit makes itself known toPaul but not in ordinary sight, rather in apocalyptic visions. Thus,spiritual bodies are those bodies which are yet only visible in thisspecial state of consciousness. Even though flesh and blood cannotinherit the kingdom of God, the risen Christ is a 'body of glory'(Phil 3.20-1) as we have seen. Since those in Christ are made overin the image of the resurrected Christ in a kind of mysticalconsummation, the new body which God gives his faithful mustalso be a glorified body. The body of glory which Christ got at theresurrection must be equivalent with the pneumatic or spiritualbody that we will get. Another way to think about this is toremember that Paul saw the resurrected Christ as a body, but hewas aware that this seeing was an apocalypse, or vision. Thisimplies, though Paul does not exactly state it, that such a body ofglory will be visible only in revelatory states of consciousness until

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the final consummation. It is a bodily resurrection because Paulsaw the bodily resurrected Christ in a vision but the appearance ofChrist was not a physical appearance. Paul was transported to aspiritual level where we will all be when we are transformed andwhich is visible to us primarily through revelation. And, of course,Paul's notion contrasts heavily with the gospel writers who claimthat Jesus was literally resurrected as a physical body which canbe seen in ordinary bodily sight. It is even conceivable that thegospels were written as a kind of polemic against Paul's thinkingbut they are certainly meant to complement and complete his viewof the spirit in Christianity.

Paul's notion completely coheres with his notion that the fleshlyway to salvation with observances of times and rituals is not aspiritual, transforming way to salvation. He argues that the natureof the resurrection body is different from anything we know, just asthe nature of various flesh is different. Paul, in fact, leaves theissue of the nature of immortality in a peculiarly intermediateposition. He affirms that we have an imperishable bodily naturebut he suggests that we receive it by bodily resurrection. The bodywe receive will not be flesh and blood. It will be both a suddenchange, a summorphosts, like the metamorphosis that Paulachieved in Christ and a continuous process that culminates in aspiritual kingdom of God. That metamorphosis started him on theprocess to being a person of spirit, not of the flesh. The lasttrumpet will culminate the process for everyone.

Paul's view of the immortality of believers begins in resurrectionand mission. It is parallel to his description of the raised Christ inheaven and depends on it. Paul's imagery for the description of thecoming resurrection in 1 Cor 15 fulfils the vocabulary of spiritualbody and Glory of God which ultimately derives from his ownconversion and call. Because believers on earth, by virtue of theirconversion have been transformed into the body of Christ, who isthe image of God, the destiny of believers will be shared withChrist. The believer is to share in Christ's immortality at thelast trumpet, just as Paul himself experienced transformation byChrist.