Theology of Later Pauline Letters (New Testament Theology)

New Testament Theology

by Andrew Lincoln

This volume investigates the respective theologies of the Letters to the Colossians and the Ephesians, and in so doing provides an accessible introduction to the themes and significance of these New Testament books. A. J. M. Wedderburn examines the background to Colossians, and considers both its readers' situation and that of its author. He asks whether the proponents of the teaching against which this letter is written were Christians, putting forward their views as the true form of Christianity (as in Galatia), or whether they existed outside the Christian community as a seductive alternative to it. Andrew T. Lincoln examines in turn the authorship of Ephesians, and tries to explain the letter's strategy of persuasion and the key elements of its teaching about the new identity of the Christian believer. The similarities and differences between the thought of Ephesians and that of Paul are thereby set out clearly. Both sections of the book reflect on the relevance of these letters for today.

Genres: New Testament, Theology

Paperback

First published January 1, 1993

About the author

Andrew T. Lincoln is the Portland Professor of New Testament at the University of Gloucestershire.

Reviews

[Mark Mathur · Rating 3 out of 5]

I read just Lincolns half on Ephesians. As I have worked alot on that letter, it was good to read someone else's survey and conclusions of the text. He did point out some new themes and links within the letter, to me. But the theology he draws out of the letter, is very thin.

[Ken McGuire · Rating 4 out of 5]

The series introduction starts: "Although the New Testament is usually taught within Departments or Schools or Faculties of Theology/Divinity/Religion, theological study of the individual New Testament writings is often minimal or at best patchy." And there are good reasons that the experts in this field look at things at this level - but it is a frustration to those of us who have to live with the real questions we and others have, which are usually more about what a text means than about objective versus subjective genitives... And so this series assembles noted exegetical scholars to try to answer these questions.

While the cover lists a common title and two authors for one book, this is really two (admittedly related) books - One by Wedderburn on Colossians and one by Lincoln on Ephesians.

Wedderburn draws the Theology of Colossians almost exclusively by exegesis of two passages - the "Christ Hymn" and the "Household Code". There is a lot of good information about the proposed backgrounds for both of these, and he appears to summarize a great amount of other people's work on this in a clear manner as well as adding his own evaluations of it. But the result, while definitely reaching towards theological concerns, seems more exegesis than theology. That said, it is a decent contribution towards mutual understanding.

Lincoln has the advantage of having just completed a major commentary on Ephesians, and so he is able to reference his exegetical work there. His text is an argument for his synthesis of the Theology of Ephesians, largely based on narrative principles of implied author, setting, readers, etc., reserving his extensive interaction with others largely to the footnotes - or even his larger commentary some times. The result makes it much easier to see the forest for the trees, so to speak, which largely is the purpose of this book.

While I do have some issues with what both authors say about their letters, the book as a whole does offer helpful information - information that indeed enables the reader to work it out for themselves while also offering the understanding of the territory of those who have gone before. You really can't ask for much better than that.

[Ben · Rating 3 out of 5]

Having only read the section on Ephesians, my comments only apply to half the book. In general, Lincoln is top rate scholar and his writing is fairly straightforward. The reason I gave it 3 stars is admittedly because I disagree with the conclusions of his research. On the one hand, the book is loaded with deep insights on the content, theology, and introductory issues related to Ephesians (and Colossians), it is offset by the fact that he doesn't view Paul as the author of Ephesians. What this leads to then is a complete fabrication of circumstances, intentions, and motivations of the "Paulinist" author. It seems more than outrageous to posit such imaginary content on something certainly unprovable, not to mention extremely unlikely. If you want a good argument for non-Pauline authorship, Lincoln is the place to go. In the end, I view arguments in support of Pauline authorship as far more convincing. That said, the book is still very good for grasping the content and theology of Ephesians.