The Roman Imperial Authorities As Servants Of God

According to the New Testament, every governing authority is a servant of God. This groundbreaking work explores what the Apostle Paul meant by this assertion, which forms his argument in Romans 13:1-6. After establishing the meaning of "servant of God," Brad Corder examines the accounts of Paul's journeys to determine how it applied directly to the Roman imperial authorities of Paul's day and continues to apply to governing authorities today. This work contains a concise overview of the Roman imperial government and its military forces, an in-depth analysis of Romans 13:1-6, and a systematic investigation of Paul's encounters with the Roman imperial authorities recorded in Acts. This book is a must-read for those seeking to better understand the biblical basis for government, the military, and law enforcement.

James R. Harrison investigates the collision between Paul's eschatological gospel and the Julio-Claudian conception of rule. The ruler's propaganda, with its claim about the 'eternal rule' of the imperial house over its subjects, embodied in idolatry of power that conflicted with Paul's proclamation of the reign of the risen Son of God over his world. This ideological conflict is examined in 1 and 2 Thessalonians and in Romans, exploring how Paul's eschatology intersected with the imperial cult in the Greek East and in the Latin West. A wide selection of evidence - literary, documentary, numismatic, iconographic, archeological - unveils the 'symbolic universe' of the Julio-Claudian rulers. This construction of social and cosmic reality stood at odds with the eschatological denouement of world history, which, in Paul's view, culminated in the arrival of God's new creation upon Christ's return as Lord of all. Paul exalted the Body of Christ over Nero's 'body of state', transferring to the risen and ascended Jesus many of the ruler's titles and to the Body of Christ many of the ruler's functions. Thus, for Paul, Christ's reign challenged the values of Roman society and transformed its hierarchical social relations through the Spirit.

Paul, Politics, and New Creation: Reconsidering Paul and Empire nuances Paul’s relationship with the Roman Empire. Using rhetorical, sociohistorical, and theological methods, Najeeb T. Haddad reevaluates claims of Paul’s anti-imperialism by situating him in his proper Hellenistic Jewish and Greco-Roman contexts.

Over the centuries, Paul has been understood as the prototypical convert from Judaism to Christianity. At the time of Pauls conversion, however, Christianity did not yet exist. Moreover, Paul says nothing to indicate that he was abandoning Judaism or Israel. He, in fact, understood his mission as the fulfillment of the promises to Israel and of Israels own destiny. In brief, Pauls gospel and mission were set over against the Roman Empire, not Judaism.

A collection of essays presented during the Consultation on Paul’s Letter to the Romans at four annual meetings of the Evangelical Theological Society (2018, 2019, 2021, 2022). This volume features contributions from top evangelical Pauline scholars, addresses contested theological matters in the letter to the Romans, and can serve as a textbook. Each of the four editors has written a recent major commentary on Romans (Moo, NICNT; Schnabel, HTA; Schreiner, BECNT; Thielman, ZECNT). Contributors include the editors, along with Robert Yarbrough, Mark Seifrid, Robert Gagnon, Patrick Schreiner, Christopher Bruno, Brian Rosner, Kevin McFadden, Benjamin Gladd, Charles Quarles, Ben Dunson, Kyle Wells, Michael Bird, Joshua Greever, Benjamin Merkle, Ardel Caneday, Sigurd Grindheim, A. Andrew Das, Jeffrey Weima, Mateus de Campos, and M. Sydney Park.

Argues that Christians can and should approach politics in a way informed by faith. Draws upon traditions of both Catholic and Protestant political thought to analyze the ways in which religion influences our understanding of power, justice, and democracy. [book cover].