The Mind of the Spirit: Paul's Approach to Transformed Thinking
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This major work by a leading New Testament scholar explores an important but neglected area of Pauline theology, Paul's teaching about the mind. In discussing matters such as the corrupted mind, the mind of Christ, and the renewal of the mind, Paul adapts language from popular intellectual thought in his day, but he does so in a way distinctively focused on Christ and Christ's role in the believer's transformation. Keener enables readers to understand this thought world so they can interpret Paul's language for contemporary Christian life. The book helps overcome a false separation between following the Spirit and using human judgment and provides a new foundation for relating biblical studies and Christian counseling.
Craig S. Keener
Craig S. Keener (PhD, Duke University) is F. M. and Ada Thompson Professor of Biblical Studies at Asbury Theological Seminary in Wilmore, Kentucky. He is the author of more than twenty-five books, including Miracles: The Credibility of the New Testament Accounts, The Historical Jesus of the Gospels, and commentaries on Matthew, John, Acts, Romans, 1 and 2 Corinthians, Galatians, and Revelation. Especially known for his work on the New Testament in its early Jewish and Greco-Roman settings, Craig is the author of award-winning IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament and the New Testament editor for the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible.
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The Mind of the Spirit - Craig S. Keener
© 2016 by Craig S. Keener
Published by Baker Academic
a division of Baker Publishing Group
P.O. Box 6287, Grand Rapids, MI 49516-6287
www.bakeracademic.com
Ebook edition created 2016
Ebook corrections 10.07.2016, 01.11.2019
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—for example, electronic, photocopy, recording—without the prior written permission of the publisher. The only exception is brief quotations in printed reviews.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is on file at the Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
ISBN 978-1-4934-0460-5
Unless noted otherwise, all translations of Scripture are those of the author.
Scripture quotations labeled NEB are from The New English Bible. Copyright © 1961, 1970, 1989 by The Delegates of Oxford University Press and The Syndics of the Cambridge University Press. Reprinted by permission.
Scripture quotations labeled NRSV are from the New Revised Standard Version of the Bible, copyright © 1989, by the Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Chapter 4, The Mind of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5–7),
is mostly new work, but, with the permission of Brill, incorporates a revision of Craig S. Keener, ‘Fleshly’ versus Spirit Perspectives in Romans 8:5–8,
in Paul: Jew, Greek and Roman, ed. Stanley Porter, PAST 5 (Leiden: Brill, 2008), 211–29.
Chapter 8, The Heavenly Mind (Col. 3:1–2),
is adapted, with the permission of Sheffield Phoenix Press, from Craig S. Keener, Heavenly Mindedness and Earthly Good: Contemplating Matters Above in Colossians 3.1–2,
JGRCJ 6 (2009): 175–90.
For our beloved children, David and Keren
Contents
Cover i
Title Page iii
Copyright Page iv
Dedication v
Acknowledgments xiii
Introduction xv
What This Book Addresses
What This Book Is Not Addressing
Implications for Theological Reflection in Today’s Church
Abbreviations xxiii
1. The Corrupted Mind (Rom. 1:18–32) 1
The Pagan World’s Corrupted Mind
Summary of Paul’s Likely Argument
An Early Jewish Analogy
God’s Wrath against Idolaters
Information about God in Creation
EXCURSUS: Knowledge of God in Ancient Mediterranean Thought 6
Corrupted Minds Resist Rational Evidence from Creation
The Folly of Idolatry
The Madness of Sin as Its Own Punishment
Handed Over to Irrational Desires
Thoughts Corrupted by Passions
Changing God’s Image (Rom. 1:23–27)
Unfit Minds (Rom. 1:28)
Conclusion
2. The Mind of Faith (Rom. 6:11) 31
Death with Christ (Rom. 6:1–10)
Producing Righteousness
The New Identity
Dead with Christ
EXCURSUS: Mystery Background for Dying and Rising with Christ? 35
Does Death to Sin Eradicate Passions?
Freed from Slavery
Defined by Destiny in Christ
Reckoning the New Reality by Faith
Faith and Reckoning
Cognitive Reckoning in Other Ancient Sources
EXCURSUS: Self-Knowledge 46
Identifying with Christ
Living Out the New Identity
Considering Paul’s Solution
Conclusion
3. The Mind of the Flesh (Rom. 7:22–25) 55
Depiction of Christian or Pre-Christian Situation?
Earlier Interpreters
Survey of Modern Views
Romans 7:7–25 as the Christian Life
Romans 7:7–25 as a Non-Christian Experience
Why Use Present-Tense Verb Forms?
Who Is the I
in Romans 7?
Autobiographical?
Generic or Projected I
Adam?
Israel
Survey of the Context and Function of Romans 7:7–25
The Problem of Passion
Passion and the Law in Hellenistic Jewish Sources
Desire in Romans 7:7
EXCURSUS: Ancient Views concerning Lust and Other Illicit Desires 82
Judean Passions: The Evil Impulse
Internal Conflict
Ancient Beliefs about Internal Struggle
Envisioning Someone Overwhelmed by Passion
Bondage of the Will? Wanting to Do Right
Law in One’s Body versus Law in One’s Mind (Rom. 7:22–25)
Law in the Mind
The Law, the Body, and Sin
Bodily Desires in Ancient Thinking
EXCURSUS: Flesh 101
Paul and the Body
An Image of Defeat
EXCURSUS: Ancient Military Metaphors 110
Conclusion
4. The Mind of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5–7) 113
The New Frame of Mind
Disposition and the Mind
Relation to the Defeated Mind of Romans 7
Contrast with the Law-Approach of Romans 7
Two Ways of Thinking
The Emphasis on Wise Thinking in Philosophy
Ideal Types
Two Categories in Humanity as Ideal Types
Jewish Ideal Types
Sharing God’s Mind
Sharing the Divine Mind in Greek Thought
Indwelling Deity in Gentile and Jewish Thought
Experiencing the Spirit
The Frame of Mind of the Spirit Is Peace (Rom. 8:6)
Tranquil Minds in the Philosophers
Possible Exegetical Basis for the Peaceful Mind
Community Tranquility
Conclusion
5. A Renewed Mind (Rom. 12:1–3) 143
Presenting Bodies as Sacrifices
Sacrifices in Antiquity
A Living Sacrifice
A Rational Sacrifice
Transformed versus Conformed
The New Age versus the Old
Renewal for a New Age
The Mind and Transformation
Discerning God’s Will
Evaluative Criteria
Good, Pleasing, and Perfect as Criteria
The Literary Context for This Renewing of the Mind
God’s Own Mind in the Preceding Context
A Mind for the Body of Christ in the Following Context
Conclusion
6. The Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15–16) 173
True Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18–2:10)
The Wisdom of the Cross (1 Cor. 1:17–2:5)
Wisdom of the Future Age (1 Cor. 2:6–10)
The Spirit’s Insight (1 Cor. 2:10–13)
The Spirit as Revealer (1 Cor. 2:10–11)
Understanding by God’s Spirit versus the World’s Spirit (1 Cor. 2:12–13)
Spiritual Competence to Assess Truth (1 Cor. 2:14–15)
A Pervasive Culture of Evaluation
Evaluation Criteria
Inability to Understand Spirit Matters (1 Cor. 2:14–15)
EXCURSUS: Natural
and Spiritual
Persons 189
Suggested Sources of the Language
Mortals in Adam versus the Spirit of Christ
We Have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)
Paul’s Biblical Basis
Revealing God’s Mind
Ministry Gifts and God’s Mind
Divine Inspiration and Empowerment, Not Divine Identity (1 Cor. 3:3–4)
EXCURSUS: Divinization in Greek and Roman Tradition 202
Transformation through Vision (2 Cor. 3:18)
Hellenistic Vision of the Divine
Jewish Vision of the Divine and God’s Image
Glory Revealed to Moses and Jesus’s Agents
The Experience of the Spirit
Conclusion
7. A Christlike Mind (Phil. 2:1–5; 3:19–21; 4:6–8) 217
Divine Peace Guards Minds in Christ (Phil. 4:7)
Celebration in Christ (Phil. 4:4)
Prayer Rather Than Worry (Phil. 4:6)
Considering What Is Pure (Phil. 4:8)
Thinking like Christ (Phil. 2:5)
Citizens of Heaven (Phil. 3:20)
Conclusion
8. The Heavenly Mind (Col. 3:1–2) 237
Contemplating Heavenly Matters (Col. 3:1–2)
Heavenly Mindedness in Greek and Roman Sources
Heavenly Mindedness in Early Jewish and Christian Sources
Where Christ Is Enthroned
(Col. 3:1)
Heavenly Beings or God’s Throne
The Exalted Christ
Moral Implications of Heavenly Contemplation
En-Christed Life
The Intelligibility of the Moral Connection for Ancient Hearers
Heavenly Afterlife and Colossians 3
Conclusion
Conclusion 253
Postscript: Some Pastoral Implications 257
Divided Churches
Divided Hearts?
Pastoral Psychology
Worldviews
Practically Implementing the Insights
Appendix A: The Soul in Ancient Mediterranean Thought 267
The Soul as a Distinct Entity
The Soul’s Afterlife
Jewish Thinkers regarding Soul and Body
Jewish Thinkers regarding the Afterlife
Appendix B: Some of God’s Wise Plan in Paul’s Bible 279
Bibliography 281
Index of Subjects 327
Index of Authors and Selected Names 330
Index of Scripture 341
Index of Other Ancient Sources 354
Back Cover 405
Acknowledgments
I am grateful to Professor Virginia (Toddy) Holeman from the School of Counseling at Asbury Theological Seminary for her insights on the relevant portions of this manuscript. I am grateful to my editors at Baker Academic, Jim Kinney, James Ernest (formerly at Baker), Tim West, and Amy Donaldson. I am also grateful to the Assemblies of God Theological Seminary for welcoming me as the Horton lecturer and providing dialogue on the subject of this book on February 3–5, 2015, and to New Theological College, Dehradun, India, to Urshan Graduate School of Theology, and to Southern Adventist University for interacting with my lectures on this topic in January and March 2016.
Introduction
Pauline scholars have rightly explored at great length Paul’s soteriology, Christology, and pneumatology and his views of Israel and Scripture. Yet even among the fewer discussions of Pauline anthropology, very rarely have scholars devoted extensive attention to his view of the mind,¹ especially in a way that explains how he may have shaped his language to communicate to his contemporaries.
More recent insights into this subject by scholars conversant in ancient philosophy, such as Stanley Stowers and Troels Engberg-Pedersen, have not always been incorporated into exegetical or theological discussions to the extent that their contributions merit.² I hope that subsequent interpreters will take more account of their contributions (and mine), although further research will undoubtedly draw on a wider range of sources and provide further nuance to our earlier discussions on these topics.
Previous interpreters have rightly emphasized the importance of believers’ righteousness in Romans, usually in terms of one’s status or relationship with God and/or in terms of moral righteousness or transformation. What interpreters have often missed, however, is how Paul uses cognition to connect these key elements. How does one move from righteous identity to righteous living? Paul emphasizes the importance of a right understanding corresponding to the divine perspective—an understanding that may complement, or even more likely that functions as another aspect of, what Paul calls faith.
What This Book Addresses
Chapter 1 of this book addresses Paul’s depiction of the corrupted pagan mind in Romans 1:18–32. In this passage the supposedly wise pagan mind became subject to passions, what philosophers viewed as the antithesis of self-controlled reason, after rejecting the knowledge of God. Chapter 2 explores the new way of thinking in Christ in Romans 6:1–11: having been righted with God in God’s sight through faith, believers are now invited to share God’s perspective on their union with Christ’s death (6:11). Chapter 3 is my longest chapter, due to the major issues in Romans 7:15–25 that must be surveyed before any further exegesis may be developed. Here I revisit the fallen mind, but in this case no longer the law-uninformed pagan mind of 1:18–32. The religious mind informed by God’s righteous requirements is all the more frustrated by passions, because it knows right from wrong yet is unable to silence passion.
Chapter 4 addresses the way of thinking empowered by God’s Spirit in Romans 8:5–7. Here, those already put right with God are now depicted as motivated and empowered to serve God by the internal life of God’s Spirit. Romans 12:1–3, surveyed in chapter 5, describes the renewing of the mind according to the standards of the coming age instead of the present one. Such a mind leads one to devote one’s individual body to the service of the larger body of Christ. Chapter 6 considers the mind of Christ in 1 Corinthians 2:16 and its context: the indwelling of God’s Spirit shares with the spiritually mature—those attentive to the Spirit’s explication of the message of Christ—a measure of God’s own wisdom. Here too the Spirit offers a foretaste of eschatological reality as well as experience of God. At the end of this chapter, I briefly consider also a passage from 2 Corinthians (3:18) that sheds some light on how the Spirit enlightens our minds in Christ.
Because Paul’s Roman and Corinthian correspondence sufficiently establish his interest in cognition and the divine, I sample the theme only more briefly elsewhere. Chapter 7 more briefly surveys some of this cognitive theme in Philippians: those who entrust their worries to God can experience peace (4:6–8); a Christlike way of thinking involves serving one another (2:5); and the new mind should look to heavenly rather than earthly matters (3:19–20). Finally, chapter 8 develops the theme of the heavenly mind in Colossians 3:1–2: a focus on the enthroned Christ that transforms how believers live on earth.
What This Book Is Not Addressing
In treating passages, I omit many exegetical details and surveys of views where they are not relevant to the matter in question; the reader interested in my perspectives on such topics often may find them treated, albeit briefly, in my short commentary on Romans,³ which I hope to revisit in the future with a larger work. The study of cognition in Paul does not depend on any specific major debated approach to other aspects of Pauline theology, with the exception of the chapter on Romans 7.
Although Paul uses a range of words treating the concepts of thinking, understanding, and the mind, my focus here is not lexical study, which can easily be addressed today with a variety of readily available tools.⁴ Addressing the wider ancient usage of all the terms on which Paul draws is a useful exercise, but it is not the point of the present study. Although I work from the Greek text, I render words in English where possible to keep the book less cumbersome for a wider range of readers. The reader should keep in mind that Paul uses various terms in the same semantic domain even though these terms are not always consistently differentiated in English translations.⁵
I do not propose to treat every possibly relevant passage or every detail of the passages that I address; instead, I propose a fuller treatment of particular sample passages and of how discussions of the mind among Paul’s contemporaries may inform the ways that his first audiences would have understood him. In my major exception to this rule, I address Romans 7 in greater detail because it remains a point of some controversy. I will not elaborate in later chapters points already established (or at least argued) in earlier ones, with the consequence that the book’s final two chapters will be relatively brief. My translations opening each chapter are meant only to introduce some of the issues of some key texts in question; clearly, no translation can convey all the possible nuances implied by Paul’s literary context or intellectual milieu.
Although I am interested in Paul’s theology on the matter in question, I am not staking out positions on many of the contested issues of Pauline theology today. For example, the book’s primary contributions should not be affected by whether the reader supports the new perspective
(really, perspectives)⁶ on Pauline soteriology or more traditional versions.⁷ I am trying to exegete texts fairly, which might make my approach eclectic on some points,⁸ but I have not sacrificed the space to qualify much of my language to repeatedly declare neutrality on contemporary debates. Admittedly, there are undoubtedly controversies on minor matters with which I am not yet familiar.
Too often scholars settle on a particular background for Paul’s language (e.g., Cynic or targumic) without having read more widely in ancient sources. Sometimes too they concisely classify other scholars’ works based on their focus (such as proposed rabbinic, Hellenistic Jewish, or Stoic backgrounds for Paul). By contrast, because our best sources suggest that Paul was a Judean with a Diaspora background and mission, the most helpful approach may be more eclectic, drawing on various sources where they each contribute most to particular points.
Given this book’s focus on cognitive themes in Paul, part of my attention to Paul’s context must address ancient philosophy, which shared this cognitive focus. In examining at many points a popular philosophic context for Paul, I am not claiming that Paul had a philosophic education; certainly, he did not study in a philosophic school. Nevertheless, Paul was interested in reaching urban Greek speakers in Roman Asia, Macedonia, Achaia, and Rome. The most influential people in his congregations were normally educated, which in these regions meant some exposure to philosophy (e.g., anecdotes about and sayings of philosophers), although a majority of those who received an advanced education opted to focus on rhetoric. Others, who often may have had little education (cf. 1 Cor. 1:26), nevertheless were exposed to some popular philosophy from speakers in markets and public competitions, as well as (for those who were citizens of their cities) allusions in speeches in public assemblies. Egyptian papyri take us closer to everyday village life, but common teachings of popular philosophy (if not always the technical details of various schools of philosophic thought) tell us something about the intellectual milieu for many people in the cities.
For better or for worse, our best access to this thought today comes from the works that have survived. I highlight Stoicism somewhat more than other schools because it was the dominant philosophic system in this period in this region; because it influenced nonphilosophic intellectual discourse through elite education; and because it influenced popular urban thinking through the control of the educated over most public discourse.⁹ (Middle Platonism may have already held a stronger grip among Alexandrian intellectuals; its eclectic approach and other factors made it dominant more widely after Paul.)
Roman background is relevant not only in Rome but also in Corinth and Philippi, both heavily romanized colonies. In both locations, however, the message about Jesus probably circulated first among Greek-speaking Jews, making Greek and Jewish contexts (not least Hellenistic Jewish contexts) no less relevant. I draw here on as wide a range of potentially relevant background as possible, while acknowledging (with other historians of antiquity) that it usually is not possible to provide parallels for the exact city and decade that Paul was addressing.
I provide here exegetical samples for Paul’s approach to the renewed mind and do not claim to treat all undisputed Pauline texts. I have given even less attention here to the theme in disputed Pauline literature. I personally do accept the Pauline authorship of Ephesians, but insights there would not alter significantly the results of this study. I treat Colossians here as Pauline, but those who demur will at least find my brief treatment of Colossians 3:1–2 relevant to early developments of Pauline thought, developments that cohere naturally, in a Diaspora context, with the undisputed Pauline works.
I respect Luke’s depiction of Paul more highly than do some other Acts scholars; my respect stems not from ignorance of critical scholarship (as critics sometimes suppose must be true of all who do not share their convictions) but from detailed research.¹⁰ The present work has little occasion to draw on Acts, but suffice it to say that Luke’s general portrayal of Paul as a skilled, literate, and brilliant thinker is consistent with what we find in Paul’s own letters. Luke’s Paul, like the letters’ Paul, apparently experienced no conflict as a believer between life in the Spirit and an intellect directed by faith.¹¹
Implications for Theological Reflection in Today’s Church
Modern thinkers have much to learn from ancient ones, sometimes even the seeds of modern thought. For Christians, Paul’s works are seminal and offer many insights for subsequent issues in the church. Some divisions that many modern readers assume are biblical in fact stem from postbiblical discussions.
The Reformation, in which scholars figured prominently, emphasized disciplined study of the biblical text. Not everyone had access to scholarly training and resources, however, and many other people of faith (including many Anabaptists, later Pietists, participants in North American frontier revivals, early African-American religion, early Pentecostalism, etc.) particularly highlighted dependence on the Spirit. Some circles have succeeded better than others at bringing together these sorts of emphases—for example, some of the early church fathers, many medieval monasteries, Jonathan Edwards, and John Wesley.
Nevertheless, at least among modern Protestants there sometimes remain serious divisions among those who emphasize the academic heritage of the Reformation and those who emphasize the heritage of some subsequent revival movements. (Among Catholics, different monastic orders have also tended to value different emphases, although such differences are undoubtedly less pronounced today than in the past.)
In principle, most of us would affirm the value of both exploring the biblical text cognitively and embracing the Spirit experientially; the biblical text invites such experience, and without the objective constraints of Scripture, experience can quickly lose its Christocentric mooring. But each Christian tradition has its own predilections, each has focused on some different yet genuine biblical emphases, and each therefore has something valuable to learn from the other. We need both Word and Spirit; for Paul, certainly, the two are inextricably bound together. This book will argue that, against some circles, the Spirit does in fact often work through the mind and not only apart from it.
Sometimes the dichotomy is less about the human mind versus God’s Spirit and more about the differences between the human mind and the human spirit. Yet, as whole persons, we need to cultivate both the cognitive and affective aspects of our humanity to fully honor the Lord (cf., for example, Paul’s interest in both aspects in 1 Cor. 14:15). Some of us naturally gravitate toward churches that emphasize rational exposition, and others of us toward churches that engage the emotions with rousing preaching, celebratory worship, or, in some more sacramental circles, the touch and sometimes smell of worship.¹² Many of us undoubtedly feel torn and wish that more of our churches engaged both the mind and the spirit. Some may have already found churches that do both to their satisfaction.
Unfortunately, circles persist that value only one or the other approach to God, often despising the other as either irrational or unspiritual. Citing the Spirit bearing witness with our spirit (Rom. 8:16), some circles highlight our spirit as an organ of God’s Spirit in a way that they deem impossible for the mind.¹³ Some other circles almost substitute rational exegetical or theological skill for any other means of hearing God’s voice. Each of these two extremes often views the other approach to God with suspicion. Many of the rest of us simply feel more comfortable one way or the other without needing to denigrate those whose predilections differ. As a charismatic scholar, I feel comfortable embracing God’s transformation of both mind and spirit, although my own gifts and calling have often inclined my focus more toward the former. This book focuses more on affirming the value of the cognitive side, but biblically God works with both.
Another area in which Paul’s discussion of cognition raises questions concerns how to explain it in language more widely intelligible today. Paul communicated in the common language of his day, language that does not easily align with today’s psychological terminologies. For that matter, both the psychologizing philosophers of Paul’s day and the range of philosophic and psychological schools today often vary in their understanding and terminology from one school to another.
I hope that clarifying some of Paul’s psychology in this book will provide Christian psychologists and counselors better ways to articulate his principles in their own language. I hope also that through translating these principles we may learn to understand and apply Paul’s wisdom in new contexts. That objective, however, must be followed through in subsequent research cooperating between these disciplines; it is simply too far-reaching and too interdisciplinary to be achieved adequately in this book alone.
¹. There are exceptions, such as recently Wright, Faithfulness, 1121–26, as well as my own attempts in Keener, Perspectives
; Keener, Heavenly Mindedness
; Keener, Minds.
². In citing them, I am not implying agreement on every point but noting that their familiarity with ancient philosophy has allowed them to recognize and approach some issues in Paul from a vantage point too often neglected by scholars. Despite his helpful insights, some scholars have reasonably questioned Engberg-Pedersen’s disproportionate dependence on Cic. Fin. 3 for reconstructing Stoicism in Paul and Stoics (see Wright, Faithfulness, 1391, 1395). I deliberately draw on a wider range of sources for Stoicism here, highlighting not only Arius Didymus’s Epitome in particular but also various Stoic writers.
³. Keener, Romans.
⁴. At the scholarly high end one may consult TLG; nonspecialists (as well as scholars for less-detailed work) may consult Accordance, Logos, and BibleWorks.
⁵. I base my own work in Paul on the Greek text but am writing in English. Those concerned about the particular terms used should consult the Greek text but also keep in mind that the wider semantic domain will be more crucial for our general purposes here than extensive lexical investigation of specific terms. This can be undertaken by concordance searches rather than the more conceptual work I have done by working through the wider range of ancient sources.
⁶. As is often noted by proponents, e.g., Wright, Justification, 28; Wright, Faithfulness, 1458. Likewise, critics also recognize multiple new perspectives
; see, e.g., Waters, Justification, 154.
⁷. Sometimes differences can also be exaggerated. Thus, for example, Dunn (Perspective, 18–23, 28–30) notes that his focus on culturally specific issues highlighted in Romans is not meant to deny wider principles that such issues may reflect.
⁸. If a reader feels that I lean too far toward either the old or the new perspective for their taste, the reader can, with minimal adjustments, make my exegetical observations work within her or his own system.
⁹. Cf. here, e.g., Brookins, Wise Corinthians.
¹⁰. See Keener, Acts, 4 vols. (esp. the samples in vol. 1, chap. 7). I believe that my work on Acts stands in the mainstream of Acts scholarship but hope that even those who are more skeptical will recognize the level of research in the commentary, which cites tens of thousands of primary references from antiquity.
¹¹. For fuller discussion of this point, see Keener, Teaching Ministry.
For the Lukan Paul’s rhetorical sophistication, see Keener, Rhetorical Techniques
; for his claim of a sober mind, see Keener, Madness.
For Luke’s portrayal of Paul’s education before he became a follower of Christ, see the discussion in Keener, Acts, 3:3205–15. For the consistent but different depictions of Paul in both sources, see, e.g., Porter, Paul in Acts; for concrete analogies in other biographies about and letters by a single figure, see Hillard, Nobbs, and Winter, Corpus.
¹². Personality types sometimes make us better fitted for some environments than others; some individuals are more constitutionally (and sometimes environmentally) suited for analysis, for example, and some flourish most in a highly relational setting. As long as we appreciate other gifts and are willing to grow in our own weaker areas, our differences on these points may be complementary rather than contradictory. By way of illustration, I scored as an INFJ on the Myers-Briggs personality test, but (apart from being an extreme introvert) on some points just barely. I cannot easily play some aspects of my personality off against others; that concern presumably plays a role in how I approach this subject. As students of hermeneutics have long emphasized (e.g., Bultmann, Exegesis
; Thiselton, New Hermeneutic,
86), our past experiences influence our perceptions.
¹³. As discussed in chap. 4, however, the same context also addresses the mind of the Spirit
(Rom. 8:5–7). Paul calls praying in tongues prayer with one’s spirit
(1 Cor. 14:2, 14), a valuable gift from God; but the same context seems to identify the gift of interpreting prayer in tongues as praying with the understanding (14:13–15). Paul already identified both tongues and interpretation as gifts inspired by the Spirit (12:7, 10); prayer with the understanding in this way, then, is also prayer inspired by God’s Spirit. Elsewhere in early Christianity, worship in Spirit and in truth
probably refers not to the human spirit but to God’s Spirit (so, e.g., Scott, Spirit, 196; Keener, John, 615–19; pace, e.g., Morris, John, 270; Collins, Spirit
).
Abbreviations
Ancient Sources
Note: Works are normally listed under their traditional authors for the sake of locating them, not to take a position regarding authorship claims.
General
Old Testament
New Testament
Old Testament Apocrypha
Old Testament Pseudepigrapha
Dead Sea Scrolls and Related Texts
Josephus and Philo
Targumic Texts
Mishnah, Talmud, and Related Literature
Other Rabbinic Works
Apostolic Fathers
Patristic and Other Early Christian Sources
Other Greek and Latin Works and Authors
Other Ancient and Medieval Sources
Papyri, Inscriptions, and Fragment Collections
Modern Sources
General
Bible Translations
Journals, Series, and Other Reference Works