Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 85 No. 2, 2015.
Original scientific paper
Messianism in The Light of Paul’s Theology of the Cross (1 Cor 1:13; 2:2; 2 Cor 4:4-5; Rom 1:3-4)
Ivan Dugandžić
Abstract
The Old Testament messianic titles played a significant role in the creation of the New Testament Christology. Same as the other New Testament authors, Paul also uses most of these titles, but that does not mean that what he means by them is entirely the same as for the other New Testament authors. The reason for this is because Paul is not writing about the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth and about the relationship between the lowliness of his earthly existence and the highness of his messianic mission, but instead he is entirely focused on Jesus’ death and resurrection. Furthermore, Paul is not simply considering Jesus’s death, but his death on the cross. More precisely, the cross became the centre of his gospel, which also gives an entirely new characteristic to the Old Testament idea of messianism. The article discusses precisely this issue of the relationship between Paul’s theology of the cross and the idea of messianism. More specifically, how Paul’s communities, starting from the early Christian faith that Godmade Jesus, although convicted of messianism and a shameful death on the cross, the Messiah and the Saviour, came to believe in Jesus as the Lord and the Son of God. Besides this, an important role in the emergence of the specifically Pauline Christology has the idea of the pre-existing Son of God, i.e. its relationship with the idea of messianism and theology of the cross.
Keywords
messianism; Christology; Christ; Lord; Son of God; theology of the cross; pre-existence; gospel
Hrčak ID:
141179
URI
Publication date:
10.7.2015.
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