Paul in Early Christianity: Reception and Perception

Abstract

Modern and contemporary studies of Paul, such as the Tübingen School and the New Perspective, have advanced different interpretations of Paul and his theology vis-à-vis Jesus, the Jews, the Gentiles, the church, and salvation. All these schools, and especially the New Perspective, have dismissed the Paul that, allegedly, was “poorly” or “wrongly” understood by the early Christian tradition as represented by various early Christian theologians, who, in turn, influenced the Protestant Reformers. But how did the early Christian church understand Paul? How important was Paul for early Christianity? What Pauline theological themes did the Early Christians highlight or use in constructing their theology? To find answers to these questions, this article studies the perception and reception of Paul in early Christian theology, both in heretical and mainstream Christian theologies, with the purpose of reconstructing the image of Paul in this period of the Church. A more integrated understanding of Paul in Early Christian theology does not only enrich historical theology as a discipline, but especially contributes to the current discussions on Paul.

… and regard the patience of our Lord as salvation; just as also our beloved brother Paul, according to the wisdom given him, wrote to you, as also in all his letters, speaking in them of these things, in which there are some things that are hard to understand, which the untaught and unstable distort, as they do also the rest of the Scriptures, to their own destruction.

(2 Pet 3:15−16, NASB)

Keywords: Paul, reception, perception, early Christians, Gnostics, and Marcionites