Bruce Janiga

Celebrating Saul of Tarsus

In June 2007 Pope Benedict XVI announced that beginning on the solemnity of the apostles Sts. Peter and Paul in 2008, the church would celebrate a Jubilee Year commemorating the bimillennium of the birth of St. Paul. With this in mind, this column will contribute to the celebration of the Jubilee Year by focusing on the writings of Paul.

Most of our information about Paul comes to us from two sources: his own letters and Acts of the Apostles. Other information comes from Christian tradition found in the writings of the patristic era. The tradition that Paul suffered martyrdom under the emperor Nero was part of the tradition found in the First Letter of Clement, written in the 90s. Other Christian writers such as Eusebius also hold to this tradition. That his writings were viewed as significant in the wider church community is seen in the letters of Clement, Polycarp, and Ignatius. Their writings tell us that Paul’s letters were circulating among the early church and viewed as authoritative by many believers.

A chronology of Paul’s life is hard to achieve because we have sparse information about his life in relationship to outside historical events, but the general consensus places the beginning of his career as an apostle shortly after the resurrection, in the early 30s. It is probably better to speak of Paul’s transformationrather than his conversion on the road to Damascus, since he views his newfound faith in Christ as an extension of his Jewish faith; for Paul, Jesus is the fulfillment of God’s promises to Israel. In Romans he writes of his continued self-identification as “an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin” (11:1). Working as the apostle to the gentiles, Paul sees his task as one of bringing the good news of Jesus to the rest of the world in order to fulfill God’s plan of offering salvation to all people, beginning with Israel.

First in the canon, though not first in authorship, is Paul’s letter to the Romans, the longest of his known writings. The letter is thought to have been written while Paul was in Corinth in the mid-50s, making it one of his last letters.

Paul begins his letter by identifying himself as a “servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel” (1:1). Paul writes to “all God’s beloved in Rome, who are called to be saints” (v 7), a community he has not yet met but one he anticipates visiting. Paul reminds them that since they have been baptized into Christ Jesus “the spirit of God dwells in you” (8:9). Sharing in God’s gift of the Spirit means that they will also come to share in the resurrection, as it is the same Spirit who raised Jesus (v 11). Using a dichotomy popular in Greek thought, Paul says that those who live by the Spirit must no longer live according to the flesh; they should strive to live according to the fruits of the Spirit that have been given to them (vv 12–13,23). Yet Paul knows that Christians are not disconnected from their bodies; in fact, he suffered in his body for the sake of the Gospel.

But for Paul his suffering is “not worth comparing with the glory about to be revealed to us” (v 18). Paul anticipates a “redemption of our bodies” (v 23), when God will redeem us and raise us up with Christ Jesus, freeing our bodies from “bondage to decay and … (giving us) the freedom of the glory of the children of God” (v 21). Writing with an awareness of the trials that some believers face, Paul reminds the Romans that God will not abandon them.

Nothing that life throws at us “will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord” (v 39), Paul assures us. It is with this belief that Paul was able to embrace his own martyrdom. The word “martyr” comes from a Greek word meaning “to witness.” In life and death Paul witnessed to his faith. May his words and example inspire us to continue to live Spirit-filled lives in witness to our belief in God’s love for us made known in Christ Jesus. ML

Bruce Janiga, a priest of the Archdiocese of Newark, N.J., teaches Scripture studies at Seton Hall Prep in West Orange, N.J. He is the Sunday assistant at St. Cassian's Church in Upper Montclair, N.J.

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