Hoñzom in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

Crucified Lord or C onquering Saviour:

W hose Story o f Salvation?

Sylvia c. Keesmaat
Skeesmaat@icscanada.edu
Institute for Christian Studies
229 College Street
Toronto, O N
M 5T 1R4 Canada

There are a num ber of hxed points in the lives of my

daughters. Two of these points are the stories we tell them
before they go to bed, and their dress-up box. T he two are
not as unrelated as they might seem, for it is frequently the
case that the night-time stories provide the inspiration for
their dressing up. At our house it is clear that stories are
something to be lived, ^ e n you hear a story, you enter
into it, put on the clothes of its characters, act it out in your
dally life. As a result we are carefel about what stories make
it into our repertoire. There are, of course, some things that
we do not want lived out.
The same dynamic, I suggest, is at work in Paul’s epis-
ties. W hich story are these emerging communities going
to live out? ^ i c h story of salvation and whose s to ^ of
salvation does Paul expect to shape the lives of his hearers?
And behind this question lies the question of the story that
Paul is telling. W hat plot lines govern his symbolic world?
And what are the competing narratives that his fetters are
challenging? It should be noted that I am worlcing less in
the held o f discourse that wanr.s to do a structural narrative
analysis o f Pauline texts and more within a discourse that
acknowledges four things: 1) that all ofour experience is nar­
 Crucified Lord or Conquering Saviour: whose Story ofSalvation?

ratively form ed,1 2) that all world views or symbolic worlds

are shaped, nurtured ‫ ﺳﺔ‬sustained by foundational narratives
which are seldom articulated in their entirety/ 3) that such
narratives shape identity and community,3 and 4) that in
any given culture there are competing narratives which vie
for the allegiance and imagination of the people.4 1 am not
going to argue for these points: they are rather my working
assumptions. These assumptions, moreover, highlight the
importance of exploring Paul’s letters in terms of their stoty.
As David Horrell puts it “in a world conscious of the power
ofstories to form identity, values and practice, the rediscovety
of Paul’s story as story is of critical value.”3 That is to say, if
Paul’s story fonctions to create a world that calls a certain
kind of com munity into being, what is that stoty? And what
identity, values and practice does his stoty shape?

1Stephen Crites “The Narrative Quality ©f Experience” in WhyNar-

rative?Readings in Narrative Theology, Stanley Hauerwas ‫ س‬Gregory L.
]ones, eds (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1989), 68-88‫ ؛‬Alasdair MacIntyre,
“Virtues, the Unity ©fa Human Life and the C©ncept o f a Tradition”
in Why Narrative?, 889-116, excerpted from After Virtue (Notre Dame:
University o fN o u e Dame Press, 1981), 190-209.
2 Crites, “The Narrative Quality,” 7 1‫ ؛‬j. Richard Middleton and
Brian j. Walsh Truth is Stranger Than it Used to Be: Biblical Faith in a
Postmodern Age (Downers Gr©ve: IVP, 1995) ch. 4‫ ؛‬N .T Wright, The
New Testament and the People o f £ ‫(ﺺ‬Minneapolis:
‫ﻣﺤ‬ Fortress Press, 1992)
38-44.
3 Stanley Hauerwas and David Burrell, “From System to Story: An
Alternative Pattern for Rationality in Ethics” in Why Narrative?, 158-
190; MacIntyre, “Virtues,” 101-105.
4 For an example o f how the narratives o f postmodernity and glo-
bal technicism compete for the imagination o f our culture see Brian ‫ ر‬.
Walsh and Sylvia c. Keesmaat, ColossiansRemixed: SubvertingtheEmpire
(Downers Grove: Intervarsity Press, 2004), ch 1.
5 “Paul’s Narratives ٠٢ Narrative Substructure? The Significance of
'Pauls Stoty’” in NarrativeDynamicsinPaulA CñticalAssessment, Bruce
W. Longenecker, ed., (Louiseville ‫ﻋ ﺞ‬London: Westminster John Knox
Press, 2002) 171. Italics in the original.
 Horizons in Biblical Theology‫ ا‬Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

I hope to enter into these questions in two ways: ‫ ) ل‬by

e x p lo ri^ Paul’s quotations ofand allusions to his scriptures,
both to discern the symbolic world that informed his language
of salvation and to see how he transformed that symbolic
W'orld, and 2) by describing the competing imperial stoty of
Rome that his language evokes and showing how the story
ofjesus, rooted in the story ٠۴ Israel, provided a challenge
to that competing story. 1 will begin with the story of Rome
as a narrative o f salvation.
Language of salvation in the first centum was inescap-
ably political as well as deeply religious. J.R. Harrison, in
an illuminating article on Paul and the imperial gospel at
Thessaloniki indicates that “¿‫ ص‬was an official title for
sovereigns in the Hellenistic ruler cult and the Roman impe-
rial This is borne out in inscriptions. For instance,
‫ﻣﺄﺳﻚﺀ”ة‬
‘Julius Caesar is honoured as ' the god manifest (descended)
from Ares and Aphrodite , ٠٠and the general saviour (‫־?كﺀﺳﻢ‬‫)ه‬
ofhum an life’.”7Augustus himselfin the ‫ﺗﻜﻢ‬،‫كﺀﺳﺖ‬ describes
his actions ofpardon in terms of saving those whom he can.8
And the law concerning an imperial festival from about AD
15 begins this way “The agronomos shall celebrate the first
day for God Caesar, son o f a god, Augustus, the fiaviour and
D eliverer...” ‫ و‬Similar language is found, of course, in the
well-known inscription from Priene, which has many points
of similarity with Paul’s description o f the gospel.١٠ Closer

‫ ﺀ‬J.R.Harrison, “Paul and imperial Gospel at Thessaloniki” J S N T

25.1 (2002) 87.
7 /. Eph. 11.251 (48 BG£). Quoted in Harrison, 83.
8 Res Gestae 3.2, in The Roman Empire: Augustas to Hadnan. Trans-
lated Documents o f Greece and Rome. Robert K. Sherk, ed. and trans.
(Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1988), §26.
9 in The Roman Empirey §32.
10The Priene inscription reads as follows: “since Providence (pronoia)y
 Crucified Lord or Conquering Saviour: whose Story ofSalvation‫ﺀ‬

to Pauls time, Claudius is also honoured on a statue base as

'Tiberius Claudius Caesar Sebastos Gemanicus god manifest
{theon epiphane), saviour {sötera) o f our ^eo^le too.”11 Such
salvation was rooted in a larger narrative which described
Caesar as the one who brought justice {Justitia, the Larin
equivalent of diki) and faithfidness ifides) back into Roman
life, and which celebrated the empire as the bearer of peace.
For Paul to write of salvation (not to m ention justice, faith-
fulness and peace) to Christian communities living in the
Roman empire was to evoke the story of Rome, its salvation
of those barbarians living on the fringes of the empire and
its saviour Caesar, who defended the peace and abundance
he had won for those near the heart of the empire.^
W hen faced with this imperial narrative o f salvation,
how did Paul describe his counter-narrative, his good news,
his gospel about another saviour? Rather than attempting a

which has divinely (theiös) disposed our lives, having employed zeal and
ardour, has arranged the most perfect culmination for life (to tekotaton
‫ﺀ’ص‬biöi) by producing Augustus, whom for the benefit o f mankind she
has filled with excellence {aretës), as [if she had granted him as a saviour
{sôtëra charisamen )] for us and our descendants, (asaviour) who brought
war to an end and set [all things] in peacefid order {kosmësonta de
[eirënënp'y [and (since) with his appearance (epiphaneis)] Caesar exceeded
the hopes {tas elpidas [uperjethëken) o f all those who had received [glad
tidings (etmggelia)] before us, not only surpassing those who had been
[benefactoros] before him, but not even [leaving any] hope [of surpass-
ing him] (1elpid[a] hperbolës) for those who are to come in the future;
and [since] the beginning o f glad tidings ((euaggelt[ön]) on this account
for the world was [the birthday] o f the god . . .” in V. £hrenberg and
A.H.M . ]ones. Documents Illustrating the Reigns ofAugustus and Tibenus
(Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1976), § 98b (11.32-41), quoted in Harrison,
“Paul ‫ س‬foe Imperial Gospel,” 89.
‫ ״‬TAM\\ 760a, cited in Harrison, “Paul and foe Imperial G os^l” 83.
12 On the mythical foundations o f the new Rome sec Paul Zanker,
The Power oflmages in the Age ofAugustus (Ann Arbor: University o f
Michigan Press, 1990) c h . ‫ و‬.
 Horizons in ‫ﺀﺀﻣﺢ‬
//'‫هﺀ‬/ Theology, Volume 26,٠Number 2, December 2004

macro-summary of these letters, ‫ ل‬will focus ou three texts

from three epistles: ?hilippians, written ‫ س*م‬the heart of
empire;^ Romans, written to the heart of empire; and ‫ل‬
Thessalonians, written to a city that actively cultivated the
beneficence o f the em pire .‫ ئ‬My strategy will be to do a
close analysis of a num ber o f instances where Paul’s allusions
provide a window into his narrative world.*‫؟‬
1 begin then, with Philippians 2:5-11, one of the classic
hym n‫؛‬c expressions o fth e story ofjesus. This poem contains
an allusion to Adam: as well as an obvious echo of Isaiah
45:23, both of which, 1 suggest, challenge the stoty line of
imperial soteriology. Although Adam is not explicitly men-
tinned in Philippians 2:5-11, both M om a Hooker andTom
W righthave convincingly demonstrated that rhetorically this
passage hinges on a contrast b e ^ e e n Adam and Jesus.16 If

1 ‫ت‬On the special status uf Philippi as a Roman colon / see £tik M.

Heen, “Phil. 2.6-11 and Resistance to Local Timocratic Rule” in Paul
and the Roman Imperial ٠ ^ ٢, ed., Richard ٨ . Horsley (Harrisburg:
Trinity Press International, 2003).
14 See Abraham Smith, The First letter to the Thessalonians, The
New Interpreters Bible. Vol. XI. (Nashville, Abingdon, 2000), 677,
and Hrther bibliography there.
15 On the larger imperial context oPPaul’s letters see: Dieter Georgi,
Theocracy In Pauls Praxis and Theology, translated by David E. Green
(Fortress: Minneapolis, 1‫ ;) ﻟ ﻮ و‬Michael Joseph Brown, “Paul's Use o f
D O U LO S CH RISTOU IE SO U in Romans 1.1” ‫ ﺀ ﺀ ر‬120/4 ‫ ه ﺀ‬0 ‫ر ا‬
7 2 ‫ و‬- ‫و إل‬7 ‫ث‬N .T Wright, The Letter to the Romans, The New Interpreter’s
Bible VolumeX (Nashville: Abingdon, 2002), esp. pp. 4042 4 -4234 0 ‫־ﺗ ﻮ‬ ,
73S; Neil Elliott Liberating Paul: The Justice o f God and the Politics ofthe
‫ﻢ‬4‫( ﺤ ﻜ ﻤ ﺛﻢ‬Sheffield:
‫ﻣ‬ Sheffield Academic Press, 1‫ ;)و و و‬Richard A. Horsley,
ed., Paul and Polines: Ekklesia, Israel\ Imperium, Interpretation: Essays in
Honour o f Krister StendahliWztr'xsburg.Tïm'wf Press International, 2000);
Richard A. Horsley, ed., Paul and Empire: Religion and Power in Roman
ImpenalSociety (Harrisburg: Trinity Press International, 1 7 ‫)و و‬.
16 See Morna D. Hooker, “Philippians 2:6*11” in From Adam to
Christ: Essays on Paul (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1 0 ‫)و و‬
 Crucified Lord ٠٢Conqueñng Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

this is SO, then we have in Philippians an allusion both to the

beginning o f the narrative, as well as an indication ofw hat
went wrong. For in the allusion to Adam, and especially
the language of being in the form o f God (morphë), Adams
creation as image of God is evoked.^This is, of course, not a
new insight. But we also need to ask how the story of Adam
functioned. Does this story carry any narrative weight in
shaping the story of the Philippian community?
As Richard M iddleton has shown, throughout Israels
histoty the language of hum anity being created in the image
of God carried polemical weight. According to the mythol-
ogy of Babylon, for instance, hum anity was created as a slave
people, to do the menial labour of the gods. In the face of
such a demeaning view of humanity, Israel in exile under
Babylonian rule told a different story, a story of humanity
created not to be slaves, but to be the image-bearers of God
and to reflect G ods gloty in their stewardly dominion over
the earth (Genesis 1:26-28; 2:15).18 This story shaped a

88-100 ;“ ‫ ﺳ ﺲ‬Redivivus: Philippians 2 Once More” in TheOldTestament

in the New Testament: Essays in Honour ofJ.L. North (ed. Steve Moyise;
Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 2000) 220-234; N.T. Wright, “Jesus
Christ is Lord: Philippians 2:5-11 ” in The Climaxofthe Covenant: Christ
and Law in Pauline Theology (£dinhurgh: T & T Clark, 0 ‫ و و ل‬621-(‫ و‬.
However, Heen, “Phil 2.6-11”, 138, argues chat if we read isa theô as an
honorific term for the emperor, then Paul is suggesting that Jesus did
not claim “divine honours” in the way that the emperor did. Hence the
contrast is not between Adam and Christ, so much as the emperor and
Christ. Heen’s argument is compelling, and 1 would like to suggest that
the comparisons are not mutually exclusive.
171 am aware that the difference in the Greek between and
eikon makes an easy identification problematic. However, 1 am persuaded
by the argument of Hooker, “Philippians 2 .6-11”, ‫ و‬9 67-‫م‬
18 j. Richard Middleton, “The Liberating Image? Interpreting the
Imago D ei in Context” Christian Scholars Review 24 (1994) 8-25* See
also, Richard Middleton, The Liberating Image: Imago Dei in Genesis I
(Grand Rapids: Brazos Press, 20 ‫ ه‬5( ‫م‬
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26 , Number 2, December 2004

different community, not o f slaves, but o f those who bore

the image o f God.
This is the story Paul evokes for the Philippian com-
m unity a colony o f Rome, where the emperor embodied
the gloiy of the gods and where images of the emperor
dominated public space. This stoty o f hum anity as the ‫؛־‬١٦١
age o f God challenged the imperial ethos; in a stoty where
hum anity as a whole is the image o f God, no ruler, no
matter how great, can claim to be the sole em bodim ent of
divine gloty. For those with ears to hear, the superiority of
the emperor is being subtly challenged by Paul’s appeal to
the stoty o f Adam.
However, the allusion to Adam does not merely recall
the call of hum anity to be image-bearer, for the stoty of
Adam in biblical and Rabbinic tradition is one o f loss. In
such traditions, Adam (and Israel) lost this glory by worship-
ping images (c£ Rom 1.23;Jer2.11), by seeking salvation in
the gods o f the nations rather than the one true God, their
saviour and redeemer. This stoty, too, is evoked by Paul. In
Philippians 2 these themes come together in a way which
not only recalls the stoty of Adam but also brings that story
to its fitting conclusion. Unlike Adam, and all o f hum anity
after him, who had sought to be equal to God (c£ Genesis
3:5), Jesus did not see his equalityw ith God as something to
be exploited.^ Ironically, in giving up his equalityw ith God
in exchange for slavety, Jesus was, in the end, the one who
finally did fidfill the calling of Adam in ruling over creation
and reflecting G od’s gloty in that wise rule. According to
the story line of the Philippian hymn, because of his own
humility he became Lord ofall things in heaven and on earth,

19 Here ‫آ‬ am following the translation o f Wright, “Jesus Christ is

LoH”,82-90.
 Crucified Lord ٠٢Conquering Saviour: whose Story ofSalvation?

bringing glory ro God the father (Phil 2.10-11).

By telling the story o f Jesus as a fulfilment o f the im-
age-bearing calling of humanity, Paul challenges the story
of Caesar with the story of Jesus.^ Moreover, Jesus is a sav-
iour whose Lordship over all creation is gained in a totally
implausible way. It is not achieved through militai^ victory
and the resultant status and rank due to a conqueror. Rather,
his Lordship is the result o f subversively abandoning such
status and rank in humble obedience. The story of Jesus is
not only one which challenges all other claims to rule, it also
challenges all other paths to Lordship and rule.
T he climactic ending to this hymn contains a very
strong allusion to Isaiah 45.23. In Isaiah this verse itself
is the climax of a chapter that proclaims that Israel’s God
is the only G od o f all the earth.21 The chapter begins with
the startling assertion that God has grasped the right hand
o f Cyrus so that Cyrus might set the exiled people free and
rebuild G ods city (w. 1-13). This unorthodox choice of
servant is followed by a contrast between idols, who are un-
able to save (v. 20) and God, who is the only Saviour (soter),
who saves (sözetaf) Israel with everlasting salvation (sôtënan
aiönion) ( ٧. 15,12,21,22). Isaiah’s ringing of the changes on
the theme of salvation culminate in these verses:

Turn to me and be saved {sôthësesthé),

all the ends of the earth!
For I am God, and there is no other.

*٠ Heen, “Phil 2.6-11”, p. 137, also reads this hymn as a challen§e

to imperial rule. See also Peter Oakes, ‘G o d ’s Sovereignty Over Roman
Authorities: A T hem e in Philippians” in Rome in the Bible and the Early
Church, Peter Oakes, ed. (Grand Rapids: Baker‫ ؛‬Carlisle: Paternoster
Press, 2002), 136-137.
21 Wright, “Jesus Christ is Lord”, 93·
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

By m yselfl have sworn,

from my m outh has gone forth in justice
{dikaiosuné)22
a word that shall not return:
“To me every knee shall how,
every tongue shall swear.” (Isa 45.22-23)

W hen Paul ends his hymn with the claim that “at the
name ofjesus every knee should how in heaven and on earth
and under the earth” he is firmly situatingjesus’ story in the
salvific story o f Israel’s God. For those with ears to hear the
overtones are clear: Isaiah’s promise o f salvation has come true.
And this promise has come true not in Cyrus, nor in Rome,
but in Jesus, the new Adam, highly exalted by God.
It is no accident, I suggest, that Paul appeals to Isaiah
45 here, a chapter that contrasts the salvation of God with
idols that are im potent to save. In the face of the idolatrous
imperial claims o f Babylon and Persia, Isaiah appealed
to a stOty about Yahweh, the only God who could bring
salvation, before whom all idols are revealed as vanity and

22 Throughout this paper I will translate dikaiosynë Injustice rather

than righteousness. 1 do this in order to move this term beyond the realm
o f biblical srodies and theology, which is virtually the only context in
which the word righteousness is used in English (with the exception o f
the phrase self-righteous), and place it once again firmly in the realm o f
social, political and cultural life, to which it referred in the first century
The translation o f dikaiosunë asjusftce also puts the (Question ofjustice
firmly at the centre o f Paul’s writings, just as it was firmly at the centre
o f Israel’s scriptures. See Walter Brueggemann, “The Psalms as Prayer”
in Patrick D. Miller, ed.. The Psalms and the Life ofFaith (Minneapolis:
Fortress Press, 1995), 61. On translating dikaiosynë in Romans see Chris-
topher B^an, A Preface ‫م ﺀ‬Romans: Notes on the Epistle in Its Literary and
Cultural Setting (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2000), 77; Joseph A.
Fitzmyer, Romansy Anchor Bible C om m entay (New York: Doubleday
1993), 258, and illuminating discussion, 258-263.
 Crucified Lord ٠٢Conquering Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

before whom eve!^ knee shall bow and every tongue swear
(Isa 45:23). In the face of the idolatrous imperial claims o f
Rome, ‫ ﺳﻢ‬/ appealed to a story about Jesus, the Lord before
whom all status won through violence is judged and before
whom every knee should bend in heaven and on earth and
under the earth, and whom every tongue should confess
(Phil 2:10-11). T he force of the comparison is heightened
when one remembers that this letter is framed by references
to the praetorian guard in 1.13 and to the saints of Caesar’s
household in 4.22. The context o f this writing of this let-
ter is the heart o f the empire, Rome. Is it any wonder that
surrounded by the images o f imperial power, the architec-
ture, the buildings, the statues, the altars to imperial peace
and salvation, Paul should reach back into the traditions
of Isaiah, with its critique of idolatry, and claim that their
gods are worthless?^ Is it any wonder that in an empire that
celebrated on coin and altar the subjection of other peoples,
Paul should reach back into the story oflsrael and evoke a
passage that asserts the subjection of all peoples to Yahweh
and Yahweh alone?^
This last point raises the tension that Paul’s quotation
creates, however. Although Isaiah 45 clearly evokes a narrative
background for Paul’s concept o f salvation, it is a narrative
he redefines. Isaiah 45 describes this salvation on the one
hand in terms ofrebuildingjerusalem and setring the exiles
free. This salvation is liberating. But on the other hand, this
s t a t i o n is described in terms of the dominating conquest

‫ ﻖ‬And,
‫ﺛ‬ o f course, Isaiah 45 also asserts that even when a ruler seems
to he very powerful, such as Cyrus, it is really God who had given him
power, a point Paul maltes in Romans 13.
4 ‫ت‬Rome’s depictions oftheir subjugation ofother peoples is described
in Zanker, The Power o f Images, 185-187; ، ٢- the depiction o f Claudius
subjugating Britannia in Zanker, 303, fig. 234.
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

of Other nations, who indeed how to the G od of Israel, but

who do so while in chains after Israel has plundered them
(v. 14). In fact, the glory o f Israel is rooted in the shame of the
nations (v.24). This story o f salvation is rooted in conquest
and judgement. The fact that such judgement is upon the
nations because they are idolatrous and pray to a god who
cannot save (v. 15-20), does not lessen the tone of exultation
in conquest that we find here.
Such a narrative, while resonating with Philippians in
its critique of idolatry, does not resonate in terms of con-
quest. Jesus the Lord is not one who plunders the wealth
of the nations in order to receive their a d o r a tio n as a result
of humiliating punishment. The saving act of Yahweh in
Isaiah 45, even tempered as it is by the language of justice,
is couched in terms oftrium ph, conquest and strength; lan-
guage that does not differ in any way from the trium phant
soteriology of Rome (note that this is not always the case in
Isaiah, however it is the case here). In Philippians, however,
the trium ph and glory that Jesus achieved is only the result
of conquered and humiliated (after all, it is by means
of such conquest that one becomes a slave). The narrative
of salvation has very different twists and turns for Paul. As
a result, when in a politically charged assertion Paul claims
that the politeia of the Philippian com munity is not Rome
but heaven in 3.2©, and that the saviour coming to them
from that place is not Caesar but Jesus, the Philippians
know that this saviour is part of a very different story than
the stoty of the violent conquest o f any empire, be that
Rome ٠٢ Israel.
This is confirmed in my second example, Romans 1:16-
17. It is with some trepidation that I attem pt to add anything
to an intertextual reading of this text; it will be evident that
I am building on the substantial foundation already laid by
 Crucified٠¿‫־‬
٢‫س‬ Conquering Saviour: Whose Story of Salvation?

Richard Hays ‫؛‬٨ Echoes ofScripture in The Letters o fP a u i25

In Romans 1:16-17, Paul presents, in as comprehensive a
theme statement as any professor marking papers could
for, a summary sentence which draws together the content
of the gospel he proclaims: “For 1 am not ashamed of the
gospel, it is the power of God for salvation to everyone
who has faith, to the ]ew first and also to the Greek. For in
it the justice of God is revealed through faith for faith as
it is written, 'T h e one who is just will live by faith.’” It is
striking that in this letter written to the heart ofthe empire,
Paul has already referred to the gospel four times in the first
sixteen verses. Moreover, in Romans Paul overwhelmingly
qualifies his references to the gospel: this is the gospel of
God (1.‫ ل;و‬5 . ‫ ل‬6 ( ‫ ت‬the gospel o f G od’s son (1.9), and “my
gospel” (2. ‫ ا‬6 ‫ ات‬6.25 ( ‫ م‬Such qualifications are necessary,
I suggest, because in the empire, “the gospel” refers to the
“good news” of Caesar and all that he has accomplished.27
In such a context, Paul’s programmatic statement in Romans
1.16-17 is rooted in a challenge to the gospel ofthe empire.
This challenge is deepened by allusions to a number of psalms

25 (New Haven: Yale, 1989).

26 The only other place where Paul uses similar terminology is in 1
Thess where he refers to “our gospel" ( 1. ‫) و‬, “the gospel o f God" (2.2,8,9),
and “the gospel ofthe messiah” (3.2). Pive out ofthe six references to the
gospel are so qualified in Thessalonians, and five out o f nine in Romans.
As we shall see below, Thessalonians has a similar imperial context.
27 On the imperial overtones ofthe language o f gospel see the Priene
inscription in n. 10 above as well as: Flliott, “Paul and the Politics of
£mpire" in Horsley, ed., Paul and Politics, 24‫ ؛‬Georgi, Theocracy, 83;
Wright, “Gospel and Theology in Galatians”, in L Ann. Je^is and Peter
Richardson, eds.. Gospel in Paul: Studies in Corinthians, Galatians, and
Romans for RichardN. (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press,
1994), 226-228‫ ؛‬Richard A. Horsley “Paul’s Counter Imperial Gospel:
Introduction”, in Horsley ed., Paul and Empire, 140-141.
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

which resonate with these verses.28

Paul begins to explain his eagerness to proclaim the
gospel in Rome in this way: “For I am not ashamed (epais-
chynomai) o fth e gospel”. As Hays has indicated “aischynein
and its near relatives kataischynein and epaischynesthai appear
repeatedly in the very prophecies and lament psalms from
which Paul’s righteousness terminology is drawn .‫ وأل‬Those
same prophecies and lament psalms also provide the context
for Paul’s language o f salvation. For instance. Psalm 71:1-2
begins this way: ( 7 2-1 :‫ ه‬LXX; cf. Ps 30:1-3 LXX):30

‫ ه‬Lord, in you 1 hope (izlpisa),

nev er let me he put to sh am e
(kataischyntheiën).
In your justice {<dikaiosynè) deliver me and have
mercy on me.
Turn your ear to me, and save (söson) me.

The psalmist continues with a plea for G od’s rescue from

the unjust adikountos, V. 4 LXX; cf. Rom 1:18,29), and
(1

roots his hope (٠elpiö) in G od’s justice {ten dikaiosymn) and

salvation {tin söterian) (w. 14-15 LXX). It is clear that it is
because o f G od’s justice ( dîkaiosynën) that God will save the
1

righteous. And it is clear that such salvation will not merely

28The fcll©wingsection on Romans is dependent on my article “The

Psalms in Romans and Galatians” in The Psalms in the New Testament٠
Steve Moyise and Maarten J.J. Menken, eds., (London ‫ ئ‬New York:
T & T Clark, 2004), pp. 140-41, 143, 149-152.
29 Hays, Echoes, 38. Hays also refers specifically to Ps. 44:10; Ps
24:2; Isa 28:16 LXX (to which Paul appeals directly in Rom 9:33); ‫س‬
Isa 8 -0: 7 ‫ ؟‬-
30 This psalm is also discussed in N .T Wright, The Letter to the
Romans (The New Interpreter’s Bible Volume X‫ ؛‬Nashville: Abingdon,
2 0 0 2 ),4 2 4 .
 Crucified Lord or Conquering Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

deliver and rescue the psalmist, but also that God’s justice
will result in defeat of the enemies, who will be disgraced
and put to shame (٠aischynthösin\ ٧٠ 24 LXX).31
Paul’s language o f shame in Romans 1.16 also echoes
Psalm 44 and here the rhetoric is turned up a notch. In this
communal lament, the psalmist recalls G od’s mighty deeds
of old, wherein G od drove out the nations (v. 2) and gave
victoty to his people (w. 1-8). In V. 9, however, there is a
turn: “But nowyou have rejected us and shamed {katëscbynas)
us” (43.10 LXX). N ot only does this verse reverse the shame
(،katëscbynas) attributed to the enemies in ٧٠ 7, the theme
of shame reappears again at the end of this section (٧٠ ‫ ل‬5 ‫ت‬
43:16 LXX) in which the psalmist describes the way God
has abandoned the people. After a striking assertion of in-
nocence (part of which is quoted in Romans 8:36 ‫ ن‬cf Ps.
44:22 which we will discuss below), the psalmist calls on
God to arise (w. 23, 28) and help his people.^
In echoing the language of these psalms, Paul is firmly
grounding the gospel concerning G od’s son in a scriptural
narrative world in which G od is the saviour whose justice
was revealed when he worked salvation in the past, and who
will therefore work salvation once again.
This is reinforced by one other echo in these verses, to
Psalm 98.2-3 (97.2-3 ‫ﻋﺊ‬ ):

31 Walter Brueggemann de$cribes how lament mobilizes God not

to religious succour, but to juridical action that rescues and judges,
“The Costly Loss o f Lament”, in Miller, ed.. The Psalms and the Life
ofFaith, 107.
^The word used in the call for God to “rise up” {anastëthi, anastësetai)
in Psalm 44:23, 26 (LXX 43:24,27) is the same as that used for Jesus’
resurrection from the dead (anastaseösnekrön) in Romans 1:4, suggesting
that God has vindicated his people in Jesus’ resurrection.
 Horizons in ‫ﺀ‬/‫مﺀ‬/‫ﺛﻤﻪﺀ‬Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

T he Lord has made known his salvation

(söterion)y
‫؛‬٨ the presence o f the nations (٠ethnön)
he has revealed {apekalupsen) his justice
(،dikaiôsynën).
He has remembered his mercy to ]acob,
and his truthfulness (alëtheias) to the house o f
Israel:
All the ends o f the earth have seen
the salvation (söterion) of our God.

Hays has discussed the echoes o f this psalm in Romans

1.16-17 at some length, particularly with regard to the ex-
tension o f salvation to the gentiles, a theme picked up later
in Romans.331 would like to pick up a connection with the
end of the psalm:

He is coming to judge the earth

to judge the world in justice (٠dikaiosunë)
and the peoples with equity. (Ps 98:9 [97:9
LXX])

G od’s justice, or righteousness, is not only shown in

salvation, but also in judgem ent.^ The lament psalms
call for this judgement upon the unjust and the psalms of
thanksgiving celebrate it. The unveiling o f such judgement
against the Gentiles who oppress G od’s people seems to be
a part of the justice of God in Romans as well. Paul’s argu-
m ent unfolds with a series of clauses all linked by gar. ‘1 am

33 Hays, Echoes, 36-37.

34 Hays, Echoes, 41. Douglas j. Moo discusses the texts in which
G ods righteousness is described in terms ofjudgement in The Epistle to
the Romans, N IC N T (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 183 ,(6 ‫و و‬.
 Crucified ٧٠٢
^ or Conquering Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

eager to proclaim t^e gospel ... for ‫ ل‬am not ashamed of

the gospel,‫آم‬ it is the power of God for salvation . . . fo r in
it the justice of God is revealed ٠،. fo r the wrath of God is
revealed (w.15-18). ]ust as in Psalm 98, in Romans G ods
justice is contrasted with injustice {udikian) and ungodliness,
an injustice moreover, which suppresses the truth (،aktheian;
Rom 1:18).
Such a narrative, which exalts in the revealing of the
justice of God as key in the narrative of salvation, would
have had strong resonance with the com munity in Rome.
In the story of salvation told by Rome, justice played a key
role; indeed Roman justice was one of the chief virtues of
the empire. Tom Wright puts it succinctly:

So close is the link bew een the new imperial

regime and the virtue Itistitia [Latin for the
Greek ‫ ﻫﻂ'ﺋﻤﺢ‬that this goddess sometimes acquires
the tide “Augusta”. So, without losing any o f its
deep-rooted Jewish meanings of the covenant
fa ith fu ln e ss of the creator God, Paul’s declara-
tion that the gospel of King Jesus reveals G ods
dikaiosynë must also be read as a deliberate chal-
lenge to the imperial pretension.^‫؟‬

Such a challenge to thejustice of Rome is not just found

in the claims o f the God whose gospel is now salvation, it is
also found in the subsequent indictm ent o f Gentile society,
characterized by adikiäy injustice.^ As Neil Rlliott argues,
“from its first chapter, the letter Paul directed to Rome is not

35 Wright, Romans, 404. On lustitia, the Roman equivaient oïdikë,

Wright refers to Ovid, Letters from the Black 3 6 .2 5 , ‫ ; أ م‬and The Acts
ofAugustuSy ehapter 34.
36 £ ‫ﻞ‬ ‫ﻫ ﺈ ﻟ‬, ‫‘آ‬Paul
‫آ‬ and the Polities o f £m p‫؛‬re’, 36-38.
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

‫ﻛﺖ^ﻣﻠﻬﻌﻪ ة‬ brief .‫ أل‬is a defiant indictm ent c f the rampant

injustice and impiety ©f the Romau ‘goiden age’.”37 The
imperial story claimed that Caesar had brought justice to
the whole of the world; Paul claims that the justice ofjesus
is the good news of salvation to Jew and Gentile.
However: as the letter to the Romans unfolds, the char-
acter of this salvation is revealed ro be startlingly different
not only from Rome but also from the expectation of the
psalmist. This is nowhere more evident than at the end o f
Romans 8 where the question o f salvation and justice be-
comes overwhelmingly pressing.
The many references in Romans 8 to the suffering ofthe
Roman com m unity indicates an other side to the theodicy
question in Romans. It is not merely the case that Romans
is concerned with the question o f theodicy because o f “the
apparent usurpation o f Israel’s favoured covenant status by
congregations o f uncircumcised gentile Christians .’‫ ص‬It is
also clear that like the context o fth e psalms o f lament and
Isaiah (to whom Paul appeals), G od’s people are experienc-
ing oppression at the hands of an empire whose narrative
appears to have won and whose story appears ro be true.39

37 Elliott, “Paul and the Politics o f Empire”, 37.

38 Hays, Echoes, 40.
39 On the suffering o f the Roman community see $ylvia C. Kees-
maat, PaulandHisStory: (Re)InterpretingthcExodus Tradition (Sheffield:
Sheffield Academic Press, 1999), pp. 74-77, 120-122. Ernst Käsemann
su^ests that “machaira [Rom 8.35] perhaps means concretely execution”,
CommentaryonRomans, G o ffi‫־‬eyBromiley trans. anded. (GrandRapids:
Eerdmans, 1980), 249;J.D .G . Dunn, Romans 1-8, (WBC 28A; Dallas:
Word, 1988), 505, points out that diögmos [Rom 8.35] always refers to
persecution for religious reasons. While it is not at all clear that all o f
the Jews were expelled from Rome in 49 AD , the fact still remains that
the Jews were the suhject o f an edict at that time, and hence the target
o fth e imperial authorities. Por recent discussions which question the
historical plausibility o f a wholesale expulsion o fth e Jews from Rome
 Crucified Lord ٠٢Conquering Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

It is in this context that Paul introduces a quotation from

Psalm 44:22 in Romans 8.36:

For your sake we are being killed all day long;

we are accounted as sheep to be slaughtered.

This psalm has extensive parallels with Romans 8, which

we do not have time to go into here. However, Psalm 44
overtly raises the question that is at the heart ofRomans: is
God just? (This question, of course, has been framed in the
past in terms o f the righteousness o f God.)
Pauls answer to this question is startling. In the face of
persecution and oppression, in the face o f the groaning of
creation, believers and the Spirit herself, and in the face of this
cry of lament, Paul asserts that “we are more than conquerors
through him who loved us.” The language o f the conqueror
has, of course, run as a subtext throughout the psalms of
lament, more overtly in those psalms where Israel calls for
God to release her from the nations that have conquered
her, and even more prominently in those psalms where Is-
rael has called on God to conquer her enemies as a sign of
faithfulness, justice and salvation. For both oppressor and
oppressed alike, the question ofw ho has conquered whom
is a vital one. And such conquering, moreover, is identified
with the bringing of salvation for the victor.
For the Christians in Rome the phrase was even more
fraught. W hat else was Rome than the conqueror of the
whole world, the victor over the pagan hordes, whose sta-

see Mark D . Nanos, The Mystery ofRomans: Thejewish Context ofPauTs

¿‫ﻣﺲ‬ (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1996), ‫ و‬72 - ‫ و‬89 ‫ث‬and Steve Mason
“'For I am not ashamed o f the Gospel’ (Rom. 1.16): The Gospel and
the First Readers o f Rome”, in Jervis and Richardson, eds., Gospel in
Paul, 255-276.
87 Horizons in Biblical Theobgy, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

tus as saviour and conqueror was celebrated on coin and

portal wbere subjugated peoples were depicted in positions
of subservience to victorious Roman conquerors?*® For a
small beleaguered com m unity in Rome, the power of such
conquerors was all pe^asive, and the stoty of the imperial
conqueror had all the appearances o f being true. Hence the
whole discussion of Romans 8:17-39 concerns the meaning
of this suffering in which the believing com munity and,
indeed, the whole creation finds itselfi Does such suffer-
ing mean that a successftd charge has been brought against
those whom God called (v. 33)? Does it mean that they have
been condemned (v. 34)? Does it mean that G ods love has
been withdrawn (٧٠35)? Does it mean that the oppressor is
victorious? Does it mean that Caesar, in fact, saves? Is the
imperial narrative true?
And, a related question in such a situation of suffering
is this: How does the Christian com m unity respond to such
suffering? How does the Christian com munity respond to
the violence of the empire? Does it take up the city of the
psalms o f lament and demand that God come in salvation
to grind the nations into dust, that G od defeat the evildoer,
that God once again enable his people to oppress their foes?41
Is that the Christian story?
Faul’s answer, along with his quotations from Fsalm
118:6, Fsalm 110:1 and Fsalm 44:22, weave together various
themes from Israels scriptures into an entirely new cloth.
W ith the psalmist he asserts, “If G od is for us, then who
is against us?” (Rom 8:31; cfi Fs 118:6), but, unlike the

40 Romes depictions oftheir subjugation o f other peoples is described

in Zanker, The Power o f Images, 185-187.
41 See, for example, Pss 10:15-16; 94:140:
2311‫؛؛‬9- c£ Pss 18:29‫؛‬
3 4 : 1 6 2 8 -69: 22 ‫؛‬.
 Crucified Lord or Conquering Saviour: whose Story ofSalvation?

psalmist, who has already been rescued from his oppression

(.thlipsei; Ps 117:5 LXX), Paul is asserting G od’s presence in
the midst o f such oppression. His confession in 8 : 4 ‫ و‬that
Jesus is seated at the right hand of God alludes to Psalm
110:1; but unlike the ruler o fth a t psalm, whose enemies
become his footstool, the messiah calledjesus intercedes even
for those who have killed him. And Paul’s echo of Psalm
44:22 answers the plea of the psalmist for G od to arise and
save this defeated and suffering people, with the paradoxical
assertion that those who suffer are not the defeated, but are
more than conquerors (hupemikömen).
The whole dynamic ofthis passage rejects the traditional
narratives about salvation and their plot lines concerning
who is victor and who is conquered. The messiah who died
and was raised is, paradoxically, the one in the position of
authority at the right hand of God, and those who suffer
are the ones who are — not conquered — but more than,
indeed above, the conquerors. Paul is rejecting the imperial
categories here of victOty, categories beloved by both Israel
‫ﺑﺂﻟﺔ‬ Rome, and is replacing them with the categoty ofsuf-
fering love. He is rejecting the narratives of salvation that
link the saviour with conquest and is replacing them with
the story of a saviour who died and was raised. In this stoty,
the way to respond to the violence o f the empire is to bear
it; and in that bearing to reveal that one is part of the fam-
ily of Jesus (Rom 8:17,29) and therefore one of those who
cannot be separated from G ods love. It is such love, such
“relentless solidarity”, that enables foe Roman Christians to
bear the suffering that they experience at the hands of their
persecutors (Romans 12.12-21).42

42 Paradoxically, such love is what gives the com m uni^ the con-
text in which to voice their complaint and insist, again and again, that
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

Such a narrative, where G ods sa lv a tio n is e v id e n t not

in the conquering of oppression, but in the bearing of op-
pression, is central also in our last text, 1 Thessalonians. If
our passage from Philippians had references to creational
beginning and our discussion o f Romans focused on Israel
and the Roman believers in the middle of the story, then
our brief look at T h e s s a lo n ia n s will a tte n d ‫־‬to the end of
the stojy.
I will focus first on the controversial passage of I Thes-
salonians 4:13-5.11 which describes the coming o f the
Lord. Various O ld Testament passages have been suggested
as the background for the imagery of this passage.^ We will
look briefly at Daniel 7:13-14. This passage was recalled
frequently in first century appeals for G od to bring salva-
tion. In Daniel 7, the Son o f M an comes with the clouds of
heaven and receives dominion, glory and kingship so that all
peoples, nations and languages should serve him. According
to the plot line of this text, the coming of such a figure in

God be called ٢٠ account. Brueggemann describes the dynamic in this

way: because the one we address Mhas promised to be in the darkness
with us, we find the darkness strangely transformed, not by the power
o f easy light, but by the power o f relentless solidarity”. Brueggemann,
The Message ofthe Psalms, 12. This is, also, I submit, the same relentless
solidarity that enables God to bear with the suffering caused by Israel in
Romans 1 ‫ و‬- ‫ل‬. Paul’s assenions ofth e presence o f God in the midst o f a
suffering community, therefore, sets up the context for a lament o f his
own in Romans 9-11. In the power o f G ods relentless solidarity Paul is
empowered to face the darkness o f his own people’s disbelief
43 Suggestions range from the Sinai theophany where we find the
juxtaposition o f a trumpet and ofclouds, to the stOty oD acob’s ‫ﺀ ﺀ ﻛ ﺴ ﺎ‬
(Genesis 28:10-17) where we find angels descending and ascending to
heaven. While some o fth e imagety may be similar in these passages, a
little more conceptual affinity is needed for the allusion to have plausi-
bility It seems more likely that the overwhelming background for these
images is not found in the Old Testament, but rather in the gospels,
particularly Matt 24:27, 31 ‫ث‬25 :‫ ﺗ ﻮ‬Mk 13:35-37; Lk 21:34-36.
 Crucified Lord or Conquering Saviour: Whose Story ofSalvation?

Daniel was, o f course, a direct challenge to the Babylonian

empire, under which the people suffered in exile. Hence if
Paul is alluding to Daniel, he is evoking the powerftd image
of G od’s coming in s t a t i o n to defeat one e n tire , and he
is doing so to confront the claims of another. As Harrison
puts it “T ^e pivotal Haim of early hrst-century imperial
propaganda -‫ ־‬that Providence would never provide a bet-
ter saviour than Augustus -‫ ־‬increasingly faced challenge at
Thessaloniki and e lsew h er e-”^
T h at confrontation takes shape in language that power-
firlly subverts the rhetoric of empire. Harrison demonstrates
th a tparousia (advent or coming, 1 Thess 4:5), epiphaneia
(manifestation, appearance, 2 T h ess 2:8), apentësis (meet,
1 Thess 4:17), eirënë kai asphaleia (peace and security, 1
Thess 5:3), and sôtërias (salvation, 1 Thess 5:8) are all terms
which not only find their roots in Jewish apocalyptic writ-
ing, but also are technical terms for the coming of a ruler to
a city (parousia), the manifestation of the ruler who brings
salvation (، epiphaneia, sôtërias), the civic delegation who
met and accompanied a ruler back into the city {apantësis)
and imperial propaganda for peace and security (eirënë kai
asphaleia).45 In the context of the larger background of the
apocalyptic vision of Daniel 7, itself a promise ofvindication
in the face o f Babylon and the suffering it had produced,
Paul deliberately uses language that evokes another empire,
Rome. In so doing, he recalls the eventual defeat of pagan
empires that is promised in Israel’s scriptures and effectively
makes these promises the ground ofhope for the Christians

44 Harrison, %.
45 Harrison,”Paul and the Imperial Gospel,” 82-87; Helmut Koester,
“Imperial Ideology and Paul’s Eschatology in 1 Thessalonians” in Paul
and Empire, 158-162‫ ؛‬Smith, Thessalonians, 677.
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26\ Number 2, December 2004

iu Thessaloniki, suffering at the hands o f Rome.^

Such hope is strengthened in Paul’s allusion to Isa 59:17 in
1 Thess 5:8: “but since we belong to the day, let us be sober,
and put on the breastplate of faith and love, and for a helmet
the hope of salvation” (1 Thess 5:8). Paul has replaced “put
on the breastplate of righteousness” {enedusato dikaiosunën
bös thörakd) with “put on the breastplate of faith and love”
( endusamenoi thöraka pisteös kai agapës), and “a helmet of
1

salvation” (perikephalaiansôtëriou) is replaced with “ahelm et

of the hope of salvation” [perikephalaian elpidasôtëria$).Th.z
context of these verses is an assurance o f the vindication of
the community. Wrath will come like a thief in the night
upon those who belong to the darkness, those who chant
the imperial slogans ofpeace and security‫ ؛‬but for those who
belong to the day, salvation and life are the result o f this
coming. In Isaiah 59, Yahweh has seen that there is no one
to intervene and save (v. 16) and so he dons the garments
of not only righteousness and salvation, but also vengeance
and fury ( ٧. 17). This context o f judgem ent is echoed in 1
Thessalonians 5. O n the one hand, the overtones of Isaiah
59 effectively reinforce thejudgem ent ofjesus’ comingwrath
upon those who C t y “peace and security”. O n the other hand,
however, as in Ephesians 6 (where Isaiah 59.17 is explicitly
quoted), now it is the community rather than Yahweh that

46 On persecution in the Thessalonian community see Smith,

ThessabnianSy 682. Harrison also describes the way in which Roman
belief described Augustus’ continual rule from heaven: “The portrait
found in these texts o f the post-mortem life o f the ascended Augustus
is very rich. Augustus continues to rule the world from his heavenly
abode, under the auspices o f his star sign and in the presence o f his dei-
fied father. He is available to be petitioned in prayer; he will continue
to sponsor the development o f human reason; and he will remain the
greatest heavenly lawgiver....furthermore, he maintains the political and
social status quo, a fact that would have appealed to the conservatism
o f the Romans” (p. 95).
 Crucified Lord ٠٢Conquering Saviour: whose Story ofSalvation? ‫ر‬

dons the breastplate and helmet. And for their battle, faith
and love become the breastplate that protects their heart, and
the hope of salvation that which protects their heads. The
change from a breastplate of salvation to a breastplate of the
hope ofsalvation effectively pushes salvation into the future.
Paul continues to point the com munity toward that hrture in
next verses: “Por God has destined us not for w rath h ilt
th e
for obtaining salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ, who
died for us so that whether we are awake or asleep we may
live with him ” (v. 1©). Harrison suggests that Jesus comes as
the w rathhd Warrior-Lord, who “overturns the status quo of
Roman imperial rule” and who has “outperformed the Cae-
sars at their own game.”^ But has he? The narrative ofjesus
that is consistently emphasized by Paul is one of a Lord and
Messiah “who died for us.” (‫ ل‬Thess 5.1©). T he point is that
Jesus doesn’t outperform the Caesars at their own game. He
refuses to play their game. And he expects those who follow
him to refuse to play that ^ m e as well. In this community
there is no place for the garments of vengeance and fury of
Isaiah 59.17. These are not the appropriate clothing of the
com m unity at all: “see that none of you repays evil for evil”
says Paul a few sentences later (٧٠ 15).
So where does this admittedly brief and fragmentary
look at the narrative mots of soteriology in Paul leave us?
The examples that we have explored reinforce a narrative
concerning Jesus as crucified Lord that challenges not only
the Roman imperial narrative of a conquering saviour, but
also those places in Israel’s scripture that tell the story of
God as a conquering saviour. However, in grounding his
narrative o f salvation precisely in Israel’s scriptures, Paul is
appealing to those places in the narrative where God is the

47 Harrison, ‫وو‬ .
 Horizons in Biblical Theology, Volume 26, Number 2, December 2004

one who is able to work salvation in the face of oppression,

sometimes in surprising ways.48
The value of such a reading, 1 suggest, is this. If as David
Horrell suggests, “exploring and narrating Pauls story can
be a means to articulate a counter narrative, a challenge to
this (and other) dom inant narratives, a means to envisage
hum an communities in which a different story constructs a
different sense o f identity and undergirds different patterns
o f com munity practice,” then Paul’s telling of the story o f
Jesus challenges the imperial narratives of both Rome and
Israel, and calls into being a com munity constructed by the
stoty o f a crucified saviour.49 Such a story, as is evident in
Paul’s continued calls to love the enem y repay no one evil
for evil, bless those who persecute, live peaceably and offer
food and drink to foe enem y ‫؟‬٠ undergirds fundamentally
different patterns of com munity life which subvert the story
o f the empire at every turn. Por those ofus who find ourselves
confronted by an imperial stoty that is equally violent and
equally concerned with salvation by military might, Paul’s
stoty o f a crucified saviour provides a different narrative on
which to model foe unfolding plot of our lives.

48 ‫ ل‬have not keen able to go into this aspect o f Paul’s ‫ ؟‬uotations in

much depth hete, but ‫ ل‬refer you to the works o f Richard Hays, Echoes ٠ /
Scripture in the hewers ofpaul, and Ross Vagner, Heralds ‫ ﺳ ﻤ ﻚ ﺳ ﻪ ر م‬:
Isaiah and Paul In Concert'in the Letter to the Romans (NovTSup 101;
p^iden: Brill, 2002).
49 Horrell, 170.
‫؟‬٥ Rom 12.14-21; 1 Thess 5*15.
 ‫آلﻣﺂورلم؛‬

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