Chapter Eleven.
The Paschal Community and its Hymns of Praise.
Firstborn and the Colossian hymn.
Introduction.
The purpose of this chapter is
to argue that the letter to the Colossians provides evidence of a Paschal
theology in the early church. This is a perspective that until now has gone
unnoticed. This oversight is despite the growing appreciation of the presence
of the New Exodus as a controlling paradigm in the thought pattern of the early
Christian community.[1] Regardless of the growing
recognition of the influence of the Exodus motif, the Passover as the heart of
the Exodus has not been explored. Of course, at the heart of the Passover is
the death of the firstborn.
My intention in the first part
of this chapter is to search for the possible origins of the hymn which is the
most important part of the theology of the letter. If there is evidence that
the Passover/Exodus celebration is a valid possibility, then the relevance of
the hymn to a Paschal theology will be explored. If this theme can be
identified as being present, then the theology of the letter is integral with
the theology of Romans, which we have seen to have distinct Paschal/Exodus
strands. This in turn will demonstrate the error of assuming that Paul was the
originator of a new theological understanding. It will rather establish that
there is no reason why Paul could not have written Colossians and also that
Paul is one with Jesus in centering his death in the event of the Passover. It
will also, if found to be Paschal based, provide further evidence that Paul’s
thinking is Semitic and not Hellensitic.
The authorship of the letter.
The Colossian letter has been
at the center of ongoing unresolved debate in Pauline studies. There are those
who say that the theology of the letter is uncharacteristic of Paul. This is
largely because of the presence of a highly developed cosmic Christology, which
is considered to be too late to be genuine Pauline material. It is claimed that
this is proof that the letter is the product of a second century imitator.[2] The motives for this imitation
are seen to range from a Paulinist who sought to promote what he thought would
be his teacher’s views in the developing challenges to the gospel, to an
impostor of a less worthy sort. Either way, Pauline authorship is denied and
the letter disqualified as a source in any inquiry into Paul’s thought.
A further example of a developed
theological theme is the letters doctrine of the church. Lohse rejected Pauline
authorship of the Colossian letter because, he says, the church is universal in
Colossians and not in the uncontested Pauline letters.[3] It is not possible to respond to Lohse in
the word limit of such a paper, but I believe that the Paschal/Exodus perspective
that I am arguing for nullifies the claim of Lohse.[4]
Literary
affinities.
It is not only the theology
that has caused misgivings over authorship. The letter has clear evidence of
literary affinities with Ephesians, the first letter of Peter, Romans and
Corinthians.[5] Some sort of
dependence is obvious, and this has been used as an additional argument to
claim that the letter is not authentically Pauline. This of course is not
convincing. The argument depends on the assumption that the theology has first
been settled to rule out Pauline authorship. On its own, the claim that Colossians
is copying Romans is as weak as saying that Paul has copied himself!
I would argue that Paschal
theology challenges the viability of rejecting Pauline authorship on the basis
of supposed theological incompatibility. Indeed, I would argue that the differences
are not due to development but due to the use of wrong paradigms and methods to
interpret Paul. There are others, however, who see no need to question the
authenticity of the letter even without appealing to the
[1] Watts Isaiah, passim; Joel, Way, passim; Evans, “Continuing”, 77-100; Stanton, Matthew, 232-55
[2]See Sanders, “Dependence”, 28 for examples of this argument.
[3] Lohse, E., “Christusherrshaft”, pp206-7, a view that is supported by Dunn, Colossians, 19.
[4] See my forthcoming volume Paul and the Spirit.
[5] Mitton, “Relationship”, p68 says that Colossians is closely related to Ephesians and 1 Peter. Lohse “Colossians” 213 says that the letter is stamped with Romans. Sanders “Dependence” 28 sees the letter as the work of a Paulinist who based it on Romans and Corinthians.