Paul: Apostle of the Heart Set Free

748 Pages·1977·5.08 MB·English

by  F. F. Bruce

Paul
Apostle of the Heat Set Free

‘Where the Spirit of the Lord is, there the heart is free’
(2 Corinthians 3:17, Basic English Version)

F. F. Bruce
DIGITAL LIBRARY
Copyright © 1977 F. F. Bruce
First published 1977 by Paternoster
Revised (second) Edition 1980
This Digital Edition 2005
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The right of F. F. Bruce to be identified as the Author of this Work has been asserted
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British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data
a Catalogue record for this book is
available from the British Library

ISBN 1-84227-302-7
TO MY GRAND-DAUGHTERS
HELEN, ANNA, ESTHER AND WINONA MARY
AND MY GRANDSONS
PETER, FREDERICK, ALAN AND PAUL

bearing in mind T.
R. Glover’s comment on a Roman Emperor’s condemnation of the Apostle to the
Gentiles—that the day was to come when men would call their dogs Nero and
their sons PAUL
List of Illustrations

The Publishers apologise for the quality of the illustrations, which have had to be
reproduced digitally from the original edition. We have nevertheless included them,
since we feel that a sub-standard illustration is better than no illustration at all.

Tarsus: St.
Paul’s Gate
Damascus: The Street Called Straight today
Jerusalem and the temple area today, seen from the Mount of
Olives Athens: A bronze tablet at foot of Areopagus
recording Paul’s speech
Athens: The Acropolis Corinth: Gallio’s bema
Ephesus: The theatre Caesarea: The theatre Rome: Appian Way
Rome: Inscriptions from Church of St. Praxedis and Church
of St. Sebastian
Rome: Catacombs of St.
Sebastian: graffiti invoking Peter and Paul
Rome: St.
Paul-Without-the-Walls: facade and porch, showing statue of Paul Rome: St.
Paul-Without-the-Walls: inscription above Paul’s tomb
Rome: Tre Fontane: Church of St. Paul, exterior Rome: Tre
Fontane: Church of St. Paul, interior Page of P46, showing
Galatians 6:10–18 and Philippians 1:1. P46 is the oldest
known manuscript of Paul’s letters (c. A.D. 200); it is one of
the Chester Beatty biblical papyri in the Chester Beatty
Library, Dublin
Acknowledgements

T
HE AUTHOR AND
PUBLISHERS ARE GRATEFULE TO THE FOLLOWING for help in
supplying illustrations: Abbazia delle Tre Fontane, facing pp 449, 464;
Barnaby’s Picture Library, facing pp 97, 352; Colin Hemer, facing pp 129, 256,
257; Pieterse Davison International, facing p 465; Bastiaan VanElderen, facing
pp 96, 128, 288, 289; Pontifical Commission of Sacred Archaeology, facing pp
353, 384.
Preface
T
HIS WORK IS DESIGNED TO GIVE A CONTINUOUS
PRESENTATION of material which has been delivered in
lectures or published piecemeal in written articles over many
years.
When I entered on my present appointment in the University
of Manchester in 1959, one of the lecture-courses already
prescribed in the syllabus for the Honours School of Biblical
Studies was entitled “The Missionary Career of Paul in its
Historical Setting”. My lectures for this specially congenial
course have provided the nucleus of the following chapters. I
had not previously been a stranger to Paul’s life and thought,
but in the past eighteen years I have devoted more time and
attention to this field of study than to any other. I have not
attempted to expound Paul’s teaching systematically but rather
to treat its main themes in their historical context, as Paul
himself had occasion to develop them in his letters.
Year by year since I came to Manchester I have given a
public lecture in the John Rylands Library (since 1972 the John
Rylands University Library of Manchester). Most of these have
dealt with some aspect of Pauline studies. They have
subsequently been published in the Library’s Bulletin.
The substance of eight of them is reproduced in the following pages: “St. Paul in
Rome, 1”, BJRL, March 1964 (Chapters 4, 31 and 32), “St. Paul in Rome, 2”,
Autumn 1965 (Chapter 34), “St. Paul in Rome, 3”, Spring 1966 (Chapter 35),
“St. Paul in Rome, 4”, Spring 1967 (Chapter 36), “St.
Paul in Rome, 5”, Spring 1968 (Chapter 37), “Paul and the Historical Jesus”,
Spring 1974 (Chapter 11), “Paul and the Law of Moses”, Spring 1975 (Chapter
18), “Christ and Spirit in Paul”, Spring 1977 (Chapter 12). For permission to
reproduce these in revised or adapted form I am indebted to Dr. F. W. Ratcliffe
(University Librarian and Director) and Dr. Frank Taylor (Principal Keeper and
Editor of the Bulletin).
Acknowledgment is also made to the Editor of The
Expository Times for permission to reproduce in Chapter 22
an expanded version of my paper “Paul and the Athenians” which appeared in
that journal for October 1976.
A specially grateful expression of indebtedness must be
made to my secretary, Miss Margaret Hogg, who with her
customary diligence and cheerfulness has typed the whole
work and given valuable help with proof-reading and with the
compilation of the index. Her beautiful and accurate typescript
has made the printer’s task incomparably easier than it would
have been if he had been faced with the problem of deciphering
my manuscript—a problem which she has tackled with
confidence and success.
1977
F.F.B
Abbreviations

AJA American Journal of Archaeology
Ant. Antiquities (Josephus)
AV Authorized (King James) Version
BC The Beginnings of Christianity, ed. F. J. Foakes
Jackson and K. Lake (London, 1920–33)
BGU Berliner Griechische Urkunden
BJ De Bella Iudaico (Jewish War) (Josephus)
BJRL Bulletin of the John Rylands (University) Library,
Manchester
BZNW Beiträge zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche
Wissenschaft
CD Book of the Covenant of Damascus (= Zadokite
Work)
CIG Corpus Inscriptionum Graecarum
CIL Corpus Inscriptionum Latinarum
CSEL Corpus Scriptorum Ecclesiasticorum Latinorum
DACL Dictionnaire d’Archéologie chrétienne et de Liturgie
EQ The Evangelical Quarterly
E. T. English Translation
Ev. Th. Evangelische Theologie
HDB Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible (5 volumes)
Hist. Eccl. Historia Ecclesiastica (Eusebius)
HJP History of the Jewish People in the Age of Jesus
Christ, E. T. (E. Schürer)
ibid. ibidem (“in the same place”)
ICC International Critical Commentary
IGRR Inscriptiones Graecae ad Res Romanas Pertinentes
JBL Journal of Biblical Literature
JRS Journal of Roman Studies
JTS Journal of Theological Studies
loc. cit. loco citato (“at the place cited”)
LXX Septuagint (pre-Christian Greek version of Old
Testament)