Paul and Jesus : kingdom, law and love

Abstract

Jesus' and Paul's theology on the kingdom of God, law/justification and love/ethics shows that God's covenant promise and his saving grace encompassed all - Jew and Gentile alike. However, the centrality of the cross and resurrection as well as the lack of Jesus tradition in Paul's letters has given rise to the Jesus Paul debate which questions whether Paul changed Christ's message. This study shows that although for Paul the story of God's covenant with his people reached its climax with the death and resurrection of his Son, both Jesus and Paul preached the same story of love, hope and salvation This dissertation is divided into three mum chapters with an introduction and a conclusion. The introduction gives a brief exposition on the relationship between Jesus' and Paul's theology as well as the motivation for exploring this issue. Chapter one explores Jesus' and Paul's teachings on the kingdom of God. Indeed the kingdom of God forms the central theme of Jesus' preaching from the outset of his ministry. Like Jesus, Paul saw the arrival of the kingdom of God as the fulfilment of the eschatological hopes of the Old Testament. Chapter two of this dissertation deals with the question of law and justification. It explores the view on the law as found in the Gospels. The emergence of the 'new perspective' on Paul has influenced Pauline studies. The new reading on Paul is most evident in the theology of justification/righteousness The third chapter, love and ethics in Jesus and Paul, is the link of the three main concepts in the Jesus/Paul relationship. It is through this theme that one finds the common thread running through both Jesus' and Paul's theology. Chapter four, the conclusion of this dissertation, illustrated the connections found between Jesus' and Paul's theology. It shows how the three themes are linked in that God's kingdom is attained through righteousness, which in turn is linked to justification as we are justified by faith in Christ and in living a life filled with love for one another. Finally, the conclusion also expounds how Jesus' and Paul's theology on kingdom, justification and love oilers a valid contribution to filling the void created by the confusion and emptiness that has been the legacy of post-modernism.