7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

1/21

New Testament Studieshttp://journals.cambridge.org/NTS

Additional services for New Testament Studies:

Email alerts: Click here

Subscriptions: Click hereCommercial reprints: Click hereTerms of use : Click here

Paul's Thinking about Resurrection in its Jewish

Context

Alan F. Segal

New Testament Studies / Volume 44 / Issue 03 / July 1998, pp 400 - 419

DOI: 10.1017/S0028688500016623, Published online: 05 February 2009

Link to this article: http://journals.cambridge.org/abstract_S0028688500016623

How to cite this article:Alan F. Segal (1998). Paul's Thinking about Resurrection in its Jewish Context. NewTestament Studies, 44, pp 400-419 doi:10.1017/S0028688500016623

Request Permissions : Click here

Downloaded from http://journals.cambridge.org/NTS, IP address: 189.235.125.24 on 11 Sep 2014

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

2/21

New Test.

Stud.

vol. 44 ,19 98 , pp. 400- 419 Copyright 1998 Cam bridge Univ ersity Press

Printed in the United Kingdom

PAUL S THINKING ABOUT RESURR ECTION

IN ITS JEWISH CONTEXT*

ALAN F. SEGAL

Barnard College, Columbia University, New York City, NY, USA

Paul describes his discipleship and mission, in short his apostolate, in

term s of h is vision of the resu rrection of the exalted Chris t. The glorious

body of Christ and the spiritual body are similar in substance because

one is transfo rm ed into the other, a conclusion based on his own experi-

ence of visions of the risen Christ in a body but not a physical body in

normal sight. This notion of Christ's risen activity contrasts strongly

with the later gospel description of the risen Christ. It comes out of

Jewish apocalypticism, revalued to express his new Christian vision of

the end.

Paul stands firmly within the Jewish apocalyptic-mystical tra-

dition. His understanding of the end of time and the resurrection is

firmly apocalyptic. He describes his own spiritual experiences in

terms appropriate to a Jewish apocalyptic-mystagogue of the first

century. I want to show that apocalyptic in Paul's case implies

mystical revelation. Many of his discussions of resurrection depend

directly on the apocalyptic end, an intuition about history which he

received from personal revelation.

Let me begin with apocalypticism and his concept of discipleship:

For they themselves report concerning us what a welcome we had among

you, and how you turned to God from idols, to serve a living and true God,

and to wait for his Son from heaven, whom he raised from the dead, Jesus

who delivers u s from the w rath to come. (1 Thess1.9-10)

Here, we see a characteristically Pauline use of an apparently

kerygmatic formula concerning resurrection in a missionary con-

text. That approaching resurrection is what justifies the mission.

Having turned from idols, Paul's converts learn to wait for God's

son from heaven, who will rescue them from the coming wrath.

This seems in some respect a violation of the apocalyptic passage

in Dan 7.13 where the role of the son of man figure is to bring

judgment. But one supposes the protection of innocent is part of

* Main paper delivered at the 52nd General Meeting of the SNTS in Birmingham in August

1997.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

3/21

PAUL S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 401

the larger role of judgment. And the proof th a t all these thin gs are

about to happen is that Jesus, the son, was raised from the dead.

A similar formula can be found in the salutation of the Letter to

the Romans where Jesus is mentioned as

seed of David

according

to the flesh but, more importantly,

son

according to spirit and

power,

our Lord

as a result of the resurrection.

Lord

is, of course, a

divine title and resurrection is what God, not the messiah, would

effect at the end of time in apocalyptic literature. Jesus' lordship is

inherent in the resurrection, the transformation from his earthly,

fleshly state to his spiritual and powerful state. Thus the relation-

ship between flesh and spirit is homologous with the relationship

between son of David and son of God. We shall see that it is also

homologous with the distinction between physical bodies and

spiritual bodies. It is the hypothesis of this paper that this contrast

is due to Paul's experience: he received an apocalyptic-mystical

vision of the Christ but never met the man Jesus in the flesh at all.

Consequently, his entire explanation of the distinction between

flesh and spirit is congruent with his experience of revelation,

including his high evaluation of spirituality in Christianity and his

lack of attention to the person of Jesus as he appeared in life.

Though the contrast is characteristic of Pauline thought, some

of the v ocabulary m ay well have preceded Pa ul's u ses and have

been part of the primitive tradition. On the other hand, like the

expression 'become a life-giving Spirit' in 1 Cor 15.45, Paul may

have added the notion of power to the salutation.

1

In the main,

however, the emphasis of the contrast between these two states

seems to me to express his post-Christian experience of polemic

and argument over his very apostolate. Because this is a question

of emphasis rather than the specific interpretation of a single

passage, it will be necessary to outline his thought from this point

of view, rath er tha n attem pt a tight demonstration.

Paul's use of kerygmatic resurrection traditions appears to grow

out of Jewish missionary literature, in which the promise of resur-

rection and the fear of the end of time featu re prom inently, as one

would expect in an apocalyptic preacher. At the same time, the

specific nature of his personal vision of Christ changes the quality

of that apocalyptic prophecy so that Paul forever alters that

tradition for Christian apocalypticism afterwards (1 Thess 4.13-

18).

This passage explains that the resurrection of all Christians

will follow closely upon the coming of the Lord, also explicitly

1 See P. Perkins,Resurrection: New Testamen t Witness and C ontemporary Reflection (1st ed.

Gard en City, NY: Doubleday, 1984) 219.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

4/21

4 0 2 ALAN F. SEGAL

called both Jesus and Christ, a very interesting and important

identification. This formula both shows Paul to be entirely within

the Jewish mystical tradit ion and to have made important

Christian modifications in it. But it does not go on in detail about

the nature of the apocalyptic end. Instead Paul features the issue

of resurrection. Paul is not as concerned with the punishment of

sinners as he is with the rewards of the faithful, in this case, his

gentile converts. But the contrast appears again to be related to his

conversion experience and the nature of his knowledge of the

Christ.

In 1 Thess 4, the resurrection of all living believers immediately

follows upon the resurrection of the dead. Jesus will keep faith

with the dead, called those who have fallen asleep as in Dan 12

(tcov

Koip-conevcov)

and Isa

26.

Thus, Pau l reproduces a typical apoca-

lyptic pattern, though his apocalyptic pattern has several unique

and quite identifiably Christian characteristics.

Other passages which include primitive statements of the

kerygma about resurrection would include Rom 4.24-5; 8.34; 10.9;

a n d 2 T i m 2 . 8 - 1 3 :

2

It will be recko ned to us who believe in him who raised Je su s ou r Lord from

the dead,

who was handed over to death for our trespasses and was raised for our

justification. (Rom 4.24-5)

It is Christ Jesus, who died, yes, who was raised, who is at the right hand of

God, who indeed in tercede s for us .

3

(Rom 8.34)

because

4

if you confess with your lips that Jesus is Lord and believe in your

hea rt th a t God raised him from th e dead, you will be saved. (Rom 10.9)

Rem ember Je su s Ch rist, raised from the dead, a descendant of David

that

is my gospel, for which I suffer ha rds hip , even to the p oint of being chained

like a criminal. But the word of God is not chained. Therefore I endure

everything for the sake of the elect, so that they may also obtain the

salvation th at is in Christ Jesus, with eternal glory.

The saying is sure:

If

we

have died w ith him, we will also live with him;

if we en dure, w e will also reign w ith him;

if we den y him , he w ill also deny us ;

if we ar e faithless, he re ma ins faithful

for he cannot denyhimself.(2 Tim 2.8-13)

Paul is most dependent upon this traditional imagery when

speaking about the future judgm ent. But as R. Tanneh ill suggests,

2

See Perkins,Resurrection, 219-28.

3

Or 'Is it Christ Jesus .. . for us?'

4

Or 'namely, that'.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

5/21

PAUL'S THINK ING ABOUT RESURRECTION 403

Paul emphasizes not visions of the end so much as the life of the

believer in the r isen Christ .

5

But the s implest way to connect the

two ideas is merely to at tr ibute both to the saving action of God.

2 Cor 4.14 contains a short summary of that

belief:

' knowing tha t

he who raised the Lord wil l bring us with you into his presence ' .

Re surrec tion is the beginning of this process of transfo rm ation and

salva t ion .

I t is diff icult to explain why exactly Paul de-emphasizes tra-

ditional notions of the end of time in place of the experience of the

presence of Christ except to say that this appears to be a con-

sequence of his own spiritual experience. In place of any florid

description of the end of t ime, Paul elaborates on the relat ionship

between resurrection and apostolic commissioning, which is deeply

connected to h is own convers ion (ca l l ) in Gala t ians and h is

descript ion of resurrection in 1 C orint hian s 15.

For instance, we see the connection made clearly when Paul is

accused of an t inomianism: 'Paul an apost le

not from m en nor

through man, but through Jesus Chr is t and God the Father , who

raised him from the dead' (Gal 1.1).

The g ree t ing emphas izes the connec t ion be tween apos to l ic

authority and resurrection, especially as Paul, otherwise, is fond of

rather more simple formulas in his correspondence (1 Cor 1.1;

2 Cor 1.1 an d Rom l . l ) .

6

In 1 Cor 9.111 Paul again responds to

accusa t ions tha t appear to have been level led a t h is miss ionary

activi ty . And once again, he emphasizes resurrection and his per-

sonal vision of Christ: 'Am I not free? Am I not an apostle? Have I

not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the

Lord?' (1 Cor 9.1). It is this question which appears to occasion the

remarks o f1 Cor 15, concentrat ing so fully on resurrection. Thus,

with Paul we can begin to discuss the effect of Jewish mystical and

apocalyptic visions not ju st a s a w ar ni ng of th e end of tim e and as

vindication for those who stay faithful to the precepts of Judaism

but as an important sp i r i tua l exper ience wi th in the l i fe of an

indiv idual Jew ( in th is case a Chr is t ian but Paul might not have

understood the difference; he never uses the term Christ ian).

Now , in 1 Cor 9, P au l u se s th e per fect te ns e of opdco (to see) to

describe his visionary experience

(OOK

ei(xl

eXevQepoq;

otnc e{|xl doto-

q;

ox> \

'ITIOOUV TOV

icupiov f||icov ecopaica;

ox>

TO

epyov

\iox>

h\ieic,

eaxe

5

R. C. Tan nehill ,Dying and Rising w ith Christ: A Study in Pauline Theology (BZNW 32;

Berlin: Top elma nn, 1967)

130ff.

See also Perkins ,R esurrection, 295.

6 Perkins,R esurrection, 197.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

6/21

4 0 4 ALAN F. SEGAL

ev icoptcp;). This suggests that Paul is emphasizing that his vision

was equivalent to norma l seeing, ju st as you and I m ight see each

other. But Paul actually does not want to stress the ordinariness of

the seeing here. He is aware of and very conscious of the special

nature of his revelation. Rather it is the continuity with others

th at P au l wa nts to stress , not the natu re of the seeing.

7

Much more often Paul wants to demonstrate that his vision of

Christ was of the same type and order as that of the other apostles.

In 1 Cor 15.57 and elsewhere Paul uses the aorist passive 6kp6r| to

describe this kind of seeing. The visionary language works in

several ways at once. First, it follows the tradition of the LXX for

describing visions. In the Septuagint the aorist passive form is

used frequently with the sense of visionary seeing or seeing a

divine being. Again, it is important to note that Paul uses the very

same verb and form to describe his own seeing and that of the

original apostles. This demonstrates his contention that he is their

equal in every way. Conversely this suggests that the original

apostles saw no more than he did. Of course, the original apostles

saw and knew the Jesus of the flesh. But it is not their experience

of the teacher Jesus which is important in this context. And the

reason for th is is tha t it is not the earthly Je sus who preaches and

demonstrates that the resurrection has already started. Rather

the vision of the risen Jesus makes this clear. Because Jesus has

been

seen

or

revealed

in this very way, we know that the general

resurrection has begun and we also know that Paul and all those

who saw him in his transformed state are the first apostles and

prophets of this new epoch in hum an history.

8

It is very important

to note that Paul knows this because of his visions, in which the

embodied Christ was revealed to him.

Paul's references to apocalypses and visions, as well as heavenly

ascent, also put him squarely within apocalyptic tradition. The

plural is very important in this context because it states surely

that Paul's reception of revelation was progressive. Although the

account of Paul's ecstatic conversion in Acts is a product of Luke's

literary genius, Paul gives evidence for ecstatic experience in

the justly famous passage 2 Cor 12.1-10. As in Gal 1, Paul calls

this experience an

apokalypsis,

an apocalypse, a revelation. Just

as in Acts and Gal 1, the actual vision is not described. Unlike

7

See, for example, the discussion ofT.Lorenzen,Resurrection and D iscipleship: Interpretive

Models, Biblical Reflections, Theological Consequences(Maryknoll: Orbis, 1995) 127-46.

8

Joost Holleman,Resurrection and Parousia: A Traditio-Historical Study of Paul's Eschato-

logy in 1 Corinthians 15(Leiden: Brill, 1996).

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

7/21

PAUL'S THINK ING ABOUT RESURRE CTION 405

Luke's general description of Paul's conversion and Gal 1, however,

this passage contains hints of a heavenly vision or possibly two

different ones, depending on whether the paradise visited in the

ascension can be located in the third heaven.

9

Thus, the vision is

both mystical and apocalyptic.

10

Similar ascensions can be seen in

apocalyptic litera ture - for instance ,

1Enoch

39.3;

52.1,

and 71.1-5

as well as

2 Enoch

3, 7, 8, 11 and

3 Baruch

2. Paul's reference

to the third heaven confirms the environ m ent of Jew ish apoca-

lypticism and mysticism. Paul's experience differs from other

Jewish mystics in that he identified the angelic seated figure in

Exodus, Daniel and Ezekiel as Christ. Leaving aside the special

Christian polemic that the man on the throne is the messiah Jesus

and is also greater than an angel, Paul's statements are important

evidence for the existence of first-century Jewish mysticism.

Notice, however, that Paul does not know whether this journey

takes place in the body or not. This ambiguity will parallel his

vision of Christ.

The information contained in 2 Cor 12 is so abstruse and esoteric

that it must be teased from context and combined with our meagre

knowledge of apocalypticism and Jewish mysticism. While tech-

niques of theurgy and heavenly ascent were secret lore in rabbinic

literature (see

b. Hagiga

13a-15b), rabbinic literature starts in the

9

Paradise or the garden of Eden was often conceived as lying in one of the heavens, though

the exact location differs from one apocalyptic work to another. See M. Himmelfarb,

Tours of

Hell: The Developm ent and Transmission of an Apocalyptic F orm in Jewish and Christian

Literature

(Phila delph ia: University of Penn sylvan ia, 1984).

2 Enoch,

for example, locates

them in the third heaven. But 2 Enoch may have been influenced by Paul's writings, even

though the shorter version mentions worship in the Temple in a way that suggests it is still in

existence, thus ante datin g 70 CE.

1 0

In different ways, the close relationship between mysticism and apocalypticism has been

touched upon by several scholars of the last decade, myself included. See my Two Powers in

Heaven: Early Rabbinic Reports About C hristianity and G nosticism (SJLA 25; Leiden: E. J.

Brill, 1977); I. Gruenwald, Apocalyptic and Merkabah Mysticism (Leiden-Cologn e: Brill,

1979);

and now especially C. Rowland, The Open Heaven : A Study of Apocalyptic in Judaism

and Early Christianity (New York: Crossroads, 1982) and Ja rl F ossum , The Name ofGodand

the Angel of theLord: Samaritan and Jewish Concepts of Intermediation and the Origin of

Gnosticism (WUNT 1.36; Tubin gen: Mohr-S iebeck, 1985). The P aulin e passa ge is also deeply

rooted in Jewish and Hellenistic ascension traditions, which imposed a certain structure of

ascent on all reports of this period. See also my 'Heavenly Ascent in Hellenistic Judaism,

Early Christianity and their Environments ' , ANRW 2.23.2 (Berlin: W. de Gruy ter, 1980)

1333-94; M. Dean-Otting, Heavenly Journeys: A Study of the Motif in Hellenistic Jewish

Literature (Fra nkfur t-Ne w York: Peter Lang, 1984); I. P. Culianu, Psychanodia I: A Survey of

the Evidence of the Ascension of the Soul and its Relevance (Leiden: E. J. Brill, 1983). Culianu

has also published a more general work, Experiences de VExtase: Extase, a scension et r&cit

visionnaire de I'helUnisme au moyen age (Paris: Payot, 1984), introduction by Mircea Eliade.

The verbharpazo in Greek and its Latin equivalent rapto is sometimes shared with pagan

ascensions (sol me rapuit, etc.), but also probably initially denotes both the rapture of vision

and the specific heaven ly journey s of Enoch (Hebrew:laqah =Greek: metetheken).

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

8/21

4 0 6 ALAN F. SEGAL

third century, so without Paul we could not dem onstrate th at such

traditions existed as early as the first century.

11

Most people understand the passage to refer to Paul

himself.

12

Although Paul says he is boasting, he does not explicitly ident-

ify himself as the ecstatic voyager, since rhetoric demands his

modesty and he says that nothing will be gained by his boasting.

This follows from his statement that charismatic gifts cannot

themselves prove faith (1 Cor 1213). Paul may actually be tact-

fully revealing some secret information about his own visions in

this passage, but doing it in such a way that he cannot be accused

of breaking confidentiality.

13

When Paul is not faced with a direct declaration of personal

mystical experience, he reveals much about the mystical religion as

it was experienced in the first century. Paul himself designates

Christ as the image of the Lord in a few places: 2 Cor 4.4; Col 1.15

(if it is Pauline), and he mentions the |iop(pr| of God in Phil 2.6.

14

More often he talks of transforming believers into the image of his

son in various ways (Rom 8.29; 2 Cor 3.18; Phil 3.

21;

1 Cor 15.49;

see also Col 3.9). These passages are critical to understanding

Paul's experience of transformation, resurrection, and conversion.

They must be seen in closer detail to understand the relationship

1 1

Whether or not Paul's experiences typified the rabbis has been debated vigorously with

acute attention to the implications for rabbinic rationalism. The debate misses the obvious

point th at the evidence for these experiences occurs all over Judaism in the Hellenistic period

and is coterminous with Pharisaic Judaism. If Paul is the mystic, there is a close connection

between this apocalypticism and Pharisaic Judaism. Precisely what the connection is still

cannot be defined, but Paul gives us interesting hints about it. It is ironic that scholars who

accept almost all rabbinic datings at face value seem reluctant to believe these traditions,

supposing that all mystical experience is something despicable for the rabbis. Debating the

reliability of talmudic reports that the early rabbis engaged in such practices regularly

becomes somewhat theoretical, when the Mishnah's testimony for the first century is now

suspect on general methodological grounds, according to J. Neusner,The Rabbinic

Traditions

about the Pharisees

before

70,

3 vols.:

The

Masters,

The

Houses, Conclusion (Leiden: Brill,

1971).

1 2

See W. Baird, 'Visions, Revelation, and Ministry: Reflections on 2 Cor 12.1-5 and Gal

1.11-17 ,JBL

104 (1985) 651-62. See also C. Forbes, 'Comparison, Self-Praise and Irony:

Paul's Boasting and the Conventions of Hellenistic Rhetoric',

NT S

32 (1986) 1-30. Paul does

not say that the man saw nothing, he only mentions what the man heard. While we are on the

subject of difficulties, a significant exception to the identification of Paul with the mystic is

Morton Smith,

Clement of

Alexandria

and a Secret

Gospel

of

Mark (Cambridge: Harvard

University, 1975);

Jesus the

Magician(New York: Harper and Row, 1978). He believes that

the passage refers to Jesus, although Paul never met the man Jesus. As we shall see, the

passage is probably another record of the kind of experience Paul had in meeting the risen

Christ, this time in heaven.

1 3

Alan F. Segal,

Paul theConvert:

The Apostolate

and

Apostasy

of Saul the

Pharisee (New

Haven: Yale University, 1990)40-51.

1 4

In this section, I am particularly endebted to G. Quispel, 'Hermetism and the New

Testament, Especially Paul',

ANRW

2.22, forthcoming.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

9/21

PAUL'S THINK ING ABOUT RESURREC TION 407

to Jewish apocalypticism and mysticism, from which they derive

their most complete significance for Paul. Paul's longest discussion

of these them es occurs in an unlikely place in 2 Cor 3.18-4.6. Here

he assumes the context rather than explaining it completely:

And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being

changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to ano ther; for this comes

from the Lord who is the Spirit (fi|ieiq 8e

navxeq

dvociceKaA/onnivG)Ttpoacmtco

ir\v

So^av icupioi) KaTOjrtpi6|ivoi TTIVOOTHVeiicova (iETanop

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

10/21

4 0 8 ALANF.SEGAL

skin of his face shines with light, as the Bible states (Exod 34.29-

35).

Moses thereafter must wear a veil except when he is in the

presence of the Lord. Paul assum es th at Moses made an ascension

to the presence of the Lord, was transformed by th a t encounter and

that his shining face is a reflection of the encounter.

So far Paul is using strange and significant mystical language.

But what is immediately striking about it is that Paul uses that

language to discuss his own and other Christians' experience in

Christ. Paul explicitly compares Moses' experience with his own

and that of Christian believers. Their transformation is of the

same sort, but the Christian transformation is greater and more

permanent. Once the background of the vocabulary is pointed out,

Paul's daring claims for Christian experience become clear. The

point, therefore, is that some Christian believers also witness a

theophany as important as the one vouchsafed to Moses, but the

Christian theophany is greater still, as Paul himself has experi-

enced. The Corinthians are said to be a message from Christ (3.2),

who is equated with the Glory of God. The new community of

gentiles is not a letter written on stone (Jer 31.33), but it is

delivered by Paul as Moses delivered the Torah to Israel. The new

dispensation is more splendid than the last, not needing the veil

with which Moses hid his face. Paul's own experience proved to

him and for Christianity that all will be transformed as Moses was

not ju st the face bu t the whole body.

Thus,Paul's term, 'the Glory of the Lord' must be taken both as a

reference to Christ and as a technical term for the Kavod

(TOD),

the human form of God appearing in biblical visions. In 2 Cor 3.18,

Paul says that Christians behold the Glory of the Lord

(TTIV

86^av

as in a mirror, and are transformed into his image (xf|v

evKova).

16

For Paul, as for the earliest Jewish mystics, to be

6 The use of the m irror here is also a magico-mystical theme, which can be traced to the

wordys occurring in Ezekiel 1. Although it is sometimes transla ted otherwise,ysi probably

refers to a mirror even there, and possibly refers to some unexplained technique for achieving

ecstasy. The mystic bowls of the magical papyri and Talmudic times were filled with water

and oil to reflect light and stimulate trance. The magical papyri describe spells which use a

small bowl that serves as the medium for the appearance of a god for divination: e.g.,PG M

IV,

154-285

(Betz, pp.

40-3),PDM

14.1-92, 295-308,395-127,528-53,

627-35,

805-^0, 841-50,

851-5

(Betz, pp. 195-200, 213, 218-9, 225-6 , 229, 236-9). The participant concentrates on

thereflection in th e w ater's surface, often with oil added to the mixture, sometimes with the

light

of a lamp nearby. Lamps and charms are also used to produce divinations, presumably

because they can stimulate trance under the proper conditions. TheReuyoth Yehezkel, for

instance,

mention t ha t Ezekiel's mystical vision was stimulated by looking into the waters

of the River Chebar. It seems to me that Philo appropriates the mystic imagery of the mirror

to discuss the allegorical exposition of scripture. See The Contemplative Life 78 and

D.Georgi,Die Gegner des Paulus im

2.

Korintherbrief(Neukirchen: Neukirchener, 1964) 272-

3.Paul's opponents then look into the mirror and see only the text. But because Paul and

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

11/21

PAUL'S THIN KING ABOUT RESURRE CTION 409

privileged enough to see theKavod or Glory (56a) of God is a pro-

logue to transformation into his image

(eiiccov),

to his

selem(D

1

?^),

as

the Hebrew of Gen 1.26 puts the phrase. This is parallel to the

journey Enoch makes to the divine throneroom where he is trans-

formed into the figure on the throne, the son of man. In

3 Enoch,

he becomes the angel Metatron. Paul does not say that all Chris-

tians have made the journey literally but compares the experience

of knowing Christ to being allowed into the intimate presence of

the Lord. But we have good reason to suspect that he himself has

made t hat journey; at the very least he knows others who have.

The re su lt of the journey is to identify Chris t as th e Glory of God.

When Paul says that he preaches that Jesus is Lord and that God

lias let this light shine out of darkness into our hearts to give the

light of knowledge of the glory of

God

in the face of Christ' (4.6), he

seems clearly to be describing his own call or conversion and

ministry, ju s t as he described it in Gal 1, and jus t as he is explain-

ing the experience to new converts for the purpose of furthering

conversion. His apostolate, which he expresses as a prophetic

calling, is to proclaim that the face ofChrist is the Glory of God

that he has the face and marks of the crucified messianic candidate

whom God has vindicated through resurrection. It is very difficult

not to read this passage in terms of Paul's later description of the

ascension of the man to the third heaven and conclude that Paul's

conversion experience also involved his identification of Jesus as

the 'image' and 'Glory of God', as the human figure in heaven, and

thereafter as Christ, son, and saviour. Or at least this is how Paul

construes it w hen he recalls it.

The identification of Christ with the Glory of God brings a

transformation and sharing of the believer with the

image

as

well. This is the same as regaining the image of God which Adam

lost. This transformation is accomplished through death and re-

birth in Christ, which can be experienced in direct visions as Paul

apparently did, or subsequently by anyone through baptism. But

the important thing is to note how completely the theophanic

language from Greek and Jewish mystical piety has been appro-

priated for discussing what we today call conversion. It is Paul's

primary language for describing the experience of conversion,

because it gives a sense of the

transformation

and

divinizing

tha t

he feels is inheren t in his encounter with the risen Christ.

Ecstatic ascensions like the one described in 2 Cor 12, and

those truly in Christ actually behold the Glory of the Lord, they have a clearer vision on the

truth.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

12/21

4 1 0 ALAN F.SEGAL

spiritual metamorphoses like 2 Cor 3 are strangely unfamiliar to

modern Jewish and Christian religious sentiments. Neither Chris-

tianity nor rabbinic Judaism transmitted these lively mystical

Jewish traditions of the first century openly. But in the context of

the first few centuries, the combination of these two themes of

ascension and transformation, both inside and outside Judaism,

normally suggested the gaining of immortality and the context

of Jewish mysticism also connects with the issue of theodicy.

Dan 12 suggests that those who lead others to wisdom (or 'the

enlighteners' D'^'Dtonn) will shine as the brightness of the heavens

O p-in -imD w n r ) , like the sta rs (D'3D"DD), and t ha t th ey will be

among those resurrected for eternal reward. This scripture implies

that the teachers or apostles or the missionaries will be trans-

formed into angels, since the stars and angels are equated con-

tinuously and from the very earliest levels of biblical tradition (e.g.

Ju dg 5.20 and Job 38.7). This m eans, by the way, th at P au l h as

every right to expect his own transform ation at th e end of time and

suggests another reason why apostolic status is so important to

him. The

Parables of Enoch (1 Enoch

3771) contains the interest-

ing narration of the tranformation of Enoch into the son of man,

but no one can be sure that this is not itself a Christian addition to

th e text, since it agrees so completely with the transformation th a t

Paul outl ines.

17

Without Paul we could not suppose that this

experience is evidenced in the first century because the date of

1 Enoch

is uncertain. Nor would we know that the mystic experi-

ence was even possible within Judaism. What Paul is suggesting

therefore is tha t the transformation of Je su s into

Lord

makes him

a divine c rea tive a nd is the begin ning of the fulfilment of th e

passage in Dan 12 that the wise will shine like the brightness of

the heaven and that those who show people this truth will become

angels.

Paul's famous description of Christ's experience of humility and

obedience in Phil 2.511 also hints that the identification of Jesus

with the image of God was re-enacted in the church in a liturgical

mode. In Phil 2.6, the identification of Jesus with the form of God

implies his pre-existence. The Christ is depicted as an eternal

aspect of divinity which was not proud of its high station but

1 7

The romance of exaltation to immortality was hardly a unique Jewish

motif;

rather it

was characteristic of all higher spirituality of later Hellenism - witness the Hermetic litera-

ture.Even in a relatively unsophisticated text like the magical Recipe for Immortality (the so-

called Mithras Liturgy) of third-century Egypt, the adept gains a measure of immortality by

gazing directly on the god and breathing in some of his essence.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

13/21

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 4 1 1

consented to take on human shape and suffer the fate of humanity,

even death on a cross (though many scholars see this phrase as a

Pauline addition to the original hymn). This transformation of

form from divinity is followed by the converse, the retransfor-

mation into God. Because of this obedience God exalted him and

bestowed on him the 'name which is above every name' (Phil 2.9).

For a Jew this phrase can only mean that Jesus received the divine

name Yahweh, the tetragrammaton YHWH, understood as the

Greek name icopioq,

Lord.We have already seen that sha ring in the

divine name is a frequent motif of the early Jewish apocalypticism

where the principal angelic mediator of God is or carries the name

Yahweh, as Exod 23 describes the angel of Yahweh. Indeed the

implication of the Greek term (xopcpri, 'form', is tha t Christ has the

form of a divine body identical with the Kavod, the Glory, and

equivalent also with the

EVKCOV,

for man is made after the eiKcov of

God and thus has the divine H-opcpri (Hebrew

rviD"l).

The climax of

Paul's confession is that 'Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God

the Father' (Phil 2.11), meaning that Jesus, the messiah, has

received the nameLordin his glorification, and th at th is na m e, not

Jesus 'private earthly nam e, is the one which will cause every knee

to bend and every tongue confess.

18

In paraphrasing this fragment from liturgy, Paul witnesses that

the early Christian community directed its prayers to this human

figure of divinity along with God

1

Cor 16.22; Rom 10.9-12 ; 1 Cor

12.3) - all the more striking since the Christians, like the Jews,

refuse to give any other god or hero any veneration at all. When

the rabbis gain control of the Jewish community they vociferously

argue against the worship of any angel and specifically polemicize

against the belief that a heavenly figure other than God can forgive

sins

(b. Sanh.

38b), quo ting Exod 23.21 prom inently among othe r

scriptures to prove their point. The heresy itself they call believing

that there are 'two powers in heaven'.

19

By this term the rabbis

largely (but not exclusively) referred to Christians who, as Paul

1 8

The bibliography on the Pauline and post-Pauline hymns in Phil 2.6-11 and Col1.15-20

appears endless. See E. Schillebeeckx,Jesus: an Experiment in Christology(New York:

Seabury,

1979);

M.

Hengel, 'Hymn and Christology', in E. A. Livingstone, ed.,Studio.

Biblica

1972,

173-97,

reprinted in Hengel,

Between Jesus an d Paul,

78-96;

J. Murphy-O'Connor,

'Christological

Anthropology in Phil. 2.6-11',

RB

83 (1976) 25-50 and D. Georgi, 'Der

vorpaulinische Hymnus Phil.2:6-11',in E. Dinkier, ed.,Zeit und

Geschichte,

Dankesgabe an

Rudolf Bultmann

(Tubingen: Mohr, 1964)263-93,esp. p. 291 for bibliography. Kasemann

emphasizes tha t Paul's metaphoric use of the body and its separate parts is charac teristic of

paraenetic

sections, emphasizing the relationship between the believer and the risen Lord.

See Schweizer,TDNT7,1073.

1 9

Segal,Two Pow ers inHeaven.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

14/21

4 1 2 ALAN F.SEGAL

says,

do exactly what the rabbis warn against - worship the second

power.

20

Concomitant with Paul's worship of the divine Christ is trans-

formation. Paul says in Phil 3.10 'that I may know him and the

power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings, becoming

like him in his death' (av|j.|iop(pi6n.vo

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

15/21

PAUL'S THIN KING ABOUT RESURRE CTION 413

may even have survived from a pre-Christian setting because Paul

does not mention resurrection here at all. Clearly glorification is

doing the job of resurrection in this passage. Likewise, in Rom 12.2

Paul's listeners are exhorted to

*be

transformed (nexanopcpovaGe) by

renewing of your minds'. In Gal 4.19 Paul expresses another but

very similar transformation: 'My little children, with whom I am

again in travail until Christ be formed (|xop(pco0f\) in you ' This

transformation is to be effected by becoming like him in his death

(a-o|i(iop(pi^6|a.evoq

T p GavaTW

onkou Phil 3.10).

Paul's central proclamation is: Jesus is Lord and all who have

faith have already undergone a death like his will also share in his

resurrection. As we have seen, this proclamation reflects a baptis-

mal liturgy, implying that baptism provides the moment whereby

the believer comes to be 'in Christ'. Christianity may have been a

unique Jewish sect in making baptism a central rather than a

preparatory ritual, but some of the mystical imagery comes from

its Jewish past.

Paul speaks of the transformation being partly experienced by

believers already in their pre-parousia existence. His use of the

present tense in Rom 12.2 and 2 Cor 3.18 underscores that trans-

formation as an ongoing event. However in

1

Cor 15.49 and Rom 8

it culminates at Christ's return, the parousia. This suggests that

for Paul transformation is both a single, definitive event yet also a

process that continues until the second coming. The redemptive

and transformative process appears to correspond exactly with the

turning of the ages. This age is passing away, though it certainly

remains a present evil reality (1 Cor 3.19, 5.9; 2 Cor 4.4; Gal 1.4;

Rom 12.2). The gospel, which is the power of God for salvation

(Rom

1.16),

is progressing through the world (Phil 1.12; also Rom

9-11). This is why Paul does not prophesy about the coming

world with exaggerated visions of the end of time. For Paul that

world has already started (1 Cor 2.610). Paul writes in the con-

text of considerable comm unal arg um en tatio n and factional

dispute. His interpretation of the gospel has been called into

question by his opponents. He avers that his only source is the

religion's mysticism unle ss it is th e conscious and explicit inte nt of the m ystic's vision to do so.

See R. C. Zaehner's Hinduism and Muslim Mysticism (New York: Schocken, 1969); S. Katz,

'Language, Epistemology, and Mysticism', in S. Katz, ed.,

Mysticism and Philosophical

Analysis (London, 1978). In this case the langua ge is not even prim arily C hris tian . The basic

language is from Jewish mysticism, though the subsequent exegesis about the identification

of the Christ with the figure on the throne is Christian; the vision of God enthroned is the goal

of Jew ish mystical speculation .

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

16/21

414 ALANF.SEGAL

risen Christ; his only proof

ev

anodei,zi,1 Cor 2.6) supplied by the

Holy Spir it. 22

In this context, Paul speaks of those who are qualified (ev toig

zekeioiq,

2.6), the mature ones who evidently share his perspective

and, perhaps, his revelation. At Qumran too, knowledge and

perfection (Din) were expected of the membership and only the

perfected ones (D^D'on) had access to the full secrets of the sect

(1QS 1.8; 2.2; 3.3, 9; 5.24;

8.20f;

9.2, 8f, 19).23 Th is m ystery is

further described as the revelation of the crucified messiah (2.8),

which clarifies that it is not a secret mystery in the way that

Qum ran was. Although it needs to be taugh t and it is not evidently

universally accepted, it does not itself need to be secret. It finds its

particular adherents. The issue ofhiddenness orbeing stored up

D33 ,nP3a), is quite characteristic of Jewish mysticism and seems to

help conceptualize th e identity of the transformed figure ra ther

th an any Greek concept of the immortal soul.

In 1 Cor 15, Paul sums up his entire religious experience in an

apocalyptic vision of the resurrection of believers. Paul begins with

a description of his previous preaching and suggests that if his

listeners give up belief in the resurrection then they believe in

Christ in vain. Paul claims instead to have given them, indeed

emphasized as the first importance, the true teaching, as he had

himself received it. And that teaching is simply that Christ died for

sins in accordance to scripture, that he was entombed and rose

three days later, all in accordance with scripture. There is no doubt

that this is the earliest Christian teaching with regard to the

resu rrection : it is pa rt of the primitive

kerygma

or proclamation

of the church. He does not specify which scripture he means.

Nor does he begin a demonstration of the reality of resurrection

from scripture or from philosophical principles. For him, it has the

reality of an experience related to others. The reports of those who

have witnessed it, includinghimself, are sufficient to demonstrate

its reality. Nor does he recount a vision in typical apocalyptic

fashion, as we might have imagined. Instead he lists the witnesses

to the po st-resu rrection appea rances of Je su s: Peter (called

Kepha), the twelve, and the five hundred. Some of those five hun-

dred have died but most are still alive. Again he uses the typical

apocalyptic language of sleeping and awakening, which has its

roots in Dan 12 and Isa 26 (tiveq 8e Koi|iri9r|aav). Then he lists the

22 M. Bockmuehl, Revelation and Mystery in Ancient Judaism and Pauline Christianity

(WUNT 2.36; Tubingen: Mohr-Siebeck, 1990; repr. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Wm. B. Eerd-

m a n s ,1997) 158. See also 1.18 and Rom 1.16.

2 3

Bockmuehl,Revelation, 159.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

17/21

PAUL'S THIN KING ABOUT RESURR ECTION 415

apostles and finally

himself.

So Paul again uses the resurrection as

a significant part of his apostolic comm issioning. They are all equal

in vision of the risen Lord.

This list has seemed to most scholars to be already reduced to a

formula before Paul recites it for us: it is a formula passed to him

from earlier tradition, as he himself says. Notice that in this

earliest recital of the resurrection tradition there is no empty tomb

and there are no witnesses to the resurrection

itself.

Instead, for

Paul, the resurrection is demonstrated by the post-Easter appear-

ances,

in which he equally sh ares. This is crucial for unders tand ing

Paul's claim to be an apostle. He is the equal of every other disciple

because he is equally a witness to the resurrection. Jesus' teach-

ings are secondary to his continued life after death. Paul is an

apostle because it is not so much Jesus' human form that is

important but his resurrected form which commissions persons to

his service.

Of course, those cultures professing a belief in an immortal soul

could have accounted for these appearances too. But Paul appar-

ently does not count himself among those who believe in this

concept of the immortal soul. Perhaps he polemicizes against the

doctrine of the immortal soul, since he is writing to a gentile

audience. Pe rha ps he senses th at invoking the Greek concept of the

immortal soul changes the saving event of Jesus' resurrection into

a natural occurrence and perhaps he does not even know of the

Platonic notion explicitly. For him, as for the Jewish apocalyp-

ticists, death was final and whatever survived death was a poor

shadow or shade of what preceded it. Instead, the apocalypticist

waits for the resurrection of the body, which is normally the sign

that the end is upon us. And indeed it is the reward of the

martyred righteous to have eternal life on earth or as heavenly

angels for having enlightened the world:

We are afflicted in every way, but not crushed, perplexed, but not driven to

despair, persecuted, but not forsaken, struck down, but not destroyed,

always carrying in the body the death ofJesus ,so that the life of Jesus may

also be man ifested in our bodies. (2 Cor 4.8-10)

It is therefore evident that these spiritual experiences of the

Christian form analogies to the life and death of Jesus. And more

concretely it means that the believer must be ready to accept

suffering as part of Christian discipleship.

24

For Paul there is not

much recognition that a resurrection without the end is very

strange. Paul apparently feels that the end will shortly arrive.

2 4

Lorenzen, Resurrection and Discipleship, 158.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

18/21

4 1 6 ALAN F.SEGAL

And, as we know, the demonstration that the age has begun is the

actual app earance of Jesus to him.

Paul

in con tradistinction to some late r gnostic trad ition s -

begins from supposing that the death and burial were real, hence

the resurrection was actual and in accordance with scripture

(1 Cor 15.3). Paul then lists those to whom the post-resurrection

Jesus appeared. Clearly, in Paul's understanding the post-resur-

rection appe aranc es rather than the physical presence of Je su s a re

prim ary . H e includes himself m odestly in the list of those to whom

Jesus had appeared. But if the list had been made up of those

who knew Jesus in the flesh, Paul would have been left out. The

corruptible flesh of the earthly Jesus is not the point for Paul,

obviously. He is deliberately widening a concept of apostle to

include persons like himself, for to him, it is Jesus the heavenly

redeemer, who was revealed to him, who is the proof of faith, not

merely those who may have heard J esu s' preaching.

Paul then asserts that all these people saw the same thing and

preach the same thing and believe the same thing. And indeed,

Paul asserts that the Corinthians had believed exactly that when

he was there with them. In verses 12-19 Paul claims that the

deniers of the resurrection of the dead are denying the gospel

which they had received and initially believed. He begins a series

of arguments which ends in the reductio ad absurdum th a t 'if

Christ has not been raised, then our proclamation has been in vain

and your faith has been in vain'. Obviously this argument only

makes sense to believers; no one else would see the absurdity of

the conclusion. But, for Paul, it is the bodily resurrection of Jesus

that guarantees that God's plan for the final destruction of the evil

ones of the world is already set in place. For if the soul is immortal

and that is the highest form of immortality to be achieved as the

Platonists believed, it is available to all as a natural right and the

sacrifice of Christ is hence unnecessary.

In verses 208 Pau l stops arguing aga inst enemies and begins

articulating his own notions. He shows that the resurrection of

Christ entails the resurrection of all the righteous dead as Christ is

the 'first fruits of them who have fallen asleep' (v. 20), yet again

using the term which is clearly dependent upon Daniel 12 and, in

turn, Isaiah 26 (see also others like LXX Ps 87.6). Probably then,

the scriptural passage that Paul had in mind earlier (1 Cor 15.3)

is none other than Dan 12.2 again. His argument is made on

th e bas is of analogy from Adam. Ju s t as death came from Adam,

so eternal life comes from Christ. But Christ is the first, then

those who belong to Christ. At the end, Christ will hand over the

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

19/21

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION

4 1 7

kingdom of God to the father, after he has destroyed every (evil?)

power. Again Paul is making clear reference to the son of man

passage in Dan 7.13 (though he never actually uses the term ) when

he says that Christ must reign until he has put all his enemies

under his feet. There are, of course, other enthronement passages

in the H ebrew Bible bu t no others in which the reign of justice is

made dependent upon the enthroned figure. Although Paul never

uses the term 'son of man' he clearly identifies the Christ with

the 'son of man' figure on the throne in Dan 7.13. This is quite

important to note, for Paul shows the antiquity of that position,

without affirming to us th at 'son of m an' was a title . It is not a title

yet in Paul's day; he knows the passage by its content. In this, he

seems rather to be working in a Jewish context in which any

scripture can be read as prophecy, not by any association of any

pre-existent titles to Jesus .

In

1

Cor 15.35 Paul begins a brief exposition of the nature of the

resurrection body; it is here that we see most clearly the comp-

lementarity between his experience of the risen Christ and his

notion of the resurrection body. He is, in this passage, outlining a

notion of immortality which has nothing to do with an immortal

soul directly; it is an offshoot of Jewish apocalypticism, out of

which the Christian

kerygma

grows. But it may also be cognizant

of the beliefs of the audience; perhaps this is why he ignores the

immortality of the soul. Instead, he fastens on the notion of

spirit

to explicate how the physical body of believers will be transformed

by the resurrection. His argument has nothing to do with what

happened to Christ during the passion nor does he mention any

empty tomb. His argument is by analogy with experience since he

is trying to keep faith with his own experience of the spirit.

Paul's use of language of the body is entirely unique. The term

for physical body is not exactly what one might expect. Neither the

term oS(xa oapKiKov nor the term

aG>\ia

(puoiKov occurs; rather the

term which occurs isaG>\ia.-yx>xiK6v, a word which can mean

natural

body

but is not the most obvious term, since it is a combination of

the term for soul and the term for body. Although it m eans literally

an 'ensouled body', it has been taken as an oxymoron in Platonic

thought. In fact, because

yx>x h

could be taken to mean life in the

physical sense in a non-Platonic setting in Greek it is not

necessarily a problem, strange though it may look. It does occur

frequently in Hellenistic literature with this meaning. Indeed that

is what it means here - yvx(\ - with the simple meaning of

033.

25

2 5

See, e.g.,

TDNT

9, 661.

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

20/21

4 1 8 ALAN F.SEGAL

P au l may be ju st clarifying t h at he means everything tha t the

Greeks take as a natural body. The contrasting term a>|ianvev\ia-

XIKOV

is also a complete contradiction in terms for anyone in a

Platonic system: 'It is sown a physical body, it is raised a spiritual

body. If there is a physical body, there is also a spiritual body'

(aneipexax

aa>n,a

\^V IKOV,

eyeipetai aco|ia 7cvet>|j.omK6v. et eativ a>|i.a

yoXiKov,

ECTXIV

Kai TrveujiatiKOV, 1 C o r 15 .4 1 ).

It may be that, in this place, Paul is behaving somewhat like a

very sophisticated minority opinion in Greek culture, thinking that

everything, even the soul, is a kind of body - albeit a refined and

indestructible one. After all, he distinguishes between the earthly

body and the resurrection body. But, if so, he is likewise and

I think primarily speaking out of his apocalyptic Judaism. He is

entirely consistent with his Hebrew past. Paul (and Josephus too)

gets away with this because he is speaking to a Greek audience but

not necessarily a Platonic one. They are both using Greek language

to approximate the Hebrew concepts. But it is not an interpretatio

Graeca;ra th er the converse, figuring a Hebrew notion in G reek

dress.

In any event Paul acknowledges the

bodily

aspect of the resur-

rection in the sense that the body is

visible

while the soul (if

he even knew the term) is

invisible.

He uses the term

spirit

to

preserve the previous identity of those resurrected in their new

perfected state. It is also the predominant view of the New Tes-

tament, except Hebrews, John, and 1 and 2 Peter, where \|/t>xr|

evidently refers to the physical life of persons and animals. Notice

that for Paul life in its most basic sense,psychic life, is also bodily

life as we should expect but

even pneumatic

sp iritu al life is bodily

as well. We have already seen that the spirit makes itself known to

Paul but not in ordinary sight, rather in apocalyptic visions. Thus,

spiritual bodies are those bodies which are yet only visible in this

special state of consciousness. Even though flesh and blood cannot

inherit the kingdom of God, the risen Christ is a 'body of glory'

(Phil 3.20-1) as we have seen. Since those

in Christ

are made over

in the image of the resurrected Christ in a kind of mystical

con sum m ation , the new body which God gives his faithful m us t

also be a glorified body. The body of glory which Christ got at the

resurrection must be equivalent with the pneumatic or spiritual

body that we will get. Another way to think about this is to

remember that Paul saw the resurrected Christ as a body, but he

was aware that this

seeing

was an apocalypse, or vision. This

implies, though Paul does not exactly state it, that such a body of

glory will be visible only in revelatory states of consciousness until

7/25/2019 S0028688500016623a.pdf

21/21

PAUL'S THINKING ABOUT RESURRECTION 419

the final consummation. It is a bodily resurrection because Paul

saw th e bodily resurrected Christ in a vision but the appearance of

Christ was not a physical appearance. Paul was transported to a

sp iritual level where we will all be when we are transformed and

which is visible to us prim arily through revelation. And, of course,

Paul's notion contrasts heavily with the gospel writers who claim

that Jesus was literally resurrected as a physical body which can

be seen in ordinary bodily sight. It is even conceivable that the

gospels were written as a kind of polemic against Paul's thinking

but they are certainly meant to complement and complete his view

of the spirit in Christianity.

Paul's notion completely coheres with his notion that the fleshly

way to salvation with observances of times and rituals is not a

spiritual, transforming way to salvation. He argues th at th e na ture

of the resurrection body is different from anyth ing we know, ju st as

the nature of various flesh is different. Paul, in fact, leaves the

issue of the nature of immortality in a peculiarly intermediate

position. He affirms that we have an imperishable bodily nature

bu t he suggests th at we receive it by bodily resurrec tion. The body

we receive will not be flesh and blood. It will be both a sudden

change, a

summorphosts,

l ike the metamorphosis th at Pau l

achieved in Christ and a continuous process that culminates in a

spiritual kingdom of

God.

That metamorphosis started him on the

process to being a person of spirit, not of the flesh. The last

trumpet will culminate the process for everyone.

Pa ul's view of the imm ortality of believers begins in resurrec tion

and mission. It is parallel to his description of the raised Christ in

heaven and depends on it. Paul's imagery for the description of the

coming resurrection in 1 Cor 15 fulfils the vocabulary of spiritual

body and Glory of God which ultimately derives from his own

conversion and call. Because believers on earth,

by virtue of their

conversionhave beentransformed into the body of Christ, who is

the image of God, the destiny of believers will be shared with

Christ. The believer is to share in Christ's immortality at the

last trumpet, just as Paul himself experienced

transformation

by

Christ.