INTRODUCTION

Of the thirteen letters in the New Testament that bear Paul's name, seven are generally considered ‘undisputed’, although a few scholars accept fewer than seven, and a good number accept more than seven. Nevertheless, there is sufficient agreement that scholars of all persuasions base most of their analyses of Paul on the following letters: Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, and Philemon. The last of these, Philemon, a personal letter of about one page, is extremely revealing for understanding Paul the diplomat and missionary, and it also sheds light on the social status of some of the people who made up his churches. But it contains no theology, and so drops out of discussions of Paul's thought.

In this chapter, I shall deal with only four of the most substantial topics in Pauline studies: his mission, his Christology, his views of the Jewish law, and his various statements about the election of Israel and the salvation of the world. Understanding these four subjects provides a basis for further exploration of his life and thought, and they are also the four issues of greatest importance for understanding his relationship to the rest of Judaism.