Contents
Contents
Cover
Title Page
Copyright Page
Dedication
Acknowledgments
Introduction
What This Book Addresses
What This Book Is Not Addressing
Implications for Theological Reflection in Today’s Church
Abbreviations
1. The Corrupted Mind (Rom. 1:18–32)
The Pagan World’s Corrupted Mind
Summary of Paul’s Likely Argument
An Early Jewish Analogy
God’s Wrath against Idolaters
Information about God in Creation
EXCURSUS: Knowledge of God in Ancient Mediterranean Thought
Corrupted Minds Resist Rational Evidence from Creation
The Folly of Idolatry
The Madness of Sin as Its Own Punishment
Handed Over to Irrational Desires
Thoughts Corrupted by Passions
Changing God’s Image (Rom. 1:23–27)
Unfit Minds (Rom. 1:28)
Conclusion
2. The Mind of Faith (Rom. 6:11)
Death with Christ (Rom. 6:1–10)
Producing Righteousness
The New Identity
Dead with Christ
EXCURSUS: Mystery Background for Dying and Rising with Christ?
Does Death to Sin Eradicate Passions?
Freed from Slavery
Defined by Destiny in Christ
Reckoning the New Reality by Faith
Faith and Reckoning
Cognitive Reckoning in Other Ancient Sources
EXCURSUS: Self-Knowledge
Identifying with Christ
Living Out the New Identity
Considering Paul’s Solution
Conclusion
3. The Mind of the Flesh (Rom. 7:22–25)
Depiction of Christian or Pre-Christian Situation?
Earlier Interpreters
Survey of Modern Views
Romans 7:7–25 as the Christian Life
Romans 7:7–25 as a Non-Christian Experience
Why Use Present-Tense Verb Forms?
Who Is the “I” in Romans 7?
Autobiographical?
Generic or Projected “I”
Adam?
Israel
Survey of the Context and Function of Romans 7:7–25
The Problem of Passion
Passion and the Law in Hellenistic Jewish Sources
Desire in Romans 7:7
EXCURSUS: Ancient Views concerning Lust and Other Illicit Desires
Judean Passions: The Evil Impulse
Ancient Beliefs about Internal Struggle
Envisioning Someone Overwhelmed by Passion
Bondage of the Will? Wanting to Do Right
Law in One’s Body versus Law in One’s Mind (Rom. 7:22–25)
Law in the Mind
The Law, the Body, and Sin
Bodily Desires in Ancient Thinking
EXCURSUS: Flesh
Paul and the Body
An Image of Defeat
EXCURSUS: Ancient Military Metaphors
Conclusion
4. The Mind of the Spirit (Rom. 8:5–7)
The New Frame of Mind
Disposition and the Mind
Relation to the Defeated Mind of Romans 7
Contrast with the Law-Approach of Romans 7
Two Ways of Thinking
The Emphasis on Wise Thinking in Philosophy
Ideal Types
Two Categories in Humanity as Ideal Types
Jewish Ideal Types
Sharing God’s Mind
Sharing the Divine Mind in Greek Thought
Indwelling Deity in Gentile and Jewish Thought
Experiencing the Spirit
The Frame of Mind of the Spirit Is Peace (Rom. 8:6)
Tranquil Minds in the Philosophers
Possible Exegetical Basis for the Peaceful Mind
Community Tranquility
Conclusion
5. A Renewed Mind (Rom. 12:1–3)
Presenting Bodies as Sacrifices
Sacrifices in Antiquity
A Living Sacrifice
A Rational Sacrifice
Transformed versus Conformed
The New Age versus the Old
Renewal for a New Age
The Mind and Transformation
Discerning God’s Will
Evaluative Criteria
Good, Pleasing, and Perfect as Criteria
The Literary Context for This Renewing of the Mind
God’s Own Mind in the Preceding Context
A Mind for the Body of Christ in the Following Context
Conclusion
6. The Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:15–16)
True Wisdom (1 Cor. 1:18–2:10)
The Wisdom of the Cross (1 Cor. 1:17–2:5)
Wisdom of the Future Age (1 Cor. 2:6–10)
The Spirit’s Insight (1 Cor. 2:10–13)
The Spirit as Revealer (1 Cor. 2:10–11)
Understanding by God’s Spirit versus the World’s Spirit (1 Cor. 2:12–13)
Spiritual Competence to Assess Truth (1 Cor. 2:14–15)
A Pervasive Culture of Evaluation
Evaluation Criteria
Inability to Understand Spirit Matters (1 Cor. 2:14–15)
EXCURSUS: “Natural” and “Spiritual” Persons
Suggested Sources of the Language
Mortals in Adam versus the Spirit of Christ
We Have the Mind of Christ (1 Cor. 2:16)
Paul’s Biblical Basis
Revealing God’s Mind
Ministry Gifts and God’s Mind
Divine Inspiration and Empowerment, Not Divine Identity (1 Cor. 3:3–4)
EXCURSUS: Divinization in Greek and Roman Tradition
Transformation through Vision (2 Cor. 3:18)
Hellenistic Vision of the Divine
Jewish Vision of the Divine and God’s Image
Glory Revealed to Moses and Jesus’s Agents
The Experience of the Spirit
Conclusion
7. A Christlike Mind (Phil. 2:1–5; 3:19–21; 4:6–8)
Divine Peace Guards Minds in Christ (Phil. 4:7)
Celebration in Christ (Phil. 4:4)
Prayer Rather Than Worry (Phil. 4:6)
Considering What Is Pure (Phil. 4:8)
Thinking like Christ (Phil. 2:5)
Citizens of Heaven (Phil. 3:20)
Conclusion
8. The Heavenly Mind (Col. 3:1–2)
Contemplating Heavenly Matters (Col. 3:1–2)
Heavenly Mindedness in Greek and Roman Sources
Heavenly Mindedness in Early Jewish and Christian Sources
“Where Christ Is Enthroned” (Col. 3:1)
Heavenly Beings or God’s Throne
The Exalted Christ
Moral Implications of Heavenly Contemplation
En-Christed Life
The Intelligibility of the Moral Connection for Ancient Hearers
Heavenly Afterlife and Colossians
Conclusion
Conclusion
Postscript: Some Pastoral Implications
Divided Churches
Divided Hearts?
Pastoral Psychology
Worldviews
Practically Implementing the Insights
Appendix A: The Soul in Ancient Mediterranean Thought
The Soul as a Distinct Entity
The Soul’s Afterlife
Jewish Thinkers regarding Soul and Body
Jewish Thinkers regarding the Afterlife
Appendix B: Some of God’s Wise Plan in Paul’s Bible
Bibliography
Index of Subjects
Index of Authors and Selected Names
Index of Scripture
Index of Other Ancient Sources
Back Cover