In den nächsten Wochen sollen an dieser Stelle Auszüge aus meiner MTh-Arbeit vorgestellt werden. Wie bei jedem guten Buch stelle ich euch zunächst meine Schlussfolgerung vor, bevor ich die Argumentsstränge zusammenfasse.
Die nächsten Posts werden in deutscher Sprache verfasst. Den Schluss habe ich allerdings im Original belassen.
1. It has
been argued that the motif ‘day of the Lord’ is anchored in the prophetic
tradition of the OT. The conception of the coming day is not a specific and
unchanged concept, but rather the motif is frequently modified and it appears
in different variations.
At first, however, the ‘coming day’ is described
as the revelation of YHWH’s sovereignty and unrivalled superiority. From the
beginning of the tradition the appearance of God’s day is associated with the
revelation of his deity. The day is understood as God’s intervention in present
affairs to put things right again. While the OT is not consistent in
distinguishing between an event in history or an eschatological event on God’s
day, the intertestamental period was focus lies only on the new aeon. The New
Testament picks up this eschatological understanding of God’s day and,
therefore, emphasizes God’s verdict over all people.
One major shift between the New Testament and
its Jewish heritage is the role of Christ at the day. While the Old Testament
is very clear about the role of YHWH as judge on the coming day, in Pauline
writings – and the rest of the New Testament – Christ appears on the judgement
scene . This does not, however, mean that Jesus as Judge has
replaced God; as passages like Rom.
2:2-11 or 3:6 show clearly. Wendebourg is right in stating that Paul has no interest
at all to distinguish between Theology and Christology, but rather both play a
dominant role at the coming day.[1]
Since it is God’s day, he is the one who decides
about the date of its appearance. Paul is line with his Jewish heritage when he
emphasizes that no one can know the date since the day will come as a thief at
night (1. Thess. 5:1f.). Therefore, the announcement of ‘the day’ is always
understood as call for preparation. The ‘day of the Lord’ emphasizes that God
alone will have the final say.
2. In the
tradition of the ‘day of the Lord’, God is pictured as an impartial judge.
Already the earliest appearance of the motif carries the expectation of both
judgement and salvation. This
salvation is described mainly as the reconciliation of the relationship between
God and his people by the postexilic prophets and intertestamental authors.
However, judgement is not only aimed at
outsiders, but rather on those who violate God’s Torah. Already Amos 5:18-20
warns his readers not to be too sure about their salvation, but rather the
prophet announces God’s judgement over Israel. Sin against God or lack of
social justice invite judgement, despite one’s ethnic heritage. Those who live
according to the Torah will experience salvation. The announcement of judgement
and of salvation on God’s day, however, is not a contradiction, but rather it
is only through the judgement of the unrighteous that the righteous are able to
experience salvation. The day of judgement is understood as a reversal of
oppressors and their victims. Therefore, the announcements of judgement function
either as exhortations to adopt Torah in their present lives or as comfort in
experienced suffering.
3. The above
exegetical studies have shown that Paul is able to pick up the motif of the day
the Lord without elaborating on the detail. Paul has in common with the
Intertestamental period that he is not so much interested in the manner of
judgement, but rather on the fact that the day will appear.
The reason Paul does not elaborate the motif
further might be twofold: First, Paul is not interested to offer a systematic
understanding of God’s day, but rather his letters are written for particular
churches with particular concerns. Second, Paul obviously assumes the knowledge
about the tradition of the day of the Lord in the early churches (cf. 1. Thess.
5:1). Thus Paul uses this motif to strengthen his argument and to exhort his
readers to keep their Christian-lifestyle.
4. However, in
Paul, it has been argued that the basis for God’s coming judgement has changed
through Christ’s salvific action. The old and new aeon are no longer seen as
counterparts which succeed each other, but rather the promise of the new aeon
is partly realised through Christ in the present. The completion will take
place at God’s final day. The Christian life is described as existing between
the two major events of cross and resurrection in the past and the future
coming of Christ.
God’s gift of Christ has its purpose in
reconciling the world to God and therefore, the condition for God’s judgement
has changed dramatically. The future salvation of believers is the completion
of this gift that began in the death of Christ and will be confirmed at the day
of the Lord. This Christ-gift, however, brings its recipients under obligation:
Walking in the Spirit and putting to death the deeds of the flesh is the
continuation of God’s gift. The believer is called to live according to God’s
new order. However, it is always possible to repudiate God’s gift in acting and
thinking in such a way that rejects it. Because of God’s gift in Christ,
believers do not need to qualify for salvation through their lifestyle, but
rather they should be careful not to disqualify themselves.[2]
5. It has
been argued that while the precondition for God’s judgement has changed in
Pauline theology, the ‘day of the Lord’ still carries similarities in its
function to Jewish writings. Since the believers are informed about the coming
intervention of God on his day, they are called to stay awake and to continue
to live according to God’s already given gift in Christ. As in the Jewish
writings, the judgement theme is not lost in Paul’s understanding, but rather
he emphasizes that God will judge all people. Although the believer belongs
already to the day, his life is not irrelevant for his vindication on God’s
day: The conduct of the believer needs to be approved through God’s acting
through Christ. Therefore, in view of the coming day Paul calls his
fellow-Christians to live according to the new moral standard provided by
Christ.[3]
Since no one knows the exact appearance of the
day, Paul is able to use the motif of the coming day as a threat to achieve a
change in lifestyle (cf. Rom. 13:11-14).
It is striking, however, that this use, which is common in OT prophecy, appears
rarely in Paul, but rather Paul uses it more often as a ‘boundary marker’
between believers and non-believers. Even then, where Paul deals with a
particular sin (1.Cor. 5:1-7) among believers, the judgement theme is not used
as an appeal for life-change, but rather as the basis for the congregation to
respond. However, since Paul uses the contrast between the in- and outsiders
(cf. 1. Thess. 5:1-11), he emphasizes the new status of the believer and
exhorts them – in a more subtle way – not to repudiate it.
6. The
Christian life is not characterized by fear but rather by hope, since the
coming day will bring to completion God’s salvific action through Christ. With
the forecast of the coming day Paul comforts his readers to continue to live
according to God’s word, so that he is able to ‘boast’ in his fellow Christians
and their conduct in the present world. Since Christ himself will keep the
believers strong to the end (1. Cor. 1:8), they are able to look forward to the
coming day.
7. The
announcement of the ‘day of the Lord’ might sound trite after nearly 2000
years. Therefore, the hermeneutical question arises how the contemporary church
should handle the tradition of the ‘day of the Lord’ and its imminent
expectation? [4]
While the imminent expectation obviously did not
come true in Paul’s life, the contemporary church should be cautious to abandon
the idea of a future ‘day of the Lord’. As I have argued, the expectation of
God’s intervention is deeply rooted in the Old Testament and is picked up by
the New Testament to describe the completion of God’s salvation for believers.
Therefore, Paul’s outlook that ‘God will bring to completion the good work he
begun’ (Phil. 1:6) still needs to be emphasized in the church. Since Paul and
other New Testament writers are explicitly emphasizing that the present world
itself needs ‘to be liberated from its bondage to decay’ (cf. Rom. 8:19-22), the coming day is an
important component of the gospel and the answer to the old question of
suffering of the righteous and the apparent success of evildoers.
It has already been argued that the imminent
expectation of the intertestamental period has been as reference to the
completion of human history.[5] Perhaps, this should be applied again to the reading
of Pauline literature: since God’s day did not occur in Paul’s lifetime that
does not mean that the day has no relevance for today. But rather the
expectation of the coming day should be used to exhort and comfort the church
today to keep ‘walking in Jesus steps’.
In this sense the day of the Lord can comfort
and exhort the contemporary believer just as it did in the past. The particular
strength of the Christian faith was and is the belief, that God will bring to
completion his good work. To abandon the theme of the God’s coming day from
church means to eliminate an important part of God’s gospel.
[1] Wendebourg, N., Der Tag des Herrn. Zur Gerichtserwartung im Neuen Testament auf ihrem alttestamentlichen und frühjüdischen Hintergrund (Wissenschaftliche Monographien zum Alten und Neuen Testament; Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchner Verlag, 2003), p. 214
[2] Cf.Konradt, M., Gericht und Gemeinde. Eine Studie zur Bedeutung und Funktion von Gerichtsaussagen im Rahmen der paulinischen Ekklesiologie und Ethik im 1 Thess. und 1. Kor. (BZNW 117; Berlin: de Gruyter, 2003), p. 531
[3] cf. e.g. Rom. 2:12-16; Rom. 13:11-14; 1.
Thess. 5:1-11
[4] cf. ‘Introduction‘; As already briefly remarked, the question has been answered differently
in church history.
[5] cf., 1.2.4. ‘The timeframe of the day‘
