Paul apprehended by Christ and the universality of the Christian message

Abstract

Over the centuries much has been written and disputed about Paul regarding his conversion, theology, apostolic zeal, mystical concepts, relationship to the law, to the Gentiles and to universalism. Yet all the Pauline divergent themes, upon close examination can be seen to directly relate to his life and rapture in Christ. For only in the enraptured knowledge of the crucified and resurrected Lord, could Paul come to know and theologically proclaim the magnitude and totality of all that is saved and restored through the death and resurrection of Christ Jesus. Christ Jesus the crucified and resurrected Messiah of Israel was none other than the one who apprehended him on the road to Damascus and the one to whom Paul pledged his whole being and life. Since no aspect of Paul`s being was left outside the mystery of Christ working in him, likewise for Paul no aspect of human life or context is left unredeemable or untouched by Christ. Only in the depth of his rapture could Paul come to know what Christ had done for him, how Christ had transformed him and how Christ does the same for each person who accepts him in his life and for the whole of humanity. Thus, with the same passion that Christ had won over him, Paul sought to win the whole Gentile world for Christ. Paul`s rapture, his universal vision of the faith and his battling for the integrity of an authentic life in Christ form a unitary whole in the testimony of the Pauline Corpus he left us. From this perspective this dissertation establishes Paul`s rapture as the connecting heart, relating his theology, universality, apostolic zeal and life in Christ.