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In this chapter we move from Good Friday to Easter Sunday. Just what is the relationship between Jesus’ death and resurrection? We know that his death is Paul’s most important theme—is his resurrection an afterthought or something more significant?
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This chapter transitions us from what we don’t know to what are overwhelmed with. As much as Paul assumes most of Jesus’ life, he makes explicit the significance of his death as a key part of the substance of Gospel.
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Now that we’ve considered what “Gospel” means for Paul, Dunn moves on to some essentials of Christology: Jesus Christ the human, crucified, resurrected, and ultimately pre-existent. This chapter focuses on how Paul understood the relevance of Jesus’ incarnate life.
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It’s time to turn the corner. After three chapters expounding humanities failures (Romans 1:18-30), it’s time to look to the solution: the Gospel of Jesus Christ. I have to admit: after reading about Adam’s failures, Sin, Death, and the Law, I’m about ready for some good news. I suppose that’s why Paul spent so much [...]

This is the third section in the chapter, “Humankind under Indictment”. In it, we will see how the Christ-transformed Paul understood the law (nomos)—that which is most precious to any Jew. This chapter should clarify Dunn’s New Perspective on Paul further.
Here we go…
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This section is the middle of three in the chapter, “Humankind under Indictment”. Now that we’ve seen how Adam completely blew it (§4), we turn to the role of sin and death in the life of a believer. Only after that will we examine the role of the law in human failure. Then (finally), we [...]

This chapter looks at all of Paul’s allusions to the Adam and Eve narrative from Genesis 1-3. If Christ is the second Adam, we had better understand the first one.
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Now that we’ve looked at what Paul thinks about God, we’ll see what he thinks about the rest of us. Having been indoctrinated since Bible College in the old trichotomist/dichotomist debates, I’m looking forward to moving beyond. With section headings like sōma, sarx, nous, kardia, psychē, and pneuma, Dunn promises to get right down to [...]

In case you missed the first post in the series, I’m summarizing each of the 25 sections in Dunn’s masterpiece on Paul to help me remember what I’ve read. Using Romans as a guide and dialogue as a model, Dunn begins by turning his attention toward Paul’s understanding of God (which is really the essence [...]

I just finished reading Wright’s mammoth Resurrection of the Son of God. While reading about Paul’s understanding of the resurrection, I began to feel anemic. I’ve focused on the Old Testament (specifically the prophets) and Jesus for quite a while, so a healthy dose of the Apostle Paul in order. Dunn’s The Theology of Paul [...]