Pauline influence on Synoptic Christology

Over at Near Emmaus Daniel Levy asks, “Does Pauline Christology have Implications on how we Understand Synoptic Christology?”. I would reply “much in every way”.

First, the Pauline letters (at least the undisputed ones) precede the Synoptic Gospels, so we should expect either influence or convergence.

Second, Paul used traditional material in his letters similar to the Synoptics and in many ways created a tradition about who Jesus was that was probably known to the Synoptic Evangelists.

Third, Paul probably influenced the debate and discourse of Christians communities in the Diaspora to some degree.

Fourth, it is fairly certain that Mark and Luke imbibe a Pauline vibe into their Gospels; it is probable that Matthew at least confronts issues raised by Paul; and it is conceivable that followers of John and Paul had an Ephesian rendezvous at some point.

Fifth, for specific examples, we could say that Paul and the Synoptic agree on things like: Jesus’ pre-existence, identification with the Lord of Israel, Jesus’ mission to Israel and relevance for Gentiles, the necessity of faith and devotion in him, cross as important for his work, locating Jesus against scriptural figures like Son of David, Isaianic Servant, and Messiah.

Sixth, on this topic see the freshly available Paul and the Gospels (see sidebar for link to Amazon.com).