Different Pauline scholars focus on different letters. Every person interested in Paul takes one of his letters to be the key to understanding who he was and what he was doing, theologically. Most focus on Romans. This is what St. Augustine, Martin Luther, and Karl Barth did, and most theologians especially among protestants have followed their lead They do this because they see Romans as the most thought out, deliberate and systematic. It is also one of his later books so many think of it as kind of Paul's 'final word' on many matters.
But in recent years, this has gone out of fashion among scholars. Many scholars nowadays focus on Galatians. They take Galatians to be Paul at his most raw, and his most unguarded. Paul is letting the real reason for his letter-writing shine through. Some believe that Galatians got Paul into some trouble and so Paul became more careful in his writing from that time forward. But Galatians is Paul's soul laid bare, and so it is the real key to the man and his thought. Still others take Philippians to be the center of Paul's thought. They see him establishing a pattern there that continues throughout his letters and can help us understand what he was really all about.
Me, I'm generally in the Galatians camp. My understanding of Paul starts there, and I think it is the key to everything else. But the Philippians camp is also persuasive, and worth considering. For these people, the key to understanding what Paul is talking about is found in his focus on an early Christian hymn in Philippians 2:1-11. This is a famous poem. We all know it, we've all heard it in church. It emphasizes Christ's kenosis, the self-emptying of God the Son into the man Jesus. Jesus became nothing, emptied Himself completely, and let Himself be crushed unto death; and so God filled Him with power and authority. Paul suggests in Philippians that if we embody Christ's faithfulness to God, if we find a way to 'die' as Christ did, and to empty us of our very selves, then like Christ God will fill us with power in the form of the Holy Spirit. We become mini-Christs, outposts of heaven in the world, reforming it.
People who argue for Philippians see this pattern throughout Paul's letters. See: Romans 6:5-11, Romans 8:1-13, Romans 9:18-39, 1 Corinthians 1:18-2:5, 2 Corinthians 5:11-21, just for a few examples, and reflect on the words of Paul in light of this other understanding.
So on this view, it is not faith IN Christ that saves us. Nor is it my own universalism. But rather it is about patterning one's life on Jesus'. If we seek out the faith He had in God, then we will have His power made manifest within us.
I am not fully convinced by this view, but there is a lot to commend it. One thing I do believe, is that it is only through self-emptying that we can finally find God. If we find our own way of 'dying', of carrying our own cross, of embodying Jesus' life in our own, then we will find a new connection with God, and have the Holy Spirit made manifest within us. Every day, I seek to find my own death so I can find my life. I fail more than I should, but by the Grace of God I have my moments. And what amazing moments they are. Becoming nothing, I find everything. Beyond concerns about salvation is the issue of sanctification, of theosis, of being conformed to the image of God. But what image is that? It is not one of absolute power and control, it is the image I've always preached for: humility, self-emptying, and suffering love. The process of theosis mimics the very image of Christ. Doesn't this tell us a lot about God? I think so. This is my prayer, my belief, my hope: that at the end of this process of self-emptying is the door to a new world. "God make me nothing, so that I can become everything."
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