Romans, and Corinthians, although recognizing in the minor Epistles the "paulinische Grundlage."
The more moderate followers of Baur, however, now admit the genuineness of from seven to ten
Pauline Epistles, leaving only the three Pastoral Epistles and Ephesians in serious doubt.
The Paulinismus of Weiss (in the third ed. of his Bibl. Theol., 1881, pp. 194–472) is based
upon a very careful philological exegesis in detail, and is in this respect the most valuable of all
attempts to reproduce Paul’s theology. He divides it into three sections: 1st, the system of the four
great doctrinal and polemical Epistles; 2d, the further development of Paulinism in the Epistles of
the captivity; 3d, the doctrine of the Pastoral Epistles. He doubts only the genuineness of the last
group, but admits a progress from the first to the second.
Of French writers, Reuss, Pressensé, and Sabatier give the best expositions of the Pauline
system, more or less in imitation of German labors. Reuss, of Strasburg, who writes in German as
well, is the most independent and learned; Pressensé is more in sympathy with Paul’s belief, but
gives only a meagre summary; Sabatier leans to the Tübingen school. Reuss discusses Paul’s system
(in vol. III., 17–220) very fully under these heads: righteousness; sin; the law; the gospel; God; the
person of Christ; the work of Christ; typical relation of the old and new covenant; faith; election;
calling and the Holy Spirit; regeneration; redemption; justification and reconciliation; church; hope
and trial; last times; kingdom of God. Sabatier (L’apôtre Paul, pp. 249–318, second ed., 1881)
more briefly but clearly develops the Pauline theology from the Christological point of view (la
personne de Christ Principe générateur de la conscience chrétienne) under three heads: lot, the
Christian principle in the psychological sphere (anthropology); 2d, in the social and historical sphere
(religious philosophy of history); 3d, in the metaphysical sphere (theology), which culminates in
the θεὸς τὰ πάντα ἐν πᾶσιν"Ainsi naît et grandit cet arbre magnifique de la pensée de Paul, dont
les racines plongent dans le sol de la conscience chrétienne et dont la cime est dans les cieux."
Renan, who professes so much sentimental admiration for the poetry and wisdom of Jesus,
"the charming Galilaean peasant," has no organ for the theology of Paul any more than Voltaire
had for the poetry of Shakespeare. He regards him as a bold and vigorous, but uncouth and
semi-barbarous genius, full of rabbinical subtleties, useless speculations, and polemical intolerance
even against good old Peter at Antioch.
Several doctrines of Paul have been specially discussed by German scholars, as Tischendorf:
Doctrina Pauli apostoli de Vi Mortis Christi Satisfactoria (Leipz., 1837); Räbiger: De Christologia
Paulina (Breslau, 1852); Lipsius: Die paulinische Rechtfertigunglehre (Leipz., 1853); Ernesti: Vom
Ursprung der Sünde nach paulinischem Lehrgehalt (Wolfenbüttel, 1855); Die Ethik des Paulus
(Braunschweig, 1868; 3d ed., 1881); W. BeyschlagDie paulinische Theodicee (Berlin, 1868); R.
Schmidt: Die Christologie des Ap. Paulus (Gött., 1870); A. Delitzsch: Adam und Christus (Bonn,
1871); H. Lüdemann: Die Anthropologie des Ap. Paulus (Kiel, 1872); R. Stähelin: Zur paulinischen
Eschatologie (1874); A. Schumann:Der weltgeschichtl. Entwickelungsprocess nach dem Lehrsystem
des Ap. Paulus (Crefeld, 1875); Fr. Köstlin: Die Lehre des Paulus von der Auferstehung (1877);
H. H. Wendt: Die Begriffe Fleisch und Geist in biblischen Sprachgebrauch (Gotha, 1878).
II. The Christology of Paul is closely interwoven with his soteriology. In Romans and
Galatians the soteriological aspect prevails, in Philippians and Colossians the christological. His
christology is very rich, and with that of the Epistle to the Hebrews prepares the way for the
christology of John. It is even more fully developed than John’s, only less prominent in the system.
The chief passages on the person of Christ are: Rom. 1:3, 4 (ἐκ σπέρματος Δαυεὶδ κατὰ
σάρκα ... υἱος θεοῦ κατὰ πνεῦμα ἁγιωσύνης); 8:3 (ὁ θεὸς τὸν ἐαυτοῦ υἱὸν πεμψας ἐν ὁμοιώματιA.D. 1-100.