40 Questions about the Apostle Paul, by Miguel G. Echevarría and Benjamin P. Laird. Grand Rapids: Kregel Academic, 2023. 320 pp. $24.99.
“Why write another book about the apostle Paul” (11)? The authors join to ask this question from their respective Baptist institutions, Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary (Echevarría) and Liberty University (Laird). They “argue that the question itself speaks to the need” for a “wide-ranging discussion about Paul’s life, writings, and theology” (11). In keeping with the 40 Questions series, they present “concise and accessible responses to a variety of questions that are foundational to our understanding of Paul,” especially as “it is unrealistic to wade through” the many works on Paul that already exist (11).
The authors divide their forty questions into three sections. The first eleven (Questions 1–11) explore the life of Paul, the first four (Questions 1–4) pertaining to his life before Christianity and the next seven (Questions 5–11) to his life as a Christian. This biographical data stems primarily from Acts and Paul’s letters, as well as early Christian sources. This section ably summarizes the life of Paul, similar to Robert Picirilli’s classic Paul the Apostle. The authors note when Paul’s letters were written but give no summaries of their contents, an interesting omission for a book on Paul. However, the book’s later survey of Paul’s theology compensates for what the book might lack in this regard.
The next twelve chapters (Questions 12–23) examine the context and development of Paul’s letters, a highlight for this book among others in its field. This section examines arguments for and against the inclusion of Paul’s six “disputed letters” (Eph, Col, 2 Thess, 1–2 Tim, and Titus), arguing for their inclusion. The authors ground all of Paul’s letters in the authority of Christ as Paul was self-conscious of his apostleship and thus the authority that his letters bore. This section includes a helpful discussion about the authorship of Hebrews, suggesting the possibility that the content belonged to a verbal address by Paul while one his associates put his words into writing.
The authors split the final twenty-seven chapters (Questions 24–40) into wide-ranging but representative questions about Paul’s theology that are general (Questions 24–32) and specific (Questions 33–40), the latter of which are relevant to theological controversies today. Given this format, it is easiest to survey the general section chapter-by-chapter, summarizing specific chapters along the way as they focus on a topic related to one of these general chapters.
Beginning with a broader topic, the authors summarize various proposals for a “center” for Paul’s theology and offer their own, “the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ” (193; Question 24). Their Christology chapter (Question 25) surveys the names (Christ, Lord, and Son of God) and natures of Christ (human and divine), ending with a section on Christ’s return, one of multiple sections in the book that indirectly or directly argue for amillennialism without using the term. On Paul’s view of the atonement (Question 26), they do not examine its extent but argue for that Christ’s death was both substitutionary and representative instead of falling into “an either/or false dichotomy” (208).
Their discussion of Paul’s view of conversion (Question 27) balances the divine and human roles in salvation, and this conversion functions as the basis for immersion-baptism, which they explain in Paul as “a vivid picture of Christ’s death, burial, and resurrection and the regenerating work of the Holy Spirit” (222; Question 28). They likewise see Paul’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper as symbolic, meant to “celebrate the redemptive work of Christ and to celebrate the unity that is the result of the atonement of Christ” (230; Question 29).
In considering Paul’s understanding of law and gospel, they follow “the Calvinistic stream of the Reformed tradition” (238), “asserting that the Spirit works through the gospel to free Christians to obey the law’s commands” (233; Question 30). The authors clearly reflect this tradition again in their discussion of Paul’s correlation of faith and works, providing a helpful section on James 2 and explaining the “remarkable coherence” between the two (244; Question 31). Related to these questions, they specifically address the New Perspective on Paul and point out its strengths and weaknesses (Questions 33–34). While acknowledging “its emphasis on Second Temple literature, its positive view of Judaism, and its reading of Paul in a manner that places an emphasis on his Jewish background,” they conclude, “The New Perspective often fails to recognize the variegated nature of Jewish soteriology, that it overemphasizes the covenantal nature of Paul’s letters, and that it tends to limit the extent of the ‘works of the law’ to Jewish boundary markers” (264). Somewhat connected to this topic, the next chapter explains the arguments for and against translating pistis Christou as “faith in Christ” or “faithfulness in Christ” (Question 35). The authors hold both translations as “plausible readings” among “faithful scholars…who are well within the bounds of orthodoxy” (271), noting that the translation “faithfulness in Christ” is “especially attractive to proponents of the New Perspective” (269).
Ending the general survey of Paul’s theology, a discussion of Paul’s eschatology sets aside “the expectation of a millennium” as “more relevant to the book of Revelation” and presents Paul as having a simple two-stage eschatology—this age and the age to come, ages that “overlap” into an “already-not yet” inaugurated eschatology (250; Question 32). Within this understanding, they later argue that the church does not replace Israel but that there will be “a future conversion of many Jews at the return of Christ” who join “the [one] people of God at the end of history” (303; Question 40).
The authors also give a helpful survey of Paul’s view of marriage, singleness, and divorce, focusing mainly on 1 Corinthians 7 (Question 36). They survey primary passages related to Paul’s view of the role of women in the home and church and argue for complementarianism (Question 37). They take a continuationist view of miraculous spiritual gifts, arguing that “Paul never explicitly states that miraculous gifts would cease shortly after the apostolic era and the establishment of the church” (293; Question 38). They give a helpful survey of Paul’s passages on slavery and racial division, explaining that though “Paul does not directly condemn slavery…he subtly usurps” the practice through “a redemptive trajectory which has immediate and long-term implications,” the long-term goal being “the full eradication of slavery,” which should push the church to work towards its end right now (297; Question 39). Echevarría and Laird indeed provide a foundational survey of the life and theology of Paul. Whatever theological differences one might have with the authors (e.g., continuationism, amillennialism), readers can appreciate the book’s irenic and readable style. The authors demonstrate a commendable familiarity with modern scholarship, church history, and exegetical minutiae, leaving thorough footnotes to point curious readers to their sources. Professors, students, pastors, and Christians in general who desire a scholarly and readable survey of the life and theology of Paul do well to add this work to their library.
