Worship and the Risen Jesus in the Pauline Letters

The very essence of the existential relationship between the human and the divine is communicated by the English word, ‘worship’. Although the word appears to carry a univocal meaning in English, no such word per se exists in the Greek New Testament. The English word at best explains but does not adequately and completely define the dynamics involved in the relationship between humanity and God. Worship and the Risen Jesus in the Pauline Letters approaches the subject of Christian worship in respect to its origins from the perspective of the earliest New Testament writer: Paul. This book seeks to address the relative absence in scholarship of a full treatment of worship in the Pauline Letters. Closely related to the theme of Christian worship in the Pauline Letters is the person of the risen Jesus and the place he occupies in the faith community. This work proposes a proper working definition of, including criteria for, ‘worship’. Paul employed an array of Greek words as descriptors to communicate the various nuances and dimensions related to one’s relationship with God. ‘Worship’ also functioned for Paul as a boundary marker between believers and unbelievers vis-à-vis baptism and the Eucharist. The eschatological and teleological aspects of worship are also examined through a study of the Carmen Christi (Phil 2: 6–11). This study maintains that worship in Paul is not defined by any one word but is rather a composite and comprehensive personal religious relationship between the worshipper and God.

“Tony Costa offers here a thoughtful and intensive investigation of worship as reflected in the Pauline Corpus. His particular contributions lie in his detailed analysis of the vocabulary of worship in Paul, and in his engagement with other scholarship. His work comprises a genuine contribution to the analysis of the religious life of earliest Christianity. (Larry W. Hurtado, Professor Emeritus, New Testament Language, Literature and Theology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland) Tony Costa's work helpfully reviews scholarship and most importantly provides in-depth exploration of Paul's Christocentric approach to worship. This work offers fresh insights on worship from a biblical perspective and makes a vital contribution to the subject. (Craig S. Keener, Professor New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky) In this ground-breaking study on the concept of worship in the early Church, Tony Costa explores the phenomenon by going back to the earliest New Testament writer, Paul. He explores the various words, expressions, and ritual actions of worship offered by Paul in his letters, then proposes a comprehensive definition of worship and criteria for identifying it. Costa calls attention to the fact that, for Paul, acts of worship are not as limited as we may have imagined. I find especially valuable Costa's treatment of the integral role of Jesus within the worship experience of the Pauline faith communities. This has profound implications, suggesting a very high Christology within the early Church. Costa brings a fresh perspective, and I recommend this book to those interested in the area of earliest Christian worship and Christology. (Michael R. Licona, Associate Professor of Theology, Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas) The corpus of the Apostle Paul is the oldest body of Christian literature, and the way that he approaches the person of Christ in relation to worship is therefore of supreme significance. In this new work, Tony Costa presents a detailed argument for seeing the writings of the Apostle Paul as the first in a long line of Christian works that have found the raison d'tre of human existence in the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. His argument is sound and deeply persuasive and provides cogent proof that the Church's ascription of deity to Jesus of Nazareth has been right and true. I wish it a wide reading and impact. (Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky)”

"Tony Costa offers here a thoughtful and intensive investigation of worship as reflected in the Pauline Corpus. His particular contributions lie in his detailed analysis of the vocabulary of worship in Paul, and in his engagement with other scholarship. His work comprises a genuine contribution to the analysis of the religious life of earliest Christianity." (Larry W. Hurtado, Professor Emeritus, New Testament Language, Literature and Theology, University of Edinburgh, Scotland) "Tony Costa's work helpfully reviews scholarship and most importantly provides in-depth exploration of Paul's Christocentric approach to worship. This work offers fresh insights on worship from a biblical perspective and makes a vital contribution to the subject." (Craig S. Keener, Professor New Testament, Asbury Theological Seminary, Wilmore, Kentucky) "In this ground-breaking study on the concept of worship in the early Church, Tony Costa explores the phenomenon by going back to the earliest New Testament writer, Paul. He explores the various words, expressions, and ritual actions of worship offered by Paul in his letters, then proposes a comprehensive definition of worship and criteria for identifying it. Costa calls attention to the fact that, for Paul, acts of worship are not as limited as we may have imagined. I find especially valuable Costa's treatment of the integral role of Jesus within the worship experience of the Pauline faith communities. This has profound implications, suggesting a very high Christology within the early Church. Costa brings a fresh perspective, and I recommend this book to those interested in the area of earliest Christian worship and Christology." (Michael R. Licona, Associate Professor of Theology, Houston Baptist University, Houston, Texas) "The corpus of the Apostle Paul is the oldest body of Christian literature, and the way that he approaches the person of Christ in relation to worship is therefore of supreme significance. In this new work, Tony Costa presents a detailed argument for seeing the writings of the Apostle Paul as the first in a long line of Christian works that have found the raison d'etre of human existence in the worship of the Lord Jesus Christ. His argument is sound and deeply persuasive and provides cogent proof that the Church's ascription of deity to Jesus of Nazareth has been right and true. I wish it a wide reading and impact." (Michael A. G. Haykin, Professor of Church History and Biblical Spirituality, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, Louisville, Kentucky)

Tony Costa earned his PhD at Radboud Universiteit Nijmegen in the Netherlands in the areas of theology and New Testament. He received his B.A. in religious studies and his M.A. in early Christianity from the University of Toronto. His research interests include early Christian origins and worship and Christianity and contemporary society. He is Professor of Theology and Apologetics at the Toronto Baptist Seminary in Toronto, Canada. In addition, he serves as Adjunct Professor of Biblical Exegesis and Systematic Theology at Providence Theological Seminary in Colorado Springs, Colorado. He also serves as a Guest Researcher with the Research Institute for Theology and Religion at the University of South Africa in Pretoria, South Africa. He has published essays in the Early Christianity in Its Hellenistic Context series (2013).

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