Questions of immanence and transcendence continue to occupy theologians, the concept of apocalyptic with its transcendent eschatology has been to the fore in Biblical studies and there has been a resurgence of quests for experience of transcendence in contemporary culture. It is not surprising that in this intellectual climate the tension between this-worldliness and other-worldliness should have remained a crucial problem for the Christian life-style. Interest in such broad contemporary issues provided the original context and the initial impulse for a study which might at first sight appear to be a rather obscure angle of approach to Pauline theology.

Before embarking on a consideration of the function of heaven in Paul's thought it is worth briefly placing this consideration in some relation to aspects of the thinking of recent decades about the heavenly dimension or transcendence. If there is an average reaction to the concept of heaven, perhaps it is similar to the anguished but naive doubts of the squadron chaplain in Joseph Heller's Catch-22.

This consideration of Paul's treatment of the heavenly dimension in Philippians centres around Philippians 3: 20, 21 in which the believer's commonwealth or state (τὸ πōλίτ∈υμα) is said to be in heaven.

The literary setting and genre of 3: 20, 21

A traditional question has been whether chapter 3 can be considered part of the original letter, while more recent discussion has asked whether verses 20, 21 in particular can be considered Pauline, or whether they are not rather a pre-Pauline hymn which has been incorporated, just as 2: 6–11 is commonly held to have been brought into the earlier part of the letter.

A number of scholars have held that two, three or even four fragments of Paul's correspondence with the Philippians were brought together at a later date when his correspondence was collected and were amalgamated into the one letter we now know as Philippians. In most versions of this hypothesis Philippians 3: 2 – 4: 1 forms one fragment or at least a part of one fragment, for some add 4: 8, 9 as part of the same fragment. Yet the great variety in such reconstructions of the fragments and of the places where they are to be joined, the existence of quite satisfactory explanations of the structure of the letter as we now have it and the repetition of certain themes throughout it cast doubt on the necessity for a fragment hypothesis.

The polemical setting in the Corinthian correspondence

The two passages in 2 Corinthians in which the concept of heaven figures prominently are 4: 16 – 5: 10 which speaks of the believer's ‘heavenly house’ and 12: 1–10 which relates Paul's experience of the third heaven or Paradise. Although chapters 10–13 in all probability form a separate and later letter, there is a continuity in life-setting between the two passages. Chapters 10–13 indicate that the innuendoes and criticisms to be found in a number of places in the earlier chapters have now become an outright calling into question of Paul's apostolic claims combined with an attempt by the agitators to supplant his claims by their own. It would seem that at some time after the sending of 1 Corinthians new agitation had been caused by a group coming to Corinth but had been temporarily lulled by Paul's severe letter. Later, after the further letter, 2 Corinthians 1–9, had been received, there was a renewed effort (perhaps a return to Corinth) by these opponents, which undid Paul's conciliatory work and provoked his full-scale counter-attack of 2 Corinthians 10–13. In this way 2 Corinthians 5 and 2 Corinthians 12 have the same opposition in view but at two different stages of development.

The main issue at stake between Paul and his opponents is the nature of apostleship and its accompanying life-style. They emphasize visible manifestations of glory and appear to believe that Paul's suffering and weakness veil the gospel (cf. 4: 3).

Our general discussion of Paul's treatment of the heavenly dimension in Colossians leads up to a more detailed examination of the pericope, Colossians 3: 1–4. Unlike the hymn in Colossians 1: 15–20, this passage has the advantage of not being overworked in recent scholarship. The term τὰ ἄνω, which is an equivalent to the heavenly dimension, figures prominently in this passage, and the passage itself is crucial to the structure of the letter as a whole as it provides a bridge from the polemic of chapter 2 into the second half of the letter with its ethical parenesis. Its pivotal place in the letter reflects the centrality of the heavenly realm to the problems in Colossae with which Paul deals.

False teaching about the heavenly world in Colossae

There was no lack of interest in the heavenly dimension in Colossae and the form this interest took conditions to a large degree Paul's response and its terminology. It is however not easy to be precise about the form the interest took. Epaphras evidently felt there was cause for some concern at the ailment which was beginning to plague the church and on hearing his report Paul shared this concern and set about prescribing what he knew to be the only cure. Although the prescription for cure comes across reasonably clearly to the present-day reader of Colossians, the ailment defies a really detailed diagnosis on his part.

In 1 Corinthians the heavenly dimension becomes explicitly prominent in Paul's discussion at chapter 15 when in verses 42–9 he describes both Christ and believers as heavenly. As he deals in a comprehensive way with the resurrection of the dead, he is able to set out his own perspective on heavenly life and the place of the body in Christian existence, two themes which are central not only to this chapter but also to an understanding of the diverse problems in the church at Corinth and the attitudes which gave rise to these problems.

Heavenly existence in Corinth

It is generally agreed that the irony of the apostle's language in 1 Corinthians 4: 5, 8 reflects the ‘over-realized’ eschatology of many in Corinth. These Corinthians believed that the kingdom was already here and that they as the saints were already reigning and judging. Their life in the Spirit with its abundance of charismatic gifts seemed to them proof that they were already enjoying the eschatological blessings of freedom and fullness associated with the consummation. Some of Paul's attempts to correct this over-confidence can be seen in his emphasis on the suffering involved in his life as an apostle (4: 9f), his use of the race metaphor (9: 24f) and his reminder that the perfect is still future (13: 8–10, 12). The Corinthians, however, interpreted everything from their own perspective.

Paul's reference to ἡ ἄνω Ἰ∈ρōυσαλήμ in Gal. 4: 26 turns his readers' attention to the heavenly dimension. Elsewhere in the NT the term ἄνω, most characteristic of the Fourth Gospel, is virtually synonymous with heaven and often its purely spatial and its more religious connotations cannot be separated. Here its attributive use is equivalent in meaning to πōυράνιōς.

The polemical setting

In refuting the attacks of the proponents of ‘another gospel’ (1: 6f) who are intent on making capital out of the tensions which existed between the apostle to the Gentiles and the Jerusalem church, Paul in Galatians 1 and 2 sets out the origins of the gospel which he taught and reviews the history of his apostleship as it relates to the ‘pillar apostles’ of the Jerusalem church. In the central section of the letter in chapters 3 and 4 he takes up in a more systematic but nevertheless highly polemical fashion the main issues under debate. He gives his perspective on God's actions in the history of salvation and focuses on the question, ‘Who are the true heirs of Abraham?’ It is to this question that Paul returns in the pericope 4 : 21 – 5: 1 which presents in a novel way the insistence throughout the letter that his is a gospel of grace and freedom. Paul believed this theme to be of vital importance in the Galatian situation where false teachers were attempting to draw away his converts.

An earlier draft of this work was a doctoral dissertation accepted by the University of Cambridge early in 1975. In revising it for publication, I have attempted to take account of the most significant literature which has appeared since that time in this area of New Testament scholarship.

I am greatly indebted to Professor C. F. D. Moule of Ridley Hall, Cambridge, and formerly Lady Margaret's Professor of Divinity in the University of Cambridge who supervised my original research and who always made himself available to offer help and advice. My thanks go also to the editors of this monograph series, Professor R. McL. Wilson and Dr M. E. Thrall, for their very helpful comments. To my wife, Paula, belongs my deepest gratitude for her sacrifices in support of my work.

Some of the more significant conclusions about Paul's eschatology arising from the exegesis have been summarized at the end of each chapter. This final chapter now aims to relate these and other findings to broader issues in Paul's thought and its interpretation. The further question of the contemporary relevance of Paul's views expressed in concepts so closely associated with first century A.D. cosmologies lies beyond the scope of our study but has been raised in the Introduction.

Heaven, realized eschatology and apocalyptic

Apocalyptic parallels to Paul's references to heaven

In the course of this study correspondences in apocalyptic writings to Paul's references to heaven have often been noted. This is hardly surprising since Paul was a diaspora Pharisee and apocalyptic ideas had a particularly strong influence on diaspora Judaism. In several passages we have seen links between heaven and the general apocalyptic concept of the two ages. More specifically we found apocalyptic references for the heavenly Jerusalem (Gal. 4: 26), Paradise and the third heaven (2 Cor. 12), the age to come present in heaven and entered at death (2 Cor. 5; Phil. 1: 23), the hope laid up in heaven (Col. 1: 5), the ‘hidden-revealed’ motif and the theme of glory (Col. 3: 1–4), the mystery of God's cosmic plan (Eph. 1: 10), the session in heaven (Eph. 2: 6), the heavenly temple (Eph. 2: 20ff) and the cosmic battle (Eph. 6: 10ff).