What does it mean that the believers are ‘in Christ’ (Rom 8:1; 2 Cor 5:17 etc.)? The phrase has become so common to Christian discourse that it obscures the original meaning. By analysing key passages and stripping back the interpretive layers, this book portrays ‘in Christ’ in the light of Greek language usage. Insights from metaphor theory, onomastics, and ritual theory further the investigation. The book also addresses prepositional phrases like ‘with Christ’ and how ‘in Christ’ developed in the deutero-Pauline letters. This comprehensive perspective illuminates a crucial early-Christian phrase and how believers viewed their relationship to Christ.

There are references to clothing throughout Paul's letters, and the metaphor constitutes a significant aspect of his theology. The imagery appears several times in his letters: clothing with Christ (Gal 3:27; Rom 13:14), clothing with the new man (Col 3:9-10; Eph 4:22-24), and clothing with the resurrection body (1 Cor 15:49, 50-54; 2Cor 5:1-4). In order to understand the background to this use of the clothing metaphor, Jung Hoon Kim examines similar imagery in the Old Testament, 1 and 2 Enoch, the Apocalypse of Moses, Philo, rabbinic literature, Joseph and Aseneth, the Hymn of the Pearl, and Apuleius's Metamorphoses. He also discusses the Roman custom of clothing and the baptismal praxis of the ancient church. Kim concludes that Paul's metaphor suggests the life and glory of the image of God, which were lost by Adam, have been restored by baptism in Christ, and will go on to be consummated at the parousia.

In this study, Teresa Morgan offers a radically new interpretation of 'in Christ'and related expressions in the undisputed letters of Paul. Starting from a reassessment of Deissmann's Die neutestamentliche Formel "in Christo Jesu", she argues that Deissmann's philology is flawed, the Schweitzerian concept of 'participation in Christ' which is indebted to it is problematic, and many contemporary accounts of participation are better understood in other terms. Through close readings of each letter, Teresa Morgan shows how Paul uses en Christo language instrumentally, to speak of what God has done 'through' Christ, by Christ's death, and 'encheiristically', to speak of the life the faithful now live 'in Christ's hands': in Christ's power, under his authority, under his protection, and in his care. This creative use of en Christo language forms part of and connects Paul's soteriology, eschatology, and Christology, shaping his narrative of God's intervention in the world, the relationship between God, Christ, and the faithful, the lordship and work of Christ between the resurrection and the parousia, and God's ultimate triumph. This narrative is closely connected with Paul's ecclesiology and ethics, where life 'in Christ's hands' is envisaged as the this-worldly dimension of the new creation: an aspect ofeternal life already active in the present time. In Christ's hands the faithful, not least Paul himself, live a new life in communities with a distinctive structure and dynamic. In Christ's hands, they hope to remain in right-standing with God and serve God until Christ's return.

In the Pauline literature of the New Testament, the characteristics of the Spirit and Christian life are described through the use of metaphor. An interpreter of Paul must understand his metaphors in order to arrive at a complete understanding of the Pauline pneumatological perspective. Thus, The Pauline Metaphors of the Holy Spirit examines how the Pauline Spirit metaphors express the intangible Spirit's tangible presence in the life of the Christian. Rhetoricians prior to and contemporary with Paul discussed the appropriate usage of metaphor. Aristotle's thoughts provided the foundation from which these rhetoricians framed their arguments. In this context, The Pauline Metaphors surveys the use of metaphor in the Greco-Roman world during the NT period and also studies modern approaches to metaphor. The modern linguistic theories of substitution, comparison, and verbal opposition are offered as representative examples, as well as the conceptual theories of interaction, cognitive-linguistic, and the approach of Zoltán Kövecses. In examining these metaphors, it is important to understand their systematic and coherent attributes. These can be divided into structural, orientational, and ontological characteristics, which are rooted in the conceptual approach of metaphor asserted by George Lakoff and Mark Johnson. This book evaluates these characteristics against each of the Pauline Spirit-metaphors.

This book explores how Seventh-day Adventists, like other Christians, can benefit from generating their own version of communio ecclesiology. It starts by offering a critical analysis of the status quo of the existing Adventist portrayal of church as remnant, and suggests potential ways of moving this tradition forward. To articulate a more rounded and comprehensive vision of the church’s rich and multifaceted relational nature, this book draws on the mainstream Christian koinonia-based framework. Consequently, it provides possible solutions to some of the most divisive ecclesial issues that Christian communities face today regarding church structure, ministry, mission, communal interpretation, and reform. As it sets on a new footing the conversation between Adventism and other mainstream Christian traditions, the methodology of this book serves as a pathway for any Christian community to use when revisiting and enhancing its own current theologies of the church.

There has been much discussion of two dimensions of the kingdom of God in scholarship: the temporal (already/not yet) and the embodied (spirit/flesh). Russell proposes that there is a third parallel dimension, a social dimension. Using Victor Turner’s concepts of structure, antistructure, and liminality, Russell explores how these concepts are consistently expressed in Jesus’ teaching, in Paul’s writing, and through the writers of the second and third centuries. She demonstrates how, from the very beginning of the Jesus movement, Christ followers were unique, not because their members were to live liminal lives apart from structure, but because they lived out new antistructural relationships within existing structures and thus transformed them. They lived liminally within their structure.

With increasing interaction between Eastern and Western theologians, several recent biblical interpreters have characterised Paul's soteriology as theosis, or deification. In response to these affirmations, Ben C. Blackwell explores the anthropological dimension of Paul's soteriology to determine how helpful this characterisation is. Utilising the Wirkungsgeschichte of the Pauline letters, he first examines two Greek patristic interpreters of Paul - Irenaeus and Cyril of Alexandria - to clarify what deification entails and to determine which Pauline texts they used to support their soteriological constructions. The monograph then focuses on Paul's soteriology expressed in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 3-5 (with excursus on other passages) and explores how believers embody Christ's death and life, his suffering and glory, through the Spirit. Blackwell concludes with a comparison of deification as presented by these two Greek patristic interpreters and Paul's soteriology, noting the substantial overlap as well as key differences.

Warren Smith examines the neglected biblical, liturgical and theological foundations of Ambrose's thought on ethics. Earlier studies have found little that was distinctively Christian in Ambrose's image of the virtuous person. Smith shows that, although like the pagans he emphasized moderation, courage, justice, and prudence, for Ambrose these characteristics were shaped by the church's beliefs about God's salvific economy.

Divided into 3 parts, this handbook provides a wide-ranging survey and analysis of the Christian Church. The first section addresses the scriptural foundations of ecclesiology; the second section outlines the historical and confessional aspects of the topic; and the final part discusses a variety of contemporary and topical themes in ecclesiology. Compiled and written by leading scholars in the field, the T&T Clark Handbook of Ecclesiology covers a range of key topics in the context of their development and importance in each stream of historic Christianity and the confessional traditions. The contributors cover traditional matters such as creedal notes, but also tackle questions of ordination, orders of ministry, and sacraments. This handbook is extensive enough to provide a true overview of the field, but the essays are also concise enough to be read as reference selections.

In a new study on the Pauline adoption metaphors, Erin Heim applies a wide array of contemporary theories of metaphor in a fresh exegesis of the four instances of adoption (huiothesia) metaphors in Galatians and Romans. Though many investigations into biblical metaphors treat only their historical background, Heim argues that the meaning of a metaphor lies in the interanimation of a metaphor and the range of possible backgrounds it draws upon. Using insights from contemporary theories, Heim convincingly demonstrates that the Pauline adoption metaphors are instrumental in shaping the perceptions, emotions, and identity of Paul’s first-century audiences.