This thesis asserts that Paul’s primary scriptural source in Romans 1-4 (and the epistle as a whole) is the prophecy of Isaiah, specifically, the prophecy’s redemptive narrative centering in the “proclamation of good news.” Paul understands the content of this good news to be the revelation of God's righteousness in the sacrificial death of the messiah as the source of redemptive recreation from the power of sin and death, the basis of the everlasting (new) covenant. Isaiah’s good news, then, is the fulfillment of all previous covenant expressions. Paul, therefore, employs Isaiah, particularly its typology of Israel as both reiterating the fall and portraying the guilt and plight of humanity, to convey a covenantal and revelational continuity that climaxes in the gospel. This continuity, then, embraces the law, so that the law, like the gospel, proclaims both plight and promise and is brought to fulfillment in the justification granted through the sacrifice of the Servant of the Lord/Jesus Christ. The expansive sweep of this redemptive narrative in Isaiah stretches from its allusions to the fall, to the creation of the new heavens and new earth, as Israel and the nations are at last ushered back into the presence of the glory of God. This Isaianic redemptive narrative, therefore, through Paul’s extensive allusive and citational reference to the prophecy, forms the foundational and principle theological framework for the epistle. Other portions of scripture, to be sure, play a prominent role, yet their significance stands in supporting the more comprehensive theological narrative of Isaiah.

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Although the prevalence of salvation language in the Pastoral Epistles is acknowledged, there have been few studies of their soteriology, and differing critical assumptions concerning the PE are reflected in widely divergent descriptions of their soteriological perspective.  This thesis investigates the concepts and presentation of salvation in these letters.  To lessen the effect of prior assumptions, the study does not start from an historical reconstruction of their situation.  Rather, it utilizes the growing scholarly recognition of the literary coherence of the PE to seek to uncover the soteriological outlook that enables the salvation material to function within the paraenetic strategies of these epistolary documents.  The assumption that the three letters are one corpus is set aside and each is studied independently to allow any distinctive profile to emerge. From a detailed analysis of the use of salvation language (1 Tim 1:1;  1:12-17;  2:1-7;  2:15;  4:10;  4:16;2 Tim 1:9-14;  2:8-13;  3:14-17;  4:16-18;  Titus 1:1-4;  2:11-14;  3:1-8) the soteriological perspectives and emphases of each letter are described and the results compared.  The three are found to share a kairological framework, locating the initiative for salvation in God’s pretemporal will that is intimated in the Old Testament, decisively inaugurated in the historic Christ event, continues to be implemented in the present age through the proclamation of the Gospel with the response of faith, and awaits final realization in the eschatological kingdom of Christ.  Each letter, however, shapes its presentation of salvation to serve its distinctive paraenetic goals. The study confirms the coherence of argumentation of these letters, challenges certain current readings of their soteriology, and finds that the soteriological elements are not in conflict with the understanding of salvation in Paul and sit comfortably within the range of presentations of salvation in the NT.

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The contemporary study of Hebrews is bedeviled by anachronistic assumptions that distort its interpretation. As a result, Hebrews holds a paradoxical position in contemporary New Testament scholarship. After two centuries of critical study little progress has been made on core introductory issues related to this epistle. Consequently, many scholars are hesitant to utilize it significantly for investigation into the origin and early development of Christianity. In contrast, Hebrews specialists generally agree that Hebrews is a sermon that was sent to a group of Christians in Rome. Some scholars even utilize it as a primary datum in the investigation of Roman Christianity. This thesis consists of a ground-clearing exercise and prolegomena for reexamining the place of Hebrews in early Christian history. It begins by arguing that Hebrews should not be read as a document of early Christianity, a religion separate from Judaism, but as a document of Second Temple Judaism. It then assesses the arguments for locating the recipients in Rome. When the evidence is subjected to critical scrutiny we find that it precludes an Italian location. Likewise, the arguments against locating the readers in Palestine fail and the evidence actually points in that direction. Finally, the idea that Hebrews is a sermon is disproved and new insight is gained into the situation that the epistle addresses. Significantly, we find that the reference to a "word of exhortation" in 13:22 refers to an oracle received by the readers which they were hesitant to obey. The positive argument contends that Hebrews was sent to Jerusalem. New exegetical insight into Rahab's commendation (11:31) gives strong support to this contention. Additional support comes from the Temple Scroll, 4QMMT and other Jewish texts which help prove that camp in 13:13-14 is a legal term of art that refers to Jerusalem. These texts also help us see that the "strange teachings" in 13:9 refer to halakhic innovations related to sacrifice. The readers reside in Jerusalem and are urged to leave the city before it is destroyed.

When handling metaphor, some Romans, New Testament and Biblical studies scholarship, seeks it in the text and then tries to define it - make it proper; their property, or that of who they think is the proprietor. However, the definitions and language used to define and describe metaphor are actually within metaphor itself. Metaphor is often interpreted before it is interpreted. Expectations are made, and some aspects of the sense of a word or phrase are elided, pushed away or even rejected, whilst others are retained, welcomed or even celebrated. Whilst this loss and gain might be unconscious or indirect, its force is part of an insistent pattern of usure. However, just as every reservoir drained by a bell mouth causes a nearby river to throb, that which is oppressed or pushed away emerges elsewhere, unpredictably - withdrawal, or retrait, is also extension. In Romans, the role of the believer in the great eschatological project of God, and in their relationship to God, is one that some traditional interpretations seek to read as being very limited - often to a one-way process of transferral from God to human. Financial-economic, oleicultural and somatic metaphor are kept in check through the pattern of usure. But it can also be read against the grain. The methodology of usure-retrait, developed in this thesis from Derrida's "White Mythology" and "The Retrait of Metaphor", is used to read texts from Romans 4, 11 and 12 in a way that appreciates what is gained through metaphor, even if this gain goes against the apparent intention, or authorised meanings. The result of this study is an appreciation of the reciprocity, synergy, and mutuality, albeit asymmetrical, of the relationship between the believer and God. This leads to an assessment that their power, as well as their responsibility, is much greater than some interpretations would cede. They are active, and help shape, form and determine not only God's works, but God himself.

Taking up the concept of reception history/Rezeptionsästhetik, as described by its founder, Hans Robert Jauss, this project considers the way in which diverse contexts shape the ways in which readers of 2 Thessalonians have historically interpreted the epistle. Supplementing Jauss’ methodology with insights from theological scholars, the larger questions of biblical meaning and continuity between biblical interpreters enters the discussion. In the former case, this research discounts the bifurcated directions of historical positivism that equates biblical meaning either with historical background or authorial intent. Related to this, the research proposes the continuity between historical interpreters of 2 Thessalonians be construed in terms of historical dialogue, which constitutes the being of the work. Three historical interpreters of 2 Thessalonians from different historical periods of the Church serve as the receptive foci in this dissertation: John Chrysostom (early Church), Haimo of Auxerre (Medieval Church), and John Calvin (Reformation). Following Jauss’ Rezpetionsästhetik, these interpreters are placed in their compositional contexts and in dialogue with modern interpreters of the same epistle. By passing through the various dimensions of the letter’s otherness, the research brings to the fore potential present appropriations of meaning.

The problem of what, if anything, brings continuity of thought to the exhortations found in the New Testament Letter of James has perplexed, and continues to perplex interpreters of this letter. Indeed, for Martin Dibelius the literary character of this letter provided no opportunity for the development, or elaboration of religious ideas. In view of this fact, Dibelius concluded that the Letter of James has no theology. In this present consideration of James, it is demonstrated that Dibelius' view of James as lacking a developed theology is quite mistaken. In contrast to Dibelius' opinion, James' employment and development of convenant thought provides the letter with continuity of thought, as the author uses it to challenge the 'defective' theology of the implied audience, whilst establishing his own alternative theology. The thesis proceeds by examining three aspects of covenant thought (God's character, the nature of the convenant relationship, and the threat of assimilation) in the context of the Old Testament and other Jewish sources. Then the indictment of the implied audience, found in Jas 4:1-6, is considered in order to establish whether or not covenant thought is a significant factor in James' theology. This consideration establishes that James employs and develops covenant thought, and on this basis the following chapters proceed to investigate the role this ideology performs in the exhortations of Jas 1-2. Finally, a summary analysis of the remainder of the letter (3:1-18; 4:7-5:20) confirms that covenant thought is influential throughout the whole letter. Consequently, it is evident that covenant thought performs a significant role in the theology and ethics of the Letter of James as he seeks to combat the 'defective' theology of the implied audience whose unfaithfulness is related to their misunderstanding of both God's character and their relationship to him.

This study explores Paul’s teaching on the role of the Spirit in 1 Cor 2.1– 3.4, and how that role relates to the themes of the cross, wisdom and discernment in that passage and the immediate context of 1 Cor 1–4. By providing a close reading of 1 Cor 2.1–3.4, this dissertation focuses on the reasons why Paul articulates and emphasises the Spirit’s essential role in the proclamation of the cross, in the mediation of divine wisdom and the exercise of communal discernment. This study also investigates how this pneumatological teaching applies to Paul’s further assessment of the Corinthian situation, as articulated in 1 Cor 5–15, and thus why the textual unit in which it appears occurs at such an early stage in Paul’s argument. After an introductory chapter surveying previous scholarship and situating a study of 1 Cor 2.1–3.4, chapter 2 shows how Paul is addressing a situation in Corinth which emerged after his initial sojourn and in which the Corinthians employ what he sees as faulty criteria of judgment, drawn from the conventions and styles of Graeco-Roman rhetoric, in assessing the apostles as heralds of God’s wisdom and themselves as wise, spiritual people. Paul counters these by arguing that the Corinthians’ original acceptance of the gospel came not through persuasive speech but by the Spirit working powerfully in the message he proclaimed. Chapter 3 explores Paul’s perception that the Corinthians have misconstrued the notion of revelation by defining it as a process by which one comes to know and receive divine wisdom through human ability or effort. This chapter then examines Paul’s corrective response and its assertion that divine wisdom can only be know and received through divine mediation, and that the Spirit is the means by which this occurs. Chapter 4 focuses on the topic of discernment. It investigates Paul’s perception that the Corinthians form their assessments by relying on human wisdom, why he holds this to be inappropriate for those who are in Christ and recipients of God’s wisdom, and why he underlines that Spirit-guided discernment is the only appropriate means for judging divine wisdom and those who proclaim it. A final chapter asks whether and how the issues examined in 1 Cor 2.1– 3.4 play out in 1 Cor 1–4 as a whole and then in the rest of the letter. The Corinthians’ failure to rely on God’s wisdom and Spirit-guided discernment and an internal stratification based on their own perceptions of wisdom and spirituality are seen as contributing to the social and ecclesial problems discussed later in the letter. At the same time what Paul has argued in 1 Cor 2.1–3.4 continues to inform his response, as he appeals for lives shaped by the wisdom of the gospel of the cross and for a community united in its discernment, both made possible by the Spirit.