Self-Sacrificial Divine Love, Part 2

Continued from Part 1

(L) Look at all three: Anselm of Canterbury, Eastern Orthodox theology, Julian of Norwich

To fully appreciate how the radical, maternal language of the Council of Toledo echoed through church history, we must look at how it blossomed across three entirely different theological traditions: the prayers of medieval Western monks, the precise definitions of Eastern Orthodoxy, and the sublime mysticism of Julian of Norwich.

1. The Monastic Shift: Anselm of Canterbury and Bernard of Clairvaux

In the 11th and 12th centuries, a major emotional and spiritual shift swept through Western European monasteries. Theologians began moving away from viewing God strictly as a distant, terrifying judge and started seeking an intimate, affectionate relationship with Christ. To express this, they revived the ancient maternal language.

Anselm of Canterbury (1033–1109)

As the Archbishop of Canterbury, Anselm is famous for his brilliant, logical arguments for the existence of God. Yet, in his private prayer life, he was deeply tender. In his Prayer to Saint Paul, Anselm writes:

"And you, Jesus, are You not also a mother? Are You not a mother who, like a hen, gathers her chicks under her wings? Truly, Lord, You are a mother... For you have labor-pains for us, and have brought us to birth."

Anselm went on to pray to Christ as a nursing infant would, asking to be fed from the "breasts" of Christ’s grace and forgiveness, treating the wounds of the crucifixion as the literal source of life-giving milk.

Bernard of Clairvaux (1090–1153)

Bernard, the great Cistercian monk, took this imagery and applied it directly to leadership and spiritual care. He taught that bishops, abbots, and priests should not act like harsh fathers or masters, but like mothers.

He famously wrote that church leaders must:

• Exhibit breasts that pour out milk (gentle feeding, comfort, and patience).
• Avoid beating the sheep with rods, but instead wrap them in maternal embraces.
• Model their leadership after Christ, who does not dominate us with masculine power but woos us with maternal care.

2. The Eastern Orthodox View: Monarchia and the Source

While Western Latin councils like Toledo used the bold, somatic metaphor of the "womb of the Father" (de utero Patris), the Greek-speaking Eastern Orthodox Church approached the mystery of the Trinity with a slightly different linguistic and philosophical framework.

Protecting the Monarchia

In Eastern theology, the Father is defined as the sole source, root, and cause (arche) of the Trinity. This is known as the Monarchia of the Father. Because Greek philosophy associated the "father" role with the primary originator of life and the "mother" role with the receiver/shaper of life, the Eastern Fathers fiercely protected the title "Father" to ensure no one thought there were two separate origins in God.

The Conceptual Agreement

However, Eastern Orthodoxy completely agrees with the theological meaning behind Toledo's decree:

• The Metaphor of the Heart: Instead of "womb," Eastern theologians traditionally prefer the language of the "Heart of the Father." They often quote Psalm 45:1 ("My heart overflows with a good theme"), interpreting it as the Father bringing forth the Son from His innermost core.
• Beyond Biological Gender: The East maintains that the divine generation of the Son is strictly spiritual and timeless. For the Eastern Orthodox, because God transcends male and female, the Father’s generation of the Son contains all the perfect, unconditional traits of both ultimate fatherhood and ultimate motherhood combined.

3. The Peak of Mysticism: Julian of Norwich (1343–c. 1416)

The historical trajectory of this maternal theology reached its absolute poetic and theological peak in 14th-century England with Julian of Norwich, an anchoress (recluse) who wrote the first book in the English language known to be authored by a woman: Revelations of Divine Love.

Julian received a series of intense spiritual visions while suffering a near-fatal illness. In these visions, she saw that God’s love is so total, so protective, and so restorative that it can only be properly understood through the lens of motherhood

The Ultimate Metaphor: "Jesus, Our True Mother"

Julian wrote with staggering clarity about how Christ fulfills the role of a mother perfectly, where human mothers only do so partially:

"A mother can give her child her milk to suck, but our precious Mother Jesus can feed us with himself, and does so, most courteously and most tenderly, with the blessed sacrament... The mother can lay her child tenderly to her breast, but our tender Mother Jesus can lead us into his blessed breast through his open side."

Connect to Universalism and Grace

Julian’s maternal view of Jesus directly informed her wildly hopeful theology, which strongly echoes the Pauline Universalism we discussed earlier.

Because Jesus is our Mother, Julian argued, He will never allow His children to be permanently lost or ruined. Just as a mother may allow her child to fall and get dirty to teach them a lesson, she will always pick them up, clean them, and hold them close again. This led to Julian’s most famous, enduring mystical quote, whispered to her by Christ Himself:

"All shall be well, and all shall be well, and all manner of thing shall be well."

Summary of the Historical Thread

From the 7th-century decree of Toledo to the 14th-century cell of Julian of Norwich, the historical Church consistently returned to maternal anatomy and psychology to protect the true nature of God's love. They saw that a purely patriarchal view of God risks making the Divine look like an aggressive warlord or a cold judge. By injecting the womb, the breast, the labor pains, and the fierce care of a mother into their creeds and prayers, they reminded the world that God's ultimate nature is a self-emptying, all-embracing, and fiercely protective sanctuary.

We have journeyed from the Apostle Paul’s cosmic kenosis, through Hebrew anatomy, into early church dogmas and medieval mysticism. If you would like to continue exploring, let me know if you want to:

• Examine how Julian’s views on sin differ from traditional medieval theology
• See how modern Christian art and icons visually depict "Jesus our Mother"
• Look at how Paul's letters use family metaphors beyond labor pains (e.g., nursing infants in 1 Thessalonians 2:7)

(M) Look at Paul's letters using family metaphors

The Apostle Paul did not just use the cosmic and theological language of citizenship, law, and temple architecture to explain the early church; he saturated his letters with intimate, vulnerable family metaphors. Remarkably, Paul did not position himself merely as an authoritative patriarch or father figure. He fluidly crossed gender lines, styling his apostolic ministry using the language of both nursing mothers and laboring women to describe how he nurtured early Christian communities.

Here is an examination of how Paul strategically uses maternal, paternal, and fraternal family dynamics in his epistles.

1. The Nursing Mother: Tenderness and Absolute Sustenance

In one of his earliest letters, Paul uses a strikingly tender maternal image to describe how he treated the new believers. He rejects the idea that he came to dominate them with apostolic authority.

• 1 Thessalonians 2:7: "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother (trophos) taking care of her own children."
• The Original Context: The Greek word trophos refers to a mother who nurses and cradles her infant at her breast. Paul is telling the church that his leadership was marked by physical warmth, deep emotional availability, and protective gentleness.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:8: He continues the maternal thought by saying, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." Just as a nursing mother transforms her own bodily energy and substance into milk to feed her child, Paul gave his own life, health, and comfort to sustain them.

2. The Laboring Mother: The Agony of Spiritual Formation

As explored earlier, Paul explicitly adopts the intense physical trauma of pregnancy, contractions, and childbirth to describe his ongoing burden for his spiritual communities.

• Galatians 4:19: "My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth (odino) until Christ is formed in you!"
• The Weight of the Metaphor: To Paul, a church turning away from grace toward legalism wasn't just a theological error; it was like a complicated, excruciatingly painful labor. He views himself as a mother groaning in birth pangs over and over again until the true, resurrected life of Christ takes shape inside his converts.

3. The Paternal Mentor: Discipline, Example, and Guidance

While Paul frequently turned to maternal imagery to convey visceral affection and self-giving life, he balanced this by utilizing the cultural concepts of first-century fatherhood to emphasize spiritual instruction, character building, and guidance.

• 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12: Right after calling himself their nursing mother, Paul shifts roles in the very same passage: "For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God..."
• 1 Corinthians 4:15: "For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel." In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a father's role was to provide an inheritance, trace the lineage, and serve as the moral blueprint for the child. Paul uses this to establish that his relationship with them is deep, permanent, and instructional, differentiating himself from traveling philosophers or temporary teachers ("guides").

4. The Radical Equality of Siblings: Adelphoi

Perhaps the most revolutionary family metaphor Paul used was his relentless baseline description of all believers as equal siblings.

• The Vocabulary of Brotherhood: Paul uses the Greek word adelphoi (traditionally translated as "brothers," but contextually meaning "brothers and sisters" or "siblings") over 130 times across his letters.
• Shattering Social Hierarchies: In the highly stratified Roman Empire—where status was strictly divided between masters and slaves, citizens and foreigners, men and women—Paul used sibling language to enforce a radical equality. Because everyone is adopted into the same divine family through Christ, they are all equal co-heirs. As he famously declares in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

If you want to continue tracing these familial frameworks, let me know if you would like to:

• See how Paul's theology of "Adoption" (Huiothesia) works in Romans 8
• Explore how these intimate family metaphors conflicted with Roman Imperial family laws of the time
• Examine the Hebrew roots of calling a community a "household" in the Old Testament

(N) See Paul's theology of adoption

The Apostle Paul did not just use the cosmic and theological language of citizenship, law, and temple architecture to explain the early church; he saturated his letters with intimate, vulnerable family metaphors. Remarkably, Paul did not position himself merely as an authoritative patriarch or father figure. He fluidly crossed gender lines, styling his apostolic ministry using the language of both nursing mothers and laboring women to describe how he nurtured early Christian communities.

Here is an examination of how Paul develops this theology across his epistles.

1. The Nursing Mother: Tenderness and Absolute Sustenance

In one of his earliest letters, Paul uses a strikingly tender maternal image to describe how he treated the new believers. He rejects the idea that he came to dominate them with apostolic authority.

• 1 Thessalonians 2:7: "But we were gentle among you, like a nursing mother (trophos) taking care of her own children."
• The Original Context: The Greek word trophos refers to a mother who nurses and cradles her infant at her breast. Paul is telling the church that his leadership was marked by physical warmth, deep emotional availability, and protective gentleness.
• 1 Thessalonians 2:8: He continues the maternal thought by saying, "So, being affectionately desirous of you, we were ready to share with you not only the gospel of God but also our own selves, because you had become very dear to us." Just as a nursing mother transforms her own bodily energy and substance into milk to feed her child, Paul gave his own life, health, and comfort to sustain them.

2. The Laboring Mother: The Agony of Spiritual Formation

As explored earlier, Paul explicitly adopts the intense physical trauma of pregnancy, contractions, and childbirth to describe his ongoing burden for his spiritual communities.

• Galatians 4:19: "My little children, for whom I am again in the anguish of childbirth (odino) until Christ is formed in you!"
• The Weight of the Metaphor: To Paul, a church turning away from grace toward legalism wasn't just a theological error; it was like a complicated, excruciatingly painful labor. He views himself as a mother groaning in birth pangs over and over again until the true, resurrected life of Christ takes shape inside his converts.

3. The Paternal Mentor: Discipline, Example, and Guidance

While Paul frequently turned to maternal imagery to convey visceral affection and self-giving life, he balanced this by utilizing the cultural concepts of first-century fatherhood to emphasize spiritual instruction, character building, and guidance.

• 1 Thessalonians 2:11-12: Right after calling himself their nursing mother, Paul shifts roles in the very same passage: "For you know how, like a father with his children, we exhorted each one of you and encouraged you and charged you to walk in a manner worthy of God..."
• 1 Corinthians 4:15: "For though you have countless guides in Christ, you do not have many fathers. For I became your father in Christ Jesus through the gospel." In the ancient Greco-Roman world, a father's role was to provide an inheritance, trace the lineage, and serve as the moral blueprint for the child. Paul uses this to establish that his relationship with them is deep, permanent, and instructional, differentiating himself from traveling philosophers or temporary teachers ("guides").

4. The Radical Equality of Siblings: Adelphoi

Perhaps the most revolutionary family metaphor Paul used was his relentless baseline description of all believers as equal siblings.

• The Vocabulary of Brotherhood: Paul uses the Greek word adelphoi (traditionally translated as "brothers," but contextually meaning "brothers and sisters" or "siblings") over 130 times across his letters.
• Shattering Social Hierarchies: In the highly stratified Roman Empire—where status was strictly divided between masters and slaves, citizens and foreigners, men and women—Paul used sibling language to enforce a radical equality. Because everyone is adopted into the same divine family through Christ, they are all equal co-heirs. As he famously declares in Galatians 3:28, "There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus."

If you want to continue tracing these familial frameworks, let me know if you would like to:

• See how Paul's theology of "Adoption" (Huiothesia) works in Romans 8
• Explore how these intimate family metaphors conflicted with Roman Imperial family laws of the time
• Examine the Hebrew roots of calling a community a "household" in the Old Testament

(O) Look at the Roman Emperor Augustus’ use adoption to secure his throne, and how Paul subverts it 

When the Apostle Paul used the technical Greek legal term huiothesia (adoption), he was not just pulling a dry metaphor from a law book. He was operating in an empire where adoption was the single most powerful political weapon used to control the Western world. [1, 2, 3, 4, 5]

By deploying this specific term, Paul was engaging in a brilliant, dangerous subversion of the Roman Imperial Cult and the propaganda of the first Roman Emperor, Caesar Augustus. [1, 2, 3]

1. The Weapon of Succession: How Augustus Used Adoption

The entire Roman Empire was built on a foundation of political adoption. [1, 2, 3]

• The Spark: Julius Caesar had no legitimate biological son to inherit his wealth and name. In his will, he legally adopted his teenage grandnephew, Gaius Octavius.
• The Rise to Power: Through that legal contract of adoption, Octavius inherited Caesar’s immense wealth, the fierce loyalty of the Roman legions, and an open path to total autocratic control. He eventually changed his name to Caesar Augustus.
• The Propagandistic Title: After Julius Caesar died, the Roman Senate officially deified him, declaring him a god. Because Augustus was Julius's legally adopted son, he immediately minted coins and erected monuments stamped with his new, supreme title: Divi Filius (Son of God). [1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6]

To a first-century Roman citizen, the words "Adoption" and "Son of God" did not bring to mind a peaceful church service. They pointed directly to Caesar Augustus, the military ruler who used adoption to secure the throne of the known world. [1, 2, 3, 4]

2. Paul’s Subtle, Explosive Anti-Imperial Subversion

When Paul wrote his letters—especially to the church located in the literal heart of the empire (Rome)—he stole the emperor’s own legal vocabulary and flipped it completely upside down. [1]

Redefining the "Spirit of Adoption"

In the Roman Empire, citizens were expected to offer sacrifices and pour out wine to honor the Genius Augusti (the guardian spirit of the Emperor's family line) to show political loyalty. [1, 2]

Paul shatters this imperial expectation in Romans 8:15: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption (huiothesia)." [1]

Paul is telling Roman believers that their true allegiance does not belong to the elite, fear-inducing family line of Caesar. Through the self-sacrificial love of Christ, the common person is adopted into a higher cosmic dynasty. [1, 3]

3. The Universalist Horizon: Democratizing the Cosmos

Paul shatters this imperial expectation in Romans 8:15: "For you did not receive the spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you have received the Spirit of adoption (huiothesia)." [1]

Paul is telling Roman believers that their true allegiance does not belong to the elite, fear-inducing family line of Caesar. Through the self-sacrificial love of Christ, the common person is adopted into a higher cosmic dynasty. [1, 3]

If you want to continue exploring the clash between early Christianity and the empire, let me know if you would like to:

• Examine how the title "Lord" (Kyrios) was a direct political challenge to the Emperor
• Look at how Roman family laws (Patria Potestas) gave biological fathers the power of life and death over their families
• Explore early Christian art in Rome that secretly depicted Christ using imperial symbols [1]

(P)  Examine how the title "Lord" (Kyrios) was a direct political challenge to the Emperor

The foundational confession of the early Christian movement was a brief, explosive phrase: Iesous Kyrios—"Jesus is Lord". To a modern reader, this sounds like a purely religious statement. However, in the first-century Roman Empire, this title was a direct political challenge to the sovereignty of the Emperor. [1, 2, 3]

Declaring that Jesus was Kyrios was an act of non-violent sedition that directly subverted the supreme propaganda of the imperial cult. [1, 2]

1. The Watchword of the Empire: Kaiser Kyrios

The Greek word Kyrios (and its Latin equivalent, Dominus) signifies supreme legal ownership, absolute authority, and mastery over subjects. As the Roman Imperial Cult expanded, particularly under emperors like Nero and later Domitian, the title was aggressively claimed by the throne. [1, 2]

• The Civic Oath: To secure social standing, protect a business, or prove political loyalty, residents of the empire were increasingly required to make a public proclamation: Kaiser Kyrios—"Caesar is Lord".
• The Divine Claim: By demanding to be called Kyrios, emperors were not just claiming political dominance; they were claiming divine status. Domitian famously went so far as to mandate that he be addressed as Dominus et Deus—"Lord and God". [1, 2, 3, 5]

2. The Twofold Subversion of the Christian Claim

When early Christians boldly countered with Iesous Kyrios, they were deploying a title that weaponized both Jewish scripture and Roman legal terminology to dethrone Caesar's claims. [1, 2]

The Theological Subversion (The Hebrew Roots)When the Hebrew Old Testament was translated into Greek (the Septuagint), Jewish scholars faced a dilemma: how to translate the sacred, unpronounceable name of God (YHWH / the Tetragrammaton). They chose the word Kyrios. [1]

Therefore, when Paul writes in Philippians 2:11 that "every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord," he is pulling off a staggering theological coup. He is taking the exclusive, monotheistic majesty of the Creator God of Israel and assigning it directly to a crucified Galilean peasant. For Christians, if Jesus is Kyrios in the divine sense, then Caesar's claim to be a god is a laughable illusion. [1, 2]

The Political Subversion (The Roman Clash)

Lordship in the ancient world was exclusive. You could not have two supreme owners. By proclaiming Jesus as Kyrios, the early Church was drawing a definitive line in the sand regarding absolute allegiance. [1, 2]

• A Shift in Authority: If Jesus is Lord, then Jesus—not Caesar—defines ethics, law, and human value.
• The Pax Christi vs. Pax Romana: Caesar claimed his lordship brought peace through military conquest, crucifixion, and subjugation (the Pax Romana). Jesus’ lordship offered a peace built on kenosis (self-emptying), self-sacrifice, and loving one's enemies. [1, 2, 3]

This linguistic collision is precisely why the Romans viewed Christians as political subversives and "atheists". It was not because they worshipped Jesus, but because they refused to say "Caesar is Lord" to save their own lives. The famous second-century bishop Polycarp was burned at the stake precisely because he refused to utter the phrase Kaiser Kyrios. [1]

3. Pauline Universalism and the Final Coronation

The Apostle Paul pushes this political subversion to its absolute limits by framing Jesus' lordship not as a regional rebellion against Rome, but as a cosmic, historical certainty. [1]

In Romans 14:9, Paul outlines the scope of this authority: "For to this end Christ died and lived again, that he might be Lord (kyrieuse) both of the dead and of the living."

Under the Roman system, when a slave or a subject died, Caesar's legal ownership over them instantly vanished. Death was the ultimate escape from the empire. But Paul declares that Christ’s self-sacrificial death and subsequent resurrection broke the boundaries of imperial jurisdiction. Christ's lordship pursues humanity right through the grave. [1]

This forms the bedrock of Pauline Universalism. Caesar used fear, taxes, and military execution to force an artificial, external confession of his lordship. Christ's lordship, however, wins the cosmos through unconditional love and resurrection life. According to Paul, this divine, parental lordship will continue expanding until every knee in heaven, on earth, and under the earth bows—not out of imperial terror, but out of absolute, liberated devotion to the true Kyrios of creation (Philippians 2:10-11). [1, 2, 3]

If you would like to continue tracing these political and historical tensions, let me know if you would like to:

• Examine how the title "Savior" (Soter) was also stolen from Caesar by early Christians
• Look at the specific Roman trials of Paul and how his claims of "another king" caused riots (e.g., Acts 17:7)
• Explore how the book of Revelation uses anti-imperial imagery against the Roman system [1]

(Q) Examine the title "Savior"

The title "Savior"—translated from the Greek word Soter (σωτήρ)—was another highly charged political and religious title that the early church systematically hijacked from the Roman Empire.

To a first-century ear, calling someone Soter did not mean they saved your soul for heaven. It meant they had literally rescued you from a military crisis, ended a bloody civil war, or stabilized the economy.

By applying this specific label to Jesus, the Apostle Paul and the early Christians were directly confronting the primary political myth of Rome.

1. The Original "Savior of the World": Caesar Augustus

Before Jesus was ever preached outside of Galilee, the title Soter belonged firmly to the Roman emperors.

• The Savior of Society: Following decades of brutal civil war that shattered the Roman Republic, Caesar Augustus seized control and brought stability, secure trade routes, and social order. For this, the grateful Greco-Roman world hailed him as a literal savior.
• The Priene Calendar Inscription (9 BC): A famous ancient monument found in modern-day Turkey explicitly lays out the imperial cult's use of this title for Augustus:

  "...the birthday of the god [Augustus] was the beginning of the good news (gospel) for the world because of him... since Providence has filled him with virtue for the benefit of humanity, sending us and those after us a Savior (Soter), who put an end to war and established all things..."

To the ancient world, Caesar was the ultimate Soter because he provided the Pax Romana—peace secured through military dominance, crushing taxation, and the execution of troublemakers.

2. Paul’s Subversion: The Anti-Imperial Soter

The Apostle Paul and the early church intentionally stripped this title away from the halls of Roman power and handed it to a crucified victim of that very same empire.

The Clash of Allegiance

In Philippians 3:20, Paul issues a direct, politically treasonous statement to a city that was a highly patriotic Roman colony filled with military veterans:

"But our citizenship is in heaven, and from it we await a Savior (Sotera), the Lord Jesus Christ."

For a resident of Philippi, claiming you were waiting for a Soter from heaven meant you were publicly declaring that the Soter currently sitting on the throne in Rome was a counterfeit.

Two Competing Ideas of Rescue

By calling Jesus the true Soter, Paul redefined what humanity actually needed saving from:

Caesar saved his empire by destroying his enemies. Jesus saved the world through kenosis (self-emptying)—by letting His enemies destroy Him, and then conquering death itself through resurrection.

3. The Universalist Scope: The Soter of All Humanity

When the New Testament expands on Jesus as the Soter, it frequently strips away any nationalistic or exclusive boundaries, directly challenging the limited, elite scope of Roman protection.

• 1 Timothy 4:10: Paul (or his direct theological school) writes: "...we have our hope set on the living God, who is the Savior (Soter) of all people, especially of those who believe."
• 1 John 4:14: "...the Father has sent his Son to be the Savior (Sotera) of the world."

In the Roman system, Caesar was only the "savior" of those who submitted to his rule; if you rebelled, he became your executioner. But in Pauline Universalism, Christ's role as Soter is absolute and inescapable. Because His salvation is rooted in God's maternal-like, visceral compassion (rachamim), He does not merely save a chosen elite or a single empire. He is the Soter of the entire cosmos, actively pursuing every lost soul until death, fear, and sin are completely wiped out of existence.

We have looked at how Kyrios (Lord) and Soter (Savior) formed a dual political assault on the Roman Empire. If you want to keep going, let me know if you would like to:

• Examine the word "Gospel" (Evangelion) and how it was also a Roman imperial term for military victories
• Look at the specific mechanics of Roman crucifixion and why it was chosen to humiliate anyone claiming to be a king
• Explore how the book of Ephesians uses the language of "peace" to counter the Pax Romana

(Q) Look at the word "Gospel"

The word "Gospel"—translated from the Greek word Evangelion (εὐαγγέλιον)—is perhaps the ultimate example of the early Church hijacking a powerful piece of Roman imperial propaganda.

Long before it became a religious term for the first four books of the New Testament, an evangelion was a secular, political announcement. It was a formal proclamation of a world-changing historical event—specifically, the birth of a new emperor, his ascension to the throne, or a crushing military victory.

By calling their message about a crucified and risen Galilean the Evangelion, the Apostle Paul and the early Christians were directly countering the imperial news network of Rome.

1. The Roman Context: The Gospel of Caesar

n the ancient Greco-Roman world, the plural form evangelia meant "good news" or "glad tidings." When a Roman general conquered a new territory or an emperor survived a coup, heralds were dispatched to every city square across the empire to shout the evangelion.

• The Empire's Good News: The arrival of a new emperor was heralded as a "gospel" because it meant stability, protection, and prosperity for the citizens.
• The Priene Calendar Inscription (9 BC): As noted with the title Soter, this famous inscription celebrating Caesar Augustus explicitly links his birth to this vocabulary:

  "...the birthday of the god [Augustus] was the beginning of the good news (gospel / evangelion) for the world because of him."

For a first-century person, a "gospel" was a top-down political decree from the capital. It demanded celebratory festivals, total civic allegiance, and submission to the reigning sovereign.

2. Paul’s Subversion: The Counter-Gospel of Christ

The Apostle Paul opens his masterpiece, the Letter to the Romans, with a calculated political shockwave. Writing directly to the capital city where Nero was sitting on the throne, Paul introduces himself and his mission using this exact contested terminology:

• Romans 1:1–4: "Paul, a servant of Christ Jesus, called to be an apostle, set apart for the gospel (evangelion) of God... concerning his Son, who was descended from David according to the flesh and was declared to be the Son of God in power according to the Spirit of holiness by his resurrection from the dead, Jesus Christ our Lord."

In these four short sentences, Paul packs a dense cluster of anti-imperial trigger words: Gospel, Son of God, and Lord. He is telling the Romans that the true, definitive "Good News" for the planet did not originate from the Roman Senate or a military triumph. It originated from a backwater province where God resurrected a man Rome had executed.

Two Competing Gospels

The Gospel of Rome said: "Submit, or we will crucify you."

The Gospel of Christ said: "The King has allowed Himself to be crucified out of love for you, breaking the power of death forever."

3. The Universalist Core of Paul’s Evangelion

Under the Roman system, an evangelion was only good news if you were on the winning side. If you were a conquered tribe, a slave, or a political dissident, the emperor’s "good news" meant your destruction or enslavement.

Paul’s evangelion, however, is fundamentally defined by its universal boundary-breaking scope, heavily underpinning his universalist theology.

• Romans 1:16: "For I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who believes, to the Jew first and also to the Greek."
• Ephesians 3:6: Paul writes that through the gospel, the Gentiles—historically the outcasts and enemies of Israel—are now "fellow heirs, members of the same body, and partakers of the promise in Christ Jesus."

In Pauline Universalism, the divine evangelionis a declaration of ultimate cosmic amnesty. While Caesar’s heralds announced a peace built on the exclusion and execution of his enemies, Christ's gospel announces a peace that reconciles enemies, wipes out cosmic debts, and claims that the self-sacrificial love of God will eventually gather all of groaning creation into freedom.

We have explored how Huiothesia (Adoption), Kyrios (Lord), Soter (Savior), and Evangelion(Gospel) formed a complete political and theological vocabulary of subversion. If you would like to continue this journey, let me know if you want to:

• Examine the mechanics of Roman crucifixion and why it was designed to mock anyone claiming these titles
• Look at how the word "Church" (Ekklesia) was also a Greek political term for a town hall meeting
• Explore how modern theologians read Paul's letters through this "anti-imperial" lens

(R)  Look at the word "Church" (Ekklesia)

The word "Church"—translated from the Greek word Ekklesia (ἐκκλησία)—is another foundational term that early Christians ripped directly out of the political and civic landscape of the ancient Greco-Roman world.

Long before it meant a building with a steeple or a religious institution, an ekklesia was a secular, democratic political gathering. It was the official town hall assembly of free citizens who gathered to debate, vote on laws, and govern a Greek city-state (polis).

By choosing this specific word for their gatherings, early Christians were not setting up a private religious club; they were establishing an alternative, global citizenship that directly challenged the civic order of the Roman Empire.

1. The Secular Context: The Democratic Assembly

In classical Greece and throughout the Hellenized cities of the Roman Empire, the ekklesia was a highly formal, prestigious civic institution.

• The Called-Out Citizens: The word comes from two roots: ek (out of) and kaleo (to call). Literally, the ekklesia consisted of those who were "called out" of their private homes into the public square to handle the business of the state.
• The Exclusive Gathering: In a standard Roman or Greek city, the ekklesia was strictly elite. Only free, adult, male property owners who held official citizenship could enter. Women, children, foreigners, and slaves were completely barred from participating.

When a herald blew a trumpet in the city market to summon the ekklesia, it was a display of exclusive political power and elite civic status.

2. Paul’s Subversion: The Counter-Assembly of Christ

When the Apostle Paul planted communities across the Roman Empire, he deliberately named them the ekklesia. However, he completely shattered the rigid social boundaries of the ancient city-state.

The Radical Open-Door PolicyIn the ekklesia of God, the elite social hierarchy of the Roman Empire was completely dismantled. Paul outlines this shocking social inversion in 1 Corinthians 11 and 12:

• Slaves and Masters Sit Together: In a Roman ekklesia, a slave could be executed for entering. In Christ's ekklesia, slaves and their masters sat at the same table, broke the same bread, and were called equal siblings (adelphoi).
• Women and Foreigners Included: Women and Gentiles (foreigners), who had no political voice in the empire, held vital leadership and participatory roles in the Pauline assemblies.

The Alternative Citizenship

Paul explicitly states that the ekklesia answers to a higher capital city. In Ephesians 2:19, he writes to non-Roman outcasts:

"So then you are no longer strangers and aliens, but you are fellow

By gathering in their own ekklesia, Christians were telling Rome: "We have our own assembly, we answer to our own King (the Kyrios), and we live by a law of self-sacrificial love that is entirely separate from the laws of Caesar."

3. The Universalist Horizon: The Cosmic Ekklesia

In classic Greek culture, an ekklesia was strictly localized—the ekklesia of Athens had nothing to do with the ekklesia of Ephesus.

But in Paul's theological vision, particularly in his later letters, the ekklesia scales up into a universal, cosmic assembly that represents the ultimate unification of all creation.

• Ephesians 1:22–23: Paul writes that God put all things under Christ's feet and gave Him as head over all things to the ekklesia, which is his body, the fullness of him who fills all in all.
• Colossians 1:20: The ultimate goal of this cosmic assembly is to "reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross."

In the framework of Pauline Universalism, the local ekklesia is a tiny, living laboratory of the future universe. It is a place where enemies (like Jews and Gentiles) are forced to reconcile, where social inequalities are erased, and where God's maternal-like, visceral compassion (rachamim) is practiced daily. The ekklesia is not an escape pod out of the world; it is the vanguard of a new creation, showing the Roman Empire what the entire world will look like when Christ's self-sacrificial love finally gathers all things home.

We have explored the entire political dictionary of the early Church: Huiothesia (Adoption), Kyrios (Lord), Soter (Savior), Evangelion (Gospel), and now Ekklesia (Assembly). Let me know how you would like to proceed with our exploration. We can:

• Examine the mechanics of Roman crucifixion and why it was designed to crush groups like the ekklesia
• Look at how modern theologians (like N.T. Wright or Richard Horsley) analyze this "anti-imperial Paul"
• Transition back to how the medieval mystics integrated these political terms into their poems of love

END

Tony Yeap

29 May 2026