Daniel Fanous: Christ Formed In You: Discerning Paul's "Theotic Exegesis" in Origen and Irenaeus

Recent Pauline studies have begun to take seriously early patristic exegesis, but most have only just scratched the surface. This paper will, accordingly, examine how Paul himself read scripture after his epiphany on the road to Damascus: having been reconfigured by (1) the light of Christ (hence the light many fathers speak of Christ casting on scripture); (2) the realization he was persecuting “me [Christ]” (hence participation in Christ); (3) and that he would “suffer for my [Christ] name’s sake” (hence co-crucifixion). This approach though curiously novel is, in fact, ancient. By examining the exegeses of Origen—few have properly grappled with his commentary on Romans—and Irenaeus, I will seek to discern an early (and rather Pauline) method of scriptural interpretation, namely, what may be termed a “theotic exegesis." This goes well beyond the methods described in patristic exegetical studies, whether it be figural interpretation, christo-centric, or even christophanic exegesis. Instead, it draws near to how Paul himself approaches scripture, as exegesis that not only sees or encounters Christ in scripture, but more radically has Christ “formed in you” (Gal 4:19). I then hope to bring this into conversation with modern pauline scholarship in seeing that Jew/Gentile incorporation is through cruciform participative transformation in Christ. This approach steers through the many recent Pauline controversies, and seeks to bring the earliest exegetes, particularly Origen and Irenaeus, into conversation with some fascinating new currents in Pauline studies.