Power in Weakness: Paul's Transformed Vision for Ministry by Timothy G. Gombis

Abstract

Reviewed by: Power in Weakness: Paul's Transformed Vision for Ministry by Timothy G. Gombis Timothy A. Brookins timothy g. gombis, Power in Weakness: Paul's Transformed Vision for Ministry (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2021). Pp. xvi + 168. $25. As is succinctly described in the book's preface, Power in Weakness is "an extended meditation on the dynamics of power and weakness in pastoral ministry" (p. xiii). The generative center of discussion is Paul's theology of "cruciformity," that is, Paul's life and ministry, after conversion, "in the shape of the cross" (p. xiv). Four motifs shape the book's content: "conversion of Paul's ministry imagination," "the church's cosmic situation," "the church as the site of resurrection presence on earth," and "Paul as pastor" (pp. 6–10). The first three chapters take up the first motif. Describing Paul's conversion as a conversion of Paul's "ministry imagination," Gombis schematizes Paul's life before and after conversion in terms of two antithetically opposed approaches to "ministry." As a Pharisee, Paul had longed for the resurrection and the restoration of Israel in the land promised to them. Believing that Israel's unfaithfulness to the Law prevented the resurrection from coming to pass, Paul sought to hasten its arrival through his own coercive efforts, resorting to violence against the unfaithful and, through this, exhibiting his own faithfulness and eminence as a righteous Israelite. His approach of power and his obsession with esteem in the eyes of both God and humanity moved him to look disdainfully upon the crucified man Jesus of Nazareth. When Paul encountered Christ on the road to Damascus, a radical transformation of perspective took place, and he came to value the kind of life embodied in Christ's life and death, that is, in the cross. From then on, Paul aspired to live as Christ had lived, in weakness and humility. In chap. 4, G. takes up the book's second and third motifs. Paul had once lived according to the "powers of this age," that is, cosmic powers that enslave the world. Following conversion, Paul came to see the church as a kind of "new creation space" (p. 78). Yet, for Paul, the church continued to exist within a "cosmically contested situation" (p. 77), in which the enslaving powers of the old order still propagate a system of values opposed to the "logic" of the cross, or the way of cruciformity. The church is still vulnerable to these powers, and sometimes gives in to them. Finally, in chaps. 5–8, G. examines Paul's manner as a pastor. Paul renounced his former concerns with "image" in the eyes of the world and rejected the kinds of credentials the world values (chaps. 5 and 6). Paul advocated cruciformity, but not passivity, for cruciformity involves assertive advocacy of cross-shaped life, the only kind of life on which God truly pours out resurrection life and power (chap. 7). The book's final chapter (chap. 8) sets [End Page 500] Paul's role as minister in opposition to modern conceptions of "leadership." Paul did not seek to "impact" or even "influence" those within the church (or those outside of it), but to care for them, to foster a dynamic of mutual care, and to come alongside them as they let God do God's work. An epilogue addresses questions put to G. by peers and interlocutors in his years of reflection on the topic. These issues include the question of cruciformity in relation to individuals who begin from positions of low status or marginalization, and the question whether Paul's more confrontational moments are consistent with his theology of cruciformity. It is too often said that some book should be "required reading for every pastor," but Power in Weakness really should be. This book exhibits a profound grasp of a concept around which both Paul's theology and his life in Christ were tightly oriented. While G.'s reading is strongly shaped by the publications of scholars like Bruce Longenecker, N. T. Wright, Michael Gorman, and Beverly Roberts Gaventa, the book does not interact with the views of other scholars (these influences are discussed in a concluding "bibliographical essay...