18. - Romans 10:9
"(This is the word of faith that we preach:) That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus [homologeseis . . . kurion Iesoun], and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved." [KJ]
Here is Paul's basic declaration of faith, which he preaches in his missionary work, and I will use it to highlight one of the fundamental silences to be found in all the New Testament epistles. The above translation is from the King James version, and reflects the literal Greek, unlike most modern translations which render the key phrase: "if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord." (The NASB gets close with its "If you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord", its italicized "as" representing a supplied word that is not in the original.)
For all the discussion about faith which he indulges in throughout his letters, Paul never itemizes the one element of faith we would expect, the one that must come at the start. Indeed, even in modern Christian preaching to the outside world, we encounter it constantly: that Jesus of Nazareth, a human being who lived at a given point in the past and did certain things, was in fact the Son of God and Messiah. In all the New Testament epistles, no one is ever enjoined to believe that an historical man was anything. Paul's faith declarations are a belief in something. One believes that such a being exists, that he possesses certain powers and heavenly status, that he is God's instrument of salvation. But never that a recent human being was such-and-such.
When read straightforwardly (as the KJ does), the above declaration says: "if you confess the Lord Christ", which is a statement that the believer acknowledges Christ's existence and his power. If Paul were speaking of a recent historical man, that man would be the starting point of his thinking, and he would frame his faith declarations in terms of what that man was, his nature, identity and role. Instead, here as everywhere else, his starting point is the divine Son in heaven, the object of God's revealed gospel. Claims are made about this spiritual figure, all of it based on scripture.
Paul places such a declaration entirely in the realm of present faith, not history. Even if we assume the common modern translation of "if you confess Jesus is Lord", we note the present tense and the fact that the statement is a confession about a given heavenly figure. Paul acknowledges that "Jesus is the Lord of us", which has the effect of an address directly to the divinity: "You are Lord."
1. Silences in passage/challenge to a historical Jesus:
Doherty says that we should expect Paul to have framed his faith declarations in terms of what the man Jesus was, his nature, identity and role
2. Relevancy within context:
Doherty doesn't give a good example of what he expects. He thinks we should expect Paul to say something about who Jesus had been on earth. The context is all about having faith that comes from hearing the preaching of the good news. The passage above is Paul's belief about what brings salvation. A major theme of the preceding chapters is salvation through faith in things unseen. The resurrection brings salvation. Therefore the faith should be expressed in terms of the resurrection. As such, it is not surprising to me that Paul doesn't write something like "if thou shalt confess with thy mouth that Jesus of Nazareth taught us of salvation and proved it by miraculous signs, thou shalt be saved."
3. Related information in other early writings:
The author of 1 Peter, who claimed to have been a witness of the sufferings of Christ in 5:1, also stressed to his readers faith in the resurrection. After having mentioned "hope through the resurrection" in 1:3, the author writes in 1:8 "Though you have not seen him, you love him; and even though you do not see him now, you believe in him and are filled with an inexpressible and glorious joy". Note that the author didn't say "Though WE have not seen him.". The author was stressing the reader's faith in him as Lord--a faith not based on having known Jesus on earth as the author had, but on things unseen.
4. Conclusion
Should we expect Paul and the other writers to have mentioned a confession starting with Jesus the man elsewhere? Doherty must supply the passages. I don't see how they would be any more convincing because it is clear that Paul's conviction was that it was faith in the resurrection of a sinless man--a concept supported in his works in many places--that enables salvation. It is only reasonable that declarations of faith, then, would be centered on the resurrection as opposed to events in Jesus' earthly life. Despite dozens of earthly sounding references Paul himself was clear about what he thought was the foundation of his message for others: Faith in Jesus AS LORD as proven though his resurrection.
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