Abstract:
In the letter to the Romans, Paul is addressing a Church that is effectively, ‘living in exile’; under the Lordship of Christ, but also under the Emperor of Rome. Using ‘Temple’ language of ‘dwelling’ in Chapter 8 he describes how the Holy Spirit is with us through the tensions and paradox of the ‘now but not yet’, whereby we experience the suffering and frustration of being under powers in every realm that work against what God has done in Christ Jesus. Chapter 1:18-32 of Romans sets up very different ‘Temple’ imagery as a polemic against idolatry and its destructive force for humanity. A study of these two ‘Temple’ metaphors shows a different ‘take’ on the idea of how Paul understood what exile looks like in this world.
