καὶ νὺξ οὐκ ἔσται ἔτι καὶ οὐκ ἔχουσιν χρείαν φωτὸς λύχνου καὶ φωτὸς ἡλίου, ὅτι κύριος ὁ θεὸς φωτίσει ἐπ᾽αὐτούς, καὶ βασιλεύσουσιν εἰς τοὺς αἰῶνας τῶν αἰώνων [[A]nd night will be no more. They will need no light of lamp or sun, for the Lord God will be their light, and they will reign forever and ever]. (Rv 22:5, ESV)

In the New Testament, it is not only the Book of Revelation in which this cosmological dimension comes into view, but also within Jesus’ farewell discourse. We read in Mark 13 that before the future coming of the Son of Man ‘the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and the stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken’ (Mk 13:24–25, ESV). It is remarkable, and of course an established fact, that the cosmological texts of the New Testament do not use the Greek term κόσμος to denote the ‘world’ or the ‘universe’. This draws a sharp distinction between the New Testament and the Greek philosophical tradition − beginning with the Ionian natural philosophers in the 6th century BCE − in which the term κόσμος had been used to denote ‘the entirety of the Universe’.¹ In the New Testament, there are only two stereotyped expressions in which the term κόσμος is used with this meaning: firstly, in the term τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου [the elements of the world] (Gl 4:3; Col 2:8.20) and secondly, in the expression ἀπὸ/πρὸ κτίσεως/καταβολῆς κόσμου [since the foundation of the world] (Mt 13:35, 25:34; Lk 11:50; Jn 17:24; Rm 1:20; Eph 1:4; Heb 4:3, 9:26; 1 Pt 1:20; Rv 13:8, 17:8). Both of these are technical terms which are taken from the Hellenistic world’s natural-philosophical discourse. This is not only true for the term τὰ στοιχεῖα τοῦ κόσμου, which is widely attested in hellenistic texts (cf. Wolter 1993:122–124), but also for the expression ἀπὸ κτίσεως/καταβολῆς κόσμου which has a clear parallel in a text of the Stoic philosopher, Chrysipp (3rd century BCE), who mentions that things are known to God ἀπὸ κτίσεως καὶ καταβολῆς κόσμου (cf. Stoicorum Veterum Fragmenta II, p. 289, 29–30).

However, the New Testament’s cosmological language depends on the Old Testament and is a Septuagintal manner of speaking. In Hebrew, there is no terminological equivalent to the Greek word κόσμος.

The entirety of the universe is mostly circumscribed by the conceptual pair ‘heaven and earth’.² Sometimes ‘the sea’ is added to a tripartite complementarity as in Exodus 20:11: ‘[I]n six days the Lord made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them’ (cf. Ps 96:11, 146:6; Am 9:6). Occasionally, the determined singular noun , meaning ‘all [things]’, finds a use with the same reference as ‘heaven and earth’, for example in Jeremiah 10:16: ‘[H]e is the one who formed all things’ (cf. Jr [28] 51, 19; Is 44:24; Ps 103:19). In the Septuagint, it is always translated by the plural (τὰ) πάντα.

Viewed from a reversed perspective, that is if we ask how those writings of the Septuagint that are translated from Hebrew use the noun κόσμος, we mostly find [ornament] in the Hebrew pretext.³ Sometimes κόσμος is also used to translate [army or host] (Dt 4:19, 17:3; Is 24:21, 40:26; cf. Gn 2:1; Is 13:10) as part of the expressions [host of heavens] and [host of heights] which is mostly translated by ὁ κόσμος τοῦ οὐρανοῦ in the Septuagint. This usage is based on the very basic Greek meaning of κόσμος as ‘order’. It refers to the multitude of the stars as a well-ordered arrangement.

In Acts there is rather remarkable evidence. Twice the cosmic universe is referred to as ‘heaven and earth’ in relation to God – once in the prayer of the Jerusalem congregation: δέσποτα, σὺ ὁ ποιήσας τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς [Sovereign Lord, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and everything in them] (Ac 4:24, ESV), and another time in Paul’s speech given in Lystra. Here, Paul summons the inhabitants of Lystra to ἀπὸ τούτων τῶν ματαίων ἐπιστρέφειν ἐπὶ θεὸν ζῶντα, ὃς ἐποίησεν τὸν οὐρανὸν καὶ τὴν γῆν καὶ τὴν θάλασσαν καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτοῖς [turn from these vain things to a living God, who made the heaven and the earth and the sea and all that is in them] (Ac 14:15, ESV).

In this passage Luke depicts the apostle as a monotheistically, hard-edged Jewish missionary who knows perfectly well what the theological fault of the Lystrian Gentiles is. To these two texts one could add Acts 7:50 where Stephen quotes what God had said through the words of the prophet (Is 66:1–2):

Heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool. What kind of house will you build for me, says the Lord, or what is the place of my rest? Did not my hand make all these things [ταῦτα πάντα]? (Ac 7:50, ESV)

The only exception where Paul is not allowed to speak Septuagint Greek, but has to use the philosophical term κόσμος to denote what God had made, is in the situation where Luke describes him as addressing the Athenians on the Areopagus and he then calls God ὁ θεὸς ὁ ποιήσας τὸν κόσμον καὶ πάντα τὰ ἐν αὐτῷ [the God who made the world and everything in it] (Ac 17:24, ESV).

It can be positively asserted that the switch from the Old Testament expression ‘heaven and earth and sea’ to the philosophical term κόσμος in this text is deliberate. Luke wants to demonstrate Paul’s unabated theological adherence to Jewish monotheism and theology of creation as well as his philosophical proficiency and his linguistic ability to stand his ground in the debate with Athenian philosophers.

It is especially interesting that many of the aforementioned texts can be form-critically classified as predications of God. In each of them, the statement about the ‘heaven and earth’ and ‘all things’ is part of a title, a restrictive participle or a relative clause with the function of defining God’s ‘being-God’.⁷ Theologically speaking, cosmology here has become a part of ‘theo-logy’ in the proper sense: these texts are not interested in developing an independent concept of cosmology, but cosmology is rather conceived as part of the doctrine about God.

Firstly, κόσμος is used to denote the entirety of the world as inhabited by mankind. Here, κόσμος is more or less equivalent to οἰκουμένη, as Philo’s description of Augustus’ rule demonstrates. According to Philo (Leg. Gai. 309), it was Augustus τὴν εἰρήνην διαχέας πάντῃ διὰ γῆς καὶ θαλάττης ἄχρι τῶν τοῦ κόσμου περάτων [who diffused peace in every direction over earth and sea, to the very furthest extremities of the world].

Secondly, κοσμός can be used to denote the human race. According to this understanding, it is said that by birth human beings ‘come into the world’ (e.g. Mark Aurel 6:56:1; Athenaeus, Deipn. 1:21). There is a rather illuminating text in Philostrat’s Vita Apollonii 8:7 that illustrates the distinction between these two concepts of the term κόσμος (see Box 1).

According to 2 Maccabees 3:12, the temple in Jerusalem is ‘honoured throughout the κόσμος’ (i.e. amongst every human being). The same meaning is attested by Wisdom 10:1, where Adam is called πατὴρ κόσμου [‘father of the world’ in the sense of ‘mankind’ or ‘every human being’]. Wisdom 2:24 (through the devil’s envy death entered the world) comes very close to Romans 5:12, and the same is true for Wisdom 14:14: (τὰ εἴδωλα) κενοδοξίᾳ γὰρ ἀνθρώπων εἰσῆλθεν εἰς τὸν κόσμον [through human vanity ‘the idols’ entered the world]⁸ with respect to Romans 1:19–23. In all these texts of which there are numerous examples, the Greek word κόσμος is just another expression for ‘all human beings’ or ‘mankind’.

That κόσμος could be used as a designation of the entire inhabited world, becomes clear if we compare Matthew 4:8 with Luke 4:5. In the story of Jesus’ temptation, Luke tells his readers that the devil showed Jesus πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τῆς οἰκουμένης [all the kingdoms of the inhabited world]. Instead, Matthews reads πάσας τὰς βασιλείας τοῦ κόσμου [all the kingdoms of the κόσμος].

Even more interesting is the recounting of Genesis 15:7 in Romans 4:13. According to Genesis 15:7, God promised Abraham to give him and his offspring ‘the land’ (τὴν γῆν ταύτην) as inheritance. In Romans 4:13 Paul refers to this promise, but he replaces γῆ [land] with κόσμος [world]: ‘Not through the law did the promise come to Abraham or to his offspring that they should inherit the world but through the righteousness of faith.’ Although there are numerous early Jewish texts that have broadened the biblical promise from Canaan to encompass the whole earth (e.g. Sir 44:21; Jub 17:3; 22:14; 32:19; äthHen 5:7; Philo’s Somn. 1:175; Vit. Mos. 1:155),⁹ in Paul, the expansion from the ‘land’ to the ‘world’ is triggered by the universal perspective of Paul’s soteriology. Paul not only let the promise refer to Abraham’s physical descendants, but ‘to all who believe without being circumcised’. Abraham received the promise to become their ‘father’, as Paul writes in Romans 4:11 (εἰς τὸ εἶναι αὐτὸν πατέρα πάντων τῶν πιστευόντων δι᾽ ἀκροβυστίας). Paul gives the promise an ‘a-territorial’ interpretation (Davies 1974:179). Its ‘cosmic’ dimension is part of Paul’s inclusive soteriology − it is through faith in Jesus Christ that people become Abraham’s offspring. Here, κόσμος reflects Paul’s claim that the message of the Gospel transcends the borders of Judaism and brings good news to all human beings, wherever they may live. ‘Everybody and everywhere’ − this is the meaning of the Greek word κόσμος which corresponds rather closely to the Christian concept of faith. It is not limited to a distinct territory or to a distinct nation. Accordingly, the Gospel ‘is proclaimed εἰς ὅλον τὸν κόσμον’ (Mk 14:9), Jesus ‘was believed in the κόσμος’ (1 Tm 3:16), and the κόσμος is the ‘field’ in which the ‘children of the kingdom’ were sowed as ‘good seed’ (Mt 13:38). In this respect, New Testament cosmology could perhaps be considered an integral part of early Christian missiology.

What is even more typical for this aspect of the New Testament cosmological concepts is the personification of the κόσμος. Here it becomes evident that early Christian cosmology should be widely regarded as anthropology. Interestingly enough, it is almost exclusively Paul and John who ascribe human qualities and human abilities to the κόσμος. The κόσμος acts like a human being:

• The κόσμος is able to ‘recognise’ or refuse to do so (Jn 1:10, 14:31, 17:23, 25; 1 Jn 3:1; 1 Cor 1:21).
• The κόσμος is able to ‘love’ or ‘to be loved’ (Jn 3:16, 15:19; Ja 4:4; 1 Jn 2:15).
• The κόσμος is said to ‘hate’ (Jn 7:7, 15:18, 17:14; 1 Jn 3:13), to ‘go after a person’, to ‘see’, and to ‘rejoice’ (Jn 12:19, 14:19, 16:20; 1 Jn 4:5, et alii).

The κόσμος’s relation to God can be described analogously:

• The κόσμος can be ‘judged’ and ‘condemned’ (Jn 9:39; Rm 3:6; 1 Cor 11:32, 6:2).
• He or she can be held ‘accountable to God’ (ὑπόδικος [...] τῷ θεῷ).
• The κόσμος can be ‘reconciled’ to God like a former enemy (2 Cor 5:19; cf. Rm 11:15).
• Finally, the κόσμος can even be ‘vanquished’ like a human enemy (Jn 16:33; 1 Jn 4:4, 5:4ff.).

οἴδαμεν δὲ ὅτι ὅσα ὁ νόμος λέγει τοῖς ἐν τῷ νόμῳ λαλεῖ, ἵνα πᾶν στόμα φραγῇ καὶ ὑπόδικος γένηται πᾶς ὁ κόσμος τῷ θεῷ· διότι ἐξ ἔργων νόμου οὐ δικαιωθήσεται πᾶσα σὰρξ ἐνώπιον αὐτου [Now we know that whatever the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. For by works of the law, no human being will be justified in his sight.] (Rm 3:19–20; [author’s own translation])

In Romans 3:19–20, the κόσμος is depicted as a human being standing before his or her judge, unable to answer the accusations made against him or her. Correspondingly, the expression πᾶς ὁ κόσμος can be replaced by πᾶν στόμα (Rom 3:19) and πᾶσα σάρξ (v. 20). All three are not synonyms, but they are semantically isotopic since they refer to one and the same subject matter − mankind in its entirety:

Διὰ τοῦτο ὥσπερ δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν καὶ διὰ τῆς ἁμαρτίας ὁ θάνατος, καὶ οὕτως εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους ὁ θάνατος διῆλθεν, ἐφ᾽ ᾧ πάντες ἥμαρτον· ἄχρι γὰρ νόμου ἁμαρτία ἦν ἐν κόσμῳ, ἁμαρτία δὲ οὐκ ἐλλογεῖται μὴ ὄντος νόμου, ¹⁴ἀλλὰ ἐβασίλευσεν ὁ θάνατος ἀπὸ Ἀδὰμ μέχρι Μωϋσέως καὶ ἐπὶ τοὺς μὴ ἁμαρτήσαντας ἐπὶ τῷ ὁμοιώματι τῆς παραβάσεως Ἀδὰμ ὅς ἐστιν τύπος τοῦ μέλλοντος. [Therefore, just as sin came into the world through one man, and death through sin, and so death spread to all men because all sinned − for sin was in the world before the law, but sin is not counted where there is no law. Yet death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over those whose sinning was not like the transgression of Adam, who was a type of the one who was to come.] (Rm 5:12–14, [author’s own translation])

In Romans 5:12–14, εἰς τὸν κόσμον is equivalent to εἰς πάντας ἀνθρώπους or simply to πάντες. When the text reads ‘sin came into the world’, it denotes the very beginning of the history of sin and its proliferation amongst Adam’s offspring.¹⁰ When Paul writes in Romans 5:13 that ‘sin was in the world before the law’, nothing else is implied except that human beings, who lived in the period between Adam and Moses, were sinning.

These two texts apparently refer to each other insofar as Paul uses it to characterise the nature of mankind. It frames the history of mankind as a history of sinfulness where Romans 5:12 denote the protological beginning with Adam’s fall and Romans 3:19 denote the eschatological end with the last judgment. From this, we may draw the conclusion that, for Paul, human beings are not involuntarily bound into a κόσμος that has to be distinguished from them, but rather that they are the κόσμος which is constituted by their sinning. In these texts, cosmology is conceived as anthropology.

If we go a step further and ask how this concept is embedded in the broader context of Paul’s theology as it is developed in Romans, the answer is at hand. What Paul is saying about mankind forming one uniform κόσμος determined by sin, is the complementary counterpart of the inclusive character of his soteriology. As God justifies every human being, whether a Jew or a Gentile, only through faith; all human beings, whether a Jew or a Gentile, are under the dominion of sin. In Romans there are two statements where the first words are almost identical (not in the hand-out): ‘There is no distinction’ (οὐ γάρ ἐστιν διαστολή). In Romans 3:23 it is followed by the words: ‘[A]ll have sinned and fall short of the glory of God’, whereas in Romans 10:11–12, Paul starts with the quotation of Isaiah 28:16: ‘[N]o one who believes in him will be put to shame.’ He then continues: ‘For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek, for the same one is Lord of all, rich to all who call upon him.’ From this it becomes clear that Paul’s anthropological cosmology is an integral part of his doctrine of justification. Within this theological framework, Paul’s cosmology functions as an antithesis to the Jewish theology of election as it was advocated by himself prior to his conversion.

However, there is yet another theologically important aspect of Paul’s concept of κόσμος.

If we connect these two aspects, we are able to describe a rather detailed semantic profile of Paul’s ecclesiological understanding of this term − he uses κόσμος as an umbrella term to embrace all human beings who do not believe in Jesus Christ. In contrast to the usage in Romans 3:19 and 5:12–14, the term κόσμος refers to mankind in its entirety – excluding the Christians.

If we want to understand this text properly, we have to draw our attention to the fact that the ‘you’ of verse 15, the second plural, is an ecclesial ‘you’. It is also the case with the ‘you’ of Matthew 5:14: ὑμεῖς ἐστε τὸ φῶς τοῦ κόσμου [you are the light of the world]. Both texts do not denote the Christian individual as it has often been interpreted, but it refers to the same ‘you’ whom Paul calls ‘God’s temple’ (1 Cor 3:16–17; 2 Cor 6:16) or ‘body of Christ’ (1 Cor 12:27) or ‘children of God’ (Gl 3:26).¹¹

Philippians 2:15 is an intertextual allusion to Deuteronomy 32:5 (LXX), although Paul turns the meaning of the Old Testament text to the contrary. He changes a word of condemnation against Israel into a paraenetic word directed at the Christian community. It is the task of the Christian community to display God’s salvation to the κόσμος, that is amongst the non-Christian majority of their social environment. Matthew 5:14 is not far removed from this admonition. John 1:5¹² and 12:35¹³ use the same imagery and have to be understood ecclesiologically too.

As both John 1:5 and 12:35 use the soteriological symbolism of light and darkness, Philippians 2:15 implicitly does so too, because stars only shine during the night and in the darkness. Furthermore, in the background of Philippians 2:15, two Old Testament texts are discernable: Isaiah 42:6 and 49:6. In these two texts, God assigned the task to his servant Israel to become a light to the Gentiles. Accordingly, the Christian community’s relation to the κόσμος corresponds with Israel’s relation to the Gentiles.

1. It makes the cross of Christ a subject of discussion. In 1 Corinthians 1:18–29, it is referred to by the expressions λόγος τοῦ σταυροῦ (v. 18) and Χριστὸς ἐσταυρωμένος (v. 23). In Galatians 6:14, Paul characterises it as the content of his boasting.

2. The cross marks the distinction between the Christian believer and the κόσμος.

3. The pair ‘Jews and Gentiles’ (respectively ‘Jews and Greeks’ and ‘circumcision and foreskin’) occur (1 Cor 1:22, 23, 24; Gl 6:15).

In Galatians, Paul is engaged with Jewish Christians who emphasise the distinction between Jews and non-Jews, and conclude baptised Gentiles who believe in Jesus Christ can only belong to God’s chosen people and Abraham’s offspring by becoming Jews and being circumcised.

On both sides diametrically opposite concepts of wisdom and foolishness exist. What God regards as ‘wisdom’, is estimated by the world as ‘foolishness’, and vice versa: in God’s judgment, the ‘wisdom of the world’ is nothing but ‘foolishness’.

Within the context of these oppositions, Paul then introduces his ‘message of the cross’ (1 Cor 1:18), and he does this in such a way that even the representatives of the Corinthian wisdom and knowledge party must agree with him − no Christian can deny that God has brought salvation through death on a cross. It is precisely this claim that salvation comes from such a despicable event like a death on a cross that, according to the standards of the ‘world’, must necessarily be ‘foolishness’. Two dualistically opposed cognitive positions meet each other here. Those who believe that God has brought salvation through death on a cross are compelled to thoroughly revise their previous perception of reality in which such assurance has no place whatsoever. Thus, what is considered ‘wisdom’ outside the context of faith, no longer applies. To those who cannot grasp that Jesus’ death on the cross is the saving event, Paul’s message necessarily must remain foolishness.

This is substantiated in the second dualistic passage of 1 Corinthians (author has to confirm 1 Corinthians) which is as follows (see Box 4).

If we now relate these two comparisons, it is clear what belongs together and what does not. On the one side is ‘God’, ‘wisdom’ and the ensuing passage, and on the other side is the ‘world’, ‘foolishness’ and the ensuing passage. Thus, the counterparts God and κόσμος are projected onto the counterparts Christians and non-Christians. It is by the message of the cross where they coincide. It is of great significance, though not surprising, that the polarity of Jews and Gentiles appears in both comparisons.

Within the context of Paul’s debate with the factions in Corinth, it means that those who favour wisdom and knowledge can only do so as believers if they understand the cross as the saving event. From the side of the κόσμος and its values respectively, ‘wisdom’ is utterly excluded. This makes it impossible for some Christians to claim superiority over others by allowing paradigms which are only valid outside the Christian community and which Paul can only label as τοῦ κόσμου (‘of the world’; cf. 1 Cor 1:20), to dominate. No one can understand the cross as saving event without having crossed the border from ‘foolishness’ to ‘wisdom’, from the κόσμος to ‘God’, and from unbelief to faith in Jesus Christ.

In Galatians 6:14–15, Paul argues against the position of his opponents by setting two sets of ideas in contrast to each other. On the one side, he has κόσμος as well as the distinction between Jews and Gentiles, and on the other side he has ‘boasting in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ’ and the ‘new creation’ which had substituted the distinction between Jews and Gentiles. It is the mentioning of the καινὴ κτίσις that brings God into play. This is so, because creations always need a creator, and the creator of the ‘new creation’ is certainly the same as he who created the old.

Paul’s argument gains its specific profile from the way he relates the two sets of ideas to each other and thus attempts to create a paradigm shift. He identifies the distinction between Jews and Gentiles as an element of the κόσμος separated from God. The cross forms an irreversible breach with the κόσμος. It is therefore not only the boundary between Jews and Gentiles, but also the impossibility of being able to boast about a cross that are identified as specific characteristics of the κόσμος reality. ‘Boasting in the cross’ is only possible under the conditions of a new creation which God alone can bring into being. The opposite is also true: God has opened up a way of salvation through a despicable cross, and thereby has made a ‘boasting in the cross’ possible. This can only be correctly understood as the establishment of a new creation. It is impossible for the κόσμος to boast in the cross, Therefore, Paul can say that the κόσμος has been crucified to him and he to the κόσμος.

Käsemann, E., 1964, Essays on New Testament themes,  SCM Press, London.

Konradt, M., 2003, ’Die korinthische Weisheit und das Wort vom Kreuz’, Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche 94, 181–214. http://dx.doi.org/10.1515/zntw.2003.010

Pickett, R., 1997, The cross in Corinth. The social significance of the death of Jesus, Sheffield Academic Press, Sheffield.

Wolff, [author has to provide initial], 2009, ‘Cosmologia generalis: Methodo scientifica Pertractata, qua ad solidam, imprimis Dei atque naturae, cognitionem via sternitur’, in J.F. Stiebritz (hrsg), Gesammelte Werke, Tl. 3 Abt., Materialien und Dokumente, Tl. 123, Olms, Hildesheim. (Philosophia Wolffiana contracta 1).

Wolff, 2009, Cosmologia Generalis: Methodo Scientifica Pertractata, Qua Ad Solidam, Imprimis Dei Atque Naturae, Cognitionem Via Sternitur, in idem Gesammelte Werke. III. Abt., Materialien und Dokumente. Vol. 123. Philosophia Wolffiana contracta I, hg.v. J.F. Stiebritz, Olms, Hildesheim.

Wolter, M., 1993, Der Brief an die Kolosser. Der Brief an Philemon, Tl. 12, Gütersloher Verlagshaus/Echter Verlag, Gütersloh/Würzburg. (Ökumenischer Taschenbuchkommentar zum Neuen Testament).

2. For example, Genesis 1:1: ‘In the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth’ (cf. Gn 2:1, 4; Gn 14:22; Ps 50:4; Is 44:24; Jr 32:17; Hg 2:6, 21).

3. See Exodus 33:5–6; 2 Samuel 1:24; Jeremiah 2:32, 4:30; Ezekiel 7:20, 16:11, 23:40 (cf. Is 3:18, 24; Pr 20:29, 29:17).

4. Compare Matthew 5:18, 6:10 par., 11:25, 24:35, 28:18; Mark 13:31parr.; Luke 10:21, 16:17, 21:33; Acts 4:24, 14:15; Ephesians 1:10; Colossians 1:16, 20; Hebrews 1:10; 2 Peter 3:7, 13; Revelation 5:13, 10:6, 14:7, 20:11, 21:1.

5. Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6, 12:6, 15:27–28; Ephesians 1:10, 3:9; Philippians 3:21; Colossians 1:16–17, 20; Hebrews 1:3, 2:8, 10; Revelation 4:11.

6. Galatians 3:22 (συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, [Scripture imprisoned everything under sin]) must not be counted amongst these texts, because here τὰ πάντα has no cosmological reference at all. This article refers to the history of mankind after Adam’s fall.

7. This is the case in Matthew 11:25; Luke 10:2; Acts 4:24, 14:15; Romans 11:36; 1 Corinthians 8:6, 12:6, 15:27–28; Ephesians 3:9; Hebrews 1:3, 10, 2:8, 10; Revelation 4:11, 5:13, 10:6, 14:7, 20:11.

8. From Wisdom 14:14 it becomes sufficiently clear that it would be a severe fault if Romans 5:12 (δι᾽ ἑνὸς ἀνθρώπου ἡ ἁμαρτία εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσῆλθεν) is interpreted as characterising sin coming from outside into the ‘world’. Sin originates nowhere else but from the very midst of mankind.

9. The two texts from Philo of Alexandria are of special interest, because the Pauline universalism is anticipated. In Vit. Mos. 1:155, Philo writes about Moses that God ‘gave him the whole world as a possession suitable for his heir’ (πάντα τὸν κόσμον ὡς κληρονόμῳ κτῆσιν ἁρμόζουσαν). In Somn. 1:175 Philo mentions the promise given to Abraham according to Genesis 28:14: ‘But the race of wisdom is likened to the sand of the sea’, and he who is in possession of wisdom ‘is the inheritor of all the parts of the world’ (τῶν τοῦ κόσμου κληρονόμος μερῶν). It is the possession of ‘wisdom’ that universalises the inheritance of the ‘land’ to the inheritance of the ‘world’; in Paul it is ‘faith’.

10. For a proper interpretation of the expression εἰς τὸν κόσμον εἰσέρχεσθαι in Romans 5:12, see footnote 8.

11. It should not be overlooked that Paul never says ‘the church is the temple of God’ or ‘the church is the body of Christ’, but always ‘you are the temple of God’ and ‘you are the body of Christ’. It is always the people who are determined ecclesiologically − never the institution.

12. John 1:5: τὸ φῶς ἐν τῇ σκοτίᾳ φαίνει, καὶ ἡ σκοτία αὐτὸ οὐ κατέλαβεν [the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it].

13. John 12:35: περιπατεῖτε ὡς τὸ φῶς ἔχετε, ἵνα μὴ σκοτία ὑμᾶς καταλάβῃ [walk whilst you have the light, lest darkness overtake you].

14. Also refer to 1 Corinthians 1:17, 19, 20, 2:1, 4–6, 13, 3:19, 12:8; Pickett (1997); Konradt (2003).