Prayers for the dead in the New Testament?

In a previous post I mentioned having gone through all the named individuals in the letters of Paul, and what stood out to me was the remarkable amount of space given to one Onesiphorus in the 2nd letter to Timothy chapter 1:16-18″

16 May the Lord grant mercy to qthe household of Onesiphorus, for he often rrefreshed me and was not ashamed of smy chains, 17 but when he arrived in Rome the searched for me earnestly and found me—18 may the Lord grant him to find mercy from the Lord on uthat Day!—and you well know all the service he vrendered at Ephesus.

Onesiphorus, is remembered by Paul for having often refreshed him, and for not being ashamed of Paul’s chains.  He had searched earnestly for Paul when the later arrived in Rome, until he found him.  Thus Paul prayed for Onesiphorus’ household that the Lord grant mercy to them, but then he prays that the Lord grant Onesiphorus to find mercy from the Lord on that Day (judgment?).  Paul ends his little excursus on Onesiphorus with a reminder to Timothy of all the service the man had rendered in Ephesus. This man, more than any other person named by Paul in all his letters, receives the most attention, and the very odd thing about this, is that the man is referred to in the past tense as if he has past on, as if he has died.  Look through all the other named individuals that Paul talks about in his letters and see if there is anyone like this man.

Named individuals (acquaintances) in the letters of St. Paul

I was reading in St. Paul’s second letter to Timothy about a certain Onesiphorus, and the past tenses connected with Paul’s prayer for him, as well as the distinction between the man and his household, and this way of referencing the man started bothering me.  So I looked up all the named individuals (acquaintances) of Paul in his letters and here is what I found. [Note: I did not included named historical figures such as Adam, Abraham, Moses, David, etc., or even the risen Lord Jesus Christ, but only those whom Paul and his audience know or have had interaction.]

The Letter to “those in Rome who are loved by God and called to be saints” (Romans):

Phoebe, a deacon of the church at Cenchreae (16:1)

Prisca and Aquila, Paul’s fellow workers in Christ Jesus who risked … (16:3)

Epaenetus is to be greeted, & happened to be the first convert in Asia (16:6)

Mary worked hard for the Roman church (16:6)

Adronicus is to be greeted as Paul’s fellow kinsmen (Jew?) & prisoner (16:7)

Review: The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul:Intro & Chapter 1

In Douglas A. Campbell’s provocative tome, The Deliverance of God: An Apocalyptic Rereading of Justification in Paul, he sets out to demonstrate that the Western presuppositions, unacknowledged cultural commitments, have unwittingly constructed Paul’s gospel of salvation in its own image and as a result created theological idolatry and unnecessary exegetical conundrums. While Luther is the in-vogue and current classical whipping boy for such a critique, Campbell redirects the attack to a broader realm and addresses the nomenclature issue by labeling this nefarious Western system “the Justification Model.”

St Paul’s first documented sermon

The first documented sermon by the apostle Paul on his missionary journeys (indeed the first one documented at all) was given at the request of the Jewish leaders of the synagogue under the call for words of encouragement for the people (Acts 13.15). During the sermon itself, Paul indicates that what he was preaching was the message of salvation (13.26). It seems important then to consider these words, as they were provided for us by God’s servant, St. Luke. Consider the following outline of Paul’s message of salvation.