Paul’s apocalyptic conviction was not initiated by his conversion to Christ but formed the background of his Pharisaic world view. . . . The apocalyptic structure of his thought remains the constant in his Pharisaic and Christian life. The truth of this assertion is evident from the Pauline letters, because apocalyptic persists from the earliest letter (1 Thessalonians) to the latest (Philippians). Apocalyptic is not a peripheral curiosity for Paul but the central climate and focus of his thought, as it was for most early Christian thinkers- Beker