[Corpus-Paul] Paul's diatribe against Peter
Ian Scott
iscott at tyndale.ca
Thu Apr 26 11:01:35 EDT 2007
Jim,
I think that Paul's argument from vv. 17-21 can't be aimed at Peter directly because Peter would seem already to agree with Paul's point there. I take Paul's main argumentative point to be laid out (negatively) in 2:21: "For if righteousness were to come through the law, then Christ would have died for nothing!" In other words, the diatribal objection of 2.17 is coming from an interlocutor who does not accept justification apart from "works of the law," and Paul spends 2.18-21 defending that view of justification. Yet Paul's "we" in 2.15-16 (which clearly includes Peter) seems to be agreed on this idea of righteousness apart from "works of the law." So the argument in 2.17-21 would seem not to be aimed at rebuffing genuine objections from Peter.
If this is correct, I think there are a few options for understanding those verses: (1) They are aimed directly against the Galatian teachers; (2) they are aimed at the "people from James" in the Antioch situation; (3) they are aimed at Peter, but serve only to remind Peter (in the presence of the "people from James") of his own prior convictions. I personally favor some version of (2) or (3) with the Galatian teachers hovering in the background, overhearing arguments which Paul believes rule out their own position as well.
Of course, all of this presumes that Paul's view of justification apart from "works of the law" is controversial and needs defense, both in 2.16 and in 2.21. I realize that it has been popular to view 2.16 as a statement of common ground from which the following discussion then proceeds. In an article forthcoming in NTS later this year, though, I've argued that the structure of Paul's diatribal rhetoric in 2.16-21 presumes that his statements in 2.16 are precisely the controversial views which he is trying to defend through 2.17-21.
Cheers,
Ian
Ian W. Scott, Ph.D. (McMaster)
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Tyndale Seminary
Toronto, Canada
email: iscott at tyndale.ca
url: http://www.ian-w-scott.com
===================================
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha
http://www.purl.org/net/ocp
>>> Jim West <jwest at highland.net> 4/26/2007 10:43 AM >>>
Paul's diatribe against Peter, as he reports it in Gal 2:14ff, is a
delightful bit of polemic.
I'm wondering, though, how "far" it extends, in the estimation of
list-folk. That is, does the "sermon" continue through v 21 (which is
how I take it) or does it end earlier, in your opinion?
Thanks
Jim
--
Jim West, ThD
http://drjewest.googlepages.com/ -- Biblical Studies Resources
http://drjimwest.wordpress.com -- Weblog
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