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corpus-paul - RE: Gal 2:16 and Covenantal Nomism (To Mark Nanos)

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  • From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: RE: Gal 2:16 and Covenantal Nomism (To Mark Nanos)
  • Date: Tue, 1 Jun 1999 20:8:56


Mark, though your position is quite different from the traditional
"Christian", I think it might be on the right track to the understanding
of Paul. Let me if I am follow your arguments.

> >[Moon]
> >But if Jewish people were ALREADY righteous because God has called them so
> >in covenant, why did they have to believe in Christ to become righteous,
> >as Paul's autobiographical statement in in Gal 2:16 and his deep grief
> >(Rom ) over his kinsmen's failture to believe in Christ indicated?
>

[Mark]
> (1) I do not think that Jewish people had to believe in Christ to become
> righteous, (2) but *not believing in what God has now done in covenant with
> his
> righteous ones of Israel would be an act of unrighteousness*.

[Moon]

What do you mean by "what God has now done in covenant with his
righteous ones of Israel"? (a) Is it the coming of Messiah whom Jewish
people should have believed in and called upon to be saved (but many Jews
did not) ?
Or (b) does it refer to the arrival of the end time where Gentiles can
be the people of God by faith in Israel's Messiah, without becoming
Jewish,
the people of the Law?

As you said, these two aspects are closely related. In Galatians, the
point (b) may be more visible. But in Romans, the point (a) seems
more visible. I feel that you think the point (b) is more visible both
in Galatians and Romans, in fact that the point (b) is the issue of
both letters. Am I right?

If the point (a) was the issue of Romans, I would understand why Paul said
[Rom 10:1] "Brethren, my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that
they may be SAVED." But if the point (b) was the issue, I would not
understand why Paul said it.


[Mark]
> *The question of gaining righteousness from outside of this position
> previously is the situation of gentiles/other nations, not Jews/Israelites*.
> *So his grief is over the present failure to see the right thing to do now,
> in view of God's revelation in Christ, among some of his Israelite brothers
> and sisters*.

[Moon]
You seem to say that the "present failure of Jewish people to see the right
thing" is the failure to see that Gentiles can be righteoused by faith in
Christ, without becoming Jewish. (Whether or not they should be
righteoused
was not an issue. ) If so, wouldn't it be enough for Paul to correct them
as he did to Peter at Antioch? Why did he say that he would have cut
himself
from Christ for the sake of his kinsmen, if the issue was not the salvation
of
his people?

Cheers!

Moon-Ryul Jung
Assistant Professor
Dept of Computer Science
Soongsil University, Seoul, Korea.





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