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corpus-paul - Re: Neil Elliot, "Liberating Paul"

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  • From: "David C. Hindley" <dhindley AT csi.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Neil Elliot, "Liberating Paul"
  • Date: Thu, 8 Jul 1999 01:09:21 -0400


Mark Nanos said:

>>I have argued that this reference in Rom. 13 would make sense in the flow
of Paul's argument and in the case of Rome if it continues the contextual
concern to censure the growing arrogance among the gentile Christ-believers
in Rome toward Jewish people who do not share their faith. If these
"gentiles" are members of Jewish subgroups, then good members might be
expected to participate in the Temple tax collection which provided for
freedom for Jewish communities from participation in the imperial cult (as
though proselytes or those on the road to this status).

It seems plausible to me to suspect that righteous gentile guests seeking
full membership treatment (which the addressees apparently were, at least
Paul arguing for such treatment implies that this is the tension at hand)
would be in a precarious position on this matter. Paul's passage is a call
to go the extra mile in being assessed as good citizens of this minority
community with concern for the marginality situation of the larger yet very
much still minority Jewish community/ies in Rome.

Even if these gentiles' rights and privileges might be in dispute (since
they are predicated on a disputable notion, that is, apart from proselyte
inclusion to negotiate this status claim), Paul calls them not to resist
and fight, but to "subordinate" themselves in gracious gratitude for the
gifts bestowed upon themselves now in Christ, as gentiles, at the expense
of those "stumbling" Jewish people vicariously suffering presently on these
gentiles' behalf (Rom. 11; 12:1ff.). They are to pay the Temple tax and
behave in the way deemed appropriate for righteous gentiles within the
Jewish community. Since the leaders of the synagogue communities in Rome
would answer for the behavior of the members, and thus of these gentile
associates claiming equality justified by their belief in Jesus Christ, the
context of Paul's language in Rom. 13 seems to me to fit where the
traditional view has not. Why would Paul tell Romans to be good citizens of
Rome? And why disrupt the flow of his argument about how gentiles are to
interact respectfully with non-Christ-believing Jews in order to do this?<<

These three paragraphs have hit the nail on the head. I have been lately
fascinated by the nature of the offerings he collected, and the mechanism by
which he delivered them and the authority of those who accepted them. You
mentioned Temple tax offered by gentiles (who must have been somewhere along
the path towards full conversion), but I wonder how cheerfully these might be
received by the Jews who ran the temple hierarchy.

After all, the Jewish people had won some very significant rights and
privileges that were often envied by Gentiles. Some examples might be
exemption from military conscription, exemption from the necessity of assuming
political offices (some of which had financial burdens), rights of assembly
not normally available to many Gentiles, one day off every seven days (a right
they could not be officially punished for observing), etc. To accept Temple
tax from Gentiles who had not fully converted to Judaism, as if they were full
Jews, could have been seen by some as tantamount to weakening their position
before the Roman establishment.

Paul is offering himself to Gentile God-fearers as a representative. I use the
term "God-fearer" because, though anachronistic, it is as good as any I
suppose, considering that 1st century Judaism did not seem to have a widely
used term for Gentiles who closely associated with Judaism. He had already
succeeded in having offerings from Gentiles accepted in Jerusalem by -someone-
in a position to rightfully do so, and perhaps the challenge of making a case
for equal rights for Gentile God-fearers in Rome itself was irresistible to
him. Personally, I think this casts some doubt upon the equation of the pillar
"apostles" to which he brought his offerings (who would, I imagine, be
priests), with the early leaders of the Messianic movement initiated by Jesus
(who were not priests, although James the Just is sometimes portrayed as if he
was one in spite of also being the "Lord's brother according to the flesh").

Could someone be so kind as to point me towards research regarding the
motivations for Gentiles to associate with Judaism? How about Jewish reaction
to Gentile association? I have seen some citations about radical Jewish
parties which were trying to keep Gentile offerings from being accepted at the
Temple, or threatened Gentiles caught reading the law in the land of Judea
with death unless they submitted to on the spot circumcision, but I have seen
almost nothing about the Gentile side of the equation. There are general
representations of evidence of the existence of Gentile associates to Judaism,
such as in Schurer (revised), but no deep speculation about their motives.
Sadly, E P Sanders has even less to say, in spite of this topic being right up
his alley. Does Neusner have anything to say (about this topic, that is)?

Regards,

Dave Hindley
Cleveland, Ohio, USA





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