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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Seed of Abraham
  • Date: Wed, 6 Sep 2000 04:04:17 -0700 (PDT)



--- MillerJimE AT aol.com wrote:
>
> I am in search of bibliography on Paul's use of
> Abraham's seed in
> Galatians 3:29 and Romans 4:16; 9:6-13. In
> Galatians Paul conceives of
> Abraham's seed expansively, encompassing Greek, Jew,
> slave and free. In
> Romans 9, however, Paul is more circumspect, making
> the point that biological
> descent from Abraham does not necessarily mean
> inheritance of the promise.

Hello Jim,

I see Rom. 9:6-13 as making the same point as Rom.
4:1-17 (and Gal. 3:6-9,23-29). When you say that "in
Rom. 9 Paul is more circumspect, making the point that
biological descent from Abraham does not necessarily
mean inheritance of the promise", I would disagree,
because for Paul the hardening of Jews against
Christianity is only temporary. Rom. 9-10 must be
taken in conjunction with Rom. 11. In fact, Paul
believes that "all Israel" will inherit the promise
(11:26-29). True, there is currently only a remnant of
Jews faithful to the covenant promises (9:6-10:21),
but this is nothing new, because Israel’s history is
punctuated with intervals of faithlessness (11:1-10).
In the end, however, "the Jewish people are the
beloved, for the sake of their ancestors (i.e.
Abraham, etc.), for the gifts and calling of God are
irrevocable" (11:28b-29).

For contrasting approaches to Rom. 9-11 -- as well as
to the Abraham passage of Rom. 4 -- look into James
Dunn’s commentary on Romans (Word Biblical Commentary)
and Francis Watson’s "Paul, Judaism, and the
Gentiles". Basically, Dunn takes chs. 9-11 as a
unified argument, while Watson takes chs. 9-10 as
Paul’s "real view" and ch. 11 as an anomaly. As you’ve
gathered, I favor Dunn’s approach.

Loren Rosson III,
Nashua, NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com



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