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corpus-paul - Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective

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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective
  • Date: Fri, 27 Jul 2001 08:55:48 -0500


on 7/26/01 10:08 PM, Billy Evans at bevans AT cinci.rr.com wrote:

>
> Galatians 2:14b, "if you, thougth a Jew, CONTINUE TO LIVE like a Gentile and
> not like a Jew, how can you CONTINUE TO COMPEL the Gentile sinners
>
> verse 16: dikaioutai PPI3S
> episteusamen AAI1P
> dikaiothomen APS1P
> dikaiothasetai FPI3S
> etc....
>
> You can take it from here.

Billy,
This is just what is not self-evident, as a trip to any library shelf on the
subject makes perfectly clear! I can take it from here, of course, and come
to one conclusion; but the question is, how do you take it from here?
Moreover, what does 2:14 mean? I have spent countless hours on these texts
and have concluded something rather different from both the traditional and
new perspectives. What do you think they mean based on your challenge that
they resolve the question of "works of law" for Paul?

By the way, these Greek words in 2:14 are simply present; they do not
suggest "continued" action, but current action, whether they were the case
in the past or not. This merely exemplifies why these matters are not
self-evident: even your translation involves an interpretive move that is
not suggested by the grammar itself.

Also please note that your translation retains a problem evident in the
sentence without the addition of "continue"; Peter is not at the time of
Paul's challenge behaving "like"- or "in the same way as- a gentile," for at
this time he is behaving like "the ones for circumcision" want him to
behave. Why did Paul not use a verb indicating that this was how Peter used
to behave before withdrawing? That ostensible anomaly is interesting to
think about. In The Mystery of Romans I suggested that it is because Paul's
use of "are living" here is about identity and not behavior. That is, Peter
was not behaving like a gentile, and he never had, but he was identified in
Christ "in the same way as" were "these gentiles" from whom he had
withdrawn, so that his discriminatory behavior represented a contradiction
of his conviction that this difference between Jew and gentile should not be
the basis for hierarchical discrimination among the believers in Christ of
this Jewish coalition.

Anyway, the point is that if you have some interpretation of these verses
that solves the problem, I cannot guess what it is.

Regards,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT home.com






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