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  • From: Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Sanders and the "New" Perspective
  • Date: Mon, 30 Jul 2001 09:13:04 -0700 (PDT)


John Lupia wrote:

>If anyone can eat anything and not be made unclean
>then why would SS. Peter and Paul continue practicing
>the old dietary laws?

Probably because they knew the dietary laws were holy
and God-given, and that there was certainly nothing
wrong with living Jewishly (that is, so long as
"living Jewishly" didn't infringe on the rights of
Gentiles or inhibit them from becoming part of the
messianic community).

>Surely, they were no longer obligated to practice
>these laws,

Do you really think Peter, Paul, and James felt that
they, as Jews, were no longer obligated to practice
the commandments of God? Paul knew too well that many
Jews did feel so obligated, and in fact (on at least
one occasion) he exhorted Gentiles to feel so
obligated themselves when in the company of Jews, so
as not to offend (Rom. 14:1-15:6).

>but I guess they could continue out of custom
>meaning "out of their habit".

"Out of habit"? Do you refrain from idolatry,
stealing, and coveting your neighbor's goods (assuming
that you do, indeed, refrain from these things) simply
"out of habit" or because you believe doing so
violates God's will?

>However, if they did continue in the old dietary
>laws this would exclude them from giving good
>example and testimony of those who were in complete
>compliance with the "New Covenant" and would cause
>scruples in the minds of those around them.

Not necessarily, though this was the ongoing
possibility, depending on how the issue was handled.

>Since St. Peter was guilty of this St. Paul
>criticized him (Gal. 2,14).

But Peter's crime was not so much that he went back to
eating the way he and Paul normally did anyway, only
that his sudden withdrawal from indiscriminate
table-fellowship (from fear of James' delgates)
implied that Gentiles must eat this way as well.

>There is also nothing in Galatians and Acts that
shows
>that they did not eat non-Kosher foods.

Tread carefully here. Texts like Acts 21:26 hint that
the apostles remained Torah observant.

>That St. Peter ate non-Kosher food is clearly
>implied in Galatians 2,11.

This is unclear, actually. Was Peter observing kosher
while eating indiscriminately with Gentiles (as Mark
Nanos, for instance, believes)? Or was he, indeed,
EATING like a Gentile -- and not merely LIVING like a
Gentile, loosely speaking? In the novel I'm still
slaving over, I'm working with Nanos' theory.

Loren Rosson III
Nashua, NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com


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