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  • From: "Tim Gallant" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>
  • To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Rom 2.22 Jewish "temple robbing"?
  • Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2005 12:48:54 -0700

My question, amid all that rambling, is whether the claim that in Paul's time
there were reports or traditions about Jewish desecration of temples
(presumably pagan) can be sustained. (Nevermind that the text might not be
making such an actual claim; just run, for the sake of investigation, with the
assumption that it is actually calling some Judeans/Jews "temple-robbers" in
some sense of the Greek term.)

Well, the question of whether or not Paul is making a claim (the frequent notion) or positing a radical example (my view) might well come into play in the question in view. The more extreme and obvious sin would presumably fit better with my view of the passage (which again is that Paul is pointing out some extreme situations in order to get his interlocutor to agree that those who practice such things would indeed be covenant-breakers), while a view saying that Paul is making claims for what actually occurs presumably suggests a more "likely," less extreme scenario. Not that one view *demands* one reading, and the other view *demands* the other, but I'm speaking more generally about which rendering would best comport with a given overall viewpoint. As always, context is as important as lexicography.

tim


Tim Gallant
Pastor, Conrad Christian Reformed Church

http://www.timgallant.org
tim | gallant site group





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