Corpus-Paul

["moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>]

Dear members,

About the place of "justification by faith" in Paul's thought,
Chris wrote:

I think "justification by faith" is Paul's rationale for his position
on Jewish-Gentile relations. It is like Paul to spin out a
theological rationale for positions he takes on practical
issues. We shouldn't assume that it represented the core
of Christianity for Paul just because it occupies a lot of
space in the documents we happen to have.


But even when I read Galatian and Romans from the new perspective 
provided by E. P. Sanders, I feel that "righteousness 
based on faith not on (works of) the law" is a more than a 
theological rationale for his positions on practical Jewish-Gentile
relations. I would appreciate if you correct me if I am wrong
somewhere.

Sanders understands that Paul said
"man is not righteoused by works of the law, but through faith
in Jesus Christ" to criticise Jewish "covenantal nomism". Covenantal
nomism did not teach that people can achieve righteousness by 
keeping the law, but that people should keep the 
regulations of the law to remain in covenant with God graciously
established by God.

So, there seemed nothing wrong with covenantal
nomism. In fact, Paul taught the same thing. According to 
Sanders, the fault of Jews lied not in keeping the law in a wrong way, 
but
in rejecting Christ. While accepting that the Jewish religion was
covenantal nomism, James Dunn views covenantal nomism more negatively.
According to Dunn, Jews did not see the link between the teaching of
the Scriptures and Christ because their covenantal nomism led
Jews to think that they are safe as long as they keep the regulations of 
the
]law which belonged to them. They were trying to establish their own 
righteousness, righteousness unique to them because it was based on
the law unique to them. They interpreted the law too narrowly and were 
blind
to the witness of the law and so did not accept God's righteousness 
revealed
through Christ.

Covenantal nomism drove some Jewish Christians
to impose circumcision on Gentile Christians. It was such a
strong force that even Peter and Barnabas could not resist
completely. They avoided eating with Gentile Christians because
they feared the circumcision party (Gal 2). These problems led Paul
to write Galatian and to say ""man is not righteoused by works of the law,
but through faith in Jesus Christ" (Gal 2:16). 

1. 

SO IT IS TRUE that 
"justification by faith" is closely related to Jewish-Gentile
social relations. But perhaps Paul was concerned more with
the implication of the propaganda of the circumcision party than
with social relations between Jews and Gentiles. The implication is that
only those who have the law can be members of God's people and can
enter covenant relationship with God. This implication was harmful
to both Jews and Gentiles, and was a great obstacle to the gospel
he preached. So, he faught the fight of death and life. If the 
issue was simply a matter of Jews-Gentile social relations, why
did Paul use such a strong language in Galatians to attack his
opponents? He could have compromised. He said that he 
was a flexible man that could be adapted to all kinds of persons 
and situations.

2.
Another reason why I think "justification by faith" is more than 
a theological rationale for his positions on practical Jewish-Gentile
relations is Rom 1: 16-17:

I am not ashamed of the gospel, since it is the power of God for
salvation, to all who believes, Jew first but also Gentile. For the
righteousness of God is being revealed in it from faith to faith- as
it is written, "He who is righteous by faith shall live".

Here the phrase "to ALL who believes, JEW first but also GENTILE"
indicates that Paul has in mind Jew-Gentile relations. It seems that that
was really a serious problem to Paul at that time. But the "righteousness
of God" (understood as covenant-faithfullness of God, who upholds and 
vindicates the weak covenant partner) is parallel to the "power of God
for salvation". The gospel is the power of God for salvation BECAUSE
the gospel reveals the righteousness of God from faith to faith. Doesn't 
it
imply that the righteousness of God, which is revealed in the gospel and
which Jews did not submit because they were so mindful of their own
righteousness, is a fundamental notion for talking about salvation? 

Sincerely

Moon
Moon-ryul Jung
Assistant Professor
Dept of Computer Science
Soongsil University,
Seoul, Korea