Corpus-Paul

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

Dear Pauline Scholars,

I really enjoy listening to your discussions on Paul's theology.
Though it was not a main topic, Paul's language of DIKAIONUNH
and its relation to Jews-Gentile relations are discussed time to
time. It seems to be a general concensus among the list members
that justification by faith is not fundamental to Paul's theology
of savation, but a theological rationale or language introduced
just to deal with Jews-Gentile relations concerning the law of Moses.  
As a amateur "theologian" I tried to read things on Paul as far as 
possible for the last ten or so years. So, I am aware of the trend in
"Paul and the Law". 

But my feeling has been that though the language of justification by faith
is closely related to Jews-Gentile relations, it is also a fundamental
aspect of talking about salvation from God. So 
I posted twice a message asking for some explanation for the thesis that 
it is not a fundamental to Paul, thinking that there might be a new 
discovery
or argument for this thesis which I am not aware of.  

I have read Moo's commentary on Romans, which regards justification by
faith fundamental to Paul's theology. I also ready Word Biblical 
Commentary
of James Dunn on Romans, which does not explicitly talk about whether 
justification by faith is fundamental to Paul. So, I think that the issue
is not yet resolved. 

While waiting for some comments to my questions, I put some thought to
the issue. Please guide me if I am on the wrong track:-).


Let me quote some key verses from Rom 1:16-17 and Rom 3:21-31.

1:16 It is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to 
the
Jews first and also to the Greek. 17 For it it the righteousness of God
is revealed through faith to faith. 

3:21: But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from
the law,..... 22 For there is no distinction. ....28 For we hold that 
a man is justified by faith apart from works of the law. 29 Or
is God the God of Jews only ? Is he not the God of Gentiles also.

3:28-29 argues that a man is justified by faith apart from 
works of the law because God is not only the God of Jews but also 
of Gentiles. So, these two verses alone stronly indicate that the
traditional Reformed understanding of justification by faith is on the
wrong track. Paul's argument is that Gentiles can be a member of God's
people, i.e. enter God's covenent "apart from the works of law",
without keeping the regulations of the laws of Moses, i.e. without becoming 
a member of the people of Israel.

It also occurred to me that the for-clause in v. 1:17 might explain 
primarily the clause "and also to the Greek". Salvation is ALSO
to the Greek, because the righteousness of God is revealed 
from FAITH to FAITH, that is, not by means of the LAW, 
i.e. apart from the law as Rom 3:21-31 states. 

I am also aware that Paul uses the languague of DIKAIOSUNH in Phil 3:9
in the context of giving warning about the circumcision party:
"look out for those who mutilate the flesh" (Phil 3:2). 

So, it is beyond reasonable doubt that Jewish exclusivism and 
the language of DIKAIOSUNE co-occurs, and these two are closely
related. 

BUT still Rom 1:17 - 3:31 indicates that the righteousness of God,
is a very good and important thing which Jews wanted to have an 
exclusive right for because they had the law of God.
It seems to be fundamental to the relationship between God and people. Paul 
wanted Gentiles to share this good and important thing,
by saying that it is revealed and manifested 
apart from the law because God is also the God of Gentiles. 
If something is a very good thing Paul wanted both Jews and Gentiles
to share and their not sharing it means God is only the God of Jews,
is that thing fundamental to salvation and to Paul's theology?

Respectfully,

Moon

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