Corpus-Paul

["Liz Fried" <lizfried AT umich.edu>]

> -----Original Message-----
> From: moon-ryul jung [mailto:moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr]
> Sent: Wednesday, May 19, 1999 4:18 PM
> To: Corpus-paul
> Subject: Re: beginner's guide to 'new perspective' - some qns
>
>

>
> On 05/19/99, "Jonathan Ryder <jpr1001 AT cam.ac.uk>" wrote:
> > Dear C-P,


> >

> Your summary here of the new perspective is somewhat confusing.
> It's basic
> tennet is:
>  Judaism (as found in the literature) did not teach that one needed
>  to observe the law to "get in"  the covenant; rather, observing the law
>   was a requirement for "staying in"  the covenant  which they entered
>  by the grace of God.

It is my understanding that the Palestinian Judaism of -200 to +200 did not
require Jews to observe the law to "stay in" the covenant. Nor does Sanders
say that it did.  According to Sanders, and according to everything I know,
you are in because you are born in. There is punishment for sin for those in
the covenant, but this punishment does not include excommunication nor is
the punishment eternal.



>Paul did not think differently in this regard.

If the above is correct, then he did think differently. Perhaps he thought
that being justified, being made righteous, would automatically beget
behavior according to the law.  Unlawful behavior would indicate the new
Christian hadn't "gotten in" at all.

That this makes for a psychologically unhealthy religion was noted by a
previous correspondent.  However, I don't think Paul was concerned with
creating a religion for the ages. If the end was imminent, then he simply
wanted to make sure that people were in, that the grafting really took, when
the end came.

Liz


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

Lisbeth S. Fried
Department of Hebrew and Judaic Studies
New York University
51 Washington Sq. S.
New York, NY 10012
lqf9256 AT is3.nyu.edu
lizfried AT umich.edu