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  • From: Antonio Jerez <antonio.jerez AT privat.utfors.se>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: THi ELEUQERIAi in Gal 5:1
  • Date: Sat, 12 Jun 1999 21:54:33 +0200


Carlton Winbery wrote:

> While Paul did not allow (re: Titus, not Timothy) gentiles to be made
> Jewish converts, he did maintain his own Jewishness (see Stendahl, Paul
> among Jews and Gentiles). He apparently thought it ok himself to continue
> participating in the Jewish ritual practices and even in Rom. 11 says, "I'm
> a Jew."

The problem is that Paul never says in Rom. 11 that "I'm a Jew". What
he actually says is that "I'm myself an Israelite". This is an interesting
distinction that should not be overlooked or glossed over. As far as I
recall Paul never calls himself a Jew. Why? Because the designation
appears to have had bad associations for him. In this he is in good
company with the author of GJohn. Paul preferred to call himself an
Israelite or a Hebrew (just like "John" - if GJohn 1:47 is any good
indication).
As for Krister Stendahl (fellow countryman) and his book "Paul among
Jews and gentiles" I must admit that his efforts to make Paul more
"jewish" than he actually was are not totally convincing. Among other things
I think his idea that Paul believed in an equally valid convenant for Jews
and Christians (Jewish-Christians+Gentile-Christians) has absolutely no
support in the texts. I seem to recall that Lloyd Gaston has influenced
him in this direction.

Best wishes

Antonio Jerez
Goteborg University, Sweden






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