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  • From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT saint.soongsil.ac.kr>
  • To: corpus-paul
  • Subject: Re: Paul as apostate (was Paul obligated to Torah?)
  • Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2000 8:34:4


Mark,

I am pretty much convinced by your position because there are quite a
number
of clear statements in Rom and Gal that can be taken to support your
position.
Now I am trying to see if each verse in Gal 3-4 can make sense under
your hypothesis. I tried to read Gal 3 from the perspective that your
hypothesis
on "Paul and the Law" provides. It seems to work. Your comments
would be very much appreciated, though. But when I tried
to read Gal 4:1-9 from your perspective, it did not work well.
So, I will raise some questions.

Your hypothesis could be summarized as:

1) Both in Roman and Galatian, what Paul was arguing for was that
the Gentiles could be sons of God without becoming the people of the Law,
the Jews. The language of "not from the works of the Law but from faith
in
Christ" has nothing to do with work righteousness, but
with whether the righteousness of God was allowed to those who do not do
"the works of the Law", in particular, circumcision, that is, those
who are not the people of the Law.
2) Paul argued for his position based on the Scriptures which
declares that God is God of both Jews and Gentiles, and God's promise
given through Abraham is not only to the people of the Law but also to
the Gentiles who would believe in Christ at the "new age".
3) The language of Romans and Galatians that Paul uses to prove his
position
should be interpreted with this concrete issue in mind, but should not be
generalized as abstract principles.


Here is my reading of Gal 3.

3:2-5. Paul puts his thesis: Did you receive the Spirit by works of the
law,
or by hearing with faith? Paul's thesis is that the Galatians
have the proof of being sons of God, having received the Spirit, and that
it is
by "hearing with faith", not by becoming the people of the Law marked by
the
works of the Law.

3:6-9. Paul supports the target thesis by making reference to Abraham. The
supporting
thesis is that those of faith (hOI EK PISTEWS) are BLESSED together with
Abraham.

3:10. To substantiate the supporting thesis of 3:9, Paul makes reference
to
what happened to those of the works of the Law (hOSOI EK ERGWN NOMOU),
that is,
the people of the Law, the Jewish people. (The reason for this "digress"
can be
indicated by verse 3.13-14.) They were under the curse
of the Law. The curses of the covenant fell upon the people of the
covenant;
the implicit assumption seems that the people of the Law were not faithful
to
the terms of the covenant, that is, the Law, and the covenant curses fell
on them.
The suffering of the Law people under the Roman power might have been a
sign to
Paul for his conclusion, as the serveral exiles to foreign lands were
covenant
curses to the covenant people who were not faithful to God's covenant. (By
the
way, the fact that the curse of the Law fell on the people of the Law has
nothing
to do with "work righteousness". )

3:11-12. It is a sort of explanatory digress. Note that 3:13 resumes the
theme
of the curse of the Law. The fact that the people of the Law were under
the
curse of the Law might have prompted Paul to say what the Law was and was
not.
Here Paul asserts tha the Law has nothing to do with being righteoused,
which is
well-known in Judaism: The RIGHTEOUS shall live by FAITH. What is the Law,
then?
Those who do them, that is, the people of the Law, are supposed to live in
them.
That is, the Law was the sphere in which the covenant people were commanded
to
live in. Faith and the Law have two different purposes ("the Law is not of
faith").
The attempt of the Galatians to become the people of the Law by getting
circumcision
comes down to confusing the roles assigned to faith and the Law. The Law is
what makes
Jewish people Jewish. It was given specifically to them in the salvation
history.

3:13. Resuming 3:11-12, Paul asserts that Christ has redeemed "us", the Law
people,
from the curse of the Law, by being cursed at the cross.
3.14. The purpose of redeeming the Law people from the curse of the Law was
to get
the BLESSING of Abraham (the key phrase in the supporting thesis of 3:9) to
reach
the Gentiles, so that we (= the whole humanity, both Jews and Gentiles) may
receive
the promise of the Spirit (the key phrase in the target thesis of 3:2)
through
faith in Christ. 3:14b echoes the target thesis 3:2. All the arguments
between
3:2 and 3:14b are used to support the target thesis 3:2.
It is not clear to me what is the connection between redeeming the Law
people, the
covenant people, from the curse of the Law, and the Gentiles' receiving the
Spirit
through faith in Christ. Do you have any idea?

I am tempted to think that Paul meant to say:
Even the people of the Law needed redemption from the curse of the Law
through Christ.
This was the blessing they themselves were waiting for. So, you
Galatians, just enter
this blessing through faith in Christ, why do you want to go into the
sphere of the
Law which threatens its people with curses?

You would object to this inference? You might say: the "curse" associated
with the
unfaithful are common both in Judaism and Paul's gospel. But I would say
that
Paul somehow thought that the curse associated with the Law was
something
severe to require redemption through Christ once for all. Apparently Paul
did not
think that the people of the Law could remain righteoused by means of
repentence
provided in the Law.

3:14-18: Paul further substantiates the supporting thesis that the promise
was given
by grace through Abraham, and the Law was the sphere in which God's people
were
supposed to behave as righteous people.
3:19-21. Paul explains what the Law is about. It was added because of
transgression,
and it was supposed to be in force until the offspring would come. It was
never meant to
make alive.
3:22. But (ALLA), by defining how the covenant people should behave as
God's
people, the Law (here described as "hH GRAFH") consigned all things to
sin.
The purpose was that what was promised to faith in Christ might be given
to
those who believe. It is not clear how consigning all things to sin is
related
to the promise's being given to those who believe. It seems that the
connection
is explained in 3:23-26.

3:23-24: Before faith came, we (=the Jews) were confined under the Law,
kept under
constraint. The nature of constraint is not clearly described. But
considering
the fact that the Law was given to separate the Jews from the nations, the
constraint in question has to do with the constraint associated with
the barrier between the Jews and the Gentiles. Anyway, Paul was fighting
this barrier throughout his ministry. Moreover, it is implied by 3:25-26.
The Law played the role of paidagogos for us,
the Jews, strictly guiding our behavior and our identity, until Christ
came,
so that we (=the Jews) may be righteoused by faith [in Christ].
It reminds me of Rom 10:4, which I take "Christ is the goal of the Law
unto
righteousness to those who believe". The connection between the Law as
paidagogos and
being righteoused by faith in Christ is not clear to me, however.

3:25-26: Now that faith has come, we are no longer under paidagogos, we are
not under
constraint. Paul, can say this considering that "you" (the Gentiles) have
all become
sons of God through faith in Christ. These verses implies that the
constraint imposed
on the Jews by the paidagogos has to do with whether the Gentiles can
become
sons of God "simply" through faith in Christ. Before faith has come, the
Jews
could not open themselves that way.
3:27-28. These verses also support the above interpretation of the
constraint of the
paidagogos. In Christ, there is neither Jews nor Greek....
3:29. If you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, heirs
according to promise.
Paul takes pain to argue that Gentile believers in
Christ are on the same level as Jewish believers, simply by believing in
Christ,
that is without becoming Jews by getting circumcision. Again this is the
main concern
of Paul throughout the letter.

Here go my questions on Gal 4.

4:3 So with us; when we were children, we were slaves to the elemental
spirits
of the universe. 4:4 But when the time had fully come, God sent forth his
Son,
born of woman, born under the law, 4:5 to redeem those who were under the
law,
so that we might receive adoption as sons.

Q1: Whatever "the elemental spirits of the universe" means, it is obvious
that it is
something that has enslaved "us", the Jews. If it refers to the Law, it
seems to be
an great obstacle to your position.

Q2: In what sense do you think did those under the Law, the Jews, need
redemption?
Q3: I would take "we" in 4:5 to refer to the whole humanity as in 3:14?
What do you think?

4:9. now that you have come to know God, or rather to be known by God,
how can you turn back again to the weak and beggarly elemental spirits,
whose slaves you want to be once more?

Q4: Paul rebukes the Galatians because they want to turn back AGAIN to the
weak and beggarly elemental spirits. The language of Gal 4:9 seems to
indicate that
"we" in 4:3 are Galatians. If so, the strategy to distinguish "we" and
"you"
seems to fail here.

There is a way to save this strategy.
Here Paul assumes that the Gentiles were under the weak and beggarly
elemental spirits
before I came to know Christ. When they wanted to be "under the Law" after
having known
God, it was the same as going back to the elemental spirit again, because
Paul said in
4:3 that the Jews, when they were children, were slaves to the elemental
spirits of the
universe. But then in what sense being under the Law was being under the
elemental
spirits? If you object to this very idea, you cannot stick to the
strategy of not luming "you" and "we". Either way, I got stuck.


Sincerely

Moon R. Jung
Associate Professor
Sogang University, Seoul, Korea






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