Corpus-Paul

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

Mark,
all of my concerns are answered.  Please see my comments.

> The Law 
> cannot, by definition of its role to set apart the righteous ones of 
> God as Israel, even though calling quintessentially for love of one's 
> neighbor, accomplish the task of avoiding discrimination where 
> differentiation is inscribed in the very gift of God to Israel, even 
> if that gift includes the responsibility to be the righteous ones on 
> behalf of the Nations until the promised day arrives when all of 
> humankind will be restored to righteousness (defining of one's 
> neighbor involves differentiation). Humans seem to be ineluctably 
> constrained to discriminate where difference is constructed

Good. You are saying that "What the Law could not do" in Rom 8:1-5 
 would refer to. The Law could not "accomplish the task of avoiding 
discrimination", but God did through Christ. It is quite reasonable
 that Paul said "what the Law could not do" with the discrimination
between Jews and Gentiles in mind. First of all, Paul had a deep concern
 about discriminations among humans and believed that they go away IN 
CHRIST:
 "There is neither Jew nor Greek, slave nor free, male nor female, for you
are all one in Christ Jesus" (Gal 3:28). Suddenly this statement of Paul
makes me think that for Paul, discriminations  between humans were such a 
bad and helpless thing that could not be resolved without Christ. Paul had
every reason to fight against it in the name of Christ. Even the holy and
spiritual Law could not solve this problem. God did it through Christ. 
So far, I tried to find some "fundamental human problem" whenever I read
"what the Law could not do weakened by the flesh", but the discrimination 
between Jews and Gentiles was surely a "hundamental human problem" for
Paul.  

> That is the weakness of human flesh (the comparative impulse by means 
> of "facial" interaction among humans) that I believe Paul is getting 
> at here; not a Jewish problem, but a human one, which Jewish people 
> are by the Law seeking to overcome, but ultimately look to God's 
> actions at the end of the ages to accomplish fully. Thus Paul's 
> language at the end of Rom. 7 and into chapter 8 describes the 
> conviction that the awaited day has dawned in Christ, and is 
> appropriated by those who are in Christ, or at least should be.

I would like to read Rom. 7 and 8 along this line, and see what
happens. Thanks for pointing it to me. 
.....
....
 
> My reading of Paul is based upon a assumption that I think you are 
> actually trying to get at, that is, that Paul believes that God has 
> done something bigger in Christ than merely reconcile Jew and gentile 
> to each other. 

I am glad that you said it. 

>I think that he does believe this, that he believes 
> the end of the ages has dawned, with whatever results are implied. 
> But the rhetorical issues of the two letters we have been discussing 
> is not the "whatever," for Paul is not describing why he believes or 
> behaves as he does, but responding to the particular situations that 
> have arisen in these social contexts for his gentile addressees.

Now I seem to believe that "the social contexts for his gentile addresses"
were important for Paul and those gentiles. What would be life other than
living in social contexts? Perhaps we moderns have become too 
introspective
and self-oriented, that we tend to interpret  Paul's letters from this
introspective and self-oriented viewpoint. 

Sincerely

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