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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanos AT mail.gvi.net>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Romans 10:1-4
  • Date: Sun, 26 Mar 2000 11:28:37 -0600


Dear John,
You wrote:
If Jeremiah 8 is the correct source for understanding Romans 10, then ignorance of God's ways arises out of rebellion and a desire to persue one's own ways.

I am not sure of your point. Is this the only way in which it arises? Is this and only this true for all people at all times?


A zeal for God (Romans 10:2) would likewise be wrong-headed. This possibility seems to be supported by Isaiah 58:1-12. The sinful house of Jacob "seeks Me day by day, and delights to know My ways as a nation that has done righteousness, and has not forsaken the ordinance of their God." Yet they did not understand the true nature of a fast. "Is this not the fast which I chose, to loosen the bonds of wickedness...?"

I do not understand the connections you are making here. How do you conclude that "a zeal for God" "would be wrong-headed" as though this was an absolute principle? Do not the prophets and even Jesus call for such zeal? Does not Paul boast of such? Does not Isaiah's comment assume that seeking God and delighting in knowing God's ways is good? Does not the criticism of "the fast" done when not choosing other actions of righteousness assume the righteousness of the fast done when those other actions are done righteously?

If there is a general principle, is it not that zeal for God, like everything else good, can be turned into "not good" when it comes in the way of "the good," i.e, God, and good toward those whom he created in his good image?

Regards,
Mark Nanos





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