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corpus-paul - Re: The Decree of Acts 15

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  • From: "maertens" <maertens AT waika9.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The Decree of Acts 15
  • Date: Tue, 17 Oct 2000 12:54:20 +0200


James,

In your message on Sunday you wrote :
"I think my problem comes from the speech of James to Paul in Acts
21:20-25 with ends with a reiteration of the decree from Acts 15. Perhaps I
am reading too much into the text, but I have the feeling that James & co.
is
less than sure of Paul's loyalty to the council and is attempting to shape
Paul's official statements and behavior."

I wonder if the main problem in this passage is Paul's loyalty to the
council. In a certain manner yes. But not in the sense that it questions
Paul agreement with the prescriptions for gentiles. I guess the main problem
has to do with how Paul is perceived in his halachic behavior. Somehow some
groups had the impression that he abandoned and taught to abandon Torah to
Jews. This information is transmitted by James. Does it translates his own
feelings? The text gives more the impression that he knows Paul is faithfull
to Torah. He doesn't ask Paul to respond to the question if yes or no he
follows Torah. He only asks a gesture to show that Paul is faithfull to
Torah.

The way I read this passage is that some people thought that Paul teached
that the decree was also valid for Jews. Instead of applying the decree only
to Gentiles, he also imposed it on Jews while rejecting Torah. In that
sense, he was not loyal to the council. I don't want to say if he actually
did or if it was merely a misunderstanding of his actions. So, was Paul
loyal to Torah or not? It seems that 2000 years later, we still struggle
with the question.

Best regards,

Philip





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