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  • From: "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT home.com>
  • To: Corpus-paul <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: The Mystery of Romans: the theme of restoration of Israel
  • Date: Tue, 01 Jan 2002 15:11:02 -0600


> From: "moon-ryul jung" <moon AT sogang.ac.kr>

> One of the themes of the book "The Mystery of Romans"
> written by Mark Nanos seems to be the restoration of Israel.
> But I wonder what he means by the "restoration of Israel".
> Let me quote some lines from the book.
>
> "He (Paul) set about the task of restoring Israel represented
> in the Diaspora city of Rom", p. 242.
> "This salvation of God has been sent to the Gentiles; they will
> ALSO listen.", p. 242.
> "The gospel for Paul could not be separated from his personal
> apostolic mission from "Zion" to restore the dispersed of Israel
> and bring light to the nations", p. 246.
>
> What would he mean by "the restoration of Israel" and "this
> salvation of God"? If my memory is correct, he does not believe
> that it means "salvation from sin" as it is
> understood in Protestant and Catholic traditions.
>
> Moon Ryul Jung
> Sogang Univ, Seoul, Korea

Happy New Year Moon and List participants,

Shall I take a shot at this? Why not. Thanks for the question! Shall I
expect that my answer will lead to another question?

I think Nanos takes this restoration of Israel to represent the awaited age
to come. Like James is represented imagining to be taking place in Acts 15
(as witnessed in the coming in of the Gentiles to this Jewish coalition,
hence the house of David must be being rebuilt as prophesized, for it is
only after this [or as now interpreted by James, while this is taking place]
that such as thing as Gentiles turning to Israel's God would be expected to
take place).

For Paul, Israel's place is central in the restoration of all of creation to
its Creator. Israel will be restored, e.g., freed from the social (such as
religious and political) constraints of the present age (Roman govt. and
Hellenistic culture), as well as the power of sin (communal and personal)
that often restrains humans from expressing fully the image of God in what
they do and think. In Jewish tradition, and oversimplified, "the evil
inclination" (yetzer ha-ra) will no longer struggle on equal terms with "the
good inclination" (yetzer ha-tov), nor the evil nations with God's. Hence
the One God of Israel and the Nations, of all humankind, will rule in the
ways expressed in Israel's prophetic tradition, indeed throughout the whole
of the Tanak and NT. Now that will be a New Year. It is the one that Jewish
and Christian people still pray for, albeit imagined and approached in
slightly different ways. There will be war no more!

With hope for a new year like that for all humankind,
Mark
--
Mark D. Nanos, Ph.D.
313 NE Landings Dr.
Lee's Summit, MO 64064
USA
nanosmd AT home.com




  • Re: The Mystery of Romans: the theme of restoration of Israel, Mark D. Nanos, 01/01/2002

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