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corpus-paul - Re: Romans 13:1-7

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  • From: Steve Black <sblack AT axionet.com>
  • To: "Corpus-paul" <corpus-paul AT franklin.oit.unc.edu>
  • Subject: Re: Romans 13:1-7
  • Date: Fri, 17 May 2002 10:04:21 -0700


Steve Black wrote:
... but with > the likes of Nero, this would NOT have been enough. Nero would of
demanded that he be obeyed AS God, not BECAUSE OF God. The REAL power
and authority is removed from the empire to the divine. The obedience
rendered to "the state" has been "relavitized".

This may not be very satisfactory for us, but I wonder if it wasn't
> revolutionary for the original audience?
---
Robert Brenchley wrote:
I think this would be more plausible in a situation where there was an
established tradition of divine kingship. Since it was an innovation at Rome,
how seriously were Imperial claims of that sort actually taken?


I wonder if this is the right question. Paul had never been to Rome as he wrote this letter, so he might not have known how seriously Nero's claim was or was not taken. The real question, to my thinking, is how seriously Paul might have taken such a claim by Nero. I'm beginning to see holes in my interpretation (thanks also to Tim Harris' helpful post), bit I do like the more contextualized approach. Paul was probably thinking not about all rulers for all time (well, I guess he might have been, but...) but rather about the actual situation faced at Rome - a place with distinct "issues" not faced to the same degree elsewhere.
--
Steve Black
Vancouver School of Theology
Vancouver, BC
---

Once in a while you can get shown the light
in the strangest of places in you look at it right...

-Robert Hunter From SCARLET BEGONIAS




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