Corpus-Paul

["John Brand" <jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca>]

Date sent:              Sun, 14 Nov 2004 07:30:13 -0600
Subject:                Re: [Corpus-Paul] Question on 'Paul and Judaism' by
Mark Nanos
From:                   "Mark D. Nanos" <nanosmd AT comcast.net>
To:                     Corpus Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>

I want to offer a potential navigation of the morass Mark has
referred to as the 'construct of Paul' that all theological systems
develop to some extent or other.

Reformed theology is one of numerous developments of 'Augustiniansim'
(Charles Hodge, "Systematic Theology," Volume II, 356).  Alister
McGrath comments on the Reformation as a development of Augustinian
doctrine:

'The Reformation is often characterized as the rediscovery of the
Bible … but it is more accurate to say that it is a rediscovery of
the Augustinian doctrine of grace, with a subsequent critique of his
doctrine of the church' [Alister McGrath, 'Iustitia Dei: A History of
the Christian Doctrine of Justification: Volume II: From 1500 to the
Present Day' (New York: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 2]

When referring to the 'doctrine of grace' we often do so as a
corollary of the doctrine of natural inability which is Augustinian
in its origin. The pre-Augustinian tradition is of one voice in its
confidence in the freedom of the will.

And, I would submit, it is this supposition that is the door into the
labyrinth of theological corridors that must be traversed, if there
is ever to be any meaningful consensus on the interpretation of Paul
and the nature of his relationship to the other apostles. I would
like to offer the suggestion that the doctrine of natural inability
is linked to the 'natural covenant' or 'Edenic Covenant' which does
not rest upon any express declaration of the Scriptures:

"This statement [that God entered into a Covenant with Adam] does not
rest upon any express declaration of the Scriptures […] Although the
word covenant is not used in Genesis, and does not elsewhere, in any
clear passage, occur in reference to the transaction thereof
recorded, yet inasmuch as the plan of salvation is constantly
represented as a New Covenant … new in reference to all legal
covenants whatever, it is plain that the Bible does represent the
arrangement with Adam as a truly federal transaction' (Hodge, 117).

As the syllogism builds from this foundation, the human race in Adam
lost the natural ability to respond to the divine imperative. In the
second Adam, so it continues in Lutheran thought, came a 'synthetic'
versus 'analytic' righteousness 'in that there is no righteousness
within man which can be considered to be the basis of the divine
verdict of justification; the righteousness upon which such a
judgment is necessarily based is external to man' (McGrath, 3).

Because the first covenant (Adamic) is abrogated due to the default
of Adam, a second covenant is struck eventually to be abrogated. This
is what Tim means IMO when he says that grace can be withdrawn from a
covenant.

This is the 'doctrine' that constitutes 'the faith' which has come in
Galatians 3:23, according to Tim's 'Paul and Torah.' On the basis of
the Augustinian syllogism, I don't see any way out of the morass.
However, if the 'Covenant of Works' is not viewed as abrogated but,
rather, confirmed in those who are righteous (as we see for example
in Genesis 6:9 'Noah was a righteous man' and 9:8 'I now establish
(Hebrew Heqim) my covenant with you and your descendants after you' -
meaning the whole human race), we have a doctrine of grace wherein
God deems a person righteous based upon his own righteousness which
judgment can be reversed as in the Parable of the Unmerciful Servant.

This would call for a definition of faith that would correspond to
the idea in Habakkuk 2:4 (quoted in Romans and Galatians) where faith
is not doctrine per se but, rather, the conviction of an unseen
reality (amuneh in Hebrew) which cannot be subverted. In contrast,
'unbelief' would be the pursuit of natural desires that lead to the
kind of death that Habakkuk describes in 2:5ff viz a vis the gluttony
of the powerful leads to their own undoing by decree of YHWH (see
esp. v16 'the cup from YHWH's right hand is coming around to you').

Any thoughts on this, anyone?