Corpus-Paul

[Loren Rosson <rossoiii AT yahoo.com>]

Bob wrote:

> Dunn's description of Adam and Romans 1 (Christology
> p
> 101-102) is convincing to me and gives more point to
> the
> warning in chapter 2 - 'whoever you are'

Bob, I think you're reading too much into "whoever you
are". Adam isn't in view until chs 5-8, which concern
the believer suspended between death and resurrection,
thus overlapping the epochs of Adam and Christ. Chs
1-4 have different concerns. Rom 1:16-3:20 says that
all will be judged, either by the law or apart from
the law (2:7-16). I'm still not sure why you avoid
using "law". It's what Paul has in mind, whether Torah
for Judeans or some kind of Noahide equivalent for
non-Judeans ("the law written on their hearts"). The
Greek will be judged for the crimes of Sodom
(1:19-2:6), no less than the Judean will be judged for
adultery and robbing temples. Laugh. Rhetoric can be
preposterous, but that doesn't stop people like Paul
from using it when it serves an effective purpose.
Where Paul puts the screws to one group he must do
likewise to the other. He needs to take Judeans down
as much as the pagans -- his elaboration in 3:1-20
offers more credibility than the naked 2:17-24 -- if
he hopes to keep unity in his church and stop the two
groups from competing with each other. We need to
think in terms of the text's function more than how it
can pass for credible or appealing theology.

Thanks for sharing your substructure. I might outline
as follows:

1:16-3:20  ALL TO BE JUDGED. Judean and Greek will be
judged, either by the law or apart from the law
(2:7-16). The Greek will be judged (1:19-2:6) as much
as the Judean (2:17-3:20). Both groups judged for the
same thing, in different ways.

3:21-4:25  ALL RIGHTEOUSED ON THE SAME BASIS. Since
Christ’s death has inaugurated the end, righteousness
is by faith apart from works (3:21-31). Abraham was
justified by faith, and was then circumcised to seal
that righteousness, in order to become the ancestor of
both Judeans and Gentiles (4:1-17). [4:18-25 excursus]
Christ takes over the epoch of Moses. Both groups
justified by faith, in different ways.

5:1-8:39  ALL SANCTIFIED ON THE SAME BASIS. Dying with
Christ (the anti-Adam (5:1-21)) liberates from the
dominion of sin (6:1-14). Gentiles become slaves to
righteousness instead of sin (6:15-23); Judeans become
slaves to righteousness rather than the law, which
itself is holy and given for the purpose of life but
unable to do the job God gave it (7:1-25). Both groups
fulfil the "requirement" of the law by a different
route: the Spirit (8:1-17). [8:18-39 excursus] Christ
takes over the epoch of Adam. Both groups die to sin
and death, in different ways.


=====
Loren Rosson III
Nashua NH
rossoiii AT yahoo.com

"In the natural sciences a person is remembered for his best idea; in the 
social sciences he is remembered for his worst."


                
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