Corpus-Paul

["Tim Gallant" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>]

> In short, I do not think that
> Abraham's faith (or righteousness) was different from other heroes of 
> faith
> for Paul.

I agree with Mark on this one. I think it is special pleading to ignore 
David in the very context where Paul exalts Abraham's faith in Rom 4 (see 
4.6ff; Paul uses the "just as" formula too). Some people say that Paul is 
quoting a general statement and David's identity is irrelevant. Well, even 
if that were so, it would be every bit as problematic. But the fact is that 
Paul doesn't use Scripture that way, and the Psalm Paul is citing is stated 
from David's personal perspective of having sinned and received the 
forgiveness in view. And thus the transition from Rom 4.5 to 4.6 very 
clearly implies that David's faith was accounted to him for righteousness in 
the very same way Abraham's was.

That's not to deny a dramatic salvation-historical shift in Paul's thought, 
but the shape of it is not a flat denial of faith between Abraham and 
Christ.

Part of what we must recover is a biblical (OT) view of what justification 
entails. The judge did not simply make a bare verdict, but executed the 
sentence. The primary sentence of condemnation, Paul says in Rom 5, is 
death. And that means that the ultimate meaning of justification is 
resurrection - precisely what Paul indicates in 4.25. Paul draws the 
parallel in the passage - Abraham received life from the dead 
(justification) through the birth of Isaac (if you think that sounds odd, 
look at 4.17 carefully). That's the thrust of much of 4.13-25.

Paul sees the resurrection of Jesus as the representative justification of 
God's people. And in that sense, something dramatically new has broken into 
the world. He is not denying that preliminary justification - the 
forgiveness of sins - by way of faith has *always* occurred throughout 
redemptive history. But it is only in Christ that eschatological 
justification has arrived.

This has huge implications for the rest of Romans, but I don't have time to 
explore them now. Just thought I would throw that out there.

tim

Tim Gallant
Pastor, Conrad Christian Reformed Church

http://www.timgallant.org
tim | gallant site group