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  • From: "John Brand" <jbrand AT gvsd.mb.ca>
  • To: Corpus-Paul <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Protestant Justification vs OT and Romans
  • Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 10:43:59 -0600


From: "Tim Gallant" <tim AT rabbisaul.com>
To: "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Protestant Justification vs OT and
Romans Date sent: Tue, 1 Feb 2005 18:27:27 -0700

(1) Paul thinks eschatologically, which means that he doesn't reinvent
everything, but it also means dramatic newness. We should not expect
that he completely redefines the tzedekah/dikaiosune terminology.

John responds:
If you would take the time to think through the argument I propose you may
see the violence that is done to Isaiah's vision by Protestant theology. I
argue that the social, political and economic instability of Israelite
society is viewed as the direct result of Israel's not combining halakah
with kavannah. Yahweh disciplines the nation in order to bring her to
repentance; he does not become her representative due to a default of the
covenant on Israel's part. Thus, I would argue that the following statements
from your
essay Paul and Torah: An Introductory Overview, although an accurate
reflection of Evangelical Protestantism, do violence to Isaiah's prophecy
and obviate the solution Isaiah envisioned vis a vis a combining of
halakah and kavannah:

'[circumcision] is an initiatory sacrament to the wrong covenant'
(Gallant, 6)

'[Galatians is] a book primarily concerned that Christians not fall back
to Judaism' (Ibid., 7)

'The Abrahamic covenant has been taken up in the coming of 'the faith' …
leaving Torah as a prison without a redeeming purpose' (Ibid.)

'Torah now no longer provides for the forgiveness of sins. It is rather a
prison house of sin' (Ibid.)

'the liberating powers of the age to come have arrived [in Christ] … This
is why Paul repeatedly parallels law and flesh throughout Galatians. Torah
belongs to the old aeon of the flesh which has found its termination in
Christ' (Ibid., 8)

'Whereas the law offered life on the basis of deeds, Paul's gospel offers
life by way of mere faith' (Ibid.)

Let's move into an analysis of Isaiah and Romans in context and in the
Protestant view.

I think that we can agree on how the Reformers interpret Paul's use of
Isaiah but I am not convinced that Isaiah moves in the direction that the
Reformers move and, therefore, I am not convinced that Paul moved in that
direction. Isaiah and Paul both look to the eschaton for hope. Both see a
problem requiring a solution; however, the Protestant solution to the
problem appears to move in a direction that Isaiah overtly criticizes
(i.e. a representative view of the satisfaction of the divine justice).
Paul would have to completely redefine the function of cedeqah in terms of
which Isaiah envisioned. Because we both agree to a unity of Isaiah, I am
assuming that we can start with the problem as (first) Isaiah articulates
it and delineate the solution he had in view.

A typically deuteronomistic worldview puts Yahweh at the center of
Israel's life necessitating an order within Israelite society. In the
Protestant view, Yahweh is at the center; however, because of the
representative view of Messiah, the function of cedeqah is obscured in
terms of the fulfillment of Isaiah's vision. The social injustice that
Isaiah saw in his time was intolerable to him. And it was the social
injustice that he saw as the root of a political instability: the god of
the nation is at odds with the national leaders and the nation as a whole
(1:6). Their center was being violated (1:4) and that was the reason for
the lack of blessing; economic ruin was a plague (1:7-8) attributed to the
disciplining action of the god of the cult.

However, from the perspective of the national leaders and the majority of
the people, Yahweh was being honored through sacrifice (1:11-12), festival
(1:13-14) and regular meetings around his alter (1:12) [i.e. halakah].
Isaiah contends that these were being profaned because of the social
injustice (1:15 cf. 1:21). He calls the nation to account "stop doing
wrong, learn to do right" (1:16). And he warns that Yahweh will 'get
relief from (his) foes" (v24) by turning his 'hand against (Israel)'
(v25). His goal in turning against was to rid the nation of the unjust
rulers and to raise up a new society who would be faithful to his covenant
so that justice could once again reign (1:26). The economic and global
political instability would worsen and Israel would be caught in the
crossfire. Only those who pursued justice would come through unscathed
(1:27); all the rebellious would be consumed by the ordeal (1:28).

Typical of the Hebrew prophet is Isaiah's going beyond his own borders
with the scope of his vision. He has Yahweh, as the judge of all the
earth, taking up cases against Babylon (13:1-8), Assyria (14:24-27); Moab
(15:1-16:13), Damascus (17:1-14), Cush (18:1-7); Egypt (19:1-25), Tyre
(23:1-18), Edom (21:11-12) and Arabia (21:13-15). Yahweh takes ownership
of the nations because he is their maker (17:7) and he promises a
restoration for all of them (19:19ff) except Babylon (13:20).

Isaiah envisions a grand restoration as a result of the repentance of the
nations. And he uses the language of creation to portray this
restoration:

" I will open rivers in high places, and fountains in the midst of
the valleys: I will make the wilderness a pool of water, and the dry
land springs of water. I will plant in the wilderness the cedar, the
shittah tree, and the myrtle, and the oil tree; I will set in the
desert the fir tree, and the pine, and the box tree together." (41:18-
19)

Peace is portrayed by the use of the pastoral as well: 'the wolf and the
lamb will feed together' (65:25 cf. 11:6-9). This use of the pastoral
looks back to a 'golden age' when all of creation was in harmony with its
creator but it also transports this imagery forward into the future
(unique for Biblical pastoral) and promises a return to the way things
were in the beginning. It is important to note, however, that at the
center of it all is the restoration of order in society. Yahweh, the
creator and sustainer of all, is feared by the ruler (11:3) and the ruler
will judge with justice (11:4). Because of her justice, all the nations
of the earth will gather around Jerusalem (11:10).

In this way it can be shown that what Paul is saying in Romans 10:20 is
that Isaiah's prophecy (Isaiah 65:1) was fulfilled in his day in that the
Gentile embraced the spirit of the law even though the Jew had returned to
the old external worship of their forefathers. God accepted the Gentiles
on the same basis as he had accepted Abraham; on the basis of an obedience
that proceeds from faith (Romans 1:5 cf. Genesis 15:6 cf. 17:1 and 22:16).
Paul calls this 'a righteousness coming out of faith' (Romans 4:13) and
he contrasts this with a righteousness which is based on an external body
of law (halakah). This was a system apparently based on law which in fact
replaced the spirit of that law with ritualistic observance rather than
the practice of mercy to which the prophets had called Israel. Because
the Gentile embraced the justice embodied in Israel's law, he was
justified (accepted, validated) before God while the Jew who neglected the
justice of the law (kavannah) and concentrated more on halakah (Romans
9:30-33).

Isaiah's prophecy had not failed nor does it need to be obviated, in Paul's
view (cf. Romans 9:6ff)
because there was a remnant from among the Jews who had combined kavannah
and halakah (9:24). God purposed to use the obedience of the Gentiles to
arouse the Jew to jealousy (Romans 10:19). He hardened the Jew so that he
could bring a blessing to the Gentile (Romans 11:11ff). But this
hardening was only to have been temporary, "until the fullness of the
Gentiles has come in" (Romans 11:25d).

Regards,

John Brand
B.A. (Providence College, 1980)
M.Min. (Providence Seminary, 1990)




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