Corpus-Paul

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

 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)