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  • From: "Mitternacht Dieter" <dieter.mitternacht AT teol.lu.se>
  • To: <M.S.Goodacre AT bham.ac.uk>, "Corpus-Paul" <corpus-paul AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Cc:
  • Subject: Re: [Corpus-Paul] Titus-Timothy and Galatians
  • Date: Fri, 25 Feb 2005 12:27:15 +0100

>> While technically you are correct that it does state that he was not
>> compelled to be circumcised, I think that the clear implication was that
>> he was in fact not circumcised. Otherwise it would seem strange that it
>> would be stated that he was not compelled to be circumcised but left
>> unstated that he had actually been circumcised. I think you are picking
>> nits here.
>

In all three instances (Titus' circumcision, the handshake-report and the
confrontation at Antioch) we are not quite sure about the outcome. This can
hardly be a coincidence. It seems to me that there are at least three or four
conclusions that should be contemplated:

1. The outcome was known to the addressees (and we are left guessing. Weak in
my view, since it is not corroborated by the argumentative strategy of other
parts in the letter, where it is obvious that the addressees knew the
outcome, 3:1-5, 4:12ff).
2. The outcome was not the issue at stake (my preference. The mirror reading
of Gal 1-2 is so filled with contradictory conclusions that maybe we should
accept G. Lyons' conclusion (Pauline Autobiography, 1985, 96) that mirror
reading "it is inappropriate, if not entirely fallacious, for identifying
either Paul's opponents or the function of his autobiographical remarks..."
3. The outcome was in the negative in all three instances (possible. I would
conclude that Paul still reports the instances because his point is not the
outcome but his persistence).
4. The outcome was in the negative in at least one of the incidents
(possible. I would conclude as for 3. with the addition that it makes 2./3.
even stronger).

Dieter






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