Corpus-Paul

["Sidney Davis" <sidneydavis AT verizon.net>]

The text I referred to and which I think is the context of the prohibition 
in Acts is from
Lev 17:12 "Therefore I said unto the children of Israel, No soul of you 
shall eat blood,
neither shall any stranger that sojourneth among you eat blood."

I make a distinction between the Noahic Covenant and the "Noahide Code" as 
formulated
by the Rabbis. Many assume the rabbinic formulation of the code to be 
derived from 1st
century Palestinian Judaism or even before and thus retroject the concept of 
a Noahide covenantal
code to Acts 15. Beyond the assumption, I do not believe there is any 
available evidence to
support this. The Noahide commandment addressing the eating of blood, Gen 
9:4  "But flesh
with the life thereof, [which is] the blood thereof, shall ye not eat" was 
and is considered
universal in Judaism, but the prohibition of eating blood in Acts I think it 
is within the context
of the Sinaitic legislation (the law of Moses) and not the Noahide covenant 
or code as such.
It is my opinion that the early Gentile Jesus believers were encouraged to 
subscribe the
covenantal norms of Judaism expectant of non-Jews within the righteous 
community.

Sidney Davis




you wrote:
Dear Sidney,

> The noachan laws did not exist as an applicable code for non-Jews
> before the tannaic period, being first mentioned in the Tosefta. The
> concept of an Noachan code did not exist in the 1st Century. Paul
> surely would of made reference to it as some sort of covenant code
> to the gentiles if it did. The "and from blood' reference from the
> Jerusalem conference is a direct reference from that part of the
> Sinai (Jewish) Covenant that included both Jews and non-Jews. Deut
> 15:23 prohibited the use of blood from the Jew and the "stranger" of
> the righteous nation. And now that these Gentiles are assuming the
> blessings of that covenent as "strangers" and not Israelites, they
> subscibe to the law of Moses as Strangers" ,as non-Jews and not as
> Jews or by becoming Jews, thus affirming the gospel message that the
> One God of Abraham is also the One God of the nations.


Is Deut 15:23 the reference you meant. It does not mention the
"stranger," nor does the near context.

Your argument about the Noahic covenant seems weak since the covenant
with Noah presumably existed from the time of Noah. There was no
distinction between Jews and Gentiles at the time of Noah, and the
covenant was made with Noah and his family as the sole human
occupants of earth. So it was made with everyone on earth.

Yours,
Harold Holmyard