Corpus-Paul

["Ian Scott" <iscott AT tyndale.ca>]

Jim,

I think that Paul's argument from vv. 17-21 can't be aimed at Peter directly 
because Peter would seem already to agree with Paul's point there. I take 
Paul's main argumentative point to be laid out (negatively) in 2:21: "For if 
righteousness were to come through the law, then Christ would have died for 
nothing!" In other words, the diatribal objection of 2.17 is coming from an 
interlocutor who does not accept justification apart from "works of the law," 
and Paul spends 2.18-21 defending that view of justification. Yet Paul's "we" 
in 2.15-16 (which clearly includes Peter) seems to be agreed on this idea of 
righteousness apart from "works of the law." So the argument in 2.17-21 would 
seem not to be aimed at rebuffing genuine objections from Peter.

If this is correct, I think there are a few options for understanding those 
verses: (1) They are aimed directly against the Galatian teachers; (2) they 
are aimed at the "people from James" in the Antioch situation; (3) they are 
aimed at Peter, but serve only to remind Peter (in the presence of the 
"people from James") of his own prior convictions. I personally favor some 
version of (2) or (3) with the Galatian teachers hovering in the background, 
overhearing arguments which Paul believes rule out their own position as well.

Of course, all of this presumes that Paul's view of justification apart from 
"works of the law" is controversial and needs defense, both in 2.16 and in 
2.21. I realize that it has been popular to view 2.16 as a statement of 
common ground from which the following discussion then proceeds. In an 
article forthcoming in NTS later this year, though, I've argued that the 
structure of Paul's diatribal rhetoric in 2.16-21 presumes that his 
statements in 2.16 are precisely the controversial views which he is trying 
to defend through 2.17-21.

Cheers,

Ian

Ian W. Scott, Ph.D. (McMaster)
Assistant Professor of New Testament
Tyndale Seminary
Toronto, Canada
email: iscott AT tyndale.ca
url: http://www.ian-w-scott.com
===================================
The Online Critical Pseudepigrapha
http://www.purl.org/net/ocp

>>> Jim West <jwest AT highland.net> 4/26/2007 10:43 AM >>>
Paul's diatribe against Peter, as he reports it in Gal 2:14ff, is a 
delightful bit of polemic.

I'm wondering, though, how "far" it extends, in the estimation of 
list-folk.  That is, does the "sermon" continue through v 21 (which is 
how I take it) or does it end earlier, in your opinion?

Thanks

Jim


-- 
Jim West, ThD

http://drjewest.googlepages.com/  -- Biblical Studies Resources
http://drjimwest.wordpress.com  -- Weblog
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