(DOWNLOAD) "Paul's "Partisan [??]" and the Question of Justification in Galatians." by Journal of Biblical Literature * Book PDF Kindle ePub Free
eBook details
- Title: Paul's "Partisan [??]" and the Question of Justification in Galatians.
- Author : Journal of Biblical Literature
- Release Date : January 22, 2008
- Genre: Language Arts & Disciplines,Books,Professional & Technical,Education,
- Pages : * pages
- Size : 230 KB
Description
In pursuing a final revision of my commentary on Galatians, (1) while concurrently lecturing once more on the letter, I was forced to tackle again the issue of whether Paul depicts his opponents in Galatia as "legalists" rather than "reacting nomists," nowadays better known as "covenantal nomists" (a la E. P. Sanders's famous "covenantal nomism"). (2) In mulling the question over yet another time, I had to concede that if Paul's use of [??] retains a strict and exclusive sense of "origin," then the traditional rendering of justification "by (means of) the works of the law" might just have some merit. If, in fact, justification originates in "the works of the law," then said "works" could be construed as the "legal basis" of right standing before God. By conviction, I assume a stance within the camp of the so-called New Perspective on Paul. But still, I had to ponder matters afresh. In making my way through the relevant texts, it occurred to me that "origin" can entail the notion of position within or participation; that is, to be "from" ([??]) a realm means to "belong" to it. Such being the case, [??] is not so far removed from [??] in its locative sense. Having arrived at that tentative conclusion, I returned to BDAG (296) and read this: "In these cases the idea of belonging, the partisan use, often completely overshadows that of origin." The "cases" in question will be examined below. Suffice it to say for the moment that Paul's partisan [??], customarily overlooked in the justification debate, has a considerable amount to say about his take on the views of the other missionaries in Galatia and his response to them. (3) If for no other reason, it is surely telling, as Udo Schnelle informs us, that [??] occurs no less than twenty times in Gal 2:16-3:24. (4) A more extensive study of [??] throughout Paul's letters, including its Hebrew equivalent [??] in various Jewish texts, would doubtless provide a useful backup and confirmation of these findings in Galatians. But because that would entail an enterprise of its own, I submit the following as a heuristic exercise for the purpose of stimulating further discussion, both linguistic and theological. I. THE HEBREW BACKGROUND: PARTITIVE [??]