The Logic of Gal. 3.10-14

When feeling well enough I'm continuing to read through Steve Moyise Evoking Scripture. The section on Gal. 3.10-14 was most interesting. The four texts quoted/alluded to here are: Lev. 18.5, Dt. 21.23, 27.26, and Hab. 2.4.

10 All who rely on observing the law are under a curse, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law." [a] 11 Clearly no one is justified before God by the law, because "the righteous will live by faith." [b] 12 The law is not based on faith; on the contrary, it says, "Whoever does these things will live by them." [c] 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us, for it is written: "Cursed is everyone who is hung on a pole." [d] 14 He redeemed us in order that the blessing given to Abraham might come to the Gentiles through Christ Jesus, so that by faith we might receive the promise of the Spirit. (TNIV).

a. Galatians 3:10 Deut. 27:26
b. Galatians 3:11 Hab. 2:4
c. Galatians 3:12 Lev. 18:5
d. Galatians 3:13 Deut. 21:23

Moyise schematizes Andrew Das' argument as follows:

1. Dt. 27.26 rightly threatens a curse to all who do not keep the law.
2. It is evident that no one keeps the law perfectly.
3. Hence, everyone is under a curse.

4. Lev. 18.5 promises life to those who keep the law.
5. It is evident that no one keeps the law perfectly.
6. Hence, no one receives life through the law.

The underlying premise here is did the law and subsequent Jewish interpreters believe that the law required perfect obedience? The fact of an atonement system in Judaism and Sanders' critique of Judaism as merit orientated have usually assumed to count a view of perfect obedience as being required for "salvation". What can we say?

First, I think we need to keep in mind Paul's two major universal premises which are (a) universal judgment, and (b) God's desire to bring Gentiles into the family of Abraham. Towards that end, Paul is engaging in a redemptive-historical argument so as to show that the Sinaitic covenant brings curses not life. As the learned Joel Willitts states: "In other words, to be related to the Sinai covenant is to be related to the age (or historical period) of unfaithfulness and judgment (covenantal curse). On the other hand, being related to the new eschaton signified in the terms pistis (3:23) means being related to the age of faithfulness and blessing (covenantal promise) through Christ’s redemption."

Second, whereas Paul’s cites Hab. 2.4 and Lev. 18.5 as evidence of the human inability to do the law, in CD 3.12-17 and Pss. Sol. 14.1-2 we find that Lev. 18.5 is quoted to the effect that keeping the law is indeed possible for Israel.

Third, Jewish authors could maintain a tension between one's ability and inability to fulfil the law. Contrast the following:

1 Enoch 82.4: ‘Blessed are all the righteous ones; blessed are those who walk in the street of righteousness and have no sin like the sinners in the computation of the days in which the sun goes its course in the sky’.

1 Enoch 81.5: ‘Make everything known to your son, Methuselah, and show to all your children that no one of the flesh can be just before the Lord, for they are merely his own creation.’

Fourth, Moyise points out (with reference to Francis Watson) that the Petateuchal promises of life had a conditional quality (e.g. Dt. 4.1 and Ezek. 20.11, 13). As Watson says elsewhere, Torah is both gift and demand. I would add that the system of atonement is only efficacious in the context of covenantal obedience.

Thus, I think that the line of interpretation represented by Das is essentially correct. But see further:

M.F. Bird, SROG, chapter 6.

Joel Willitts, “Context Matters: Paul’s Use of Leviticus 18:5 in Galatians 3:12,” TynBul 54 (2003): 105-22.

Preston Sprinkle, Law and Life (WUNT 2.241; Tuebingen: Mohr/Siebeck, 2008).

Around the Traps

Stuff I've missed of late:

Bob Yarbrough is interviewed by CT about his 1-3 John commentary.

Catholic stuff: On RNS Vatican to reconsider role of Scripture in Catholic Life and Taro Aso is Japan's first Catholic Prime Minister.

Phil Harland is podcasting a series on diversity in early Christianity.

Michael Gorman writes on de-privatising Paul.

If the yanks want a new President, I suggest we give them a loan of Aussie PM Kevin Rudd. Here we have national leader who has actually written an intelligent essay on Dietrich Bonhoeffer and modern politics and religion. The same guy gave a lecture in Beijing in fluent Putonghua (so not only can be find China on a map, he speaks a foreign language!). If only American Presidential candidates were that talented. If, however, being born in the US is a key criterion, then I suggest we offer them Mel Gibson with Joe Lieberman as running mate (Gibson can win the Catholics and California while Lieberman will bring over the Jewish vote and independents). Make Mike Huckabee secretary of state and the whole thing is a slam dunk: the Gibson-Lieberman-Huckabee ticket is the way to go!

OT Position in Belfast

Belfast Bible College invites applications for the full-time post of Lecturer in Old Testament (commencing Autumn 2009). PhD in Hebrew Bible/Old Testament required. Belfast Bible College, Ireland’s largest evangelical interdenominational college, offers a range of certificate and diploma courses, as well as undergraduate (BD, BTh) and postgraduate (MTh, MPhil, PhD) degrees as a theological college of Queen’s University Belfast. To learn more about the College, this position and how to apply, please visit: www.belfastbiblecollege.com. Applications close October 31, 2008.

OT in the NT

Jim Hamilton posts the audio of an excellent panel discussion at SBTS on the use of the OT in the NT. Includes good discussion on typology and allegory. Hamilton's discussion are worth listening to of themselves.

(Yes, I'm back and currently operating at 85% health wise. Thank you for all your prayers and concerns. My family and I appreciate it. I'm still taking things easy though and resting much).

Mike Will Live to Write Another Day

Stop the Festschrifts. Cancel the Eulogies. The reports of Michael F. Bird's death were greatly exaggerated. 

I chatted with Mike today by phone and he was feeling better. What's more his Australian sense of humor was not encumbered by his illness. He is hoping that his better day today is a sign that he is moving to recovery. 

Mike we'll keep praying for you. 

Please Pray

I've just been on the phone to Mike who is currently in Raigmore Hospital having over night being diagnosed with viral meningitis. Thankfully it is not bacterial as this is the bad one to get. He is experiencing bad headaches and fevers with a rash. If all goes well he will be discharged this afternoon, with bed rest for up to 2 weeks, he may be fine in a couple of days. Please pray for Mike in his recovery and for the rest of us.... it has been a really hard 24hrs.

Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in the UK

The Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in Britain project is pleased to announce the dates for our first conference. The conference, entitled 'Exploring Expressions of Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism in Early Twentieth-Century Britain', will be held on the 8th and 9th of December 2008 at the University of Oxford. See the website for more info.

Contributors to the project are investigating the ways in which Evangelicalism and Fundamentalism have expressed themselves in the social and historical conditions of Britain and, in particular, the extent to which they have- and have been perceived to have - sanctioned prejudice rather than merely expressing strongly felt convictions.

The central question addressed explores the intersections of identity (who have been Evangelicals and Fundamentalists?), belief (what doctrines have they upheld?), values (what attitudes have they maintained?), emotion (have they displayed the anger often considered characteristic of Fundamentalists?) and practice (what behaviour in specific places have their views legitimated?).

Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek

There are two exciting young guys among the Sydney Anglicans, they are John P. Dickson from the Centre for Public Christianity and Constantine Campbell from Moore College. They are both accomplished musicians, gifted evangelists, and NT scholars! Campbell has a new book out called, Basics of Verbal Aspect in Biblical Greek.

Synopsis: In this book, Constantine Campbell investigates the function of verbal aspect within the New Testament Greek narrative. The book includes exercises, an answer key, glossary of key concepts, an appendix covering space and time, and an index to Scripture cited.

Description: Verbal aspect in the Greek language has been a topic of significant debate in recent scholarship. The majority of scholars now believe that an understanding of verbal aspect is even more important than verb tense (past, present, etc.). Until now, however, there have been no accessible textbooks, both in terms of level and price (most titles on the topic retail for more than $100). In this book, Constantine Campbell investigates the function of verbal aspect within the New Testament Greek narrative. He has done a marvelous job in this book of simplifying the concept without getting caught up using terms of linguistics that no one except those schooled in that field can understand. The book includes exercises, an answer key, glossary of key concepts, an appendix covering space and time, and an index to Scripture cited. Professors and students, at both the undergraduate and graduate levels, will use this is as a supplemental text in both beginning and advanced Greek courses. Pastors that study the Greek text will also appreciate this resource as a supplement to their preaching and teaching.

Simon Gathercole on Gos. of Thomas and Paul

In an article by Simon Gathercole on "The Influence of Paul on the Gospel of Thomas (53, 3, & 17)" in Das Thomasevangelium: Entstehung, Rezeption, Theologie, Gathercole argues the possible influence of Paul's language on the Gos. Thom. in three logia:

- Rom. 2.25-3.2 on Gos. Thom. 53 (a high degree of probability).
- Rom. 10.7 and Gos. Thom. 3 (probably reasonable).

- 1 Cor. 2.9 and Gos. Thom. 17 (probably reasonable - Thomas uses a source that has been shaped by Paul's usage of Isaiah 64.65.

Gathercole concludes: "The above has two wider implications for the fields of study mentioned in the introduction: the issue of the Wirkungsgeschichte of Paul in earliest Chrsitianity, and the question of the origins of the Gospel of Thomas. On this latter question, we have further evidence of the Gospel of Thomas's dependence upon the New Testament. Dassmann's comment cited above ['Dass Thomasevangelium aus der Mitte des 2. Jahrhunderts laesst dagegen jeden paulinischen Einfluss vermissen'], to the effect that Paul shows no influence upon the Gospel of Thomas, is almost certainly wrong. Treatments of the origins of GThomas need to take account of the evidence for this Pauline influence. In terms of the issue of the early influence of Paul, recent scholarship has undoubtedly been right to criticise Harnack's extremely minimalistic assessment. To the literature subsequent to Paul which bears the marks of the apostle, we should now add the Gospel of Thomas."

Topics that bore me

In the land of theological, biblical, and religious studies, I find the following subjects boring unto death:

5. Greek accents.
4. Queer hermeneutics.
3. Divine aseity.
2. The ANE roots of Hebrew words.
1. Baptist Church History.

Letters to Bishop Duncan

The TEC House of Bishops has voted to depose Bishop Robert Duncan Anglican Bishop of Pittsuburgh for breaking communion. News of the event is easily found on the regular Anglican websites. I found particularly helpful the letters to Bob Duncan from Archbishop Mouneer Anis of Egypt/North Africa and Archbishop Peter Jensen of Sydney. It seems that in TEC orthodoxy is the new heresy.

Book Notice: A Concise New Testament Theology

I. Howard Marshall
A Concise New Testament Theology
(Downers Grove, IL: IVP, 2008).
Available at Amazon.com

This book is an abridgement and simplification of Howard Marshall's larger work New Testament Theology: Many Witnesses, One Gospel (2004) designed for a wider audience. The book is more accessible to lay persons especially by omitting references to scholarly debates and focusing on a description of the biblical texts themselves. It includes a short introduction to NT Theology, then offers a description of the theological contents of every NT document, and concludes with some thoughts on unity and diversity. Whereas Marshall's New Testament Theology is ideal for seminary courses, but this abridged version naturally lends itself to adult Sunday school classes or anyone in general who wants a good theological overview of the contents of each NT book without being lost in a quandry of scholarly argumentation. A particular highlight of this book is how it integrates the themes of "mission" and "salvation" together. Overall, a good little book to give someone about to head off to seminary or college.

Forthcoming BWIII Books

Two books from Ben Witherington that are coming out from Wipf & Stock in the future include:

1. The Lazarus Effect (with Ann Witherington).

Archaeologist Art West makes the discovery of a lifetime in Jerusalem finding the tombstone of Lazarus, which indicates that Jesus raised him from the dead. But before he can make public his amazing discovery, the stone is stolen, sold to the British Library, and West is implicated in an antiquities fraud that will lead to a trial. West's Jewish and Muslim friends in Jerusalem rally to support West's innocence and to help find the thief who stole the stone, but then West is shot and in critical condition in a Jerusalem hospital. Can the truth be discovered in time, and West's life be saved? And what was on that Aramaic scroll that was found in Lazarus's coffin? In this fast-paced thriller, Ben Witherington, himself a NT scholar with a degree in English literature, together with his wife, Ann, introduces us to the life of an archaeologist and NT scholar and his trials and tribulations when a big find comes to light. Set in the always volatile city of Jerusalem, the Witheringtons reveal the fascinating hidden dimensions of multi-religious life in that Holy Place, and show how even today Christians, Jews, and Muslims can work together so the truth may come to light, and all may experience "the Lazarus Effect"—new life from the dead.

2. New Testament Rhetoric: An Introductory Guide to the Art of Persuasion in and of the New Testament.

I've written an endorsement for this book: "Ben Witherington has produced a sterling volume on ancient rhetoric and its applicability to New Testament studies. Witherington carefully explains the various forms of the rhetorical craft and how the New Testament authors themselves set out to persuade, exhort, rebuke, and encourage their various audiences through use of ancient rhetorical techniques. Importantly, Witherington carefully describes how an understanding of rhetoric affects biblical interpretation and Christian preaching. Anyone who is interested in the contours of early Christian discourse or would like to be able to preach and teach as persuasively as the biblical authors will find this volume highly informative and immensely helpful. Another gem from the pen of Ben!".

For my own views on NT and Rhetoric (i.e. a light handed use of them) see this journal article here.

Witherington gives 10 reasons why rhetoric matters for NT Interpretation:

1. Failure to recognize a propositio (thesis statement) or peroration leads to misunderstanding of the character and themes of a document.

2. Failure to correctly identify the species of rhetoric in a discourse leads to false conclusions.

3. Failure to recognize "impersonation" as a rhetorical device.

4. Failure to recognize the way that a rhetorical comparison works.

5. Failure to see the difference between ancient and modern persuasion.

6. Failure to recognize enthymemes leads to misunderstanding NT arguments.

7. Overlooking the way personificiations work in a rhetorical discourse.

8. Mistaking amplification for either redundancy or for saying more than one thing.

9. Mistaking asiatic rhetoric for verbal excess.

10. The importance of recognizing micro-rhetoric - recognizing a gradatio.

Miroslav Volf on Pacifism and Divine Judgment

Miroslav Volf gives us pause for thought (again):

"[I]n a world of violence it would not be worthy of God not to wield the sword; if God were not angry at injustice and deception and did not make the final end to violence God would not be worthy of our worship .... My Thesis that the practice of nonviolence requires a belief in divine vengeance will be unpopular with many Christians, especially theologians in the West. To the person inclined to dimiss it, I suggest imagining that you are delivering a lecture in a war zone ... Among your listeners are people whose cities and villages have been first plundered, then burned and leveled to the ground, whose daughters and sisters have been raped, whose fathers and brothers have had their throats slit. The topic of the lecture: a Christian attitude toward violence. The thesis: we should not retaliate since God is perfect noncoercive love. Soon you would discover that it takes the quiet of a suburban home for the birth of the thesis that human nonviolence corresponds to God's refusal to judge. In a sorched land, soaked in the blood of the innocent, it will invariably die. And as one watches it die, one will do well to reflect about many other pleasant captivities of the liberal mind."

Miroslav Volf, Exclusion and Embrace: A Theological Exploration of Identity, Otherness, and Reconciliation (Nashville: Abingdon, 1996); 303-304.

HT: Jeff Bruce

Latest New Testament Studies

The latest issue of New Testament Studies 54.4 (2008) is now available and includes:

Hanukkah in the Narrative Chronology of the Fourth Gospel
JOHN C. POIRIER
Abstract

The Portrayal of Aquila and Priscilla in Acts: The Question of Sources
WILLIAM O. WALKER
Abstract

Rhetorical Criticism and the Unity of 2 Corinthians: One ‘Epilogue’, or More?
IVOR H. JONES
Abstract

Aρραβων as Pledge in Second Corinthians
YON-GYONG KWON
Abstract

Alius Paulus: Paul's Promise to Send Timothy at Philippians 2.19–24
PAUL A. HOLLOWAY
Abstract

The Dragon Spitting Frogs: On the Imagery of Revelation 16.13–14
STEPHAN WITETSCHEK
Abstract

The Testimonium Flavianum in Syriac and Arabic
ALICE WHEALEY
Abstract

Philemon and Onesimus

Everyone knows that Onesimus was a fugitive slave who had ran away from his master Philemon and Paul seeks to return Onesimus, who sought refuge with him, to Philemon on amicable terms. Or is it? The main options according to Joseph Fitzmyer are:

(a) Onesimus was a run away slave. But Paul nowhere says this in the letter (there is no use of the terms phygas or drapetes) and it is only after Chrysostom that this view really gains popularity.

(b) Onesimus was sent by Philemon to Paul to bring food and aid and Paul pleads that Onesimus be released to his service. But this does not explain the apparent tension between Philemon and Onesimus in the letter.

(c) Onesimus did not run away from Philemon, but is only in some domestic trouble with his master, and seeks the intervention of an amicus domini (friend of the master) to mediate for him. This view is held by John Knox and Bruce Winter and would comport with an Ephesian provenance.

(d) Onesimus was not a slave at all, but only the estranged younger brother of Philemon. This view is associated with A.D. Callahan and is provocative, though I fear, unlikely (this was also the argument of the pro-slavery camp during the abolitionist controversy).

Palin causes a Gender Bender

Over at USA Today, David Gushe writes about the implicit tension in conservative evangelical endorsement of Palin. Many of these conservative evangelicals hold a complementarian position on prohibiting women from pastoral ministry, the deaconate, and from preaching and teaching in the preence of men, and yet these same evangelicals also resonate with Palin who largely represents their religious values on family and faith. How can they endorse a female President he asks? Now this raises issue about church-state relationships and do different rules hold out for different domains of authority, i.e. the secular state and the Christian Church. I do not presuppose the perspective of Gushe, but I do have to ask how do you endorse Palin if: (1) You believe that a women's primary responsibility is in the home and women should not work outside the home (as Dorothy Patterson stated in an interview here). (2) If you believe that it is wicked for a woman to be the leader of a nation? (Paige Patterson is reported to have said this during his examination as a witness in the Sheri Klouda case. A transcript is available here, see the last question where he answered, "The Bible does say in the Book of Isaiah, that it is something of an indication of a wicked society when women rule over them" - if this is incorrect someone please tell me and I'll remove the apparent quote). Can Mr. and Mrs. Patterson vote for Sarah Palin as a consistent expression of their views on the place of women (of course it could be worse, she could be a Calvinist)?

For a response to Gushe see Denny Burke's short post, David Kotter offers comments on this subject at CBWM, and let me say that my wife is essentially a stay at home mother who works in a craftshop on Saturdays!

Biblical Theology and Leviticus 23-25

My friend Leigh Trevaskis has a good pod-cast on "Leviticus 23-25: Where the Ritual Hits the Road". I think Biblical Theology just sounds "better" when expounded with an Aussie accent.

Mark Dever on "What is the Gospel?"

See this short-clip with Mark Dever over at Between Two Worlds. Pretty good exposition: narrative setting, emphasis on new creation, atonement, faith-repentance, and resurrection too.

Colossians and Gospel

In his NIB commentary, Andrew Lincoln write:

"Colossians is polemical, because, like the Paul of Galatians in a different set of circumstances, it will not allow God's gracious activity in Christ to be undermined. To add new practices and regulations to the gospel is to suggest not only that believers are disqualified unless they adhere to them but also, more fundamentally, that what God has already done in Christ is deficient. Colossians is essentially Pauline in having none of this. In its defense of the apostolic gospel, Colossians does not make grace a separate theme so much as an underlying presupposition that it reinforces through both the content and the mode of its theologizing. This presupposition is made explicit in the very first mention of the gospel, where to hear the gospel and to comprehend the grace of God are equated (1:5-6). From then on, the insistence on what God has already achieved in Christ for the cosmos and for the church and the 'realized eschatology,' with its stress on the present experience of the benefits of end-time salvation, are in the service of this gospel of grace ... For Colossians the gospel is grace, and no response to it can depart from the foundation by adding human achievements as a requirement. Instead, authentic Christian living is motivated by a response to and empowered by an appropriation of the undeserved favor of God in Christ".