Paul’s Negotiation of Abraham in Galatians 3 in the Jewish Context by Per Jarle Bekken

Author:Per Jarle Bekken
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: De Gruyter
Published: 2021-06-21T13:25:28.607000+00:00

Gal 3:11a: ὅτι δὲ ἐν νόμῳ οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται παρὰ τῷ θεῷ […]

Gal 3:11b: ὅτι ὁ δίκαιος ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται· (Hab 2:4 LXX)

Gal 3:12b: ὁ ποιήσας αὐτὰ ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς. (Lev 18:5 LXX)

The negative formulation οὐδεὶς δικαιοῦται corresponds to the positive scriptural expression ὁ δίκαιος, and ἐν νόμῳ corresponds to ἐκ πίστεως.160 Likewise, ἐκ πίστεως ζήσεται in the formulation of Hab 2:4 corresponds to ζήσεται ἐν αὐτοῖς in the citation of Lev 18:5. The conclusion that can be drawn on the basis of these parallel formulations is that to live “in the law” (v.11a) and “in them (i. e., the observance of the law by doing them; v. 12b)” and to “live from trust” are understood as living within two mutually exclusive jurisdictions qualified by righteousness and trust and by observance of the law, respectively.161

This explanation of what ζήσεται means, referring to a certain mode of living within two mutually exclusive jurisdictions, is confirmed by the proposition Paul makes in Gal 3:12a: ὁ δὲ νόμος οὐκ ἔστιν ἐκ πίστεως. As we have observed above (in section 2.2), Paul here employs the exegetical texhnique of abandoning one meaning of a scripture in contrast to its proper meaning, in order to distinguish between what it means “to live” according to the jurisdiction of Law (summarized by the formula ἐξ ἔργων νόμου and stated in Lev 18:5) as distinct from the jurisdiction of trust (summarized by the formula ἐκ πίστεως expressed in Gen 15:6 about Abraham’s trust in God’s promise and in Scripture as such according to Hab 2:4).

In sum, Paul’s formulations and juxtaposition of Hab 2:4 and Lev 18:5 (in which he only borrows words from the scriptures without any indication of a marked quotation) do not then reflect a tension or contradiction in Scripture as such, but refer rather to two distinctive jurisdictions in the Torah and Scripture. Thus, as we shall see below, this distinction between these two jurisdictions is presupposed by Paul with regard to the specific role they have in their own right relative to the event of Christ.

Paul’s logic, that those under the “Mosaic jurisdiction” can only incur its curse, might further be explained by his application of the citations of Deuteronomy (not only Deut 21:23 in Gal 3:13, but also Deut 27:26 in Gal 3:10) to the crucifixion of Christ. In accordance with Paul’s emphatic and vivid formulation in Gal 3:1 that the crucified Jesus Christ had been publicly “proscribed”, Christ is precisely exhibited openly as the one who suffered the curse by virtue of being “hanged on the tree” (cf. Deut 21:23 in Gal 3:13), and who for this reason was exposed in public as a lawbreaker within the “Mosaic jurisdiction” (cf. Deut 27:26 in Gal 3:10). Thus, in both Gal 3:10 and 3:13, words from the Law about a curse are cited, offering the legal evidence for the proposition formulated by Paul.162 In the following quotations, words from the Law are in italics:

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.