Schlagwort: Paulus

By Christian

Other important contributions to the new perspective on Paul came from N. T. Wright. „One of the characteristics of his position is how he sets Paul’s theology within the larger biblical story (narrative) of God’s work with Israel.“

[Also in this part, the quotes are from the book „The New Perspective on Paul – An Introduction“ by Prof. Kent L. Yinger, which forms the basis for this series.]

Paul’s letters should be understood with this context in mind:

God’s intention for humanity and creation was temporarily derailed through Adam’s sin (Gen 1–11). The resolution of this dilemma was the family of Abraham, Israel, through whom the divine blessing was to extend to all humanity (Gen 12).

However, the Jewish people failed as well to fulfill their role as the instrument of God’s blessing to the world. Instead of being the light for the nations, they wandered from their covenant obligations, ultimately into exile. It would, thus, be left up to Israel’s representative to fulfill Adam’s originally intended role under God. Messiah Jesus is Israel, the seed of Abraham, the son of God, and his obedience, death, and resurrection are Israel’s obedience, death, and resurrection. He is the climax of God’s covenantal dealings with Israel and humanity (Adam). Notice, for Wright the story is less about sinful individuals being rescued from judgment for guilt (although it is, for him, also about that),2 and more about God’s fulfillment of his purposes for all creation through Israel.

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How does this relate to the topic of rescue?

Israel’s failure was not “legalism” or “works-righteousness,” but “national righteousness, . . . the belief that fleshly Jewish descent guarantees membership of God’s true covenant people.”3 Elsewhere Wright terms this a “charter of national privilege.” Rather than fulfilling her vocation as a light to the nations, Israel viewed herself in exclusive possession of God’s blessings; and only those who became a member of Israel (signified for males by circumcision) could have access to these same blessings. (This corresponds to Dunn’s take on “works of law.”) However, as John the Baptist had already stated to the nation,

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Do not presume to say to yourselves, “We have Abraham as our ancestor”; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham. Even now the ax is lying at the root of the trees; every tree therefore that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.

Matthäus 3:9-10 NRSV

We have thus outlined the essential parts of the new view of Paul, at least as far as the mainstream is concerned:

1. First-century Judaisms were not legalistic, but were characterized by covenantal nomism—saved by God’s grace and obligated to follow his ways.
2. Since Jews were not espousing works-righteousness, Paul was not opposing legalism in his letters.
3. Instead, at issue was a question of social identity: “Who belongs to the people of God and how is this known?” i.e., does one have to be Jewish—be circumcised, keep food laws, celebrate Sabbath, etc.—in order to inherit the promises to Abraham?
4. Paul does not differ from most other Jews as to the roles of grace, faith, and works in salvation; where he differs is the conviction that Jesus is Israel’s Messiah and the Lord of all creation. No longer is Torah the defining center of God’s dealings; what counts now is belonging to Christ.

Various scholars have also dealt intensively with certain formulations and frequently used terms:

Don Garlington, for instance, has explored the importance of Paul’s phrase, “the obedience of faith” (Rom 1:5; 16:26). His work highlights the eschatological, or already/not-yet nature of justification. Believers are already justified by grace through faith in Christ. Yet, they still await final justification (or vindication, deliverance from final wrath). This makes sense, according to Garlington, once we see that all of Christ’s benefits are available only “in Christ,” that is, via union with Christ. Thus, for Paul it is necessary not only to begin the journey of faith in Christ, but equally to persevere in “the obedience of faith” to the end, that is, to remain “in Christ.”

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My own [Yinger] work also falls clearly within the NPP camp. In particular, Paul, Judaism and Judgment According to Deeds attempts to demonstrate that Paul did not break with his Jewish convictions regarding the role of works, or obedience, in final salvation. His insistence that Christ-believers would be judged according to their deeds (for salvation) reiterates both the language and the concepts he had earlier learned.

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For all of us must appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each may receive recompense for what has been done in the body, whether good or evil.

2. Corinthias 5:10 NRSV

There are several other scholars with additional, further or divergent interpretations, which I will not go into here for the sake of time.

As a scholar, it is best to be somewhat cautious with one’s assertions and limit oneself to what one can prove with certainty. However, since this is also to a large extent about the interpretation of Paul’s texts, I would like to conclude this section with a somewhat pointed formulation.

Anyone who believes that faith in Christ alone is necessary for salvation (*) in order to receive this grace, and that one’s own works are completely unimportant, is not following Christ or Paul, but Martin Luther and traditional Protestantism.

(*) I will leave out theological subtleties such as justification, sanctification, synergism etc. here.

„But what about this text….“ I can already hear. That comes in the next part.

By Christian

Having seen in Part 1 how a corrected perspective on Judaism in the 1st century also fundamentally changes the perspective on Paul’s writings, and having explained the far-reaching consequences in Part 2, it is now time to analyze and justify this new perspective on Paul in greater depth.

The quotes are from the book „The New Perspective on Paul – An Introduction“ by Prof. Kent L. Yinger, which forms the basis for this series.

What do we have before us now?

Instead of interpreting Paul’s thought as the antithesis of legalistic Judaism (the more traditional approach), we can now interpret him within his authentic Jewish context as a Christian apostle who was, and who remained throughout his missionary career, a Jewish theologian.

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A good example of how the context and even the translation of a text contains an interpretation is Galatians 2:16

nevertheless, knowing that a person is not justified by works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the Law; since by works of the Law no flesh will be justified.

Galatians 2:16 NASB

It is not so easy to read this text without our usual imagination:

Traditionally, the language of “justified not by works but through faith” would point to the stark discontinuity between Paul’s new understanding in Christ and his old Jewish views—faith versus works, believing versus doing. Dunn notes, however, that “not by works but through faith” in Gal 2:16 refers to convictions that Paul and other Christian Jews shared (like Peter and the Judaizing opponents in Antioch; see vv. 11–15), not views upon which they differed. “We who are Jews by nature and not Gentile sinners, know that a man is not justified by works of law except through faith in Christ Jesus” (Gal 2:15–16, Dunn’s translation).

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According to the aforementioned scholar James D. G. Dunn, it is about the following:

Dunn argues that this phrase refers not to works-righteousness but to particular observances of the Law that functioned as badges of Jewish identity in the ancient world.

Rather than being a code-phrase for legalism, “works of law” could be more accurately understood as a sociological category.

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The book then contains an interesting note for readers of English Bibles (which also applies to German):

Readers of English Bibles need to be aware that the translation they read may predetermine for them a particular understanding of “works of law.” Paul speaks in Gal 2:16 of being justified ex ergōn nomou which could be somewhat neutrally rendered “out of [or from or by] works of law.” This is how quite a few translations leave the phrase (NRSV [first half of verse]; KJV; NAB; NASB; ESV). A number of translations, however, take this as a reference to what humans do to be justified.

“justified by doing the works of the law” (NRSV; second half of verse)
“justified by observing the law” (NIV)
“justified by obeying the law” (NLT)

The last three English translations lead the reader to assume Paul is speaking of human doing or obeying as the (legalistic) means by which these people are seeking to obtain their own justification. The more neutral translations leave the meaning open to either a NPP or traditional interpretation, depending on how one reads the larger context.

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So are we only dealing with a reinterpretation of the texts here? No, because just as the new view of Judaism in the 1st century was based on extra-biblical sources, this is also the case here:

Dunn bolstered his understanding of “works of law” by finding similar usage of the phrase in other Jewish writings. Thus, a number of the Dead Sea Scrolls used the Hebrew equivalent to “works of law” to describe the sect’s distinctive practices. By these practices, these “works of law,” it became clear who did, and who did not, belong to the sect. The phrase did not suggest a theology of meritorious achievement, but it spoke of how to identify the true followers of God. Paul does the same in Galatians when he contrasts those who are “of the works of the law” with “those who are of faith” (Gal 3:9–10).

Where Paul differed fundamentally from his Jewish tradition was not over the role of grace, faith, and obedience in salvation, but whether salvation was tied to being Jewish or not.

Although this crucial phrase, “works of law,” appears infrequently in Paul’s letters (eight times), its significance lies behind many occurrences of “law” or “works” by themselves, as a kind of short-hand for the fuller phrase. So, for instance, when Paul speaks of “justification through the law” (Gal 2:21) or “by the law” (3:11), he envisions not the individual’s effort to merit salvation by keeping the Law, but the Jewish conviction that membership in God’s people belongs only to those identified with Torah; this salvation or justification is only “through the (works of) law.”

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So what is the central question in Paul’s letters?

Thus, the primary question being answered in these Pauline texts is not Martin Luther’s anguished “How may I, a sinner, find a gracious God?” but “Who belongs to the company of the righteous, to God’s saved people?”8 To read Paul as though he were answering the question, “What must I do to be saved?” is to misread the apostle’s main intent. Instead, those parts of his letters that deal with salvation or justification are usually answering the question, “How may Gentiles take part in God’s saving grace to Israel?”

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Let’s compare the two points of view using these texts:

Then what becomes of boasting? It is excluded. By what law? By that of works? No, but by the law of faith. For we hold that a person is justified by faith apart from works prescribed by the law. Or is God the God of Jews only? Is he not the God of Gentiles also? Yes, of Gentiles also, since God is one; and he will justify the circumcised on the ground of faith and the uncircumcised through that same faith.

Romans 3:27-30 NRSV

First the traditional perspective:

A traditional interpretation reads “boasting” as boasting in one’s own obedience according to a law, or principle of works; it is self-righteous boasting. Faith excludes such boasting since believing is contrasted with doing (faith versus works); one who simply believes is justified, wholly apart from any doing (“apart from works”), and, thus, no such boasting is possible. This applies equally to Jews and Gentiles since both are to be justified by believing and not by doing.

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And now the new perspective on Paul:

A NPP reading takes this “boasting” as boasting in Jewish covenantal privilege. Such boasting is ruled out by the “law of faith,” that is, by the new identifying mark of faith in Jesus as Messiah. This opening of salvation to non-Jews without becoming Jewish is precisely why Paul immediately says that God is no longer „of Jews only“.

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Perhaps you first have to read and compare these two interpretations of the same words of Paul a few times in order to grasp the difference. At some point you will realize why this topic is so important for us: it is possible that what I believe has no direct basis in the New Testament.

So far, however, we have only looked at the contributions of E. P. Sanders and James D. G. Dunn. But that is by no means all there is to the new perspective on Paul. As we will see in the next part.

By Christian

In the first part, we saw how the view of Judaism in the 1st century has changed since around 1977. This has anything but minor consequences when it comes to the interpretation of Jesus‘ or Paul’s statements in the New Testament:

If, in fact, Jewish theology of the first century was not particularly legalistic, we’re going to have to re-read these and other central passages, and possibly re-envision the Christian understanding of salvation.

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Before we go into the details of the justification, however, we will first look at the positive effects as mentioned. [The quotes are from the book „The New Perspective on Paul – An Introduction“ by Prof. Kent L. Yinger, which forms the basis for this series]

Chapter 8: Let’s Hear It for the NPP

Better grasp on Paul’s letters

Yinger describes one major advantage as follows:

Was Paul nervous about legalism, about self-righteous good works, when he said “not by works of law but by faith in Jesus Christ” (Gal 2:16)? Or, with the NPP, was his concern primarily with whether Gentiles had to become Jewish? And when he then praises the doing of good works—“if you sow to the Spirit, you will reap eternal life from the Spirit. So let us not grow weary in doing what is right, for we will reap at harvest time” (Gal 6:8–9)—we do not have to switch gears, but can see Paul’s love of good works running consistently through all he says.

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Avoiding western individualism

This is another aspect:

A New Perspective reading of Paul’s letters can also help reduce the Western overemphasis on the individual. The gospel is no longer all about my salvation; instead, it is about a new creation (2 Cor 5:17) and a new people. Romans 7 need no longer be primarily about my personal struggle with Sin, but about Law and Sin in Israel’s (or Adam’s) history. Of course, this doesn’t have to eliminate “me” from the picture altogether. It just moves me out of the center.

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Goodbye to anti-semitism?

Unfortunately, the history of the Christian churches has also been characterized by anti-Semitic traits from the very beginning. One of the reasons is eliminated by the new view:

Rather than speaking of inferior Jewish legalism, covenantal nomism sounds a more positive note toward Christianity’s mother-religion. Rather than a failed or wrong-headed pattern of religion, Judaism and Christianity turn out to have most of their pattern in common.

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However, one significant difference remains:

For some NPP proponents this means the complete rejection of supersessionism: that is, the church does not replace Israel in God’s plan for humanity; Israel and the church are now on equal footing before God (with or without Jesus Christ). For others, like myself, Israel is reconfigured (rather than replaced) to include both Jew and Gentile in the Israel reconstituted in Messiah Jesus; but it is still paramount that one be part of this Israel, children of Abraham. To non-Christian Jews this will probably still sound like the old supersessionism, since Israel as they understand her is no longer adequate. But the “no longer adequate” is built not upon some inherent flaw in Israel’s religion, as with most earlier versions of supersessionism, but upon a Christian conviction that God has begun a new era in Israel’s history with Jesus Christ.

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Moving from Old to New Testament made easier

The new view of Paul also results in a much greater continuity in the transition from the Old to the New Testament.

Paul’s message is not the antithesis of Judaism (or of the OT Law) but is a christologically reconfigured continuation or climax of the same.

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And so Christians can read the Old Testament much more naturally. We can best recognize this with an example: Psalm 18

A Psalm of David, the servant of the LORD, [a]who spoke to the LORD the words of this song on the day that the LORD rescued him from the hand of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul. And he said,
“I love You, LORD, my strength.” The LORD is my rock and my fortress and my savior, My God, my rock, in whom I take refuge; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold. I call upon the LORD, who is worthy to be praised, And I am saved from my enemies.

Psalm 18:1-3 NASB

Christians can also repeat this without further ado. But a little later in the same psalm it becomes difficult if we have a traditional view:

The LORD has rewarded me according to my righteousness; According to the cleanness of my hands He has repaid me. For I have kept the ways of the LORD, And have not acted wickedly against my God. For all His judgments were before me, And I did not put away His statutes from me. I was also [h]blameless with Him, And I kept myself from my wrongdoing. Therefore the LORD has repaid me according to my righteousness, According to the cleanness of my hands in His eyes.

Psalm 18:20-24 NASB

David is clearly talking here about deeds and that God therefore regarded him as pure and justified. This is not exactly the idea of Luther and Protestantism – if you read this passage with the traditional interpretation:

Traditionally, Christian interpreters have winced at the seeming self-righteousness of this passage, or have re-interpreted “my righteousness” as the imputed righteousness of Christ.

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With the new view of Paul, however, a completely different picture emerges for us:

The righteousness and blamelessness in the psalm refer not to some sort of self-righteous perfection, but to the integrity of faithful conduct expected everywhere in the Bible, including the New Testament. It is the loyalty (= faith or faithfulness) inspired by God’s grace, and speaks of those who are “loyal” and who “take refuge in him” (vv. 25, 30).1 The psalmist is simply saying, “I have not turned my back on you, Lord, but have sought to walk in your ways. Please deal with me according to the gracious promises of your covenant.”

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Paul and Jesus on the same page

Christians who check their doctrines against the New Testament will find that they will quite often quote texts from Paul, but will not find the same idea in the Gospels themselves – i.e. directly in Jesus‘ words. In fact, the difference goes even further if you read Paul according to the Protestant tradition:

There has been much talk of Paul founding a new religion, Christianity, which replaced the simple Galilean Jewish message of Jesus. As some put the matter, Jesus sought the renewal, or reform, of Judaism; Paul abandoned that aim and sought the creation of a world religion encompassing Gentiles. Jesus preached the imminent kingdom of God; Paul preached Jesus—the proclaimer became the proclaimed. For Jesus every “jot and tittle” was important (Matt 5:18), while Paul felt the Law had come to an end (Rom 10:4). Jesus called people to rigorous discipleship if they would enter God’s kingdom; Paul called them to simple faith. You get the drift.

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While the new view of Paul is not necessarily the only way to explain this difference, it does give us tools to resolve it:

Instead of viewing Pauline grace in competition with gospel discipleship, covenental nomism shows them forming a harmonious pattern in both Jesus and Paul (and Judaism) Both held the foundational importance of grace. The laborers in the vineyard (Matt 20:1–16) do not receive their pay according the number of hours worked, but according to divine generosity. Jesus’s healings were vivid demonstrations that God’s favor was being showered upon the seemingly unworthy. Paul’s commitment to grace needs no further comment.

But alongside this stress on grace came an emphasis on the necessity of obedience. In Jesus’s judgment parable (Matt 25:31–46) the destiny of the sheep and goats—eternal punishment or eternal life—is based upon their obedience to Jesus’s way: feeding the hungry, visiting prisoners, etc. And Paul is still convinced that God “will repay according to each one’s deeds: to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom 2:6–7).

When “works” are thought of negatively—meritorious or self-righteous good works—reconciling this dual emphasis on grace and obedience proves more difficult. Covenantal nomism suggests that these two focal points cohered in Judaism as well as in Jesus and Paul. The gospel that Paul preached turns out to follow the same pattern as that of Jesus.

Another point of continuity between Paul and Jesus suggested by the NPP concerns the saving significance of membership in the nation of Israel. In much Reformational exegesis Romans 9–11 (What about Israel’s Election?) seemed an odd fit with Paul’s exploration of individual justification by grace through faith (chs. 1–8). The NPP suggests that questions about covenant membership are, in fact, the driving force behind Paul’s gospel discussions (especially in Romans and Galatians). Does one have to be, or to become, Jewish, perform the “works of the law,” in order to be in Christ? This is, then, reminiscent of Jesus’s consistent message that Jewish identity is no safeguard from the coming wrath. His first sermon in Luke’s Gospel almost led to his demise because he taught that God would give no preferential treatment to the descendants of Abraham (Luke 4:25–30). This echoes the preaching of John the Baptist, “Do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our ancestor’; for I tell you, God is able from these stones to raise up children to Abraham” (Luke 3:8). Thus, Paul continues one of Jesus’s central themes as central to his own gospel.

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I think these are already a lot of important points to take a closer look at this new view of Paul. And it’s actually not all that new:

These debates are largely an attempt to get back to this Old Perspective, that is, to Paul’s own perspective on God, Christ, the Law, faith, etc. Supporters of the NPP usually consider their position not really “new,” but a recovery of that older, truly Pauline understanding.

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