Rick_C wrote:Sean,
The book is an excellent work of scholarship.
(I was just just sharing it, that's all).
So there it is, if anyone wants it....
Rick
I read the whole thing!
My comment about it, to put it as kindly as I can...it's not good at all. I would rate it like I would a book on Dispensationalism. An ideology with proof-texting galore. (Yes, I looked most of them up)
Here is an example:
Delivered From The Bondage of The Law
One of the most misunderstood texts in Paul's writing is Romans 7:1-14 where he speaks of being delivered from the Law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. Is Paul against the Law of God? He answers that in Romans 7:7 where he says, God forbid! and spends the next seven verses explaining how great and spiritual the Law is and what good things it has done for him. Brad Young reminds us that Paul is using a well known concept in Jewish law and is actually referring to the death of the flesh and not the death of God's Law. To illustrate his point, Paul uses an analogy of the dead husband to show that when an individual dies, he is free from all laws relating to that marriage. Young concludes, "It is imperative to recognize that the saying,'when a person dies he is free from the law and the commandments,' was a well-known concept in halachah [law], which probably was almost proverbial in ancient Jewish thought" [Bab. Niddah 61b and parallels]. Note that Paul mentioned he was writing to those who knew the Law [Romans 7: 1], showing that the Jews in the congregation of Rome were familiar with such an illustration.
Paul's emphasis points out that when a person is living in sin, his flesh is in bondage to the law against that sin until death when he is freed from that law. This is a common Jewish phrase as seen in the words of Rabbi Simeon ben Pazzi when he dies, he is freed, speaking of man's flesh being released from the evil inclination [Ruth Rabbah 4:14, M. Lerner, pp. 78-80].
... The point of Romans 7 is the individual's death to sinful flesh and not to the Law of God.
Now if we read this carefully, without bringing any presuppositions to the text, what do we learn:
Rom 7:4 Therefore, my brethren, you also have become dead to the law through the body of Christ, that you may be married to another—to Him who was raised from the dead, that we should bear fruit to God.
Rom 7:5 For when we were in the flesh, the sinful passions which were aroused by the law were at work in our members to bear fruit to death.
Rom 7:6 But now we have been delivered from the law, having died to what we were held by, so that we should serve in the newness of the Spirit and not in the oldness of the letter.
The book quotes a great text but then asks a question that's not part of this verse's point, namely "Is Paul against the Law of God?"
They ignore Paul's actual words, which are very helpful. Paul says the Law is good but we are bad! We are bad because we fail keep the law.
Now that we've answered a question the text didn't raise (yet), let's see what it does say. It says that those who know the law but are now saved have died to the law and are now married to Christ resulting in bearing fruit to God, since while in the flesh our passions aroused by the law caused us to bear fruit to death. But now, being delivered from the law, having died to the law the bound us we serve in the new way of the Spirit and not in the "old" way of the letter.
Paul then goes on to raise and answer objections like the one brought up in the book that I quoted above. The book makes it sound as if Paul is refuting his own statement! Hugh?
The book is full of outlandish claims like Paul kept the law and Jews should always keep the law.
Gal 2:11 Now when Peter had come to Antioch, I withstood him to his face, because he was to be blamed;
Gal 2:12 for before certain men came from James, he would eat with the Gentiles; but when they came, he withdrew and separated himself, fearing those who were of the circumcision.
Gal 2:13 And the rest of the Jews also played the hypocrite with him, so that even Barnabas was carried away with their hypocrisy.
Gal 2:14 But when I saw that they were not straightforward about the truth of the gospel, I said to Peter before them all, "If you, being a Jew, live in the manner of Gentiles and not as the Jews, why do you compel Gentiles to live as Jews?
Gal 2:15 We who are Jews by nature, and not sinners of the Gentiles,
Gal 2:16 knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but by faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the law; for by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified.
Gal 2:17 "But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is Christ therefore a minister of sin? Certainly not!
Gal 2:18 For if I build again those things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor.
Gal 2:19 For I through the law died to the law that I might live to God.
Gal 2:20 I have been crucified with Christ; it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.
Gal 2:21 I do not set aside the grace of God; for if righteousness comes through the law, then Christ died in vain."
You mean Peter didn't live like a Jew but a Gentile? Oh my! And Peter ate what Gentiles ate! Oh no! Why else would Peter be ashamed when those from James came? Paul said that Peter was not acting in line with the truth of the Gospel! This is the context of Galatians, what role the law plays in the life of the Christian, both Jew and Gentile. I don't see how Paul could be understood to mean anything else that what he said when he stated Peter was to be blamed. Peter was fine with living like a Gentile until people from James showed up. Then Peter changed his behavior to be more "Jewish like". This made him a hypocrite. Paul didn't condemn him for living like a Gentile, but for causing other Jews besides himself to draw back and make Gentiles feel like they have to live like Jews (i.e. keep dietary laws). Maybe I'm wrong, but can anyone offer a better solution for Galatians 2?
By this all men will know that you are my disciples, if you have love for one another. (John 13:35)
