Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

none of them does he engage Judaism directly. Even the Judaizing advo-

cates of Gentile circumcision whom he attacks in Galatians and Philip-

pians — he calls them “the dogs, the evil workers, the mutilation” (kata-

tom 3 ,a wordplay onperitom 3 ,“circumcision”; Phil. 3:2) — may have been

Gentile, not Jewish, believers. Nevertheless, Paul’s statements regarding

covenant election and salvation being possible only in Christ clearly apply

to both Jews and Gentiles. Over the past several decades, a small but vocal

minority of scholars has claimed that Paul envisioned two paths to salva-

tion: Torah for Jews and Jesus for Gentiles. For the sake of religious plural-

ism, one would like for this to be so, but the argument rests on wishful

thinking rather than sound exegesis. In 2 Cor. 3:13-18 Paul interprets the

veil that Moses wore at Sinai (Exod. 34:29-35) as an indicator that the glory

of the old covenant was being abolished. The minds of the Israelites were

“hardened,” he says. “Indeed, to this very day, when they hear the reading

of the old covenant, that same veil is still there, since only in Christ is it set

aside” (3:14). In Romans 9–11 Paul faces the problem that most Jews have

rejected Jesus, and he attributes their rejection to the same divine harden-

ing. In a key passage, he says

Brothers, my heart’s desire and prayer to God on their behalf is for their

salvation. For I can testify about them that they have a zeal for God but

not in accord with knowledge. For by ignoring God’s righteousness and

seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteous-

ness. For Christ is the end of the Law so that there may be righteousness

for everyone who has faith. (Rom. 10:1-4)

At the end of Romans 11 Paul envisions the eschatological salvation of “all Is-

rael” coming about by a massapokalypsisof the Redeemer coming from

Zion, evidently a reference to the second coming of Christ (11:25; cf. LXX Isa.

59:20-21). This is how Paul himself came to Jesus — by way of divine revela-

tion, not missionary proclamation (cf. Gal. 1:16). Paul’s hope, then, was that

nonbelieving Jews would come to acknowledge Jesus as their messiah.

Paul does not seem to have objected to Torah observance as such, and

evidently had no problem with Jewish believers in Jesus abiding by Jewish

laws and customs. It is even conceivable, though very unlikely, that he

would not have objected to Gentile converts doing so as long as they did

not regard such observance as necessary for inclusion in the covenant or

salvation. As a practical missionary expedient, he himself could live as a

Jew under the Torah in order to win Jews (1 Cor. 9:19-21). In spite of all this,

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Early Judaism and Early Christianity

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
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