Early Judaism- A Comprehensive Overview

he considered himself free from the Law and wanted his Gentile congrega-

tions to do the same.

Except for their worshiping the God of Israel and adopting the Bible’s

sexual ethics, the communities that Paul founded and nurtured in Asia

Minor and Greece were not Jewish in their ethos. True, the theological mo-

tivation for his mission to them was thoroughly Jewish, being predicated

upon the biblical vision of the Nations worshiping the God of Israel in the

last days. But the Hebrew prophets who envisioned the inclusion of

Gentiles in the eschatological restoration of Israel had been rather vague,

mentioning no entry requirements beyond worshiping God (e.g., Isa. 60:8-

12; Mic. 4:1-2). Paul concluded that there were not to be any — except faith

in Christ. Significantly, there is no hint in his letters that his Gentile con-

gregations had social contacts with Diaspora synagogue communities,

even though in his three-decade mission he himself visited synagogues of-

ten enough to receive the “forty lashes less one” on five occasions (2 Cor.

11:24). So in theirethnosandethos,the Pauline churches were not Jewish.

If with E. P. Sanders we agree that Judaism’s “pattern of religion” in the

first century can be characterized as “covenantal nomism,” what can be

said of Paul’s pattern of religion? The essential components of covenantal

nomism look like this:

God’s gracious election of Israel at Sinai

Israel’s grateful response of obedience to the Torah

final judgment with rewards and punishments

The basic structure of Paul’s religion looks very similar:

God’s gracious act in Christ

grateful response of “the obedience of faith” in Christ

final judgment with rewards and punishments

It is not that Paul’s theology reflects a fundamentally different pattern of

religion than Judaism, as Sanders maintains. The pattern is the same, but

its crucial element — Christ instead of Torah — differs. Christ is the only

true offspring of Abraham and sole heir to God’s promises, and only those

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daniel c. harlow

EERDMANS -- Early Judaism (Collins and Harlow) final text
Tuesday, October 09, 2012 12:04:18 PM