Romans – circa 56-57 CE - Barr, Chapter 5
A. General
1. Longest letter; first in canonical order, still an occasional letter addressed to a situation, but more systematic than most of Paul's other letters
2. Textual Criticism - Some manuscripts end with chapter 14 (Marcionite); others at end of 15; Point of Debate – does chapter 16 belong to Paul’s dictated letter? Would Paul have known so many folks at Rome? Would Prisca and Aquila have been there? What about Junia and Andronicus?
B. Historical Background
1. Paul didn’t found the church in Rome, which was actually probably a number of house churches;
Why did Paul write Romans? Suggestions:
a. to gain support for his mission to Spain
b. to introduce himself as he plans to visit
c .to address both Jewish and Gentile Christians at Rome; to work toward unity
2. What do we know from external sources about the church in Rome ?
a. Pompey brought Jewish slaves to Rome around 60 BCE; reference in Suetonius to Jews visiting Julius Caesar’s gravesite in 27 BCE in great numbers ; at least twelve synagogues existed throughout the city by the first century (Barr 156)
b. Suetonius, Claudius XXV in Lives of the Twelve Caesars - “Since the Jews constantly made disturbances at the instigation of Chrestus, he expelled them from Rome."(25) http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/Texts/Suetonius/12Caesars/Claudius*.html Known as Claudian Edict. Claudius was emperor in the 40’s.
If Chrestos means Christ, then some Jewish Christians may have been expelled and only returned after Claudius died.
C. Literary Aspects Issues
1. Use of diatribe. (Barr 152-153) Imaginary dialogue partner or hearer. Follows the argument around. Rhetorical questions. Objections and responses. Etc. Barr points out that Stanley K. Stowers "notes especially (1) the use of an imaginary partner in conversation, (2) the raising of objections, and (3) the inferring of false conclusions." (Barr 153) Barr sees the diatribe form as an outgrowth of the sort of dialogue form we see in Plato.
Examples from Barr, 153:
Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are… (2.1)
But if you call yourself a Jew…(2:17)
Then what advantage has the Jew? (3:1)
Do we then overthrow the Law? (3:31)
You will say to me then … (9:19)
2: 1Therefore you have no excuse, whoever you are, when you judge others; for in passing judgment on another you condemn yourself, because you, the judge, are doing the very same things. 2You say, “We know that God’s judgment on those who do such things is in accordance with truth.” 3Do you imagine, whoever you are, that when you judge those who do such things and yet do them yourself, you will escape the judgment of God? 4Or do you despise the riches of his kindness and forbearance and patience? Do you not realize that God’s kindness is meant to lead you to repentance? 5But by your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath, when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed. 6For he will repay according to each one’s deeds: 7to those who by patiently doing good seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; 8while for those who are self-seeking and who obey not the truth but wickedness, there will be wrath and fury. 9There will be anguish and distress for everyone who does evil, the Jew first and also the Greek, 10but glory and honor and peace for everyone who does good, the Jew first and also the Greek. 11For God shows no partiality. 12All who have sinned apart from the law will also perish apart from the law, and all who have sinned under the law will be judged by the law. . . .
3: 1Then what advantage has the Jew? Or what is the value of circumcision? 2Much, in every way. For in the first place the Jews were entrusted with the oracles of God. 3What if some were unfaithful? Will their faithlessness nullify the faithfulness of God? 4By no means! Although everyone is a liar, let God be proved true, as it is written, “So that you may be justified in your words, and prevail in your judging.” 5But if our injustice serves to confirm the justice of God, what should we say? That God is unjust to inflict wrath on us? (I speak in a human way.) 6By no means! For then how could God judge the world?
2. What do we do with the first person in Romans 7? Is Paul talking about himself? Or, humans in general?
Romans 7 (NRSV)14For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am of the flesh, sold into slavery under sin. 15I do not understand my own actions. For I do not do what I want, but I do the very thing I hate. 16Now if I do what I do not want, I agree that the law is good. 17But in fact it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 18For I know that nothing good dwells within me, that is, in my flesh. I can will what is right, but I cannot do it. 19For I do not do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do. 20Now if I do what I do not want, it is no longer I that do it, but sin that dwells within me. 21So I find it to be a law that when I want to do what is good, evil lies close at hand. 22For I delight in the law of God in my inmost self, 23but I see in my members another law at war with the law of my mind, making me captive to the law of sin that dwells in my members. 24Wretched man that I am! Who will rescue me from this body of death? 25Thanks be to God through Jesus Christ our Lord! So then, with my mind I am a slave to the law of God, but with my flesh I am a slave to the law of sin.
3. Switches between us/we, you, they - Barr, 161:
Chapters 1-4 - they
Chapters 5-8 - we
Chapters 9-11 - they
Chapters 12-16 - you
Barr's Discussion of "Salvation of the Individual" and the "Salvation of the World" Interpretations of Romans.
See Barr, pp.166-74, especially 166-168 for an outline of the two views. Below is an outline of 166-168 with additional comments in brackets.
I. Salvation of the Individual
A. Traditional View
1. Romans answers question of how an individual is saved, the summum bonum, what our "true nature" is, "what is the true nature of ultimate reality" and how we can know it, how we cope with guilt, etc. (Barr 167)
2. Purpose of Romans: "to gain their support for his [Paul's] mission to the West." (167)
3. Not mentioned at this point in Barr: but later: Concern with what Stendahl calls the "introspective conscience of the West" - focus on the individual's interior
4. Luther, a chief exemplar. Luther felt a great deal of guilt, no matter what penance, etc. he didn't feel better; studied Romans [and Augustine] and then stressed sola gratia (167)
B. Outlines and Readings of Key Sections of Romans
1. Romans 1-4 divided into two, lays out the problem of sin and gives the answer of justification by faith (167); [rejects "works"]
2. Romans 5-8 about "life in the Spirit" (167) - [the "I" passage supports this interpretation, if it is read as Paul's personal experience]
3. Romans 12-15 - exhortation about how to live based on 1-7
4. Romans 9-11 is then seen at best as a tangent, "a diatribal detour" (167); at worst a way of dealing with the Jews as a problem because of what is seen as their "works righteousness" . Some interpreters read Romans as Paul's teaching salvation by grace alone in contrast to the Jews's teaching salvation through obeying the Law. [i.e., grace vs. works or grace vs. law or grace vs. legalism]
-quote from Bornkamm. "Law observant Jews are worse off than the immoral Gentiles, for they refuse to admit their sinfulness." (167)
[NOTE: Critics argue that some advocates of this interpretation are operating with a caricature of first century Judaism; thus Barr's presentation of the Qumranians as stressing both obedience to law and God's grace. (168-173). Some advocates of the individualistic view also read Paul as personally struggling with an inability to keep the law from which Christianity frees him. Paul teaches a gospel, some would hold, that requires no one, Jew or Gentile to keep the Torah. Others disagree, arguing that Paul is teaching that Gentiles do not need to convert and keep the Torah in order to be saved; whereas Christian Jews may and should continue to follow Torah.]
Note also the dueling quotes Barr has at the beginning of the chapter:
"It was Paul who delivered the Christian religion from Judaism . . . . It was he who confidently regarded the Gospel as a new force abolishing the religion of the law" Adolph von Harnack
"In this letter the good news of Paul's gospel for Gentiles is not part of a polemic against Torah or Israel. Without at all excluding Jews, he is able to argue very effectively and very passionately that the inclusion of Gentiles was always the goal of the Torah." Lloyd Gaston
II. Romans and the Salvation of the World
A. Prompts leading some modern scholars to question salvation of the individual view
1. anti-Semitic implications of the first view,[ + new information about Judaism in first century] lead some modern scholars to question the salvation of the individual view
2. anachronism - focus in the ancient world on the group and not on the Ainner@ self, subjective experience , focus so much on the individual is "anachronistic" (167)
3. Paul "trying to build bridges between Jewish and Gentiles believers" (168); needs also to build bridges to Jerusalem, [and speak to house churches in Rome with both Jewish and Gentile Christian members] - focus on how both Jews and Gentiles may be saved/fall under the covenant with God; "Paul does not speak of the forgiveness of sins in Romans but rather of justification by faith, an objective and historical fact rather than an inner subjective experience." (168). Focus is on God's overall plan for salvation of the world (168); "validating his [Paul's] mission to the Gentiles." (168)
B. Reading of Key Sections of Romans in terms of Salvation of the World View
1. Romans 1-4 - ":to show something new has occurred in history" - "God is both the just one and the one who makes just" (Barr 168); both Jews and Gentiles are accepted by God, "both sin; both find salvation." (168)
2. Romans 5-8 - talks about the "newness" by contrasting Christ and Adam [father of all humans] and "the new experience of being in Christ, that is, in the Spirit." (168)
[Paul explains that sin is not the result of abandoning the law for the Gentiles:
"Should we continue in sin in order that grace may abound?" (6:1)
"Should we sin because we are not under law but under grace?" (6:15)
"Is the law sin?" 7:7]
3. Romans 9-11 "stands out as the central section of the letter, its climax." (168) Paul "forbids Christians to feel superior to Jews (11:17-18) and predicts salvation for all Israel (11:26)". (168)
["If God has turned to the Gentiles, have God's promises to the chosen people failed?" (9:6) The "I" of 7:13-25 refers not to Paul's own personal experience, but representatively of all human experience as in I Cor. 13 and which would make sense in terms of the Adam/Christ typology he introduced just before this in Rom 5; further as Paul states in Philippians 3:4-6 Paul sees himself as blameless in keeping the law.]
Krister Stendahl argues that Paul doesn't say that 'all' become Christians." (168) Rather Paul is concerned about Gentiles feeling superior to Jews. (168)
III. Both Views on Romans 12-16
Both salvation of individual and salvation of world views see Romans 12-16 as ethical exhortation based on earlier parts of the letter. [Note Chapter 16 is the closing of the letter, greeting various people, etc.; 12-15 is really the exhortation section]
[Romans 12-15 - deals directly with an objection that salvation apart from the law would lead to immorality. License is inconsistent with the law of freedom. As Bultmann (20th century German NT scholar) indicated "the imperative rests on the indicative: the demand rests on what God has done" (Barr 166) freedom is not freedom from, but freedom to. See Barr, 166. ]
IV. New Perspective on Paul
A. Key Figures – Not all of whom agree on everything
E.P. Sanders, Paul and Palestinian Judaism: A Comparison of Patterns of Religion. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1977.
Paul, the Law, and the Jewish People. Minneapolis: Fortress, 1985.
James D.G. Dunn, The New Perspective on Paul. Rev ed. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008
Dunn's Manson Memorial Lecture of 1982 “The New Perspective on Paul” originally appeared in the Bulletin of the John Rylands Library, Vol. 65, 1983, pp. 95-122 and is now available at http://www.thepaulpage.com/New.html
John G. Gager, Reinventing Paul. New York: Oxford University Press, 2002.
Lloyd Gaston, Paul and the Torah. Reprint edition. Wipf & Stock Publishers, 2006
Krister Stendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles. Philadelphia: Fortress Press, 1976.
N.T. Wright, Paul: In Fresh Perspective. Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2006
“New Perspectives on Paul” at http://www.ntwrightpage.com/Wright_New_Perspectives.htm
B. Critics of the New Perspective
Moises Silva, "Abraham,
Faith, and Works: Paul's Use of Scripture in Galatians 3:6-14 published in
the
Peter Stuhlmacher, Revisiting Paul's Doctrine of Justification: A Challenge to the New Perspective with an Essay by Donald A. Hagner. Intervarsity Press, 2001. ISBN 0830826610, 9780830826612
Stephen Westerholm. Perspectives Old and New on Paul: The "Lutheran" Paul and His Critics. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004. ISBN 0802848095, 9780802848093
Israel's Law and the Church's Faith: Paul and His Recent Interpreters, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988.