How does an uncircumsized Cowboy 'do the Law???
Posted: January 21st, 2010, 2:30 am
"You a dang lie!" the mud covered cowpoke hollered, reaching for his dusty revolver. "You ain't done it. You ain't kept no law. I done seen it when you whipped it out by them bushes. A lawbreaker...that's all you are. A stupid, baccy spittin', lawbreaking cowboy. You ain't even read the BIBLE! Plus I seen you stuffing your jowls with that bacon when you thought nobody was lookin'."
Paul apparently believed that there were uncircumcised Gentiles who, in some sense, were doing the law. In Romans 2, for example, Paul speaks of uncircumcised Gentiles who, though not having the law by nature (by virtue of birth into the covenant), in some way ‘do the law’ (2:14). And in Chapter 8, Paul understands that those who have been filled by the Holy Spirit as a fulfillment of the law (8:4). Did Paul mean to say that Christians somehow live up to an ethical standard presented in Torah in a scheme that divides the law into its ‘ethical’ vs. ‘ceremonial’ aspects?
I don’t think so.
In Deuteronomy 30 (a prophecy by Moses about the covenant renewal) Moses had proclaimed that the law was not ‘in heaven’ as though someone must ascend to retrieve it or ‘across the sea’ as though someone must go get it. Paul understood that when someone heard the message of the gospel and believed it - confessing Jesus as Lord, they were actually ‘doing the law’ as described by Moses. Through the events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God had brought his word down from heaven, up from the abyss, and near them, placing it in their hearts and minds so that they could ‘do it’ and live. Faith, then, was thus what it really meant to ‘do the law’ after the covenant renewal predicted by Moses had taken place. Much as ‘works of Torah’ had formerly served to identify God’s covenant people, now faith serves to identify those who belong to the renewed covenant. Not only did those who responded in faith fulfill the law (by having faith), at the same time, they became, in a paradoxical sense, a ‘fulfillment of the law’. This is obscured by the unfortunate mistranslation of the Greek word ‘dikaioma’ in Romans 8:4 as ‘righteous requirement’ rather than ‘righteous decree’.
To understand what the ‘righteous decree’ of the law is, we need to look to Habakkuk 2:4. Faced with the question of God’s justice, God had informed the prophet that the “the just by faith will live”. This is no mere proof-text by Paul. Those who heard the gospel were faced with the same question of God’s justice. Paul’s interlocutor (an imaginary debate opponent used to advance an argument) would argue that, given the Jewish response of unbelief, God had not been righteous to fulfill his covenant with the Jews. Paul would argue that they had misunderstood the covenant all along An interesting aspect of Paul’s argument emerges when we consider the difference in the Hebrew and Greek text of Habakkuk 2:4. In one, it is by God’s faithfulness that one would ‘live’; in the other it is the one who has faith, or is faithful. Paul had spent considerable time in his letter explaining how God had displayed his righteousness in fulfilling His covenant with Abraham through the obedient faithfulness of Jesus. As also pointed out above those who responded in faith were the ones being declared as ‘just’, hence becoming part of Abraham’s family.
It was human faith, in response to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, that was making apparent God’s determination to fulfill his covenant with Abraham to make him the father of ‘Many Nations”. Paul said it like this “For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”
Paul apparently believed that there were uncircumcised Gentiles who, in some sense, were doing the law. In Romans 2, for example, Paul speaks of uncircumcised Gentiles who, though not having the law by nature (by virtue of birth into the covenant), in some way ‘do the law’ (2:14). And in Chapter 8, Paul understands that those who have been filled by the Holy Spirit as a fulfillment of the law (8:4). Did Paul mean to say that Christians somehow live up to an ethical standard presented in Torah in a scheme that divides the law into its ‘ethical’ vs. ‘ceremonial’ aspects?
I don’t think so.
In Deuteronomy 30 (a prophecy by Moses about the covenant renewal) Moses had proclaimed that the law was not ‘in heaven’ as though someone must ascend to retrieve it or ‘across the sea’ as though someone must go get it. Paul understood that when someone heard the message of the gospel and believed it - confessing Jesus as Lord, they were actually ‘doing the law’ as described by Moses. Through the events of the death and resurrection of Jesus, God had brought his word down from heaven, up from the abyss, and near them, placing it in their hearts and minds so that they could ‘do it’ and live. Faith, then, was thus what it really meant to ‘do the law’ after the covenant renewal predicted by Moses had taken place. Much as ‘works of Torah’ had formerly served to identify God’s covenant people, now faith serves to identify those who belong to the renewed covenant. Not only did those who responded in faith fulfill the law (by having faith), at the same time, they became, in a paradoxical sense, a ‘fulfillment of the law’. This is obscured by the unfortunate mistranslation of the Greek word ‘dikaioma’ in Romans 8:4 as ‘righteous requirement’ rather than ‘righteous decree’.
To understand what the ‘righteous decree’ of the law is, we need to look to Habakkuk 2:4. Faced with the question of God’s justice, God had informed the prophet that the “the just by faith will live”. This is no mere proof-text by Paul. Those who heard the gospel were faced with the same question of God’s justice. Paul’s interlocutor (an imaginary debate opponent used to advance an argument) would argue that, given the Jewish response of unbelief, God had not been righteous to fulfill his covenant with the Jews. Paul would argue that they had misunderstood the covenant all along An interesting aspect of Paul’s argument emerges when we consider the difference in the Hebrew and Greek text of Habakkuk 2:4. In one, it is by God’s faithfulness that one would ‘live’; in the other it is the one who has faith, or is faithful. Paul had spent considerable time in his letter explaining how God had displayed his righteousness in fulfilling His covenant with Abraham through the obedient faithfulness of Jesus. As also pointed out above those who responded in faith were the ones being declared as ‘just’, hence becoming part of Abraham’s family.
It was human faith, in response to the faithfulness of Jesus Christ, that was making apparent God’s determination to fulfill his covenant with Abraham to make him the father of ‘Many Nations”. Paul said it like this “For the righteousness of God is revealed in the gospel from faith to faith, just as it is written, “The righteous by faith will live.”
