Essay on Historicity of Adam in Paul's Gospel Is Now Published

My absence from the virtual world has been due to the importance of projects in the real world. This entry does not necessarily signal greater frequenting of the blogosphere. I do, however, want to let you know that my essay, "The Language of God and Adam’s Genesis & Historicity in Paul’s Gospel" has been published and is the featured essay in the latest issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. You may want to download it and read it later, since it is fairly lengthy.
I do hope and pray that this essay will be effective and useful for the strengthening of the faith of Christians everywhere. For anyone who may not have yet noticed, when I write essays for publication, I do so with pastoral concerns in mind. I do so for the establishment of Christian faith.

Essay on Historicity of Adam in Paul's Gospel Is Now Published

My absence from the virtual world has been due to the importance of projects in the real world. This entry does not necessarily signal greater frequenting of the blogosphere. I do, however, want to let you know that my essay, "The Language of God and Adam’s Genesis & Historicity in Paul’s Gospel" has been published and is the featured essay in the latest issue of The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology. You may want to download it and read it later, since it is fairly lengthy.

I do hope and pray that this essay will be effective and useful for the strengthening of the faith of Christians everywhere. For anyone who may not have yet noticed, when I write essays for publication, I do so with pastoral concerns in mind. I do so for the establishment of Christian faith.

The Havoc of Exegetical Misconstrual, Unintentional, of Course

On Wednesday I posted a paragraph from the essay I am preparing for the ETS conference in Atlanta. Here is another paragraph to pique your curiosity and interest.

Worthy of passing comment is the havoc done to Paul’s argument by stating that “the doers of the law” (οἱ ποιηταὶ νόμου; 2:13), which is a statement characterizing who will be justified, “are no more and no less than those who ‘do the works of the law’; and ‘works of the law,’ Paul claims cannot justify.”[1] This is flawed and tortuous reasoning. Paul designs his statements in 2:12-13 to sustain his argument that Jewish possession of the law does nothing to insulate them from the coming wrath of God’s righteous judgment. So, a Jew, who possesses the law and hears it but does not do what the law requires, and a Gentile, who sins while neither possessing the law nor hearing what the law requires, equally will be condemned when God passes judgment. Possession of the law does not advantage Jews. Hearers of the law will not be set right with God (2:13a). Only doers of the law will be justified (2:13b). To negate Paul’s affirmative statement that concerns who will be justified, “the doers of the law” (2:13), with his much later negative assertion that concerns how justification will not occur before God, “all humanity will not be justified from the works required by the law” (3:20), amounts to hermeneutical “illegal procedure,” for it adjusts the apostle’s argument to fit a theological system.

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[1] The expression, “works of the law,” has become infamously slippery with a “tendency to slide between two definitions of ἔργα νόμου (‘works commanded by the law’ and ‘actions performed in obedience to the law’ [cf. NIV as in Rom. 3:20])” (A. B. Caneday, “The Curse of the Law and the Cross of Christ: Works of the Law and Faith in Galatians 3:1-14,” [PhD diss., Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, 1992], 151-152; on ἔργα νόμου, see pp. 150-155). See also, Stephen Westerholm, who agrees that Paul’s phrase means, “the deeds demanded by the Sinaitic law code” (Israel’s Law and the Church’s Faith, [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988], 121). Cf. also Douglas J. Moo, “‘Law,’ ‘Works of the Law,’ and Legalism in Paul,” Westminster Theological Journal 40 (1987): 92.

Justification, Judgment & Behavior: Judgment Day’s Coming Verdict Now Announced in the Gospel

For those of you who plan to attend the Evangelical Theological Society’s annual meetings in Atlanta (Nov. 17-19), here is a paragraph from my essay that is scheduled to be presented for the Hermeneutics Study Group on Wednesday morning, November 17 according to the schedule below. Download Program PDF.

ROOM 213

Hermeneutics

Other Perspectives on the New Perspectives on Paul and the Law

Section Moderator: W. Edward Glenny (Northwestern College)

8:30-9:10 am

A. B. Caneday (Northwestern College, Saint Paul, MN)

Justification, Judgment & Behavior: Judgment Day’s Coming Verdict Now Announced in the Gospel

9:20-10:00 am

James B. De Young (Western Seminary)

Do the Apostolic Fathers Support the Premises of the New Perspectives on Paul and the Law?

10:10-10:50 am

Respondent: Lyn Nixon (London School of Theology)

Respondent: Matthew S. Harmon (Grace College & Theological Seminary)

In Romans 2:6-11Paul’s argument is not concerned with how or on what basis God will recompense people with eternal life or with wrath. Paul’s argument concerns to whom God will recompense eternal life and to whom God will recompense wrath.[1] This is evident in that the verb, “God will recompense” (ὃς ἀποδώσει ἑκάστῳ) finds its dual indirect objects stated within the four inner clauses of the chiasm: (B) τοῖς . . . ζητοῦσιν (v. 7), (C) τοῖς ἐξ ἐριθείας καὶ ἀπειθοῦσι . . . πειθομένοις (v. 8), (C’) ἐπὶ πᾶσαν ψυχὴν ἀνθρώπου κτλ. (v. 9), and (B’) παντὶ τῷ ἐργαζομένῳ κτλ. (v. 10).[2] Each of the substantive participles, though characterizing people by their behavior, accents character. The fact that each clause characterizes by behavior the respective recipients of God’s recompense does not mean that these antipodal characterizations indicate the cause or basis of God’s reward—eternal life or wrath. Rather, lest anyone, Jews in particular, presume that the wealth of God’s kindness, forbearance, and patience exempts them from God’s wrath that will fall upon Gentile sinners (2:4), Paul emphasizes both the impartiality and the inviolability of God’s recompense. The outer matched chiastic pair, stated in 2:6 and 11, accents the impartiality of God’s righteous judgment, while the inner corresponding pairs feature the inviolability of God’s justice.[3] Paul expresses the inviolability of God’s righteous judgment in another place: “God is not mocked. For what one sows, this also one reaps. The one who sows unto the flesh, from the flesh will reap destruction, but the one who sows unto the Spirit, from the Spirit will reap eternal life” (Gal. 6:7). Here, the imagery of sowing and reaping accents the inviolability of God’s justice behavior that characterizes and recompense, just as Romans 2:6-11 stresses the inviolable relationship God’s righteous judgment establishes between character and recompense.

[1] In The Race Set Before Us (Schreiner and Caneday) we make the case that in Rom. 2:6-11 “Paul does not answer the question ‘On what basis will one be justified?” The question is not how but “Who will be justified?” (165ff). Upon reading these pages again, we could have expressed our thoughts even more crisply, as I endeavor to do in this essay.

[2] See note below for the chiasm.

[3] For the sake of convenience, here is the chiasm presented earlier.

A. God will judge everyone equitably v. 6
     B. Those who do good will attain eternal life v. 7
          C. Those who do evil will suffer wrath v. 8
          C.’ Wrath for those who do evil v. 9
     B.’ Glory for those who do good v. 10
A.’ God judges impartially v. 11

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Latest essay written

I have written an essay, "The Faithfulness of Jesus Christ as a Theme in Paul's Letter to the Galatians" for The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies, edited by Michael F. Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle (U.K. Paternoster). My essay analyzes Paul's theme of Christ's faithfulness within his theological argument in his Letter to the Galatians as representative of Paul's theology throughout his letters but especially in Romans and Philippians where we encounter Paul's expression again (πίστις Χριστοῦ). I argue that Paul's antipodal juxtaposition of "works of the law" (ἔργα νόμου) and "Christ's faithfulness" (πίστις Χριστοῦ) depict a contrast between two distinct covenants, one bounded by law the other bounded by Christ. The source of this polarity is Scripture's narrative concerning Israel, who incurred the curse of the law for unfaithfulness to the covenant. Thus, all who are of the "works of the law" are under Torah's curse with unfaithful Israel. In contrast, Christ's faithfulness through his curse-bearing death serves to redeem others from Torah's curse. The coming of ἡ πίστις is the coming of Christ's faithfulness to reverse the curse of the law, redeeming his people from Torah's curse by fulfilling and ending the law's covenant jurisdiction governing relationship with God.

Abstract of Thesis for Essay

For longer than I wish and due to extraneous impositions upon my time, quite beyond my own control, I have been working on an essay for The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical, and Theological Studies (see here and here). Now, as I progress toward completion of the essay, below is an abstract of my working thesis. Find within my thesis aspects that resonate with the NPP and against the NPP but with the traditional understanding of Paul's theology. Observe that my thesis makes it rather clear that any proper discussion of ἡ πίστις Χριστοῦ cannot take place isolated from its juxtaposition with ἔργα νόμου/ὁ νόμος.

In the three letters where Paul places ἡ πίστις Χριστοῦ antithetically to ἔργα νόμου/ὁ νόμος, his antithesis features Christ Jesus over against the law of Moses, which he portrays in a servant role to Christ, as preparatory for Christ who has now come. Thus, the law yields jurisdiction to Christ over all who believe in him. Each context that includes ἡ πίστις Χριστοῦ contrasts affiliation with Christ as saving and affiliation with the law as ruinous. Justification of Jews and Gentiles together, without discrimination, stands prominently in each of the contexts. Each passage features the erasure of distinctions between Jews and Gentiles in Christ Jesus. The seed who trace their descent from Abraham through the law and circumcision in the flesh hold no claim on God’s promise. Instead, theirs is the curse of the law; through Christ alone the blessing of Abraham comes. God’s promise is for the seed who trace their descent through Christ Jesus to Abraham.

Briefly stated, Paul’s antithetical placement of ἡ πίστις Χριστοῦ with ἔργα νόμου/ὁ νόμος placards the trustworthiness of Christ Jesus who accomplishes what the law could not. The law requires deeds; Christ elicits trust. Life is not within law’s power to give; life comes through death to the law, which is by being crucified with Christ. The law condemns; Jesus justifies. The law curses; Christ blesses. The law discriminates Jews from Gentiles; Jesus Christ renders Gentiles and Jews one without distinction. The law imprisons under sin; Christ gives freedom. The law exacerbates transgressions; Christ gives life and righteousness. The law held sway during the time of non-age; Christ now establishes full sonship. The law prepared for Christ; Christ ends the law by subjecting himself to the law’s curse on our behalf. The law foreshadows Messiah who was to come; Christ Jesus renders the law passé, casting the law into the shadows, for it was appropriate only for the time before his advent but malapropos now that Messiah has come.

Christ's Baptism and Crucifixion

One of my essays is now available on Biblical Theology Briefings.

Christ's Baptism and Crucifixion: The Anointing and Enthronement of God's Son