Idle musings by a once again bookseller, always bibliophile, current copyeditor and proofreader. Complete with ramblings about biblical studies, the ancient Near East, bicycling, gardening, or anything else I am reading (or experiencing). All more or less live from Red Wing, MN
Monday, August 26, 2024
God vs. us
Paul insists that by relativizing physical circumcision he is not denying that the Jewish people carry a certain privilege — but it rests, however, not in themselves but in bearing the Scriptures (τά λόγια [Rom] 3:2)> including the promises (cf. 1:2; 9:6-13). The fact that some have not believed (cf. 11:17-24) by no means negates the faithfulness of God (3:3). In fact (by a logic in which Paul delights, cf. 5:12-21), the greater the failure on the human side, the greater the demonstration of God’s opposite qualities: human unbelief (or faithlessness) evokes divine faithfulness (3:3); human falsity, divine integrity ( 3:4, 7); human unrighteousness, divine righteousness (3:5). The camera pans out here from Israel to every human being (3:4) and to the world (3:6).—J. M. G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift, 471–72
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