J. Louis Martyn ( Galatians (The Anchor Yale Bible Commentaries) ) notes Paul’s fourfold use of “apocalypse” in Galatians (1:12 15-16; 2:2; 3:23). Paul received his gospel “when God apocalypsed Christ to him,” and this gospel was about the “apocalypse” of faith (3:23), which Paul described as a “coming” and a “sending” of faith, of the Son and Spirit (4:4, 6). Martyn does not think “unveil” captures Paul’s idea. Rather, the image is one of invasion: “The genesis of Paul’s... Read more
Paul claims to have been separated by God’s good pleasure from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15; Gr. koilias metros ), so that the Son could be unveiled ( apokalupsai ) in him. There’s a rich Old Testament background. Most obvious is the link with Jeremiah, who is also separated from his mother’s womb as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5), as Paul is separated out to be a prophet to the Gentiles. That is quite precisely the sequence of... Read more
Paul claims to have been separated by God’s good pleasure from his mother’s womb (Galatians 1:15; Gr. koilias metros ), so that the Son could be unveiled ( apokalupsai ) in him. There’s a rich Old Testament background. Most obvious is the link with Jeremiah, who is also separated from his mother’s womb as a prophet to the nations (Jeremiah 1:5), as Paul is separated out to be a prophet to the Gentiles. That is quite precisely the sequence of... Read more
The verb for “rescue” that Paul uses to describe the effect of Christ’s self-gift (Galatians 1:4) is the same word Jesus uses for plucking out eyes (Matthew 5:29; 18:9). It is an exodus term: Stephen uses it to describe Yahweh’s rescue of Joseph from his afflictions (Acts 7:10) and Yahweh’s deliverance of Israel from Egypt (Acts 7:34). The apostles were regularly “plucked out” from danger. TThe Lord plucked Peter out of prison (Acts 12:11) and Paul from the mob that... Read more
Bucer wrote, “Because by faith we embrace this righteousness and benevolence of God, it shines in us, and thus he imparts himself, so that also we, too, are driven by some zeal for righteousness.” He’s got just about everything you’d want there: Righteousness comes by faith; righteousness embraced by faith is not outside us but also “shines in us”; but this shining of God’s righteousness in us is God Himself imparted to us, not some grace-stuff or habitus ; and... Read more
In his 1519 lectures on Galatians, Luther had this to say about Galatians 1-5: “Now is not the fact that faith is reckoned as righteousness a receiving of the Spirit? So either [Paul] proves nothing or the reception of the Spirit and the fact that faith is reckoned as righteousness will be the same thing. And this is true; it is introduced in order that the divine imputation may not be regarding as amounting to nothing outside of God, as... Read more
In contrast to later Scholasticism, Peter Lombard argued that the grace given to the soul was not merely a gift from God but God’s gift of Himself. He refuted those who thought that “the Holy Spirit, God Himself, is not given, but His gifts, which are not the Spirit Himself. And as they say, the Holy Spirit is said to be given, when His grace, which, however, is not Himself, is given to men.” He quoted Augustine, who wrote, “He... Read more
In his Grace and Christology in the Early Church (Oxford Early Christian Studies) , Douglas Fairbairn argues that the Christololgical debates of the fifth century were also debates about the nature of grace. Is grace only an assisting power that enables us to cooperate with God (Nestorian) or is grace God’s self-gift, the indwelling of the Spirit, incorporation into Christ, and engrafting into the perichoretic communion of the Trinity (Cyrillian)? Different conceptions of salvation were implied. As Fairbairn puts it,... Read more
The first cutting of flesh took place in the flood (Genesis 9:11). The second was the cutting of flesh in circumcision (Genesis 17:14), particularly the cutting off of those who refuse to cut the flesh. Circumcision is a sign of the division of the human race, its cutting into Jew and Gentile. Circumcision is a sign of a coming flood, the cutting off of flesh at the cross when the flesh is cut in the circumcision of Jesus so that... Read more
Why is the creation account in Genesis 1:1-2:3 outside the toledothic structure of the book as a whole? The reason is bound up with the meaning of “toledoth.” Rooted in the word for “beget,” it means “the begettings of” or “the product of.” Genesis 2:4-4:26 recounts the begettings of heaven and earth, 5:1-6:8 the begettings of Adam, etc. Genesis 1:1-2:3 is a record of creating not begetting. God does order earth to bring forth plants and animals during the creation... Read more
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