> It makes some sense but not, I think, for the reasons you think it
> does. No where does Paul express anything about anyone's (especially
> his own) inability to keep the law, or that he ever perceived the
> Law as something which would break those who attempted to keep it.
> In fact his testimony in Phil 3 is quite the opposite. And his
> statement about the Law being a "tutor" unto Christ - a statement
> that is often used as a prooftext for the idea that the Law exists
> to break us, to make us realize that we fall under condemnation if
> we try to earn "salvation" by following its demands, and therefore
> as a filter through which this passage in Romans is read -
> misunderstands what PAEDAGOGOS meant in 1CE and in Paul's intention.
> Perhaps the passage needs to be read, as Krister Stendhal implies,
> as the sufferings that Paul inflicted upon Christians before his
> "call", suffereings which arise not so much from trying to follow
> the itself Law (which, after all, is holy, just, and good), as what
> now appears to Paul as a misreading of what the Law demands.
>
> In any case, here is an instance of a question of exegesis that
> cannot be settled on grammatical grounds alone. It needs to be
> answered within the wider context of Paul's view of the
> "keepability" of the Law.
>
I would want to agree with this response, and note that Paul
goes on specifically to talk about coveting (a sinful passion) in
relation to the Law (vv. 7-11) and it is this that ends with the
statement about the Law being holy, just and good (v. 12).
Though PAQHMA is unusual for 'passion' (which is more usually PAQOS),
it seems to have this meaning also in Gal. 5.24 where, importantly,
it is paired with EPIQUMIA.
Mark G.
[Apologies everyone for sending out the same message twice yesterday
- I am quite new to this Email lark as I mentioned then. Sorry!]
------------------------
Dr Mark Goodacre
Department of Theology
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston
Birmingham B15 2TT
Tel.: 0121 414 7512 Email: M.S.Goodacre@Bham.ac.uk
Fax.: 0121 414 6866