From: James H. Vellenga (jhv0@viewlogic.com)
Date: Wed Jul 10 1996 - 15:40:35 EDT
> From: Eric Weiss <eweiss@acf.dhhs.gov>
>
> In Galatians 2:15, Paul writes:
>
> hUMEIS FUSEI IOUDAIOI KAI OUK EX EQNWN hAMARTWLOI
>
> Is Paul equating being a Gentile with being a sinner, or is he
> differentiating between Gentiles who are sinners and Gentiles who are not
> sinners? The structure of the phrase makes me think it's the former:
>
>...
>
> Thus, the contrast is not between being a Jew and being a Gentile (or being a
> sinning Gentile) as such, but between being a righteous person by virtue of
> one's being born to the covenant people and doing works of law and being a
> sinner by virtue of not being part of the covenant people.
>
It seems to me that the context is the clue here. Paul is defending
the Gentile Christians against demands for circumcision, and goes on
to say that even those of us who are circumcised because we're Jews
by birth know that that is not the source of our vindication -- it's
the PISTIS. I like what the NIV does here by putting 'Gentile sinners'
in quotes; Paul is probably using a phrase that natural-born Judeans
at that time used (somewhat pejoratively) for non-Jews, but using
it to highlight the self-supposed superiority of the Judaizers. But he's
saying that even if you were to grant that "superiority", whether we're Jews
by natural process or one of those 'foreigner losers', we really know
better in terms of what really matters for our vindication, etc. than
to fall for that old circumcision stuff.
Regards,
Jim V.
James H. Vellenga | jvellenga@viewlogic.com
Viewlogic Systems, Inc. __|__ 508-480-0881
293 Boston Post Road West | FAX: 508-480-0882
Marlboro, MA 01752-4615 |
http://www.viewlogic.com
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.1.4 : Sat Apr 20 2002 - 15:37:45 EDT