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Christians must take the study of the Torah and Jewish approaches to the
law very seriously. -1- Paul certainly did. He was almost consumed by the
question as it related to his missionary work as a Jewish apostle sent to
the pagan Gentiles. Unfortunately, it is seldom recognized that much of
what Paul says about the Torah must be interpreted in the context of his
understanding of Jews and Gentiles with their special distinction as equal
partners in God’s family. -2- The Greek text of Rom. 10:4, moreover, is
often mistranslated to read, “For Christ is the end of the law...” instead
of, “For Messiah (i.e., Christ) is the aim (or goal) of the law...” -3- How
else can one read Paul’s strong affirmation, “Do we then make void the
law through faith? Certainly not! On the contrary we establish the law.”
Either Paul is a schizophrenic, or some of his interpreters have neglected
key aspects of his thought while basing their interpretations only upon
selected texts divorced from their place in Paul’s overall message.
David Flusser and Shmuel Safrai have commented upon the passage
from Ruth Rabbah and Jesus' teaching about serving one of two masters,
money or God. One point of their discussion should be quoted here.
They observe, "According to Rabbi Shimeon ben Pazzi, man, while he is
alive, is the slave of his inclination, but after his death, his only master is
God." -9- This approach also has a direct bearing upon Paul and his
analogy of marriage. Did Paul desire to abolish the law by saying that a
person has died spiritually through faith in Christ? When the passage is
studied in its context, this conclusion cannot be forced. A person dies to
the sin nature, i.e., his or her evil inclination, in order that the individual
may become a servant of God alone. Paul says that the sinful flesh dies
so that the person may become a servant of righteousness (see Romans
6). They live to God.
The point Paul was making is simple. The individual dies to his sinful
flesh. The law is not sin. In the marriage analogy of Romans 7:1-6, one
should ask: Did Paul mean that one dies to the Torah or did he mean that
the individual dies to sin? Our study indicates that for Paul, the sinful
flesh dies in order that the person may live and serve God. While
Christian interpreters often claim that because one has died in Christ the
teaching of Torah is void, it would seem that Paul could by no means
agree. He was not against the law. In some respects the wrong and
popular approach to the marriage analogy of Romans 7 is inexcusable
because Paul himself cautions, "What shall we say then? Is the law sin?
Certainly not!" (Romans 7:7) In fact, Paul affirms that the Torah is
spiritual (Romans 7:14 and 8:3). It is holy and good (Romans 7:12). It is
a custodian that leads the believer to Christ by demonstrating the
individual’s need for spiritual power and salvation through faith.
The problem is sin. But the Torah is neither the problem nor its solution.
In the apocalypse of Ezra, a Jewish text written not long after the
destruction of the Temple in A.D. 70, we read, “For we who have
received the law and sinned will perish, as well as our heart which
received it; the law, however, does not perish but remains in its glory” (2
Esdras 9:36-37). The parallels to Pauline theology in this text are
remarkable. Paul's concern for sin is deeply embedded in his Jewish
background.
Sin does not cancel the law. The Torah reveals the sin by exposing
human unrighteousness in light of divine holiness. Paul's love for the
Torah is not diminished by his experience with Christ. But his entire
world view has shifted from being Torah-centered to a Christo-centric
approach to his life. That life of righteousness must be characterized by a
proper understanding of the divine will as expressed in Torah. Christ is
the aim of the Torah and the Christian fulfills it by faith.
In short, I do not believe that the Apostle Paul compared the Torah to
someone's deceased husband. He did speak of death to the flesh, which
becomes the seed of the resurrection life that empowers believers to
obey God by living righteous lives. Through Christ, the believer can do
all things. His grace is sufficient. Do we make void the law by faith?
NOTES:
(1) Certainly Jesus himself treated the law with extreme care (see my
work Jesus and His Jewish Parables, Paulist Press, 1989). This book
demonstrates the similarities between Jesus and Judaism on the parables.
RETURN
(2) See K. Stendahl, Paul Among Jews and Gentiles (Fortress Press,
1989). RETURN
(3) It is beyond our study here to discuss this in full. See the work of G.
Howard, “Christ, the End of the Law” in Journal of Biblical Literature
99 (1969), pp. 331-337. RETURN
(4) See not only b. Niddah 61b but also b. Shabbat 30a, 151b; b. Pesahim
51b; j. Kilaim 32a, chap. 9 hal. 4 and cf., also m. Kidushin 1:1 and E.
Urbach, The Sages, Magnes Press, 1975, vol. 1, p. 379. I have greatly
benefited from the article, S. Safrai and D. Flusser, "The Slave of Two
Masters," Immanuel 6 (1976), pp. 30-33. Though Safrai and Flusser do
not discuss Romans 7, their analysis of the rabbinic texts and the
manuscript readings of the literature is of inestimable value. The sayings
of Jesus concerning the two masters will not be understood without
consideration of this article and its treatment of the Dead Sea Scrolls and
rabbinic literature. RETURN
(5) The discussion deals with the case of an agunah (a deserted or,
literally, a "tied" wife), a woman whose husband has disappeared
without giving her a writ of divorce. Her husband may have died during
a journey, while at war, or in some other such situation where his death
must be confirmed by witnesses. She is free from the marriage contract
only through divorce or through the death of her husband. After his
death is documented, she is allowed to remarry. RETURN
(7) Here the Hebrew text has a play on words between yetzer,
inclination, and yotzer, Creator. I have inserted the word evil to make the
passage clear. Many scholars see a close similarity between the Pauline
usage of flesh and the rabbinic term evil inclination. The text in Ruth
Rabbah deals with the spiritual battle between God’s will and human
desires contrary to the divine purpose. RETURN
(9)See Safrai and Flusser, "The Slave of Two Masters," p. 31. See also
note 4 above. RETURN
Brad Young received his doctorate at the Hebrew University of
Jerusalem in 1987. His dissertation, written under Professor David
Flusser’s supervision, was titled "The Parable as a Literary Genre in
Rabbinic Literature and in the Gospels." His dissertation is now
available in book form titled, Jesus and His Jewish Parables. It is
published by Paulist Press, 997 MacArthur Blvd., Mahwah, NJ 07430,
201-825-7300.