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RHETORICAL IDENTIFICATION
IN PAUL'S AUTOBIOGRAPHICAL NARRATIVE
Galatians 1.13-2.14
Paul E. Koptak
Introduction
Until very recently, most studies of Galatians have followed the
suggestion of Martin Luther that Paul's autobiographical remarks in
Galatians 1 and 2 were "boasting and glorying' that followed out of
his divine calling. Paul defended himself in order to defend the
gospel.1
H.D. Betz took this tradition2 one step further when he compared
Paul's letter with the rhetorical handbooks of the time and concluded
that the whole of Galatians took the form of an apologetic letter.3
Betz's commentary has not failed to attract criticism.4 New methods
of rhetorical and literary study have challenged the apologetic model
and have suggested alternative understandings. Three examples
follow.
98 Journal far the Study of the New Testament 40 (1990)
of the issues confronting the Galatians. Above all else, the autobiography
is a story with a distinct rhetorical component As Paul tells his story,
he draws a number of symbolic parallels between his own past and
the present situation at Galatia. In particular, Paul means to point
out the exact parallel between those persons who opposed him by
attempting to compromise the gospel and those who were putting
pressure on the Galatians to be circumcised. By drawing clear lines
between those who stood against him and those who stood with him,
Paul intends to show the Galatians the results that their choice will
bring. As he draws a narrative portrait of his past relationships, he at
the same time invites them to affirm their present relationship with
him by resisting circumcision. In order to study these relationships, a
summary of Kenneth Burke's rhetorical-literary concept of identification
will be outlined below.
Galatians 1.13�24
The structure of opposition continues throughout Paul's retelling of
his past life in Judaism. He states that he advanced beyond his
contemporaries and was zealous for his father's traditions (1.14),
thus describing his experience of Judaism in human, not divine
terms. The divine motive enters in when God chooses to reveal his
Son and Paul's mission (w. 15�16). Paul adds that he did not consult
human authorities (flesh and blood, apostles) about this, but went
away to Arabia.
The above summary suggests that a large part of the motivation
that Paul reveals in his narrative up to this point centers in his
repudiation of his former way of life.26 The opposition between his
old life and the new is patterned after the opposition between human
and divine authority seen in w. 1�12. There Paul defined his new life
as a striving for God's pleasure over that of other men. Here he
contrasts God's revelation of his Son with the traditions of his
fathers.
27
As for the apostles, he neither competed with them nor inquired
of them (as compared with his relations within Judaism), but rather
ignored them. His move awayfromthe apostles to Arabia, therefore,
signified his break from a bondage to human tradition and authority.
The contrast between Paul's old and new relationships is clear.
Whereas Paul described his former life in Judaism as focused on
human relationships with his contemporaries and predecessors, his
depiction of his new life is so centred on his relation to God that he as
yet has no relationship to the other apostles.
Paul then goes on to report that he did finally visit the apostles
Cephas and James after three years (1.18). The only indication of his
purpose for the visit is given in the verb ιστορέω, which carries the
sense of'visit to inquire of or get information from'.28 Paul stresses
the brevity of the visit and the fact that he met with only two of the
apostles. After his visit he returned to Gentile territory (1.21, Syria
and Cilicia; in 1.17 he goes to Arabia and Damascus). Paul seems
determined to emphasize that he was a stranger to Judea, for he adds
that even the churches did not know him by sight (1.22).
Yet even while Paul establishes this physical distance between
himself and the apostles and churches, he declares a common
KOPTAK Rhetorical Identification in Gal. 1.13-2.14 103
purpose; the churches hear that Paul now preaches the faith he tried
to destroy. Even while many miles separate himfromthe churches of
Judea, he has become one with them through a common faith in the
gospel. Paul has established a relationship, a consubstantiality, with
Christians throughout Judea. Their praise of God on his account
(1.24) indicates that Paul has become a success in his new vocation of
pleasing God.
The climax of the first portion of Paul's narrative does establish
that he did not receive his gospel from a human source, but it does
not imply that Paul worked apart from the Jerusalem authorities
because he was a rebel or did not agree with them. In fact no reason
is given for the departure to Arabia apart from the ongoing
opposition of the divine and human motives. In reaction to his prior
lue, it seems he did not wish to be taught by humans any longer. The
churches hear the report (perhaps through Cephas and James) that
Paul preached the faith that he once persecuted among the Gentiles,
the same faith that the apostles preach.
The chapter ends in a scene of harmony, the division between the
old Paul and the church having been overcome through God's
revelation of Christ to the persecutor. The source of division between
Paul and the church (Christ and the gospel) has now become the
source of a consubstantiality. Although Paul states that he has never
met the people of these churches, he has used the principle of
identification to build a relationship with them within the narrative.
Paul has done much the same with the Jerusalem apostles. He
shows that he is one in purpose with the apostles, although he is
separate (but not independent) of them. They are joined in allegiance
to the purpose of God, whom Paul is anxious to please (1.10). It is
Christ, however, whom he serves, not the apostles.
Issues of circumcision and the inclusion of the Gentiles have not
yet surfaced in the narrative; therefore, the Galatians are not yet
drawn into the story. As they hear this portion, they may simply
observe the contrast between Paul's old and new life and notice the
harmony created by a common commitment to the faith (1.23). Most
of all, they would see the contrast, drawn by Paul, between a
commitment to the human traditions of Judaism and faith in the
divinely revealed gospel.
Galatians 2.1-10
Paul established that his mission to the Gentiles was greeted with
104 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40 (1990)
Galatians 2.11�14
Thefinalportion of Paul's narrative does introduce division between
himself and the apostles. As the climax of the narrative it demonstrates
how the consubstantial principles of unity and equality are betrayed
when one chooses to base one's actions on the desire to please
humans rather than God. It is not, as James Hester argues, a
digression from the narrative that brings the reader back to the
conflict that might have gotten lost in the irenic settlement of 2.9�
10.33 The conflict is a negative illustration following what has up to
this point been a positive illustration of unity in the circumcision�
free gospel. As relations break down between Cephas, Paul, and the
Gentile Christians at Antioch, the Galatians are given another
picture of what lies before them should they choose to undergo
circumcision.
Whatever the number and purpose of the party sentfromJames,
its presence led Cephas to abandon the example of inclusion he had
set by eating with the Gentiles. Paul interpreted his action according
to the same opposition between the divine and human will that he
has set up throughout the narrative. He states that Cephas withdrew
because he feared the circumcised (περιτοµής, 2.12; compare with 2.7
and 2.9) and was not walking straight according to the truth of the
gospel (compare with 2.5). In fearing the circumcised (περιτοµής),
Peter was seeking to please these men rather than God. As a result,
his relationship with the Gentiles was broken.
Again, the revealed circumcision�free gospel is set in opposition to
human authority. The choice of the human will over the divine
suddenly brings division where there was once unity. In Paul's
interpretation of the events, there is only unity in the gospel, which is
both revealed and circumcision�free. Once that gospel is compromised,
there will be no place for Gentiles and, by implication, the Galatians
in the church unless they also circumcise.
Should the Galatians choose to enter the fellowship through what
Paul calls the human principle of circumcision, there will be no
equality either. In confronting Peter, he charged him with compelling
the Gentiles to Judaize (Uve like a Jew, be circumcised). To Paul,
Peter was doing the same as the false brothers tried to do in
Jerusalem (the word for compel, αναγκάζω, is used in both 2.14 and
2.3).34 Therefore, if the Galatians choose circumcision, they will no
longer be servants of Christ; they will be servants of a human
authority, namely those who require circumcision. They will be
108 Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40 (1990)
living as Paul did in his former Ufe, trying to please humans instead
of God.
Only here has Paul placed real relational distance between himself
and the apostles in his retelUng of the story, for only here has any
apostle (Peter and perhaps James)35 chosen a human principle. If the
Galatians had any concerns about Paul's relationship to the
Jerusalem church, he has shown them that the apostles, Paul
included, had been in harmony and equaUty until the revealed,
circumcision-free gospel ceased to be the basis for feUowship.
For this reason the narrative portrait of Paul's relationship with
the apostles is not simply meant to show that Paul was not taught by
them; it is also meant to model the unity that is only possible in the
fear of God and the revelation of Christ in the gospel. The incident at
Antioch shows that any other principle of feUowship, based on
subservience to human authority and distinctions, ultimately brings
division.36
In contrast to his opposition to Peter, Paul continued his
relationship of identification with the Gentiles in the Antioch
incident by standing alone with them when all the Jewish Christians
had withdrawn. As the Galatians heard this, they were stiU in a
relationship of identification with Paul and the Gentiles that began
back at the meeting with the Jerusalem apostles (2.1-10). Once again,
they see Paul fighting for the right of the Gentiles (including the
Galatians) to be included in the feUowship without the requirement
of circumcision. Paul has shown them that the decision whether or
not to be circumcised is not only a matter of freedom but is also a
matter of community. The community of Christ and his circumcision-
free gospel is inclusive and egaütarian; the community of circumcision
is no community at all.37
The Galatians must therefore choose, not only whether to be
circumcised, but whether or not they wiU continue to identify with
Paul who has identified with them. Will they choose to continue a
relationship of identification with Paul, begun when they first
beüeved and continued in Paul's narrative? Or, wiU they choose to
please humans rather than God and withdraw themselves from Paul
as Peter withdrew from them? Having placed the choice before them,
Paul says, 'Brethren, I beesech you, become as I am, for I also have
become as you are' (4.12).
KOPTAK Rhetorical Identification in Gal. 1.13-2.14 109
NOTES
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