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End of the world and new creation.
Once again, Paul does not harbour the notion of piecemeal change in the advent of Christ. He and the … had been crucified to each other (Gl. 6:14). There was no other way. Separation from this world or present evil age, did not involve gradual denunciation of different worldly assets. It could only be attained by death, and at that, the deaths of Jesus, the world, and Paul. This took place in the so-called triple cruci- fixion. In Christ’s death Paul died, and also the world and its enslaving power.1 In the same vein, Paul’s apocalyptic approach makes no provision for a piecemeal revivification of human life to come in step with God’s will. A new creation – radically new – had to take place. God had to do it.2 Only He is the Creator.
With his reference to there no longer being circumcision or non-circumcision, but a new creation, one is reminded of Martyn’s earlier article3 in which he argues that antinomies or opposites were regarded as the building-blocks of the present world. Paul’s negation of these opposites, especially those concerning circumcision and those of the baptismal formula in Gl. 3:28, in favour of a new creation, is a very profound statement that the old world has fallen to pieces. The old view that law was the antidote or remedial opposite of sin had also come to an end.
The new creation in which God recreates through the faithfulness of Christ that led Him to the cross, and by the presence of the Spirit, provides man with freedom from the present evil age. The advent of Christ and his Spirit became the potent opposite of the present evil age, because it was from outside this realm, truly of divine origin.
In both Jewish apocalyptic and OT prophecy there was a great expectation of a new creation. Sea and wilderness, as symbolic of the threat of chaos and the desolation that had been part and parcel of the present age, would be transformed.
This would be accompanied by God’s personal and immediate appearance to Israel. 7 According to Is. 65-66 the wilderness would be transformed and Zion glorified by the triumphant return of the exiles; also Is. 35, 40-42.8 Ezk. 47 stresses Zion would give life and prosperity even to the Dead Sea. God would give life and lifegiving power to Zion;9 so also Zch. 8, 9, 13 and Jl. 3:16-21. Enough! New creation was a typically Jewish idea.10 Paul reinterpreted it in terms of Jesus’s cross and the advent of his Spirit inaugurating the new aeon.
Pre- and postscript enveloping Galatians in apocalyptic frame
The conventions of ancient letter writing ascribed specific purposes to the different subdivisions of letters. Although Paul had his own style, he followed the ancient conventions to the extent that they served his purpose.6 This implies that Paul, having a pre- and a postscript, would have had more or less the same purpose with them as accepted by conventional epistolography. It was the function of
the prescript to introduce the author, identify the addressees and convey greetings.
These elements could be expanded upon freely. The initial greeting would usually be followed by a word of thanksgiving as part of the prescript. The function of the thanksgiving was to introduce the theme of the letter,1 or at least to allude to the letter’s purpose – a keynote, as it were, on the address which was to follow.
Writers of letters often deviated from convention. This must be accounted for. In this respect the letter to the Galatians makes for interesting reading. As we have already indicated,2 Paul introduces his letter with a very apocalyptic keynote in Gl. 1:1-5. He uses terminology such as “present evil age,” “raised from the dead,” and “deliver.” He links it with God’s action in Jesus Christ according to God’s will and to his glory. What would have been expected to follow on the greeting was a thanksgiving () of some kind. Paul deviates from convention and instead follows
with a rebuke (). It basically fulfils the same function as the thanksgiving in setting the tone of the letter.3 He has no word of thanks. He is astonished that they had deserted God and were turning to another gospel. He adds that there is no other gospel than (by implication) the gospel of his introduction: the gospel of God who delivers from the present evil age by raising Jesus Christ from the dead.
This is none other than an apocalyptic gospel.
PART I: PAUL’S PARADIGM SWITCH – A MATTER OF URGENCY!
CHAPTER I: EXPLORING GALATIANS AS A LETTER OF URGENCY
1. GETTING PERSPECTIVE ON A CRITICAL SITUATION
2. A LITERARY PERSPECTIVE
2.1. Rhetoric: about the gospel truth – not about Paul
2.2. Scattered rhetorical indicators of urgency
3. A HISTORICAL PERSPECTIVE
3.1. The timing of the urgent letter
3.2. The opponents and why they agitated Paul
4. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 2: APOCALYPTIC – PAUL’S PARADIGM SWITCH TOWARDS THE FREEDOM MOTIF
1. THE POSSIBILITY OF AN APOCALYPTIC RHETORICAL ANGLE
2. APOCALYPTIC AS A CONTENTIOUS TERM
2.1. Apocalyptic under attack
2.2. In defence of apocalyptic
2.3. Apocalyptic as emphasising disjunction
2.4. Apocalyptic as emphasising disclosure
2.5. Apocalyptic as emphasising the advent of the Spirit
2.6. A preliminary conclusion on apocalyptic
3. IS PAUL’S THEOLOGY IN GALATIANS ALL THAT APOCALYPTIC?
3.1. J.C. Beker’s dilemma with apocalyptic coherency in Galatians
3.2. J.L. Martyn’s revisitation of apocalyptic in Galatians
4. APOCALYPTIC ALLUSION IN GALATIANS’ VOCABULARY
4.1. The motif of disclosure in Galatians
4.2. A further array of apocalyptically loaded terminology in Galatians
5. CONCLUSION
PART II: THE ENSLAVEMENT OF THE BYGONE EVIL AGE!
CHAPTER 3: THE OLD AGE OF SLAVERY TO FLESH
1. THE PRESENT EVIL AGE AS SLAVERY TO FLESH
1.1. A word with a history.
1.2. (!) and anthropological dualism
1.3. (!) and cosmological dualism
1.4. (!) and existentialism
1.5. (!) and the social-scientific approach
2. WEIGHING THE EVIDENCE
2.1. That which is merely human as the main thrust of !) in Galatians
2.2. Evil as underlying !)
2.3. Flesh, law and circumcision are purposefully aligned in the letter
2.4. Flesh has ethical implications
3. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 4: ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD AND LAW – ENSLAVING SECUNDI IN THE HANDS OF FLESH
1. SLAVERY UNDER THE ELEMENTS OF THE WORLD
1.1. Interpretations
1.2. Conclusion
2. BE NOT TOO QUICK TO JUDGE WHAT *+,+( MEANS
2.1. Law as divinely embedded in covenantal grace
3. PAUL’S VIEW ON LAW LOOKING BACK FROM THE CHRIST EVENT
3.1. Paul’s view on law underlines the human plight
3.2. The law as during the time of plight
3.3. Paul does not distinguish between cultic and moral laws
3.4. Conclusion on law: no different from % $
4. PRESENT EVIL AGE AS DISCRIMINATORY AND DIVISIVE
4.1. Ethnic differentiation
4.2. Social differentiation
4.3. Sexual differentiation
4.4. Conclusion: Present evil age divisive and discriminatory
5. CONCLUSIONS
PART III: THE FREEDOM OF THE NEW CREATION
CHAPTER 5: FOR FREEDOM CHRIST SET US FREE! THE NEW SYMBOLIC UNIVERSE
1. ORIENTATION
2. STRUCTURAL ORIENTATION
2.1. Where does Galatians 5:1 fit in?
2.2. How functional is the position of Galatians 5:1-6:10?
2.3. How Galatians 5:1-6:17 could be sub-divided
3. THE MOST STRATEGIC POSITION OF GALATIANS 5:1-12
3.1. Galatians 5:1-12 in relation to Galatians 1:1-5
3.2. Galatians 5:1-12 in relation to Galatians 6:11-17
4. FREEDOM AS CHRISTOLOGICAL-SOTERIOLOGICAL INDICATIVE
4.1. Semantic Orientation
4.2. The metaphor of slavery
4.3. The metaphor of sonship
4.4. – . : a peculiar construction of significance
5. THE FUNDAMENTAL IMPERATIVE: DO NOT SUBMIT TO SLAVERY!
5.1. “Stand firm.” Defining an imperative against its indicative
5.2. Reverting to slavery to law is absurd and fatal! (Gl.5: 2-12)
6. CONCLUSION: FREEDOM AS A TOTALLY NEW BALL GAME!
CHAPTER 6: NEW CREATION’S NEW ETHIC: WALK BY THE SPIRIT!
1. CALLED TO FREEDOM, BUT NOT OF THE FLESHLY KIND
1.1. Flesh and law are not opposites
1.2. Called to freedom
1.3. Flesh has been crucified, remember!
2. THE SECRET OF LIVING FREE: WALK BY THE SPIRIT!
2.1. Walk by the Spirit
2.2. The fruit of the Spirit
3. THE NORM AND PURPOSE OF FREEDOM: LOVING SERVICE!
3.1. Less is more. No longer doing law, but fulfilling it!
3.2. An ethic of loving service to one another
3.3. The law of Christ is no new law
4. THE CREATIVE ETHICS OF FREEDOM
4.1. Ethics of a new order
5. CONCLUSION
CHAPTER 7: AN ETHIC OF FREEDOM IN THE SIGHT OF GOD AND IN THE MIDST OF THE COMMUNITY
1. STRUCTURAL MATTERS
2. AN ETHIC OF TAKING RESPONSIBILITY
2.3. Horizontal individual responsibility
3. AN ETHIC OF VERTICAL ACCOUNTABILITY TO GOD AND HIS SPIRIT
3.1. An ethic in the sight of God
3.2. About remembering who God is
3.3. God is not mocked
3.4. About sowing and reaping
3.4 About biting the bullet
3.5. Conclusion
4. ABOUT FREEDOM, OBLIGATION AND SETTING RULES
4.1. Either pneumatological ethics or casuistry
4.2. Pauline ethics involving exhortation, but not external law
4.3. Paul’s use of maxims in Galatians
4.4. The Spirit does not need a law
5. CONCLUSION
CONCLUSIONS
CONSULTED MATERIAL
