ISRAEL AND THE PEOPLES IN PAUL’S COVENANT THEOLOGY: PAULINE LITERATURE AND THE PEOPLES

Abstract

<!-- /* Font Definitions */ @font-face {font-family:Bwgrkl; panose-1:0 0 4 0 0 0 0 0 0 0; mso-font-charset:0; mso-generic-font-family:auto; mso-font-pitch:variable; mso-font-signature:3 0 0 0 1 0;} /* Style Definitions */ p.MsoNormal, li.MsoNormal, div.MsoNormal {mso-style-parent:""; margin:0in; margin-bottom:.0001pt; mso-pagination:widow-orphan; font-size:12.0pt; font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-font-family:"Times New Roman"; mso-fareast-language:EN-US;} @page Section1 {size:8.5in 11.0in; margin:1.0in 1.25in 1.0in 1.25in; mso-header-margin:.5in; mso-footer-margin:.5in; mso-paper-source:0;} div.Section1 {page:Section1;} --> The Lord God promised Abraham that he would be the father of many peoples (Gn 17:4-5).  Paul correctly interprets this to mean that he would be the father of all, both the Jews and gentilic peoples, including all clans and ethnies.  In other words, Paul states that Abraham is father of believers who are from both “uncircumcised” and “circumcised” ethno-religious groups (Rom 4:11-12).  Paul further explains this to mean that Abraham would be the “heir of the world” (Rom 4:13).  The “world” in the context does not mean merely a social system outside of the institutional church.  Instead in the context, Paul explains the meaning of “world” [ko,smoj] to be “many nations” [pollw/n evqnw/n].  Here he is explicitly alluding to Genesis 17:4-5 [path.r plh,qouj evqnw/n, LXX].  The promise to all the seed of Abraham, then, is that Abraham would become the father of “us all” [path.r pa,ntwn h`mw/n].  “All” includes equal access to a free gift of righteousness for both Jews and “Greeks,” that is non-Jewish, idolatrous ethnies (see also Gal 3:1-17).  This is a key theme throughout Romans (Schirrmacher 1993).