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2023-05-17T14:19:03-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Nineteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 2:19 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. On p. 126 you suggest that what dikaiosune theou means, at least primarily, is God’s covenant fidelity to Israel. What is odd about this assertion is that not only is Paul mainly addressing Gentiles and talking about right standing or rectification for them, but also interestingly, this is what Brueggemann and others have asserted hesed means in the OT— and they are wrong. The term hesed is even applied to Rahab and Ruth in the OT and has the... Read more

Education and Religion

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What is the righteousness of God?

2023-05-17T14:14:38-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Eighteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 2:14 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. Here are some thoughts about some of the major building blocks of your argument and my issues with how you read the text of Romans. I don’t really think you can get around the universalism of 3.20 ‘by works of the law ‘all flesh’ which includes Jews cannot be set right with God’. This is so for two reasons: 1) Paul believes in the universality of sin and of all being sinners, and that all need Christ, the Jewish... Read more

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What counts as works of the Law?

Works righteousness?

2023-05-17T14:08:45-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Seventeen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 2:08 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. P.109ff. I found the argument that what is being opposed is only adult circumcision in Rom. 2 doesn’t make sense to me when I consider what Paul is arguing against with his fellow Jewish Christians in Galatia, who want to circumcise Gentiles, regardless of age so they can become full-fledged Jews. Clearly Paul views circumcision as the sign of the Mosaic covenant just as baptism is the sign of the new covenant inaugurated by Christ. Put another way, circumcision... Read more

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Circumcision and Gentiles

2023-05-17T14:09:07-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Sixteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 2:09 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. I think part of the problem I have with the Paul within Judaism folks is that they either ignore or dismiss or selectively use the evidence in Acts, and then they misinterpret Paul at crucial junctures. This especially doesn’t work if in fact Luke was a sometime companion of Paul on his 2nd and 3rd missionary journeys and knew what he was talking about. The other problem is no matter how hard Nanos and Fredriksen and others try, they... Read more

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What would the author of Galatians say about Romans? Did Paul change his mind?

2023-06-15T16:13:05-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

Furious X– Lives Up to It’s Name

Last updated on: June 15, 2023 at 4:13 pm By Ben Witherington

O.K. I’m a bit late to the party. The movie came out while I was flying to Greece and leading a tour for two weeks. I believe I’ve seen all the previous iterations of this series, and I did not think that they could outdo some of the previous special effects, particularly with cars. I was mostly wrong. The central characters and the interaction of the ensemble I’ve enjoyed, as it’s in one sense a series about family, and in... Read more

Family, Parenting and Religion

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Those who live by the sword

2023-05-17T13:57:22-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Fifteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:57 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. So far as I can see, Gentiles did not go around calling themselves Jews, even if they were God-fearers. Besides the general anti-Semitism of the Roman culture (see e.g. Juvenal’s satires), they were perfectly happy to just be called God-fearers. Consider for example this inscription from the theater in Miletus—– it reads. “τόπoς Ειουδέων τῶν καὶ Θεοσεβίον”the place for the Jews and the God–worshipers”. This inscription was surely made by Gentiles. So far as I can see the person... Read more

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Who called themselves Jews?

2023-05-17T13:52:13-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Fourteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:52 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. Let’s talk about pistis, a word which certainly can be translated ‘trust’ but it can also be translated faith and even faithfulness, for instance in the phrase in Romans which refers to the pistis Theou, the faithfulness of God. Why do you not recognize the spectrum of possible ways Paul could have used this important word, and simply render it trust throughout the commentary? A. First of all it is better to keep to the one meaning consistently throughout... Read more

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Who is the we in Romans?

2023-05-17T13:44:12-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Thirteen

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:44 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. I was a bit surprised by your take on Rom. 7.7-25. Speech in character, from a rhetorical point of view or prosopoeia requires that one be speaking as a well-known historical person recently mentioned, as Quintilian stresses. In this case the person in question is Adam, mentioned less than 5 minutes before Rom. 7 in the continuous reading of the text of Romans likely by Phoebe. Notice the change in verb tenses from 7.7-13 to 7.14-25. Also, only Adam... Read more

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Who is the I in Romans 7?

2023-05-17T13:40:29-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Twelve

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:40 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. I really find the argument of Neil Elliott as not compelling, trying to find anti-imperial rhetoric in Romans here there and everywhere. I think Rom. 13 cannot be explained that way at all. Rather I think Paul is sharing a rather typical Jewish reaction to paganism from Rom. 1 on. It requires a lot of assumptions to find Elliott’s argument compelling. For one thing, we do not know that the Christians in Rome are Romans or Roman citizens who... Read more

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Imperial ideology and Romans

2023-05-17T13:36:55-04:00

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

William Campbell’s Romans– The Dialogue Part Eleven

Last updated on: May 17, 2023 at 1:36 pm By Ben Witherington

Q. In your exposition about Rom. 1.18-32 I was surprised that while you rightly emphasized the critique of pagan idolatry, you said nothing about pagan sexual immorality in the form of same sex sexual activity which it seems is clearly referred to in that context. It seems clear to me that Paul sees that as the fallenness pagans were given up to because of their idolatry. Yes? I realize his critique of homosexuality is perhaps less strident than say Philo’s... Read more

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What does Israel mean in Paul's letters?

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