In Romans chapter 10 we are treated to one of Paul's most
creative re-interpretations of Scripture, as he seeks to
establish the superiority of faith over law.
Paul begins with his prayer for the salvation of Israel
(cf. Romans 11:26):
1 Brothers, the desire of my heart and
prayer to God for them is salvation (NIV: that they may be
saved).
From Romans 5:9 we can answer the question, "Saved from
what?" In Paul's terms, the saved are saved from wrath,
God's wrath. In this view of salvation, God saves his enemies
from destruction by making peace with them through Christ.
Interesting, but how does this square with the use of the term
salvation in the Hebrew Bible, where God saves Israel from
their enemies. [See appendix]
2-3 For I testify on their behalf that
they have a zeal of (for) God, but not according to knowledge;
for not knowing the righteousness of God, and seeking to
establish their own, they did not submit to the righteousness of
God.
What Paul associates with this "righteousness of God"
can be seen in two other references:
Romans 1:17 "For a righteousness of God is revealed in it
[the gospel-v. 16] from faith to faith, as it is written, 'The
righteous will live by faith.'"
Romans 3:21-22a "But now a righteousness of God without law
has been manifested, being witnessed by the Law and the Prophets,
even a righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all
who believe..."
Here Paul includes two parts in the righteousness of God:
(1) Through faith (the way of faith);
(2) In Jesus Christ (the content of faith=the gospel of Jesus
Christ).
The emphasis is laid on faith, but tied to this faith is a
peculiar doctrine introduced by Paul. The problem with this
two-part formulation of righteousness is that the first part does
not require (or even imply) the second part. In the Hebrew Bible,
Israel "knew equally well how to sing the praises of faith,
but for them it was no mysterious gift of grace, but the simple
expression of firm trust in God."
(1) So when Paul quotes a portion of
Habakkuk 2:4, "The righteous will live by faith,"
however one understands the words of the prophet in their
context, the citation of them by Paul is completely irrelevant,
for the man of faith in Habakkuk has no knowledge of the gospel
doctrine concerning Jesus Christ.
As commentators point out, Paul's argument in Romans 10 is
introduced by the closing verses of the previous chapter.
Specifically, Romans 10:3 follows up 9:30-32a, which claims
Israel sought righteousness through works of law instead of
through faith. In the conclusion to Romans chapter 4, I argued
that the real issue between Judaism and Christianity is not (as
Paul frames it) works versus faith, but the specific claims of
the Christian faith concerning Jesus. To reinforce the point,
here is how Hans Joachim Schoeps explains it:
"The contrast [drawn by Paul] between merit earned by works
and by faith... is just as popular as it is false. It is not here
that the contrasts lie. The book that Christians, from their own
point of view, call the 'Old Testament,' itself speaks of faith.
But this faith neither foretells Christ Jesus, nor is it in any
sense a preparation for him. In all truth it is nothing other
than the firm, confident faith of the covenant people in God the
Creator, who brought the people out of Egypt, confirmed upon
Sinai the covenant concluded with the fathers, giving it written
confirmation through the revelation of his laws, which the
prophets merely confirmed for the people through renewed
proclamation of the law in periods of apostasy. Scripture usually
calls this faith the fear of God..."
(2)
When Israel is rebuked in the Hebrew Bible for
a lack of faithfulness to the covenant, they are called to return
to observance of the laws and decrees of the Torah, to the
"works of law," not to abandon this path in favor of
following after the latest claimant to "knowledge"
Israel somehow missed in the Torah. So in Psalm 81 (recited every
Thursday during the morning prayer service) we hear God's
complaint:
"But my people would not listen to my voice and Israel would
not submit to me. So I released them to their willful heart, to
follow their own devices. If only my people would listen to me,
if Israel would follow my ways." (Psalm 81:12-14 MT)
What ways? The ways he made known to Moses (cf. Psalm 103:7) at
Sinai. God so loved Israel that he gave them the Torah, and in
the laws and decrees of the Torah he made known his ways:
righteousness and justice, compassion and grace, forgiveness and
faithfulness.
4-5 For Christ is the end of [the] law
unto righteousness to everyone who believes. For Moses writes,
"The man who does the righteousness of [the] law will live
by it."
So Christ is the end of the law for Christians! Of course, since
they reject the law on his account. "To everyone who
believes" means those who accept Christ in place of the law.
Fair enough: Israel follows the everlasting covenant confirmed in
the Torah, and therefore rejects Christ. Need I say more?
At this point Paul attempts to present a midrash of a
passage from Deuteronomy (30:11-14). A midrash is a creative
(imaginative) interpretation of Scripture which seeks to amplify
and extend its meaning, often turning what appears to be a plain
text in a surprising direction. Creative, yes, but accurate? Each
midrash must be evaluated (for truth) as well as appreciated (for
beauty), to separate insight from nonsense.
For an example of the latter, Pauls turns the text from
Deuteronomy completely on its head! Compare Paul's words with
those of the original passage:
6 But the righteousness of faith
says thus: Do not say in your heart, "Who will ascend into
the heaven?" (that is, to bring down Christ).
Deut. 30:11-12 For this commandment that I am commanding
you today is not too difficult [cf. 17:8] for
you or beyond reach. It is not in the heavens*,
for you to say, "Who will ascend for us into the heavens to
get it for us and proclaim it to us, that we may do [observe]
it?"
*Or heaven, i.e., "requiring new prophetic insight"
[Aryeh Kaplan].
Note here and in the verses (from Deuteronomy) to follow, the
presence of the word do (Heb. root, 'asah).
7 Or, "Who will descend into the
deep?" (that is, to bring up Christ from the dead).
Deut. 30:13 And it is not beyond the sea, for you to say,
"Who will cross for us, beyond the sea, to get it for us and
proclaim it to us, that we may do [observe] it?"
Paul has changed the picture to suit his argument. The
Christological re-interpretation of Scripture knows no bounds!
8 But what does it say? "The word is
near you, in your mouth and in your heart" (that is, the
word of faith which we proclaim).
Deut. 30:14 For the word is very near to you, in your mouth and
in your heart, to do [observe] it.
Paul leaves out the last word of the verse, translated "to
do it," in order to associate "the word" with
"the word of faith." In the passage from Deuteronomy,
"the word" in v. 14 obviously refers back to "this
commandment" in v. 11, and "the word" is something
to do or observe, not to believe. In fact, the
same term that appears three times in this passage, 'asah,
meaning do, is also used in Lev. 18:5b, which Paul
claims to represent the way of Torah as opposed to the way of
faith.
This passage has nothing to do with a righteousness of faith,
rather it is concerned with a righteousness of deed. Also,
contrary to Paul's central thesis in Romans, according to
Deuteronomy the commandments of the Torah are not too difficult
(or distant) to do, they are not too high above us or
beyond our reach, for they have been placed in our mouth and
sealed within our heart.
Deuteronomy 30:11-14 can have both a personal and a judicial
meaning. The personal meaning is: observance of the commandments
is not beyond what can be expected of a human being. The judicial
meaning is: interpretations or decisions that prescribe how the
commandments are to be observed do not require either a voice
from heaven (new prophetic insight) or esoteric knowledge.
Joseph Klausner: "Paul here changes one part of a passage
from the Pentateuch to suit his needs, and in place of 'Who shall
go over the sea for us?' he substitutes another Scriptural
phrase, 'Who shall descend into the abyss?'; then he interprets
this garbled passage arbitrarily, drawing from it conclusions
desired and needed by him, although there is no hint of them in
the passage itself..." (3)
One might claim, however, that Paul is simply
following traditional exposition of Scripture as found in many a
far-fetched rabbinic midrash, i.e., that Paul was arguing as a
Pharisee might argue. Hyam Maccoby disputes this point on two
grounds: (1) "One may well ask, 'Where, in the whole
rabbinic literature, does one find a garbled quotation from
Scripture?.... A rabbi might depart far from the plain meaning of
a biblical text in his interpretation. He might even resort to an
outrageous pun on a word in a text, in order to extract a meaning
that is not there. But what he would never do is to misquote the
text deliberately in the first place." (2) "Also there
is always the principle underlying all far-fetched midrashic
interpretations, 'A biblical text never loses its plain meaning'
(b. Sanhedrin 34a and elsewhere): in other words, the fanciful
interpretation does not supplant the plain meaning, but
supplements it. Paul's interpretation of Deut. 30:12-14, however,
leaves no room for the restitution of the plain meaning, since by
interpreting the passage as being about Christ, he explicitly
excludes and contradicts the plain meaning, which concerns the
Torah." (4)
1. Words commonly translated
"salvation" in the Hebrew Bible
From Strong's Concordance:
3468 yesha' liberty, deliverance, welfare/prosperity, safety
3444 yeshu'ah deliverance, aid/help, victory, welfare/prosperity,
health
8668 teshu'ah rescue, free; deliverance, help, safety, victory
[root=3467=yasha'=open, wide, free]
2. Nature of salvation in the Hebrew Bible
a. Deliverance from enemies, victory over enemies,
judgment of enemies (Exod. 14:13)
b. National focus most of the time (I Sam. 19:5; Job
13:16 may be an exception, where salvation is used in the sense
of personal vindication.)
c. Earthly focus (I Chron. 16:35)
d. Intervention of God in a "time of trouble"
(Is. 33:2 "O Lord, be gracious to us; we wait for you. Be
our arm (strength) every morning, our salvation in the time of
trouble.")
3. In the Christian New Testament,
salvation is used in a similar sense in Luke 1:69,71 and 2:30.
4. Salvation (and the verb save) in the
Torah
Both as a noun and as a verb, salvation in the Torah appears in
the context of earthly conflicts, and refers to deliverance from
and/or victory over enemies. Except for the first citation below,
the recipient of God's salvation is Israel as a nation. The last
citation, Deut. 33:29, comes from a longer passage (vv. 26-29)
which explains the meaning of salvation in the Torah very well.
Noun (3444)
Gen. 49:18 "I wait for your salvation, LORD." Compare
Aryeh Kaplan's Living Torah (interpretive translation), which has
Jacob closing the "blessing" on his son Dan with
"I pray that God will help you."
Ex. 14:13a "Moses said to the people, 'Don't be afraid.
Stand firm and see the salvation of the LORD that He will work
for you today.'" Living Torah has "see what God will do
to rescue you today."
Ex. 15:2a "God (Yah) is my strength and song; He has become
my salvation."
Verb (3467)
Exod. 14:30a "On that day the LORD saved Israel from the
hand of the Egyptians."
Num. 10:9b "...that you may be remembered before the LORD
your God and be saved from your enemies."
Deut. 20:4 "For the LORD your God is the one who goes with
you to fight for you against your enemies to save you." JPS
has "to bring you victory" while NIV has
"to give you victory."
Deut. 32:15b "[Jeshurun=Israel] forsook the God who made him
and spurned the Rock who saved him."
Deut. 33:29a "Fortunate Israel! Who is like you, a people
saved by the LORD, your protecting shield, your triumphant sword.
Your enemies..."
5. God the Savior of Israel
Isaiah 43:3,11; 45:15,21; 49:26; 60:16; Hosea 14:4
Notes
1. Hans Joachim Schoeps, The Jewish-Christian Argument, trans. David E. Green, 1963, p. 50.
2. Ibid., pp. 50-51.
3. Quoted in Hyam Maccoby, Paul and Hellenism, 1991, p. 150.
4. Ibid., p. 151.
© 2001 Charles F. Hudson
