Monday, April 10, 2006

Is Paul Ant-semitic? Didn't he helpJews?

I read the wrong stuff last night. I read the Jerusalem Collection stuff and wrote these thoughts to blog. Our lecture today actually talked a little about some of this.

Paul's harsh words towards his opponents in his letter to the Galatians is sometimes considered anti-semitic. Paul definitely is harsh to his opponents who teach that Jewish traditions such as circumcision and works of the law are required to receive the full blessing of God, but is he anti-semitic? In Galatians chapter two, Paul says he is very eager to remember the poor. Our reading teaches that there was a famine in the Roman world that must have greatly affected Judea because all the disciples were attempting to aide the Jewish Christians. The “poor” Paul mentions in Gal 2:10 is possibly the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem affected by the famine. Paul actively participated in the relief efforts by encouraging the Gentile Christians to support the Jewish Christians in Jerusalem. If Paul was anti-semitic, would he be so actively involved in helping the Jewish Christians? Doesn't Paul see himself as a Jew? Does the term Jewish refer to Judaism ethnically or religiously? It is quite clear that Paul does refer to Jews ethnically because how could someone be two religions at once, Jewish and Christian. If Paul does indeed see himself as Jewish and views Judaism only ethnically than he could not be anti-semitic. If Paul sees Jews in a religious sense, then the remarks could almost be qualified as anti-semitic. However, in these harsh remarks, Paul is just demonstrating to his opponents the truth revealed to him by the risen savior about how Jesus himself, a Jew, came to fulfill the promises to, as Paul would say it, “the Jews first, then to the Greek.” Jesus' blessing is not through works, but through faith. Would someone anti-semitic help Jews by giving money? Is Paul ant-semitic? I don't think so.

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