Besnijdenis van het hart is bekering van de geest?

~*~
WHILE
with regard to
the specifics of the midrash,
I have departed from JD's reading,
it should be emphasized
that in respect to the content,
I am in full agreement
with him,
and I believe that this reading
only strengthens his point that
"works of the law, epitomized in this letter by circumcision,
are precisely
acts of the flesh.
TO INSIST
on circumcision is to give a primacy to
the physical level of relationship which Paul can
no longer accept."
THE ONLY THING
that puzzles me is why JD, having comes this far, writes

"by that course, Paul will not intend a dualism
between spirit & matter,
however dualistic his antithesis between spirit and flesh
may seem
later on in Galatians 5 ...
BUT the word "flesh"
also embraces the thought of merely human relationship,
of a heritage determined by physical descent,
as in the allegory of Galatians 4."

ON THE CONTRARY,
it is precisely the dualism between flesh and spirit
which makes possible
this very allegory,

SO THIS IS EXACTLY
what Paul intends?!

THIS "physical descent" is an affair of matter,
just as spiritual kinship is an affair, tautologically,
of the spirit,
so there is NO 'BUT'
here!

AND THIS IS JUST
what makes Paul's gospel NEW vis-a-vis traditional
Jewish ideologies
of sin & redemption {including this very Psalm}, which,
as has been often shown,
also presuppose the need for "G*D"s mercy,
since no one can be
completely
righteous!

~*~

WHAT IS NEW IN PAUL
is not the notion that one cannot
be justified by acquiring merits
but the notion that faith is the spiritual signified
of which convenantal nomism is the material signifier,
and that in Mashiach/Christ the signified
has completely replaced
the signifier.
AS JD has put it,
"THE NEW AGE calls for a practice of the law
{including circumcision}
that need not include the outward rite."

Physical relationship = physical practices
{circumcision the very symbol of genealogy} = literal meaning,
but spiritual relationship
{Israel in the spirit & 'circumcision of heart'} =
faith = allegory.

~*~

IT IS IN THIS SENSE
that Paul can appear to be abrogating the Law
at the same time he claims
to be fulfilling it;
he fulfills the alleged allegorical sense,
while abrogating the literal {doing}.
The allegorical is universal
while the letter is
particular.

~*~

The allegorical gives life,
but the letter
kills.

verliefd
engel

14 jun 2005 - bewerkt op 04 mrt 2008 - meld ongepast verhaal
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