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b-greek-digest V1 #542




b-greek-digest            Friday, 13 January 1995      Volume 01 : Number 542

In this issue:

        Re: Which law(s)?
        Re: Which law(s)?
        Re: Which law(s)?
        An Almah offer

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From: Carl W Conrad <cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 05:34:25 -0600 (CST)
Subject: Re: Which law(s)?

Rob:
Thanks for your input. I'm going to download it and think about it a bit 
before responding. I think that the function of Torah in Mt is a large 
issue in itself and worthy of considerable discussion, but I also remain 
curious about comparison of Matthaean and Pauline stances toward the law. 
My impression is that Daniel's original question looked for a simple 
answer or group of answers and I, for one, don't think that the answer is 
that simple.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO 63130, USA
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu  OR cwc@oui.com


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From: Kenneth Litwak <kenneth@sybase.com>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 95 09:09:51 PST
Subject: Re: Which law(s)?

 
> Hi Carl and David and others,
> 
> I have been reading the discussion on Matthew 5 with interest. Since you have
> expressed interest in other points of view, I will share mine.
> 
> I agree that this passage should be understood within the context of the
> whole book.  It seems to me that Matthew functions as a important apologetic
> for the transfer of Christianity from an originally Jewish religion to a
> predominantly Gentile religion.  The book begins with obvious anchors in the
> Jewish world: Jesus is born the King of the Jews (1:1; 2:2); He is sent to
> the nation of Israel and works within those confines (10:5-6; 15:24).
>  However, the book closes with an equally obvious international or universal
> thrust.  Jesus ministry and message is no longer limited to the nation of
> Israel.  He commissions his disciples to go to the whole world with his
> message (28:18).  This transfer from a nationalistic emphasis to a universal
> emphasis, which realizes the Old Testament promise of world-wide salvation,
> is an important theme in Matthew.  

redaction 
 
> I would be happy to continue discussing the passage if you would like. It
> would be good to share some exegetical discoveries.
> 
> Rob Keay

I think this is a very interesting topic as well.  I am not going to give
an opinion on it (to the relief of many I'm sure).  I do have a follow-up
question for Rob or anyone else who wants to respond.  It seems to me
that Matthew goes to great pains to show that Jesus is the Messiah,
fulfilling OT prophecies (even from texts we can't identify!).  The
text seems to suggest, to me at least, that Matthew is trying to 
convince Jewish readers of the validity of the Christian claim that
Jesus is the Messiah.  I wouldn't think that establishing that claim
would be as important in a Gentile setting.  Thus, I'd be really
interested in hearing more "exegetical discoveries" that lead to the
conclusion that Matthew's chief audience is primarily Gentile
in makeup.  

Cheers,

Ken Litwak
Emeryville, CA 

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From: Big island <swanson@inst.augie.edu>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 08:22:49 -0600
Subject: Re: Which law(s)?

Carl, et al.:
I agree that this issue of Torah in Matthew and Paul (and early
Christianity in general) is complicated and fascinating.  It seems
to me that soemthing we have missed in our discussion so far is
attention to Torah, not as part of a Christian Law/Gospel
dialectic, but Torah as that which distinguishes the created
world from the uncreated, chaotic world.  In such a context, early
Christian discussions about the place of Torah become much more
tense and interesting, especially if the writer assumes that
Torah is, in some meaningful sense, abrogated.

Richard W. Swanson
Augustana College
Sioux Falls, SD
swanson@inst.augie.edu

------------------------------

From: William Brooks <wjbrooks@olympus.net>
Date: Thu, 12 Jan 1995 14:44:50 -0800
Subject: An Almah offer

The entire discussion of the Immanuel prophecy orginated on the b-greek list
and was them transferred to the b-hebrew list. Such is the nature of the
study of the facinating field of the use of the OT in the NT. It spans both
testaments; and recent discussions have reflected this fact. 

As a result, 2 things have happened: (1) Comments on the topic have come
from both lists dedicated to their respective testament (2) The information
I gave out was done in piecemeal fashion in response to questions and/or
comments. Accordingly, I lost track of who received what.

In the original post I stated that the information I gave was from a few
pages from the chapter entitled "The Incarnation of Jesus Christ: The Use of
Isaiah 7:14 in Matthew 1:23" in my ThM thesis. I have reformatted that
particular chapter to make it "e-mail friendly" complete with endnotes. If
anyone would like a copy of the entire chapter sent to them, send me a
message requesting it and I will zip it out to you.

The operator--ie me--is standing by to take your orders.

BTW, thank you for all the questions and comments. Several of them opened up
avenues of thought that I had not considered and will have to explore.

Regards,

William
wjbrooks@olympus.net 


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End of b-greek-digest V1 #542
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