The life and work of St. Paul

454 THE LIPS AND WORK OF ST. PAUL.
If the current feelings of the Jews towards the Gentiles were much em.
bittered if they habitually regarded them in the spirit of hostile arrogance
it is very possible that the section respecting the relative position of the Jews
and Gentiles (ix. xi.) may be, as Baur argues, the kernel of the whole
Epistle, in the sense that these were the first thoughts which had suggested
themselves to the mind of the Apostle. Tet it is not correct to say that " the
whole dogmatic treatment of the Epistle can be considered as nothing but the
most radical and thorough-going refutation of Judaism and Jewish Chris-
tianity." l In his reaction against the purely dogmatic view which regards
the Epistle as " a compendium of Pauline dogma in the form of an apostolic
letter," 2 Baur was led into a view too purely historical ; and in his unwillingness
to regard the central section as a mere carottary from the doctrines
'
'
'
the study of the Law.' Fools ! will be the stern answer : have you not done all this for
your own pleasure, the market-places, and the baths alike, to pamper your own selfindulgeuce
? and as for the gold and silver, it is Mine (Hagg. ii. 8). Who among you can
declare this Law ? '
(Isa. xliii. 9).
"
The Romans retire crestfallen, and then the Persians enter. They too will urge that
they built bridges, took cities, waged wars to give Israel leisure to study the Law but
;
receiving the same rebuke as the Romans, they too will retire in dejection.
"Similarly all other nations, in the order of their rank, will come in to hear their
doom ; the wonder is that they will not be deterred by the failure of the others, but will
BtLll cling to their vain pleas. But then the Persians will argue that they built the
Temple, whereas the Romans destroyed it ; and the other nations will think that since
they, unlike the Romans and Persians, never oppressed the Jews, they may expect more
lenience.
"The nations will then argue, 'When has the Law been offered to us, and we refused
it ? '
In answer it is inferred from Dent, xxxiii. 2 and Hab. iii. 3 that the Law had been
offered to each in turn, but that they would not have it. Then they will ask, '
Why didst
Thou not place us also underneath the mount (Ex. xix. 17) as Thou didst Israel, bidding ua
'
Let ua
accept the Law, or be crushed by the mountain ? ' To whom Jehovah will
reply,
hear the first things (Isa. xliii. 9). Have you kept
the Noachic precepts?' They answer,
'
Have the Jews kept the Law though they received it?' God answers, 'Yes I ; Myself
'
But is not Israel thy firstborn, and is it fair to
bear them witness that they have.'
admit the testimony of a Father?' 'The heaven and earth shall bear them witness.'
' * '
interested witnesses ? and
4 But are not they Well, then, you yourselves shall '
testify ;
accordingly Nimrod has to testify for Abraham, Laban for Jacob, Potiphar's wife for
Joseph, Nebuchadnezzar for the three children, Darius for Daniel, Job's friends for Job.
Then the nations entreat, 'Give us now the Law, and we will keep it.' 'Fools ! do ye
want to enjoy the Sabbath without having prepared for it ? However, I will give you one
easy precept keep the Feast of Tabernacles (Zech. xiv. 16). Then they will all hurry off
to make booths on the roofs of their houses. But the Holy One, blessed be He, will make
the sun blaze with midsummer heat, and they will desert the booths with the scornful
exclamation, '
Let us break His bands asunder, and fling away Hia cords from us '
(Ps. ii.
3). Then the Lord, sitting in the heavens, shall laugh at them. The only occasion on
which He laughs at His creatures," though He doea so with His creatures, notably with
Leviathan, every day.
1
Baur, Paul. i. 349 ; Olshausen, Romans, Introd. 5. Philippi calls it " a con-
nected doctrinal statement of the specifically Pauline Gospel."
3 In any case this statement would be far too broad. If the Epistle to the Romans
"
be a complete statement of what may be called the Apostle's Soteriology," it contains
little or none of the which
Eschatology distinguishes these Epistles to the Thessalonians,
or the Christology of the Epistle to the Colossians, or the Ecclesiology of the Epistle to
the Ephesians. It is hardly worth while to notice the opinions that it is a mere defence
of his Apostolate (Mangold), or a description and vindication of the Pauline system of
missionary labours (Schott.). See Lange's Romans, p. 38, E. T.
Because they only exist for the sake of the Law (A'edaHm, f. 82, col. 1).