Exegetical Fallacies - D. A. Carson

earing on whether an individual's station in life changes. A slave, for instance, should not think that his
conversion to Christ entitles him to be free from his slavery (7:21a)-although Paul hastens to add, "If you
can gain your freedom, do so" (7:21b, Ntv). Paul can scarcely be telling the Jewish convert he must
remain faithful to the law in all respects, when in the verse immediately succeeding the one cited by Clark
he adds, "Circumcision is nothing and uncircumcision is nothing" (7:19, Ntv)-which is not exactly what
the law says! But even if Clark were right in his understanding of these two verses, he would still not
have adequate grounds for his broader conclusions regarding the responsibility of Jewish Christians to
keep the law; for he has generalized from just two verses, when many other passages that bear on the
subject seem at face value to force modifications in his conclusions. To give one example, in I
Corinthians 9:19-23 Paul is prepared to become like a Jew, keeping the law, or like a Gentile without the
law, because he himself occupies a third ground, a distinctively Christian ground; and clearly he could not
say such things if he felt bound, as a Christian Jew, to observe all the stipulations of Torah 42
FIGURE 7 HUSBAND'S ROLE IN HEADSHIP MODELS