The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

168 unique calling is to promote the gospel that Gentiles are saved in Messiah without becoming Jews. Exegetical Factors Central to the discussion of Galatians, and critical to the support of this view is a careful definition of the antithesis between "works" and "faith." It is important to note first of all that Paul does not merely discuss "works" and "faith" in the abstract but most often qualifies them with "law" and "Christ" respectively. 72 Of course Paul does not use identical vocabulary for his contrast every time but his two basic categories remain consistent. 73 In Galatians 2: 16 he affirms that justification comes not ls Epywv voµou but 8ta / EK n(an:w<; 'IriaoO XptaToO. In 3:2, 5 when querying his audience about the basis for their reception of the Spirit, Paul once again uses ls Epywv voµou but contrasts it this time with ls QKO~<; n (an:w<;. In"3:23 Paul apparently uses a shorthand version of the antithesis speaking simply of being uno voµov before the coming of T~v nfanv . Because these phrases are antithetical expressions in Paul, an accurate understanding of their meaning can only be attained in relationship to each other . Therefore, after each phrase is preliminarily investigated we will seek to refine any nuance of meaning by a final comparison of the two together . We will consider fi rst the phrase which has received most discussion, ls Epywv voµou. 72 ordon, "The Problem at alatia," 36 . 73 amp 11 p a of the lingui tic prin iple of "paradigmati r lati n . " ' Thi re r to the ph nom non of ub titutabilit , h n ord and phr that r diU r nt I el the 1 nifier- that i , in th ir appearance or und- tu 11 fun ti n th t rm meamn .... Thu , t tern nt pp ar t b diU r nt , but th m sam , " D A mpb 11 , " h Meanin of nI TI nd NOM in P ul : trnctur I P p t1 e," Journal of Btblt al Literatur 111 ( 1 ) : impl t th