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

204 sonship is in Christ, and thus they "fall from grace" (5:5). This message may be summarized then as: The inclusion of Gentiles in the blessings of Abraham is accomplished by their incorporation in Christ rather than in Law. What remains at this point is to demonstrate this type of meaning in a synthetic overview of the book. Synthetic Overview The purpose of this section is to demonstrate the viability of the proposed message statement by means of an overview. Because of the limitations of this study a detailed exegesis of the book is not possible. In addition much of the necessary exegesis ha already taken place in the analysis of Paul's major "works-faith" antithesis. The overview will be approached through the means of an analysis which reflects in its major point that of H. Betz . While not subscribing to every dimension of his argument we do recognize and appreciate the validity of his claim to a unified rhetoric . 165 Epistolary Prescript 1: 1-5 Although this epi tle differ from Paul ' other writing in that he fail to thank od for hi readers , it i imilar in the fact that he immediately ann unce hi ubj t. In 1:4 he fir t mentions the acrifice of hri t on alvary for our in whi h i the ntr 1 p int f hi argument. Paul r cognize that thi pre ent ge i till ii , but h pl in him If I t r , thi ry diff: r nt fr m th on hi h iti B tL, alatran , 14 ( p 1 11 th latte, p I uon~) doe not It perfe ti mto rh t n I tand rd , h1 utlm d indicat a in ula1 tt of purp ' m P ul ' r um nt 1th ht h