A couple of thoughts after the latest Romans 9–11 class: It continues to astound me that Paul would possibly embrace such a wordplay in 10:4, arguing that the Messiah is the culmination/goal (telos) of the Torah and then using the concluding section (telos) of the Torah (Deut 30) to prove his point (i.e., the Messiah is both the telos and literally in the telos of the Torah). Yet the evidence is strongly suggestive. Deuteronomy 31–34 can be rightly considered the dénouement, consisting of the final arrangements before Moses’ death (Deut 31), his Song (Deut 32), his blessings on the tribes of Israel (Deut 33), and the account of his death (Deut 34). As such, Deuteronomy 30 sits as the climax not only of Deuteronomy but of the entire Torah, promising not only a return from exile, but the full transformation of humanity via the circumcision of the heart (Deut 30:6), thereby creating a people who does the Torah by nature (Deut 30:11–14; cf. Rom 2:14–15, 28–29). It makes sense that Paul would see in the coming of the Messiah the fulfillment of this passage. Whereas Moses denies the need for a heavenly messenger due to the nearness of the word (Deut 30:14), Paul argues that it is the Messiah who has brought it to us (Rom 10:6–8).
More astounding is the degree to which we seem to have missed the larger contour of the Torah (Genesis–Deuteronomy). So many of us have bought into a somewhat Jewish reading—that it is about rules and regulations—and have missed the Christian (Jesus, Paul etc.) reading—that it is about faith, love, worldwide mission, and the promise of transformed humanity via the Messiah. These two very different ways of reading (what Paul distinguishes as “Torah of faith” and “Torah of works” in Romans 3:27) allows Jesus to proclaim “I did not come to abolish (the Torah), but to fulfill (Matt 5:17)” while declaring all food clean (Matt 15:11) and Paul to make the seemingly oxymoronic suggestion that an uncircumcised person can possibly keep the Torah (Rom 2:26).
If Paul is right, if the Torah really teaches the coming of the Messiah and anticipates the transformation via the Spirit (In Galatians 3:14, Paul seems to think that the Spirit given to Gentiles is the blessing promised to Abraham), then it challenges us to re-think how we read: What is the Torah about? How do the rules and regulations fit within the ongoing story?
Campus Renewed 