Process and Results:
Many people think that our salvation depends on our own faith in Jesus,
how firmly we believe in him; but what Paul actually says is that salvation is accomplished
through the faithfulness of Jesus (as show by his willingness to die on the
cross):
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Audience | Primarily Gentile Christians (who had not been Jews) | Mixed community of Jewish Christians and Gentile Christians |
Main Point | Gentile Christians need not follow the whole Torah | Both Jews and Gentiles are sinners, and both can be saved |
Thesis Statement |
Gal 2:16 "... we know that a person is justified not by the works of the law but through the faith of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by doing the works of the law, because no one will be justified by the works of the law." |
Rom 1:16-17 "For I am not ashamed of the gospel; it is the power of God for salvation to everyone who has faith, to the Jew first and also to the Greek. For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written: 'The one who is righteous will live by faith.'" |
Structure | Theology: Gal 3:1—5:12 Ethics: Gal 5:13—6:10 |
Theology: Rom 1—11 Ethics: Rom 12—15 |
Analogies | Gal 4:21-31 Jews: slaves to the Law; compared to Hagar and "the present Jerusalem" Christians: free children; compared to Sarah and "the Jerusalem above" |
Rom 11:11-32 Jews: olive tree with roots and natural branches (some broken off, but can be grafted in again) Gentiles: wild olive branches grafted into the cultivated olive tree (but could be broken off again) |
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of Felix Just, S.J.
This page was last updated on
April 20, 2009
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