Christ Crucified E-Book

Thomas R. Schreiner

• Herausgeber: Crossway
• Kategorie: Religion und Spiritualität
• Serie: New Testament Theology
• Sprache: Englisch

Seitenzahl: 269

Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024

Beschreibung

Join New Testament Scholar Thomas Schreiner as He Explores the Meaning and Purpose of Galatians In a time marked by confusion and change, the pathway to salvation for the Galatians seemed unclear. While the false teachers contended for circumcision and obedience to the law as necessary for justification before God, Paul presented the truth of the gospel and redrew the lines of salvation around the cross of Jesus Christ.  In this addition to the New Testament Theology series, scholar Thomas R. Schreiner addresses the conflict between Paul and his opponents in Galatia, examines the gospel itself, and shows what it looks like to live out the truth of the gospel in the new era. After examining the dominant biblical-theological themes of Galatians, readers will be reminded of the gift of grace Christ offers through his death on the cross—the only possible path to salvation and true unity among believers.  - For Those Interested in Biblical Theology: Ideal for college and seminary students, pastors, and professors  - Helpful Bible Study Resource: A great companion to commentaries on Galatians  - Part of the New Testament Theology Series: Other volumes include Ministry in the New Realm; To Walk and to Please God; and more

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“Tom Schreiner is a treasure of the contemporary church. He has written commentaries and other scholarly material that have rightly earned accolades. And this current volume rises to the very top. How I wish I had this book when I preached through Galatians over a decade ago. It fills a significant need: a book that gives you the overall theology of Galatians. Every preacher has experienced the moment when you end a sermon series on a book of the Bible only to realize that you are now in a much better place to start all over again! Typically, a commentary introduction might attempt to address the overall theology of a particular book, but we need far more. Christ Crucified provides just that.”

Derek W. H. Thomas, Chancellor’s Professor of Systematic and Pastoral Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary; Teaching Fellow, Ligonier Ministries

“When Christ ascended to the Father’s right hand, he gave gifts to the church, including teachers and pastors. We can be thankful that Tom Schreiner is among those gifts to the church. He ably and accessibly teaches readers about the key themes of Paul’s epistle to the Galatians. Christ Crucified is a valuable resource for anyone who wants a deeper knowledge of the gospel of Christ.”

J. V. Fesko, Harriet Barbour Professor of Systematic and Historical Theology, Reformed Theological Seminary, Jackson

“Christ Crucified provides a clear, thorough, and knowledgeable introduction to the theology of Galatians. In it, Tom Schreiner leads the reader through every major theological theme in the letter, interacting irenically and thoughtfully with other interpreters and coming to reasonable, pastorally helpful conclusions. This is just the kind of concise, reliable introduction to the letter that students, pastors, and teachers will find helpful in their studies and in preparing to preach and teach this theologically powerful biblical text.”

Frank Thielman, Presbyterian Chair of Divinity, Beeson Divinity School

Christ Crucified

New Testament Theology

Edited by Thomas R. Schreiner and Brian S. Rosner

The Beginning of the Gospel: A Theology of Mark, Peter Orr

From the Manger to the Throne: A Theology of Luke, Benjamin L. Gladd

The Mission of the Triune God: A Theology of Acts, Patrick Schreiner

Ministry in the New Realm: A Theology of 2 Corinthians, Dane C. Ortlund

Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians, Thomas R. Schreiner

United to Christ, Walking in the Spirit: A Theology of Ephesians, Benjamin L. Merkle

Hidden with Christ in God: A Theology of Colossians and Philemon, Kevin W. McFadden

To Walk and to Please God: A Theology of 1 and 2 Thessalonians, Andrew S. Malone

Perfect Priest for Weary Pilgrims: A Theology of Hebrews, Dennis E. Johnson

The God Who Judges and Saves: A Theology of 2 Peter and Jude, Matthew S. Harmon

The Joy of Hearing: A Theology of the Book of Revelation, Thomas R. Schreiner

Christ Crucified

A Theology of Galatians

Thomas R. Schreiner

Christ Crucified: A Theology of Galatians

© 2024 by Thomas R. Schreiner

Published by Crossway1300 Crescent StreetWheaton, Illinois 60187

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Cover design: Jordan Singer

First printing 2024

Printed in the United States of America

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Trade paperback ISBN: 978-1-4335-8130-4 ePub ISBN: 978-1-4335-8132-8 PDF ISBN: 978-1-4335-8131-1

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Schreiner, Thomas R., author. 

Title: Christ crucified : a theology of Galatians / Thomas R. Schreiner. 

Description: Wheaton, Illinois : Crossway, 2024. | Series: New Testament theology | Includes bibliographical references and index. 

Identifiers: LCCN 2024000063 | ISBN 9781433581304 (trade paperback) | ISBN 9781433581311 (pdf) | ISBN 9781433581328 (epub)

Subjects: LCSH: Bible. Galatians—Criticism, interpretation, etc. 

Classification: LCC BS2685.2 .S34 2024 | DDC 227/.406—dc23/eng/20240304

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024000063

Crossway is a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers.

2024-06-27 10:56:56 AM

Contents

  Preface

  Abbreviations

Part 1

The Conflict

1  The Adversaries

2  Paul’s Apostolic Authority

Part 2

The Gospel

3  Eschatology and Apocalyptic

4  Circumcision and the Cross

5  Justification by Faith

6  The Law

Part 3

The New Life

7  The Family of Abraham

8  Life in the Spirit

  Epilogue

  Appendix: A Review of Paul and the Gift by John M. G. Barclay

  Recommended Resources

  General Index

  Scripture and Ancient Sources Index

Series Preface

There are remarkably few treatments of the big ideas of single books of the New Testament. Readers can find brief coverage in Bible dictionaries, in some commentaries, and in New Testament theologies, but such books are filled with other information and are not devoted to unpacking the theology of each New Testament book in its own right. Technical works concentrating on various themes of New Testament theology often have a narrow focus, treating some aspect of the teaching of, say, Matthew or Hebrews in isolation from the rest of the book’s theology.

The New Testament Theology series seeks to fill this gap by providing students of Scripture with readable book-length treatments of the distinctive teaching of each New Testament book or collection of books. The volumes approach the text from the perspective of biblical theology. They pay due attention to the historical and literary dimensions of the text, but their main focus is on presenting the teaching of particular New Testament books about God and his relations to the world on their own terms, maintaining sight of the Bible’s overarching narrative and Christocentric focus. Such biblical theology is of fundamental importance to biblical and expository preaching and informs exegesis, systematic theology, and Christian ethics.

The twenty volumes in the series supply comprehensive, scholarly, and accessible treatments of theological themes from an evangelical perspective. We envision them being of value to students, preachers, and interested laypeople. When preparing an expository sermon series, for example, pastors can find a healthy supply of informative commentaries, but there are few options for coming to terms with the overall teaching of each book of the New Testament. As well as being useful in sermon and Bible study preparation, the volumes will also be of value as textbooks in college and seminary exegesis classes. Our prayer is that they contribute to a deeper understanding of and commitment to the kingdom and glory of God in Christ.

Written in response to a serious crisis in the church, Galatians is Paul’s most passionate and strident letter. Schreiner’s theology of Galatians provides a vivid portrait of Paul’s opponents and locates the crux of the dispute in an understanding of the cross. Christ crucified not only spells the end of the old age and the inauguration of the new but also provides a new understanding of covenant, law, the family of Abraham, God’s work of deliverance, and the new creation. Schreiner provides a lucid and compelling exposition of Paul’s gospel, presenting the good news of our full and free acceptance with God, freedom in Christ, and new life in the Spirit.

Thomas R. Schreiner and Brian S. Rosner

Preface

As one of the coeditors of the series, I wasn’t planning on writing more than one volume since I had already written on the book of Revelation. But as everyone who edits a series knows, sometimes contributors who are slated to write particular volumes have to drop out for various reasons. Even then I didn’t seriously consider writing this book; but I received encouragement to do so, and my love for Galatians won out. I have previously written a commentary on the letter, and I suppose (even from my doctoral days) that Galatians is the letter I invested the most time in. Thus, it was a special delight to return to it again.

As I reflected on how to outline the book, my son Patrick was a particular help as I bounced ideas off him about how to structure my presentation. The theme pursued in this book is the truth of the gospel, a phrase Paul uses twice in the letter (Gal. 2:5, 14). I divided the volume into three parts because there is a natural progression in the book. In part 1, we have the conflict between Paul and the opponents that must be resolved. The adversaries (chap. 1) questioned Paul’s apostolic authority and his gospel, and thus (chap. 2) Paul must defend his apostolic authority in order to defend the gospel. The gospel is bound up with Paul’s apostolic ministry so that in this case they can’t be split apart.

Part 2 examines the gospel itself. It is the truth of this gospel that Paul defends over against the opponents. Under eschatology and apocalyptic (chap. 3), I explore the fulfillment theme in the letter and explain that Paul’s gospel is both eschatological and apocalyptic, which is a current debate in Pauline studies. The newness of God’s work in Christ—that is, the end of the old age and the inauguration of the new—is sketched in here. Chapter 4 centers on Christ and the cross (but includes the resurrection as well). Here I show that the cross is at the center of Paul’s gospel and of history and that the cross—not circumcision—is necessary for entrance into the people of God in the new era that has dawned. Either one accepts Christ crucified as the path to salvation or turns to the law and to human performance. Chapter 5 considers further the implications of the Christ event and the cross being the center of history. We see that a right understanding of the cross indicates that justification is by faith alone. The Reformation understanding of justification doesn’t misread the New Testament but accurately captures the message of Paul in Galatians. The newness that has come about in Christ provokes questions about the law, and I explore in chapter 6 what Paul says about the law and what it means for our understanding of covenant.

Then in part 3, we see what it looks like to live out the truth of the gospel in the new era. Chapter 7 considers the people of God, what I am calling the family of Abraham. The boundaries of God’s people are redrawn through Jesus Christ, and thus Jews and Gentiles are one in Christ Jesus. Old tribalisms and ethnocentricism are set aside in the family of God. Then in the final chapter, I explore the new life of the Spirit, showing that the Spirit is the engine for the Christian life, that believers who are indwelt by the Spirit live transformed lives. The book concludes with a short epilogue, summing up the path the book has traversed.

This book was stimulated in part by an invitation to give lectures at Moore Theological College, and I am thankful for the invitation and the opportunity to share my study. I also want to thank Justin Taylor, executive vice president of book publishing for Crossway, for encouraging me to write the book. I am also grateful for Chris Cowan who was—a long time ago and far away—one of my PhD students but who now has served as an editor for several books that I have written. Chris’s light touch as an editor and his keen eye have helped me immensely, and I am thankful for his suggestions that have made the book better than it would have been otherwise.

Abbreviations

AB  Anchor Bible

Ant.  Jewish Antiquities, by Josephus

2 Bar.  2 Baruch

BBR  Bulletin for Biblical Research

BECNT  Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Bib  Biblica

BJRL   Bulletin of the John Ryland University Library of Manchester

BNTC  Black’s New Testament Commentary

BZNW  Beihefte zur Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft

CBQ  Catholic Biblical Quarterly

CC  Continental Commentaries

CD  Damascus Document

ConcC  Concordia Commentary

CSC  Christian Standard Commentary

CTJ  Calvin Theological Journal

1 En.  1 Enoch

ExpTim  Expository Times

HTR  Harvard Theological Review

ICC  International Critical Commentary

IVPNTC  IVP New Testament Commentary

JBL  Journal of Biblical Literature

JETSJournal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JSJ  Journal for the Study of Judaism in the Persian, Hellenistic, and Roman Periods

JSNT  Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup  Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

JTSJournal of Theological Studies

Jub.  Jubilees

LNTS  The Library of New Testament Studies

LXX  Septuagint

m. ’Abot  ’Abot (Mishnah)

1–4 Macc.  1–4 Maccabees

Migr.  On the Migration of Abraham, by Philo

MT  Masoretic Text

NCC  New Covenant Commentary

NICNT  New International Commentary on the New Testament

NICOT  New International Commentary on the Old Testament

NIGTC  New International Greek Testament Commentary

NIVAC  NIV Application Commentary

NovT  Novum Testamentum

NSBT  New Studies in Biblical Theology

NTL  New Testament Library

NTS  New Testament Studies

OTPOld Testament Pseudepigrapha. Edited by James H. Charlesworth. 2 vols. New York: Doubleday, 1983, 1985.

Pss. Sol.  Psalms of Solomon

1QpHab  Pesher Habakkuk

4QpNah  Pesher Nahum

11QTemple  Temple Scroll

Sir.  Sirach

SNTSMS  Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

SP  Sacra Pagina

Spec. Laws  On the Special Laws, by Philo

SSST  Short Studies in Systematic Theology

TDNTTheological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmas, 1964–76.

Them  Themelios

TynBul  Tyndale Bulletin

WBC  Word Biblical Commentary

WTJ  Westminster Theological Journal

WUNT  Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

ZECNT  Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Part 1

The Conflict

1

The Adversaries

Introduction

Galatians heralds the truth of the gospel, and this gospel stands as the authority over all people everywhere. Thus, Paul defends it passionately in the letter (Gal. 2:5, 14) over against his antagonists. The adversaries in Galatia, on the other hand, insisted that Paul deviated from the gospel and that he wasn’t a genuine apostle. The identity of the opponents in Galatians has been a matter of sharp controversy over the years, and examining that issue in detail would require a longer chapter than is possible here.1 Instead I will attempt to paint a portrait of the agitators from the letter itself. Such an enterprise is not without risks since we don’t hear the adversaries in their own voice. We only know about their views through what Paul says about them. If we could talk to Paul’s opponents, we would certainly gain a fuller and deeper understanding of their perspective. Since we are confined to what Paul says about the agitators and since Paul doesn’t provide a full account of their views, we have to engage in what is called mirror reading.2 From what Paul writes, we attempt to discern the identity and theology of the opponents. We recognize our historical distance from the first readers at this very point since the Galatians knew who the adversaries were and what they taught. Paul assumes such knowledge in writing the letter to the Galatians, reminding us that the letter wasn’t written to us but to the first readers.3

Paul gives us enough information in Galatians so that we can sketch in quite a full picture of those who resisted him. For those of us who believe in divine inspiration of the Scriptures, we also believe that God has given us all the information we need to understand the letter. The providence of God is such that what we have in the Scriptures is sufficient to understand their message. In the case of Galatians we don’t claim to have a comprehensive grasp of the letter as if everything is perfectly clear. But I do claim that enough information is given so that we have a clear understanding of the central message of the letter.

We don’t enjoy absolute certainty about the identity of the opposition, but they bear striking similarities to the Pharisees who debated with Paul and Barnabas in Acts 15. Even if they were not the same people, they shared the same perspective on the law, the law that was given on Mount Sinai. These Pharisaic believers in Christ insisted that Gentile believers should get circumcised and keep the Mosaic law and that such was necessary for salvation (Acts 15:1, 5). The Galatian agitators almost certainly advanced the same argument, as we shall see. It is probable as well that those troubling the Galatians came from outside the church. Thus, it is possible that the opponents hailed from Jerusalem or possibly Syrian Antioch. If that is the case, they traveled to Galatia, declaring the same message that they promulgated in Israel and its near environs. We don’t know, of course, whether Paul’s opponents were the same people who questioned him and Barnabas in Acts 15. What does seem plausible, however, is that—if they were distinct from those in Jerusalem and Syrian Antioch—they advocated the same message.

Questioned Paul’s Apostolic Authority

As we examine Galatians, some features of the adversaries’ teaching come into sharper focus. For instance, we have good reasons to think that they questioned Paul’s apostolic authority, and this is particularly evident in Galatians 1–2. We have a hint that they had doubts about Paul from the outset of the letter since in the first verse, after declaring that he was an apostle, Paul immediately adds that he was “not from men nor through man” (Gal. 1:1). Paul often begins his letters by asserting that he was an apostle (Rom. 1:1; 1 Cor. 1:1; 2 Cor. 1:1; Eph. 1:1; Col. 1:1; 1 Tim. 1:1; 2 Tim. 1:1; Titus 1:1), but this is the only letter where he immediately claims that his apostleship didn’t have a human source. A note of self-defense, an apology of Paul’s apostolic legitimacy, peeks through the first verse of the letter! Paul defended himself from the beginning because the opponents questioned his apostolic authority. The agitators likely claimed that Paul failed to tell the Galatians that they had to be circumcised (more on this shortly) because he wanted to please people (Gal. 1:10). Perhaps they even claimed that Paul preached circumcision elsewhere (Gal. 5:11) and that he failed to bring up the matter in Galatia because he didn’t want to offend them.

Our historical distance from Galatians may screen us from the distinctiveness of Paul’s apostolic ministry. We need to remember that Paul wasn’t one of the original twelve apostles who were commissioned by Jesus and who accompanied him throughout his ministry. Paul himself says that he was “untimely born” (ektrōma) and confesses he was “unworthy” to be an apostle since he persecuted the church (1 Cor. 15:8–9; cf. 1 Tim. 1:12–16). We don’t know if Paul ever met Jesus while he was on earth. One can easily understand, then, that questions could be raised about Paul’s apostolic legitimacy. We can imagine the opponents saying to the Galatians, “Who is this person who never walked and talked with Jesus? Where did he get his gospel? And does it agree with the gospel proclaimed by the apostles in Jerusalem?” In other words, they probably claimed that Paul’s gospel was dependent on the apostles from Jerusalem and that he distorted what the twelve taught.4They could have unsettled the Galatians by saying that the gospel Paul taught was not the same gospel that the twelve taught in Jerusalem. Paul’s gospel was an outlier, they charged, not in accord with the gospel proclaimed elsewhere in the world.

The adversaries asserted, then, that Paul’s gospel was human and not from God or Jesus Christ (Gal. 1:11). I should note, by the way, that we have no clear evidence that these agitators denied that Jesus was the Messiah. Apparently, there was no argument on that matter, and thus both Paul and the opponents claimed that they were Christians—followers of Christ. If they denied that Jesus was the Messiah or that he had risen from the dead, we can be sure that Paul would have responded vigorously. Despite their common belief that Jesus was the Messiah, these troublemakers (1:7; 5:10) asserted that Paul didn’t proclaim the true gospel, the gospel that emanated from Jerusalem, the gospel preached by the twelve apostles. Paul’s so-called gospel, according to his antagonists, was transmitted to him by human beings and didn’t have a divine origin (1:12).

Demanded Observance of Circumcision and the Law

We have seen that the opponents in Galatia questioned Paul’s apostolic authority, asserting that his gospel was merely human since it did not agree with the Jerusalem apostles. But what was the controversy between Paul and the agitators precisely? What was the issue that led to such a fierce dispute? If we work backwards and consult the end of the letter, the difference between Paul and the antagonists surfaces, and it comes out most clearly in Galatians 6:12–13

It is those who want to make a good showing in the flesh who would force you to be circumcised, and only in order that they may not be persecuted for the cross of Christ. For even those who are circumcised do not themselves keep the law, but they desire to have you circumcised that they may boast in your flesh.

Paul’s accusations against his adversaries aren’t my concern here; what we see without any doubt is that the opponents required circumcision, that they reproved the Galatians for failing to observe this command from the torah. We have another indication that the issue was circumcision in Galatians 5:2–4 since Paul warns the Galatians in the strongest possible way about the fatal consequences that will follow if they get circumcised. They are warned that they will be severed from Christ, fall from grace, and face eschatological judgment if they receive circumcision. Paul also tells the story in Galatians 2:3–5 about some “false brothers” who wanted to impose circumcision on Titus when he traveled to Jerusalem with Paul and Barnabas. Actually, if we are reading Galatians for the very first time, we don’t realize as we encounter this story about the conflict over circumcision in Jerusalem that circumcision was also controversial in Galatia. After reading the entire letter, however, we understand why Paul brought up the story of the attempt to get Titus circumcised. He foreshadows in Galatians 2 the debate that was raging in the Galatian churches.

For modern readers the claim that one must be circumcised seems strange and perhaps even bizarre, but when we read the Old Testament the demand of the opponents has much more credibility. They almost certainly appealed to Genesis 17:9–14:

And God said to Abraham, “As for you, you shall keep my covenant, you and your offspring after you throughout their generations. This is my covenant, which you shall keep, between me and you and your offspring after you: Every male among you shall be circumcised. You shall be circumcised in the flesh of your foreskins, and it shall be a sign of the covenant between me and you. He who is eight days old among you shall be circumcised. Every male throughout your generations, whether born in your house or bought with your money from any foreigner who is not of your offspring, both he who is born in your house and he who is bought with your money, shall surely be circumcised. So shall my covenant be in your flesh an everlasting covenant. Any uncircumcised male who is not circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin shall be cut off from his people; he has broken my covenant.”

Several features of these verses were probably trumpeted by the adversaries. (1) The covenant is to be observed “throughout their generations” for Abraham’s “offspring after you” (Gen. 17:9) so that the covenant is “everlasting” (17:13). The agitators surely claimed that there was no evidence that circumcision was obsolete. The Bible says it must be kept forever! (2) The covenant is universal and there are no exceptions: “every male among you shall be circumcised” (Gen. 17:10), “every male throughout your generations” (17:12), including all foreigners (that means Gentiles!) (17:12–13), and “any uncircumcised male” (17:14). (3) Circumcision is required as the covenant sign and thus must be kept. The word “covenant” is used six times in this short paragraph, showing how important circumcision was. Those who refuse to be circumcised are “cut off” (Gen 17:14; the pun is deliberate) from God’s covenant—they are not part of the people of God. It isn’t so surprising, then, that the Pharisaic believers in Acts 15:1 said that circumcision was required to be saved, and the Galatian agitators almost certainly said the same thing. Those who aren’t circumcised, they claimed, are severed from God himself and from his covenant with his people. (4) Finally, circumcision isn’t merely spiritual but is also physical. Circumcision is “in the flesh of your foreskins” (Gen. 17:11); and in case we misunderstand, it is repeated—each one must “be circumcised in the flesh of his foreskin” (17:14). It would not do, the opponents must have said, to restrict circumcision to a spiritual matter since it is patently clear that circumcision was physical, involving the removal of the foreskin.

When we read the Old Testament and grasp the nature of the Lord’s covenant with Israel, we understand why circumcision was considered to be indispensable by Paul’s adversaries. Controversies don’t typically exist if the other side doesn’t have some plausible things to say. When we examine the Old Testament the necessity of circumcision is impressed on us. I have already noted the strong words in Genesis 17:9–14. In addition, every Hebrew boy was to be circumcised after his birth on the eighth day (Lev. 12:3; cf. Jub. 15:12), and we know from Philippians 3:5 that Paul’s parents had him circumcised on the eighth day as well. A remarkable story about Israel entering the land of promise is found in Joshua 5:2–9. We discover that the children of the wilderness generation weren’t circumcised, and before they were allowed to enter the land of promise they had to be circumcised. We learn from this that the covenant people could not receive the covenant promise of the land without the covenant sign being applied to their bodies. The covenantal significance of circumcision also explains the bizarre story about Yahweh threatening to kill Moses as he was returning to Egypt as God’s deliverer, as the mediator of the Lord’s liberation of Israel from Egyptian slavery (Ex. 4:24–26). The meaning of the passage is intensely debated, and thus there is only space here to present my own reading. Why would Yahweh try to kill Moses? We see that his death is only averted when Zipporah circumcises her son, calling Moses a “bridegroom of blood” as she touches Moses’s feet with her son’s foreskin. Probably Zipporah resisted circumcising her children since it wasn’t the custom of her clan. But the covenant deliverer (Moses) could not return to Egypt and save Israel if the covenant sign was flouted in his very own family. The account impresses on us that circumcision wasn’t an optional choice to belong to Israel. The Lord demanded it from his people.

The post-Old Testament history of Israel also confirms the importance of circumcision. Circumcision became the center of controversy when Antiochus Epiphanes—a Seleucid king—exercised control over Israel (ruled 175–164 BC). Antiochus wanted to turn Israel’s cult into one that accorded with his own pagan culture (1 Macc. 1:41–50), and thus he suppressed Jewish customs and oppressed those insisting on observing the torah. Some Jews compromised and even “removed the marks of circumcision” (1 Macc. 1:15 NRSV) since death was decreed for those who violated the king’s command. On the other hand, mothers, families, and children who were circumcised were even put to death (1 Macc. 1:60–61; 2 Macc. 6:10; 4 Macc. 4:25) for their allegiance to the law and to God’s covenant. Israelites were viciously persecuted for observing the torah. We can understand why some in Israel would be outraged, therefore, when Paul diminished the importance of circumcision since about two hundred years earlier Jews had lost their lives for their faithfulness to the Lord’s commands.

The importance of circumcision wasn’t lessened during the Second Temple period (roughly 400 BC–AD 200). Circumcision is considered to be an “eternal ordinance” in Jubilees (15:25 OTP),5 and those who aren’t circumcised “on the eighth day” have “broken” the Lord’s covenant and will “be destroyed and annihilated from the earth” (Jub. 15:26 OTP). Reading Josephus confirms that circumcision continued to be understood in Paul’s day as a physical requirement for covenant membership (Ant.1:192 [1.10.5]). Alternatively, some have said that circumcision wasn’t necessary for salvation in Jewish circles in Paul’s day, and there is some evidence of disagreement on this matter. Josephus tells the fascinating story of King Izates of Adiabene (AD 1–55), who was convinced by a certain Jew by the name of Ananias about the truth of the Jewish religion (Ant.20:34–42 [20.2.3–20.2.4]). Still, Izates’s mother Helena, who was a convert to Judaism herself, worried about the political consequences of Izates receiving circumcision and being identified as Jewish. Ananias assured Izates that circumcision wasn’t necessary to worship God and that he could be forgiven for not adhering strictly to the law. Ananias advocated a laxer approach to the law, yet he did not do so for principled reasons but because of pragmatic concerns. He wanted to spare Izates from negative political consequences that could come from being circumcised. Nevertheless, another Jew, Eleazar, came along and admonished Izates to be circumcised (Ant. 20:43–46 [20.2.4]), emphasizing that the law plainly required it. Izates was convinced and was circumcised. We have seen from the Old Testament texts discussed above why Eleazar’s case was more convincing than Ananias’s. It seems quite obvious that the Old Testament demands that converts to the Jewish faith must be circumcised.

Even though some Jews (like Ananias) downplayed the requirement to be circumcised for one to be converted to Judaism, it seems that the necessity of circumcision for conversion was the majority position in Israel, and the story of Ananias, Izates, and Eleazar confirms such a perspective.6