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Oedipus V. 19 Analysis

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Paul begins this portion of the letter in v. 19 by harkening back to the series of quotations from the previous verses in the same chapter that quoted the Psalms and Isaiah, which question the righteousness of humanity in front of a just God, who is the judge of all mankind. The first “law” that appears is speaking of the Old Testament and not just the Mosaic Law or Torah, for “law” is in reference to the quotations of the Psalms and Isaiah, and none from the Pentateuch. The problem that occurs is the second “law” in “those who are under the law,” which has commentators disagreeing on who fits the scope of that phrase. Kruse writes that Herbert Bowsher “is virtually on his own when he argues in respect to ‘those who are under the law’ in …show more content…

19] is the note of all-inclusive universality, especially in the words ‘the whole world.’ Paul includes Gentiles who did not have the law in the sense of the Old Testament or of specially revealed law. The Gentiles are therefore regarded as ‘in the law’, that is to say, in the sphere within which the law of which Paul had quoted samples had relevance. Murray goes on to state that the OT passages that were quoted by Paul were also characteristic of the Gentiles, and that the Gentiles would also receive the same due judgment. Hendriksen agrees with Murray’s assessment stating that at a cursory glance, the phrase seems to address only the Jews, but he argues that in light of the context of v.19b, everybody, meaning the whole world, is being addressed. Many scholars disagree with Murray’s assessment of this verse. Schreiner states that looking at the context and usage of the parallel phrase in 2:12 ὅσοι ἐν νόμῳ (as many as in the law), Paul distinguishes Jews from Gentiles. Morris writes, “It is unlikely that Paul’s readers would have held that anyone other than the Jew was under the law.” Moo refutes Murray’s claim by stating that the view to include Gentiles in the phrase is not preferable due to the fact that there is a, “close identification of nomos with the written Scripture in [that] context… whatever access to God’s law Gentiles may have, it does not come in this ‘written,’ ‘inscripturated’ form.” Cranfield notes that ἐν τῷ νόμῳ …show more content…

Additionally, the English translation of ἔργων νόμου includes articles, but in the Greek, there are no articles. Therefore, it is not only the Mosaic Law that Paul is referring to, but also, “any and every legal enactment, code, requirement; never that of Moses alone although it is often included but equally that of pagans who are even ‘law’ unto themselves (2:14).” F.F. Bruce writes that the reason why no-one can be justified in God’s sight ‘by works of the law’; it is that through the law comes knowledge of sin.” This traditional view, that “works of the law” refers to “anything done in obedience to the law, particularly those ‘good works’ that one might put forth as a reason why God should accept a person” disproves the notion that man can earn his justification or righteousness before God by what the man

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