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Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament · 2. Reihe Herausgeber / Editor Jörg Frey (Zürich) Mitherausgeber / Associate Editors Friedrich Avemarie (Marburg) Markus Bockmuehl (Oxford) James A. Kelhoffer (Uppsala) Hans-Josef Klauck (Chicago, IL) 304 David J. Rudolph A Jew to the Jews Jewish Contours of Pauline Flexibility in 1 Corinthians 9:19–23 Mohr Siebeck David J. Rudolph, born 1967; Ph.D. in New Testament from Cambridge University; M. A. in Old Testament and M.A. in Biblical Languages from Gordon-Conwell Theolo- gical Seminary; currently Director of the School of Jewish Studies at Messianic Jewish Theological Institute in Los Angeles and Scholar-in-Residence at the MJTI Center for Jewish-Christian Relations. e-ISBN PDF 978-3-16-151647-4 ISBN 978-3-16-149293-8 ISSN 0340-9570 (Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament, 2. Reihe) Die Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbiblio- graphie; detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de. © 2011 by Mohr Siebeck, Tübingen, Germany. This book may not be reproduced, in whole or in part, in any form (beyond that permitted by copyright law) without the publisher’s written permission. This applies particularly to reproductions, translations, microfilms and storage and processing in electronic systems. The book was printed by Laupp & Göbel in Nehren on non-aging paper and bound by Buchbinderei Nädele in Nehren. Printed in Germany. For Harumi Preface This monograph is an updated version of the doctoral thesis that I completed at Cambridge University in 2007 and that won the Franz Delitzsch Prize from the Freie Theologische Akademie. Since I put down my pen, a number of im- portant books and articles have been published on Paul and Judaism, and I am pleased to have the opportunity to interact with some of these sources in the present work. The writing of this monograph would not have been possible without the generous support of many people, first and foremost my Doktorvater Prof. Markus Bockmuehl. In addition to guiding the course of my research, Prof. Bockmuehl saw to it that my Cambridge experience included seminars, cul- tural events, participation in the Grantchester Meadows Group of Ph.D. stu- dents that met fortnightly at his house and visits to the Christian catacombs in Rome among other day trips. Prof. Bockmuehl regularly extended hospitality to me as well as to my family during the course of my doctoral studies and I am forever grateful for these happy times. I am also indebted to the erudite Prof. William Horbury and Dr. Peter Head for their supervisions and wise counsel, as well as to my examiners, Prof. Richard Bauckham and Dr. James Carleton Paget, who carefully reviewed the thesis and encouraged me to publish it. Special thanks should go to the Hebrew, Jewish and Early Christian Studies Seminar at Cambridge and the Oxford-Cambridge New Testament Conference (2005) for providing me with an opportunity to discuss my research with colleagues working in the field of Second Temple Judaism and Christian origins. I am particularly grateful for comments received from Prof. Graham Stanton and Prof. Morna Hooker. The community of scholars at Tyndale House, Cambridge, warmly wel- comed me into their company and I benefited greatly from their insights. I am especially thankful to these friends whose constant encouragement and koino- nia made my season in Cambridge a magical time. These tall pillars and mighty hammers included Wayne Coppins, Sarah Hall, Todd Wilson, Joel Willitts, Justin Hardin, Charles Anderson, John Yates, Stephen Witmer, Jona- than Moo, Bill Barker, Joel Lawrence, Barry Danylak, Poul Guttesen, Chris Vlachos, Caryn Reeder, Dr. Elizabeth Magba and Dr. David Instone-Brewer. Many of the ideas contained in this monograph were borne out of extended conversations with these extraordinary people. VIII Preface Of all my dialogue partners, I particularly want to thank Wayne Coppins for the hundreds of hours we spent together in the Selwyn College Dining Hall discussing Paul and Judaism. Wayne pressed me to question every as- sumption and to go deeper with every argument. A special word of appreci- ation goes to my friend Jane Heath who read through the thesis and gave me sixteen pages of invaluable comments in the weeks leading up to submission. I am also grateful to Todd Wilson, Charles Anderson, Dr. Mark Kinzer, Kent Meads, David Kindred, Hana Rudolph, Elisa Rudolph, Yahnatan Lasko and Dr. J. Brian Tucker, who took time out of their busy schedules to carefully review the work. The completion of the thesis would not have been possible without schol- arship assistance from the British Government, Cambridge University and Selwyn College. The Divinity Faculty’s Peregrine-Maitland Studentship for Postgraduate Research on the Relationship between Judaism and Christianity was especially helpful during my final year of study in England. I am also grateful to the Union of Messianic Jewish Congregations, Prof. Dan Juster, Rabbi Carl Kinbar and Dr. Jeff Feinberg for their scholarship assistance and enthusiastic support. I would also like to thank Prof. Jörg Frey at Mohr Sie- beck who accepted the monograph for publication in the WUNT 2 series as well as Dr. Henning Ziebritzki and Tanja Mix for their guidance in preparing the final manuscript. A warm word of appreciation goes to my parents Carol Ann Rudolph, Mi- chael Rudolph, Marie Rudolph, Morimitsu Kondo and Teruko Kondo, whose continual encouragement helped me to run the race to win the prize. Friday evenings at 14 Merton Street in Newnham, Cambridge, were al- ways filled with Shabbat peace, guests at our table, Hebrew blessings and zemirot (Jewish hymns), beginning with the Eshet Chayil, “A wife of noble character who can find? Far beyond pearls is her value. Her husband’s heart relies on her and he shall lack no fortune” (Prov 31:10–11). My wife Harumi believed in the importance of my Ph.D. studies and joyfully sacrificed much so that I could be a full-time student from 1999–2005. Without her compan- ionship, encouragement and devotion to the Lord, I would have never com- pleted this research project. “Many women have done excellently, but you my darling surpass them all” (Prov 31:29). Finally, I am grateful to my three wonderful daughters, Hana, Elisa and Miryam, who followed me to England and back so that I could live out my dream. Table of Contents Preface............................................................................................................ VII Chapter 1: Introduction .....................................................................................1 1.1 The Case for the Traditional View ......................................................................... 2 1.1.1 Intertextual Argument.................................................................................... 3 1.1.2 Contextual Argument................................................................................... 10 1.1.3 Textual Argument........................................................................................ 11 1.2 The Inadequacy of the Traditional View .............................................................. 12 1.3 The Need for Reassessment.................................................................................. 13 1.4 Aim and Method ................................................................................................... 18 1.5 Overview of the Argument ................................................................................... 19 Part I: A Reassessment of the Traditional View of 1 Cor 9:19–23 Chapter 2: Intertextual Issues: Understanding Paul’s Jewishness in Relation to Being in Christ ..........................................................................23 2.1 Text Group A: Jewishness Is Inconsequential in Christ....................................... 23 2.1.1 Timothy’s Circumcision: An Example of Paul Treating Jewish Identity as a Matter of Expediency (Acts 16:3) ........................................................ 23 2.1.2 Erasure Language ........................................................................................ 27 2.1.2.1 Circumcision Is Nothing (1 Cor 7:19; Gal 5:6; 6:15) .......................... 28 2.1.2.2 No Longer Jew or Greek (Gal 3:28)..................................................... 30 2.1.3 Third Entity Language (1 Cor 10:32) .......................................................... 33 2.1.4 “Weak in Faith” Language (Rom 14).......................................................... 35 2.1.5 “Former Way of Life” and “Rubbish” Language (Gal 1:13; Phil 3:8)........ 44 2.1.6 “Live Like a Gentile and Not Like a Jew” Language (Gal 2:14) .............. 46 2.2 Text Group B: Jewishness Is a Calling in Christ.................................................. 53 2.2.1 Paul’s Testimony About His Torah Observance (Acts 21:17–26) .............. 53 2.2.1.1 Paul Was a Torah-Observant Jew ........................................................ 54 2.2.1.2 Paul Lapsed in His Faith ...................................................................... 59 2.2.1.3 James Tricked Paul............................................................................... 60 2.2.1.4 James and Paul Fooled the Naïve Jewish Converts ............................. 62 2.2.1.5 Paul Was Inconsistent .......................................................................... 63 2.2.1.6 Luke’s Account in Acts 21:17–26 Is a Pious Fraud............................. 64 2.2.1.7 Paul Became as