갈라디아서에 나타난 "율법의 행위"

"Works of Law" in Galatians: -A New Understanding of the Term and Its Significance in Paul's Revelatory Perspective

There is an increasing tendency among recent NT scholars to interpret Judaism in Paul's days as a religion of covenantal nomism that still retains, however, an element of works-righteousness in it. In this case, the expression "being justified by works of law" in Galatians can be equivalent to the expression "living by the law." It is agreed with E. P. Sanders and others that Paul's Jewish opponents regarded themselves as those who already got "in" by grace, but it is still insisted that their obedient works of the law remains as a condition to retain their own present status and even obtain their future eternal life. In my opinion, this new interpretative model does not give us much help in reconstructing the reality of the Galatian crisis: The term 'being justified' refer to the different things between Paul and his jewish opponents respectively. For Paul, it refers to one's initial experience of "getting in," whereas, for his jewish opponents, it designates one's subsequent experience of "staying in." Furthermore, this kind of distinction must apply to the understanding of 'faith' and 'works of law.' As related to conditions for justification, the former refers to one's initial act of trust in Christ or the gospel, whereas the latter designates one's activities of observing the law. One of the ways to get rid of this unobvious element is perhaps to consider Paul's own revelatory perspective, in which he came to a radical understanding of the true identity of God's people. In his revelatory perspective Paul found most of the Jewish people as "born of the flesh"(Gal 4:23) under the Sainai covenant(Gal 4:4,24), and he also saw the Jewish history under the law as the history of being made captive "under sin"(Gal 3:21-22). Accepting "the works of the law" is nothing but "completing in the flesh"(Gal 3:2-5): Judaism is simply a religion of flesh. Then "works of law" can refer to those activities which express the Jewish identity, simply human acts of obeying the law which are practiced in the sphere of the flesh and thus distorted by the influence of sin. Although Paul's Jewish opponents saw themselves as already "gotten in," certainly Paul found that they are still "out": most of the Jews, as his Jewish opponents, are nothing but the part of this worldly existence as made captive to the power of sin. In this new situation the traditional distinction between circumcision and uncircumcision, or between those who are of the law and those who are without the law, has proven to be meaningless. The law has been found as incapable of "forming" the true people of God and giving them the gift of righteousness and life(Gal 3:21). Many of Paul's attacks on his Jewish opponents are directed to the issue of the law as such, to the effect that it has been found to be too "weak" and "inable" to overcome the tyrannical force of sin(cf. Rom 8:3). Consequently, Paul's argument on justification must be understood in the light of this radical outlook: it serves as a revelatory interpretative tool to radically redefine the true nature of God's people.