Thesis Proposal Turned In

Well, I turned in my thesis proposal today. So, now I must wait to see if the comittee (a group of scholars from Regent my friend Steve and I call the Wizards, because of what they wear every year for graduation--those who have graduated from college or university know of what I speak). Anyway, so I await word from the Wizard Council, to see if I can finally sink my teeth into my thesis full time. I am looking forward to it, and to this point have find of been approaching it rather slowly (due to having a baby, working, etc.). But now is the time to get serious, bear down and go!

For those of you interested let me explain what I am writing my thesis on: I am writing a critique of what has come to be called a "two-covenant" view of Romans 9-11. Basically scholars are now arguing that Paul thought that there were two covenants that God was, and is, nurturing (one with Jews, the other with Gentiles). They propose that Paul thought that though Gentiles are saved by faith in Christ, Jews continued to be saved through obedience to the Law of Moses and that Paul was alright with these two co-existing communities. They also propose that Romans 11.26 "all Israel will be saved" means that every Jew living at the time of Christs return will be saved. And that Christians must therefore not try to bring the gospel of Jesus to Jews because they are already God's special people.

I believe that Paul disagrees with each of the above tenents. More than that I believe the above ideas are dangerous, and if accepted by the Christian community, where they have already taken root, potentially devastating to the gospel. The impact has already reached the evangelical world: George Sheridan, once Coast Regional Director for the Southern Baptist department of Interfaith Witness, asserted that God’s bond with the Jewish people was never superseded with the coming of Jesus. He wrote: “The Jews of today, as ever, receive salvation through their having been chosen by God in covenant with Abraham, Moses, and the prophets....My position is that the Jews do not require evangelization.” My understanding is that many within the mainline protestant churches today would echoe Sheridan's sentiments here.

I will attempt to show that exegesis of Romans 9-11 does not only not produce the aforementioned conclusions, but counters those conclusions. I will seek to exhaustively critique the above position by surveying its historical inception, and putting its interpretation of Romans through rigorous testing (against the text itself and the conclusions of other scholars) to see if it holds water. Though I understand the reason many want to believe this idea I cannot agree with it. It is an example of biblical interpretation being informed by historical crisis--there is much guilt toward the Jewish community following WWI and WWII, and we Christians should surely be sensitive in our dialogue, but not to the point where we interpret the New Testament to be saying something it is not out of that sensitivity...(the propisition by the two-covenant movvement is to keep all mission to Jewish communities in check)--Paul would say they need Jesus, and to not bring them the gospel is precisely the anti-Jewish position--after all it is their history that we Gentiles get grafted into thus it makes the most sense for them to believe in Christ, again after all the Christ (the Messiah) is a Jewish concept and category not a Gentile one!

There is a lot more to say but that is the basic premise. So i will let you know the verdict on my proposal when I hear something...


"For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. 7Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children." (Romans 9.6-7)

"And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again." (Romans 11.23)

Though at the end of the day, Paul, and by extension the church should agree, that having Jews believe in their Messiah would be the most amazing thing and their rejection of him, broke his heart as it should ours: I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, 4the people of Israel. (Romans 9.2-3)


Blessings,

Mark Clark