psycheives
Puritan Board Freshman
Interesting interpretation of Lev 18:5 & Gal 3:12 by Dr. James Hamilton (SBTS). Thoughts? Agree? Disagree? And why? Can someone please compare this view to "The Law Is Not of Faith?" Thanks
Read the whole article here: http://jimhamilton.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/gw-aug05-p10-12.pdf
Or the conclusion here:
CONCLUSION
In its Old Testament context Leviticus 18:5 is a statement that the one who keeps the requirements of the Mosaic covenant by faith will not be slain by the holiness of Yahweh in the midst of the people. Observing the covenant by faith guarantees acceptance before Yahweh, now and in the age to come. To be sure, Leviticus 18:5 does not explicitly say that the covenant is to be kept by faith, but the statement that The one who does the law will live must be believed if it is to have its intended motivational force. Similarly, the promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience in Leviticus 26 must be believed if they are to have any meaning.
The words of Galatians 3:12, “Now the law is not from faith, but The one who does them shall live by them,” are not setting up a dichotomy between an Old Testament system based on works and a New Testament system based on faith. “Faith” in the first half of Galatians 3:12 points to the new period in salvation history that has begun “now that faith has come” (3:25). The reference to the “faith” that has come appears to be a shorthand way of referring to the fuller statement in 2:16, “We have believed in Messiah Jesus, in order that we might be justified by faith in Messiah Jesus and not by works of law.” Some of Paul’s contemporaries misunderstood the Mosaic Covenant and thought that it was a legalistic system, but I do not think that Paul affirms their reading of the Old Testament by quoting Leviticus 18:5 in the second half of Galatians 3:12.
“Before faith came” Leviticus 18:5 meant that the one who by faith kept the Mosaic Covenant would live. Now that “faith has come,” the Mosaic covenant is no longer in force, it has served its salvation-historical purpose, with the result that anyone who seeks to live by it must keep all of its regulations flawlessly since its sacrifices are now abolished. Thus, the statement in Leviticus 18:5 as it is used in Galatians 3:12 is equivalent to Galatians 5:3—the one who submits to the Mosaic covenant in this new period of salvation history “is obligated to do the whole law.” Paul does not impute legalism to Moses.
http://jimhamilton.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/gw-aug05-p10-12.pdf
Read the whole article here: http://jimhamilton.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/gw-aug05-p10-12.pdf
Or the conclusion here:
CONCLUSION
In its Old Testament context Leviticus 18:5 is a statement that the one who keeps the requirements of the Mosaic covenant by faith will not be slain by the holiness of Yahweh in the midst of the people. Observing the covenant by faith guarantees acceptance before Yahweh, now and in the age to come. To be sure, Leviticus 18:5 does not explicitly say that the covenant is to be kept by faith, but the statement that The one who does the law will live must be believed if it is to have its intended motivational force. Similarly, the promised blessings for obedience and curses for disobedience in Leviticus 26 must be believed if they are to have any meaning.
The words of Galatians 3:12, “Now the law is not from faith, but The one who does them shall live by them,” are not setting up a dichotomy between an Old Testament system based on works and a New Testament system based on faith. “Faith” in the first half of Galatians 3:12 points to the new period in salvation history that has begun “now that faith has come” (3:25). The reference to the “faith” that has come appears to be a shorthand way of referring to the fuller statement in 2:16, “We have believed in Messiah Jesus, in order that we might be justified by faith in Messiah Jesus and not by works of law.” Some of Paul’s contemporaries misunderstood the Mosaic Covenant and thought that it was a legalistic system, but I do not think that Paul affirms their reading of the Old Testament by quoting Leviticus 18:5 in the second half of Galatians 3:12.
“Before faith came” Leviticus 18:5 meant that the one who by faith kept the Mosaic Covenant would live. Now that “faith has come,” the Mosaic covenant is no longer in force, it has served its salvation-historical purpose, with the result that anyone who seeks to live by it must keep all of its regulations flawlessly since its sacrifices are now abolished. Thus, the statement in Leviticus 18:5 as it is used in Galatians 3:12 is equivalent to Galatians 5:3—the one who submits to the Mosaic covenant in this new period of salvation history “is obligated to do the whole law.” Paul does not impute legalism to Moses.
http://jimhamilton.files.wordpress.com/2008/06/gw-aug05-p10-12.pdf