People interpret Paul in a number of different ways. Pauline theology is hard, because Paul isn't a very systematic thinker, and because the letters occasional: they deal with specific issues, in specific churches, and we can't be sure what those issues are, based solely on Paul's side of the conversation. Reading Paul's letters is very much like listening in on one side of a telephone conversation, with all the difficulties that accompany it.
One interpretation of Paul's understanding of salvation goes like this: Abraham, because of his faithfulness to God, was adopted by God into a relationship of Grace. His descendants were likewise adopted. So God, by His Grace, extended salvation to the Jews. This adoption, this election and grace-gift, are irrevocable. As part of this grace relationship, certain responsibilities were given to the Jews to set them apart, and make them holy. This was the reason for the giving of the law. But that setting apart, which was a gift to the Jews, was a curse to everyone else. For it showed how lost the rest of the world was, how in need of grace it was, but how lacking was the grace it needed.
During this time, the only way for a non-Jew to access God's grace was by becoming Jewish, and the only way to do that was to adopt the Law. But parts of the law were prohibitive for non-Jews, most notably circumcision. Additionally, the only way to be saved was to initiate divine contact, to reach out to God through your own actions. This was tantamount to making the Law the saving force, which for Paul is ridiculous. So Paul believes that Jesus, by His faithfulness on the cross, extended God's grace to all people. All have now been adopted as the Jews were. God's grace is freely given to all. So the role Abraham played for Jews, Jesus played for all people.
This is one interpretation of Paul, but not by any means the only one, and certainly NOT the dominant one. But let us assume it is the right one, just for the sake of argument. It seems to me that The Book of Jonah helps us understand what Paul is (or rather might be) talking about.
For in the Book of Jonah, Jonah can do no wrong. Jonah is quite disobedient: he runs from God. He is also uncaring: he sleeps, confident that God will save him, while the boat he ran away in is threatened by a storm. He questions God's justice and invites death, but God refuses to kill him. The whale that swallowed Jonah, in the context of the Book, is not a punishment but a grace. It justifies Jonah's self-confidence that God will save him no matter what. What Jonah selfishly expected, God did. The creation of and destruction of the plant, far from being a punishment on Jonah, is God's attempt to to help Jonah see the world as He does. Jonah is rotten, selfish, mean, and disobedient, but God never stops loving, and never even looks for repentance before He saves. Jonah stands as a man graced beyond belief.
The non-Jews in the story also receive God's grace, but only after they do something to initiate a relationship. The sailors pray to Yahweh and throw Jonah overboard without God's direction. They grope into the darkness, hoping that God will stop the storm, and after they do as God wants them to, they are saved. They become Yahweh-worshippers simply by dumb luck...they must stumble upon the truth, unlike Jonah who always has it. The Ninevites are given no hope of repentance when Jonah preaches. They are simply told that destruction waits for them for their evils. They, too, grope and hope in the darkness, doing all they can to try to invite God's relenting of the punishment He has promised. They to are saved and God proclaims His love for them. But this happens only AFTER they, without prodding, take up the burden of repentance. They are not even shown a way out, they must find one for themselves.
So Jonah, while a beautiful and generally universalist book, maintains some level of Jewish exceptionalism: for the Jews, symbolized in Jonah, are always under God's grace, and seem all but incapable of every losing it, whereas non-Jews must initiate contact with the True God, and must seek out salvation themselves.
From a certain Pauline perspective, this is what Jesus saves us from: the need to go seeking God's grace. We do not have to become Jews to be saved or have a proper relationship with God. I think Jonah, then, is a wonderful representation of the Pauline problem I spoke of earlier. Interesting how these connections can be made. It is why the Old and New Testament should both be studied, together.
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