If You Call Yourself a Jew

A study of the Epistle to the Romans, suggesting that outstanding problems of interpretation are solved if Paul's interlocutor is a gentile covert to Judaism.

'If You Call Yourself a Jew' reads Paul's letter to the Romans as a dialogue between Paul and a gentile proselyte to Judaism. This fresh reading brings Romans into focus as Paul's exposition of the revelation of God's righteousness - his faithfulness to his covenant promises to Abraham, which is brought to climax in the announcement that "in you all the tribes of the earth will be blessed" (Genesis 12:3). Paul insists that the righteousness of God is revealed, "for the Jew first as well as for the Greek," not through Torah but through the faith(fullness) of Jesus. He concedes that Torah and the prophets provide corroborating witness for God's righteousness, but suggests that gentiles who bend their necks to Torah's yoke miss the actual mechanism for finding peace with God. Paul found in the story of Jesus the image of complete faith in and faithfulness to God. In Jesus' resurrection, he found the image of God's complete faithfulness, "for the Jew first as well as for the Greek." Whereas Torah resulted in curse and death, it also anticipated the unconditional faithfulness of God for both Jew and gentile. For Paul, the gospel of Jesus Christ is the account of the outworking of God's faithfulness: the end of Torah's curses and the fulfi lment of its blessings.

Rafael Rodríguez is Professor of New Testament at Johnson University, Knoxville, Tennessee. He is the author of 'Structuring Early Christian Memory' (2010) and 'Oral Tradition and the New Testament' (2014).