ABSTRACT
The interpretation of stoicheō and stoicheia presented in the last chapter suggested that Paul considered there to be an equivalence in the situation of Jew and Gentile: without faith, both are ‘in servitude’ under religious law. This chapter contains two sections which will support and build on that interpretation. The first will consolidate the view that Paul considered all people, prior to the acceptance of faith, to be under law. It confirms the interpretation of stoicheia presented in the last chapter which implies that, from the perspective of the direct guidance provided by the prophetic word, Paul could place Gentile and Jew in the same category with the same need to be liberated from the ‘weak and beggarly’ guidance of the law. The second argument will begin to show how Paul could hold such a view without thereby undermining the consistency, the faithfulness, the integrity of God. For this is the serious problem which emerges from this view. If there is one God, as Paul and his fellow Jews believed, and if, therefore, the law of Moses which brought into being and sustained the Jewish people was given by the same God who is now revealing that law to be inadequate, how can that be so without undermining God’s faithfulness, without calling into doubt a consistency and coherence in what God does which can be absolutely relied upon?
