The Promises of God: The Background of Paul’s Exclusive Use of 'epangelia' for the Divine Pledge

Description

This study is the first to investigate why Paul makes exclusive use of 'epangelia' for the divine pledge when referring to the Abrahamic covenant, a usage of the term never found in the OT-LXX. After examining Jewish writings and Greek literature of the classical and Hellenistic periods, this study demonstrates that Paul is rather unique in his exclusive use of the 'epangelia' word group for the divine pledge and for using the term predominantly in reference to the Abrahamic promises. This exclusive usage is further deemed unexpected in that the 'horkos' and 'omnymi' lexemes are by far the terms most commonly associated with God's promises to Abraham in the OT, the literature with which Paul was most familiar. The study then moves to explain why Paul has chosen this path of discontinuity, where it is argued that Paul's exclusive choice of 'epangelia' for the divine promise is driven by its conceptual and linguistic correspondence with the 'euangelion', one of the terms Paul adopted from the early church that forms the core of his ministry. This conceptual word study of the divine promise will benefit Pauline scholars interested in Paul's use of the OT as well as his association of the 'euangelion' and 'epangelia' word groups. Contents Citations Abbreviations 1 Introduction and Method 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Method 1.2.1 Method in Part One: Discovering Synonymous Pledge Terms for Investigating the Divine Promise in non-Jewish and Jewish Greek Writings 1.2.1.1 Hebrew Counterparts to the Vulgate’s Promissio 1.2.1.2 Greek Counterparts to the Vulgate’s Promissio 1.2.2 Method in Part Two: Examining the Association of Two -a??e? Terms, ?pa??e??a and e?a???????, in the Undisputed Pauline Corpus Part One:Paul’s Uniqueness in His Exclusive Use of ?pa??e??a for the Divine Promise 2 The Divine Pledge in Classical and Hellenistic Literature 2.1 Introduction 2.2 Classical Period 2.2.1 Eighth Century B.C.E. 2.2.1.1 Homer 2.2.1.2 Hesiod 2.2.2 Eighth to Sixth Century B.C.E. 2.2.2.1 Homeric Hymns 2.2.3 Fifth Century B.C.E. 2.2.3.1 Pindar 2.2.3.2 Aeschylus 2.2.3.3 Euripides 2.2.3.4 Herodotus 2.2.3.5 Thucydides 2.2.4 Fourth Century B.C.E. 2.2.4.1 Xenophon 2.2.4.2 Plato 2.2.4.3 Aristotle 2.3 Hellenistic Period 2.3.1 Third Century B.C.E. 2.3.1.1 Apollonius of Rhodes 2.3.2 Second Century B.C.E. 2.3.2.1 Polybius 2.3.3 First Century B.C.E. 2.3.3.1 Diodorus of Sicily 2.3.3.2 Dionysius of Halicarnassus 2.3.3.3 Strabo 2.3.4 First Century C.E. 2.3.4.1 Pseudo-Apollodorus 2.3.4.2 Plutarch 2.4 Conclusion 3 Synonymous Divine Pledge Terms in the LXX Books with MT Counterparts 3.1 Introduction 3.2 General Speech Terms: The Use of the ????/?a??? Word Groups with Regard to Key Texts Highlighting the Abrahamic Promises 3.2.1 Genesis 12:1–3,7 – God’s Seven (Eight) Promises to Abraham 3.2.2 General Speech Terms for the Divine Promise in the Rest of the Abrahamic Narrative 3.2.3 Genesis 22 – The Lord Swears with an Oath to Abraham 3.3 The ????? and ?µ??µ? Lexemes 3.4 The ?p?s?es??/?p?s????µa? Word Group 3.5 The ?pa??e??a Word Group 3.5.1 The Use of the ?pa??e??a Word Group for the non-Divine Promise in the LXX (MT) 3.5.1.1 Esther 4:7 3.5.1.2 Proverbs 13:12 3.5.2 The Use of the ?pa??e??a Word Group for the Divine Promise in the LXX (MT) 3.5.2.1 Psalm 55:9 (LXX) 3.5.2.2 Amos 9:6 3.6 Conclusion 4 Synonymous Divine Pledge Terms in OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha 4.1 Introduction 4.2 OT Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha and Other LXX Writings 4.2.1 2Maccabees 4.2.2 Sibylline Oracles 4.2.3 Apocalypse of Sedrach 4.2.4 Testaments of the Twelve Patriarchs 4.2.4.1 Testament of Joseph 4.2.4.2 Testament of Judah 4.2.5 Testaments of the Three Patriarchs 4.2.5.1 Testament of Abraham 4.2.6 Life of Adam and Eve 4.2.7 3 Maccabees 4.2.8 Prayer of Manasseh 4.2.9 Psalms of Solomon 4.3 Heavenly Beings and Oracles 4.4 Conclusion 5 Formal Divine Pledge Term Usage in Philo and Josephus 5.1 Introduction 5.2 Philo 5.2.1 Writings that Employ All Three “Groups”: ?????/?µ??µ?,?p?s?es??, and ?pa??e??a 5.2.2 Writings that Employ Just Two “Groups”: ?????/?µ??µ? and?p?s?es?? 5.2.3 Writings that Employ Just Two Word Groups: ?p?s?es?? and ?pa??e??a 5.2.4 Writings that Employ Just One “Group”: ?????/?µ??µ? 5.2.5 Writings that Employ Just One Word Group: ?p?s?es?? 5.3 Conclusion of Philo 5.4 Josephus 5.4.1 The Contents of the Promises 5.4.1.1 General Care for the Israelites 5.4.1.2 Land of Canaan 5.4.1.3 Victory over Enemies 5.4.1.4 Davidic Kingship 5.4.1.5 God’s Help for Leaders to Accomplish Their Duties 5.4.1.6 Peace/Rest 5.4.1.7 God’s Presence 133 5.4.1.8 Deliverance/Salvation 5.4.1.9 Descendants 5.4.1.10 Reconciliation with God 5.4.1.11 Other 5.5 Conclusion of Josephus Conclusion of Part One Part Two:Paul’s Reasons for Exclusively Using ?pa??e??a for the Divine Promise 6 The Association of ?pa??e??a with e?a??????? 6.1 Introduction 6.2 Significance of the e?a??????? 6.2.1 The History of the e?a??????? Word Group for Paul 6.2.2 The Conceptual Correspondence Between e?a??????? and ?pa??e??a 6.2.3 God’s Promises to the First Patriarch in the Abrahamic Narrative 6.2.4 The Significance of e?a??????? for Paul 6.2.5 Continuity between God’s Promises and His Gospel 6.2.5.1 The Gospel Foretold in the Scriptures 6.2.5.2 God as the Source 6.2.5.3 Jesus as the Content 6.2.5.4 God’s Salvation 6.2.5.5 From Death to Life 6.2.5.6 Recipients 6.2.5.7 Faith 6.2.5.8 Discontinuity 6.3 The Linguistic Correspondence Between ?pa??e??a and e?a??????? 6.3.1 WordPlay Created by Shared -a??e? Stem 6.4 Conclusion 7 The Association of e?a??????? and ?pa??e??a in Romans 7.1 Introduction 7.2 The Framework of Romans 7.2.1 The Letter’s Opening 7.2.1.1 The Promised Gospel in Scripture 7.2.1.2 Means and Recipients 7.2.1.3 ??a??????? Serving as an Inclusio for the Opening 7.2.2 The Letter’s Closing 7.3 Body of Romans 7.4 Romans 4 and 9–11 7.4.1 Romans 4 7.4.2 Romans 9–11 7.5 Conclusion 8 The Association of e?a??????? and ?pa??e??a in Galatians and 2Corinthians as well as Other NT Writings 8.1 Introduction 8.2 Galatians 8.2.1 Galatians 1–3 8.2.1.1 Holy Spirit 8.2.2 Galatians 4 8.3 Conclusion of Galatians 8.4 2Corinthians 8.4.1 2Corinthians 1:20 8.4.2 2Corinthians 7:1 (and 9:5) 8.5 Conclusion of 2Corinthians 8.6 Divine Pledges in the Rest of the NT 8.6.1 Disputed Pauline Writings 8.6.1.1 Ephesians 8.6.1.2 1 and 2Timothy and Titus 8.6.2 Luke/Acts 8.6.3 Hebrews 8.6.4 Catholic/General Epistles 8.6.4.1 James 8.6.4.2 2Peter 8.6.4.3 1John 8.7 Conclusion to the Divine Pledges in the Rest of the NT 9 Conclusion Bibliography Index of Scriptures and Other Ancient Writings Index of Ancient Authors Index of Greek and Hebrew Words Subject Index