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The Fulfillment of the Law's Dikoaiōma Another Look at Romans 8:1-4
McFadden, Kevin W.
McFadden, Kevin W.
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Abstract
"Among the majority of scholars who work on “Paul and the Law,” there is an assumed interpretation of Rom 8:4a today—Paul refers to the new Christian obedience that fulfills the “righteous requirement” of the law.1 Many recent commentators have argued for this reading as well.2 Historically, however, the majority of Protestant interpreters have read the verse as a reference to Christ’s obedience which fulfills the law’s requirement,3 primarily because of an objection to the Christian obedience interpretation: Since Christians do not perfectly fulfill the law, Paul must be referring to the imputation of Christ’s righteousness. My article will answer this objection after arguing that the context of 8:4a strongly favors the Christian obedience interpretation. It will also observe, however, that a corrected reading of 8:4a does not support a shift in certain aspects of the Protestant understanding of Paul’s soteriology as some interpreters now claim.4 I shall begin, then, with an argument for the Christian obedience reading of Rom 8:4a followed by a discussion of the nature of Christian obedience in 8:1–4"
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2009
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With permission of the license/copyright holder