Journal: Conspectus
Volume: CONSPECTUS 35:2 (Sep 2023)
Article: Author’s Response: "Favor And Gratitude: Reading Galatians In Its Greco- Roman Context."
Author: Anonymous

Conspectus 35:2 (September 2023) p. 41

Author’s Response: Favor And Gratitude: Reading Galatians In Its Greco- Roman Context.

In the book Favor and Gratitude: Reading Galatians in its Greco-Roman Context, I insist that Paul intentionally appealed to the cultural value of benefaction of the ancient world to proclaim the gospel message of Christ to the Galatian Christians. In my reading of Galatians, I discern that the “problem that has arisen in the community since his previous visit requires a detailed presentation and clarification of his gospel message that does not include the demand to be circumcised and observe the law” (p. ix). Therefore, in order to make this gospel message clearer to the community, Paul writes a letter defending his message over and against the one preached by his Jewish-Christian opponents, which demands that the Galatian Christians be circumcised and observe the Law in addition to having faith in Christ. Hence, I maintain that on the basis of my interpretation of the letter, “there is substantial evidence that Paul appeals to the cultural values of the Galatians in presenting and explaining his gospel message about God, Jesus Christ and the faith of the Galatians towards God, Jesus Christ and one another” (p. ix).

I build the argument of this book by examining how Paul uses the Greco-Roman cultural values of χάρις and πίστις, which are the foundations, as my reading of Galatians reveals, upon which he constructs the gospel message he preaches to the Galatians. I argue thatthe cultural understanding of χάρις and πίστις is the backdrop against which Paul delineates the gospel message he previously preached to the Galatians, before the arrival of his Jewish-Christian opponents in the community. One of the cultural notions of χάρις, which underscores its usage in Galatians, involves, on the one hand, the values of favor, kindness, and goodwill that a benefactor gratuitously granted to the beneficiary. On the other hand, it is equally used in the Greco- Roman world to delineate “the return of favour or thanks by a beneficiary to the benefactor whether divine or human.” In other words, the kindness of a benefactor to a beneficiary is known as χάρις, and the actions of a beneficiary to a benefactor that acknowledges the favors that have been granted is known as χάρις (p. 4).

In addition, when I examined the meaning of πίστις in the Greco-Roman context, I noticed that as with χάρις, πίστις involves a relationship between a benefactor and a beneficiary. The Greco-Roman cultural values of lo...