Paul’s Use of Deuteronomy in Galatians 3: A Rhetorical and Intertextual Analysis

Emmanuel Actor Oyewole

doi:10.69668/sejati.v2i2.148

Penulis

Emmanuel Actor Oyewole Ajayi Crowther University, Oyo, Nigeria

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.69668/sejati.v2i2.148

Kata Kunci:

Galatians 3, Deuteronomy, Curse, Pauline Intertextuality, Rhetorical Strategy

Abstrak

This article argues that Paul’s use of Deuteronomy 27:26 and 21:23 in Galatians 3:10–14 is neither incidental nor merely evidential but constitutes the decisive rhetorical and theological pivot of his argument for justification by faith. Against readings that treat Paul’s citations as prooftexts supporting a pre-formed theology, this study contends that Paul actively reconstructs the Deuteronomic curse tradition to expose the internal logic of law-based righteousness and to articulate its redemptive resolution in Christ. Employing a rhetorical–intertextual methodology that combines close Greek exegesis with comparative analysis of the Septuagint and Hebrew texts, the article demonstrates that Deuteronomy 27:26 functions to totalise the law’s demand and universalise its curse, while Deuteronomy 21:23 is deliberately reappropriated to present the crucified Christ as the covenantal representative who bears that curse on behalf of others. The study concludes that Paul does not abolish the law but redefines its theological function, transforming curse from a terminal judgment into the means by which Abrahamic blessing and Spirit-empowered life are realised through faith.

Referensi

Barclay, J. M. G. (2017). Paul and the Gift. Eerdmans.

Braulik, G. (1998). The theology of Deuteronomy : collected essays of Georg Braulik. https://api.semanticscholar.org/CorpusID:169532287

Caneday, A. (1989). Redeemed from the Curse of the Law”: The Use of Deuteronomy 21:22–23 in Galatians 3:13. Trinity Journal 10 NS, 96, 185–209.

Cowan. (2020). The Curse of the Law, the Covenant, and Anthropology in Galatians 3:10–14: An Examination of Paul’s Use of Deuteronomy 27:26. Journal of Biblical Literature, 139(1), 211. https://doi.org/10.15699/jbl.1391.2020.11

Dunn, J. D. G. (1985). Works of the Law and the Curse of the Law (Galatians 3.10–14). New Testament Studies, 31(4), 523–542. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0028688500012066

Förster, H. (2023). Translational Choices and Interpretation in Galatians 1:13–16: An Appraisal. Theology Today, 80(1), 74–87. https://doi.org/10.1177/00405736231151646

G. A. Kennedy. (1984). New Testament Interpretation through Rhetorical Criticism. University of North Carolina Press.

Hays, R. B. (2020). Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul. Yale University Press.

Hogeterp, A. L. A. (2023). “Our Freedom in Christ”: Revisiting Pauline Imagery of Freedom and Slavery in His Letter to the Galatians in Context. Religions, 14(5), 672. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel14050672

Lim, T. H. (1997). Holy Scripture in the Qumran Commentaries and Pauline Letters. Clarendon Press.

Namgung, Y. (2018). What Isaiah has to say about the curse of the law in Galatians 3:10. Neotestamentica, 52(1), 69–90. https://doi.org/10.1353/neo.2018.0007

Park, S.-W. (2018). Paul’s Hermeneutics of the Old Testament Citations in Galatians 3:10–14 [Theologische Universiteit Apeldoorn]. https://theoluniv.ub.rug.nl/129/

Porter, S. E. (2017). Paul and Scripture: Studying the New Testament Use of the Old Testament. Baker Academic.

Seifrid, M. A. (2001). Christ, Our Righteousness: Paul’s Theology of Justification (D. A. Carson (ed.)). IVP Academic.

Stanley, C. D. (1990). ‘Under a Curse’: a Fresh Reading of Galatians 3.10–14. New Testament Studies, 36(4), 481–511. https://doi.org/10.1017/S002868850001969X

Steyn, G. J. (2015). ‘Retrodiction’ of the Old Testament in the New: The case of Deuteronomy 21:23 in Paul’s Letter to the Galatians and the crucifixion of Yehoshua ben Yoseph. HTS Teologiese Studies / Theological Studies, 71(3). https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v71i3.3091

Streett, D. R. (2015). Cursed by God? Galatians 3:13, Social Status, and Atonement Theory in the Context of Early Jewish Readings of Deuteronomy 21:23. Journal for the Study of Paul and His Letters, 5(2), 189–209. https://doi.org/10.2307/jstudpaullett.5.2.0189

Swart, G. J. (2007). Reconstructing Rhetorical Strategies from the Text of Galatians: Syntax-Based Discourse Analysis as a Monitoring Device. Acta Theologica Supplementum, 9, 142–173. https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v28i2.52345

Thurén, L. (2019). Rhetoric and Argumentation in the Letters of Paul. In The Oxford Handbook of Pauline Studies (pp. 294–313). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780199600489.013.006

Tolmie, D. F. (2007). The Rhetorical Analysis of the Letter to the Galatians: 1995–2005. Acta Theologica Suplementum, 9, 1–28. https://doi.org/10.4314/actat.v28i2.52339

Tov, E. (2022). Textual criticism of the Hebrew Bible. In Textual Criticism of the Hebrew Bible. Fortress Press. https://doi.org/10.1163/9789004502734

Wright, N. T. (2018). Paul and the Faithfulness of God. Fortress Press.

Zeltschrift Fur Die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft. (2006). Contextuality, Intertextuality, and the Hendiadic Relationship of Promise and Law in Galatians. Zeltschrift Fur Die Neutestamentliche Wissenschaft, 93(1), 201–220. https://doi.org/https://doi.org/10.1515/zntw.2002010