braulik - law as gospel in torah law

8/12/2019 Braulik - Law as Gospel in Torah Law

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Law asGospelJustification and Pardon According to theDeuteronomicTorah*

GEORG BRAULIK OSB

Catholic Theological Faculty

University of Vienna

Careful study of the deuteronomic Torah

shows that God's first word to sinners

is not a demand, but a consolation;

it is not law, but gospel.

MARTIN LUTHER, COMMENTING especially on the theology of Paul'sletters to the Romans and Galatians, made the differentiation between "law"and "gospel" into the most important criteria for the interpretation of sacred

Scripture. In doing so, law primarily meant the "demanding will of God"; gospel

denoted the pledge of God's grace. Both the Old and New Tes taments contain lawas well as gospel, even if not in the same proportion. To be sure, one is capable of

fulfilling the law, yet not of justifying oneself by doing so. One 's justification is,

instead, solely the work of the gospel, thatis,God's work of grace. Law and gospel,

then, constitute not only theological but also anthropological categories. Accord

ingly, human existence perceived as law denotes self-redemption; whereas, seen

as gospel, it refers to redemption by God.

The title of this essay connects both differentiations with one another. It deals,

therefore, with the following thesis: the demanding will of Godthatis,the law in

the theological senseis at the same time a pledge of gracethat is, gospel in its

* Lectu re at Union Theological Seminary in Virginia and at the Unversity of California/Berkeley For a


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theological sense. Within the subtitle "Justification and Pardon according to the

Deuteronomic Torah," both conceptions are then to be understood anthro

pologically. Consequently, redemption, gospel, will in what follows first be exam

ined as the fundamental justification of humanity; in Christianity it is conveyed

through baptism. Secondly, I would like to deal with redemption, gospel, as

pardoning of the sinner, namely, the previously justified sinner . As already stated

at the beginning, Luther drew his differentiation of law and gospel from Paul's

letters, that is, from the New Tes tament . Yet for Luther this differentia tion was

equally as valid for the Old Testament as for the New. It is a matter of fact that

within theological research numerous New Testament texts have subsequentlybeen unlocked by means of this hermeneutica l key. In so doing the Old Testament

has, however, most often been overlooked. What is worse, the term "gospel" has

often no longer been unders tood as "pledge of redemption," as justification and

pardon, but, falsely, has come to mean simply the literature of the gospel, has been

restricted to the New Testament as the epitome of redemption. The writings of

the Old Testament on the other hand, especially the bodies of law, have been

misunderstood as mere "law," as God's demand and as the epitome of human

self-redemption. Thereby, the law of the Old Testament appeared as something

fundamentally opposed to the gospel of the New. This is where the phrase,

"According to the Deuteronomic T orah ," of the subtitle comes in. Using a centralportion of the Old Testament law, the so-called fifth book of Moses, I would like to

show that the law, this demanding will of God, in the situation of the old covenant

is likewise gospel, to show that it conveyed justification and pardon through God

upon Israel. To put it another way, I should like to demonstrate that within

Deuteronomy there is to be found the same structure of redem ption tha t we know

from the New Testament, with the exception, of course, of the Christ event, which

in the history of salvation meant the end of the law as a means of redemption for

Christians. In that way the Holy Scriptures of Israel became the Old Test ament of

the Christian Bible. I have chosen Deuteronomy, since in this writing were

concentrated, as Gerhard von Rad says, "in relatively later times nearly the entiretreasury of Israel's faith, having been once again classified and theologically

elucidated." At the same time, "unmeasurable effects emanated from it," so that

"in every respect" one can "designate Deuteronomy as the center of the Old

Testament."1Furthermore, Romans quotes passages of this book for its theology

of justification. Indeed, it will become evident that, according to Romans, pre

cisely Deuteronomy approaches that function which Jesus Christ fulfills in the

New Testament writings.

We will first examine Israel's justif ication and its righteousness in Deu

teronomy, then Israel's pardon and its conversion. In doing so I shall single outfor any given time period those texts in which the key words of this Deuteronomic

soteriology are to be found. These words are fdq for Israel's righteousness and


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Law as Gospel

Interpretation

sub for Israel's conversion. Conjointly, I shall be dealing with these pertinent

passages in chronological order as regards their time of composition, beginning

with the oldest illustration and moving forward to the more recent.

Israels Justification and Its "Righteousness" sedq: According to deuteronomic

soteriology, Yahweh's redemption extends from the deliverance out of Egypt to

life in the land, within the blessing of which this redemption is present. The land,

"where milk and honey flow" (26:9) constitutes, there fore , the concrete sphere of

grace in which Israel lives in blessedness. "Tha t Israel attained to salvation was not

its own doing. Whe the r it remains there, however, will depend solely upon itself.

If one inserts 'Christ event' in place of 'Exodus,' then the conception of many

Christian theologians is truly not much different."2 As regards the theology of

grace one can speak of this saving event as Israel's "justification" th ro ugh Yahweh.

In Deuteronomy Israel speaks ofits"righteousness"(sedqa)for the first time in

connection with its creed (6:20-25). This profession of faith first of all narrates

the history of deliverance which has been passed down. In doing so Yahweh's

bringing of Israel out of Egypt is interpreted as a legal act, as the liberation of a

slave by use of force. However, whoever "brought out" a slave, according to the

legal significance of this expression, thereby liberating him, became his new

owner and could "bring" him "in" untohimself:make him his slave. Yet the creeddoes not say what one would expect: Israel had become a slave in Yahweh's land.

The consequence of being brought out, namely, being brought into the land of

Canaan, is mentioned only incidentally. Instead, the final verse formulates the

true objective as:

Yahweh commanded us to observe all these laws as an expression of the fear of Yahweh,our God, so as to be prosperous forever, [and] in order to preserve our life as [we have it]today. [Only then] will we be/remain in the right(fdq)[before God], ifweare careful toobserve this entire command before Yahweh, our God,ashe has commanded us (6:2425).

Hence the entire history of deliverance is aimed towards the nation's obligation tothe laws. Yahweh's commanding that Israel observe the laws is, in fact, his decisive

redemptive act. The creed consequently acknowledges the law-giving as

reformulated into the language of the New Testament"gospel." Israel's righ

teousness, however, is in this context concretized as "prosperity" and "life" as the

gift of all earthly blessings. Israel, of course, will remain in this state of salvation,

this condition of a full life in the promised land, only if it conducts itself in

accordance with the "state of sedqa"*and fulfills the law of Yahweh. In other

words, Israel's justification th ro ugh God must prove itself in obedience to his law.

Or, formulated from another point of view, that Israel is righteous, more exactly

"been made righteous," will then become evident when it observes the commands.Thus, it is on the grounds of this behavior that Israel's righteous existence can be


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confirmed, that Israel can also be "attributed with righteousness" by human

beings. This did in fact happen in the Israelite cult. Such a liturgical practice of

declaring someone as righteousnot of making one righteous, justifying one

appears indeed to stand behind each of Deuteronomy's sedaq-statements.

On which conduct, however, is Israel's living out of righteousness most clearly

to be seen? Deuteronomy says: on the individual's social engagement. To be sure,

the termsedaqis used only in one concrete case, namely, in regards to the seizure

of a loan's pledge, a seizure which could threaten a needy person's existence: "If a

man is poor, you are not to go to bed with his pledge in your possession. You must

return the pledge to him at sunset so that he can sleep in his mantle; he will blessyou and you will be/remain in the right fdqa before Yahweh, your God"

(24:12-13). In view of our theme this passage provokes the question: Does not

here one's good conduct, thankfully acknowledged as humanitarianism by the

one who has been spared, first produce a righteousness before God? It would then

have to be considered as that person's self-redemption, that means, as law.

However, behind this text there stands a rite, which I have already mentioned and

which is well known also from other portions of the Old Testament, the so-called

"entrance liturgy." It regulated the admission into the sanctuary. Accordingly,

only those pilgrims who could declare their uprightness were allowed to enter the

Temple. This confession was to be made according to a formula, a Priestly Torah,which contained various characteristic ethical norms. Whoever had fulfilled it was

declared by the priest as "righteous"(saddq).Only the one to whom the predicate

of "righteousness" had been adjudged "before God" in this way gained entrance

into the Temple. Only that one could receive the gift oflife,which was given in this

place of divine presence. The "unrighteous" (rasa'), on the other hand, whose

sinfulness had been determined by means of a guilty verdict, was turned away,

excluded from participation in the divine service and thus handed over to

"death."

As we know from the Book of Ezekiel (18:7; alsovs.12,16; 33:15), each formula

contains as one characteristic of the righteous person, among others, the social

obligation to return a pledge to the debtor. That means, on the treatment of this

poor man, the already existent relationship to Yahweh was exemplarily decided as

proper; according to this behavior it could be made clear who indeed was

righteous. Now Deuteronomy 24:13,the stipulation quoted earlier, deals with this

same case of humanitarianism. When in this case righteousness is spoken of, it

must be understood in regards to the liturgy of admission into the Temple, within

which the "being righteous before Yahweh" would be adjudged to the individual

Israelite. In the deuteronomic statute, of course, the spoken blessing of the poor

man replaces the priestly jud gm en t by which someone was declared as righteous.To summarize: through social behavior, namely, the return ofapledge to a needy

debtor the Israelite did not obtain righteousness before Yahweh Righteousness


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Law as Gospel

Interpretation

Of course, the dialectic between "grace" and "merit," divine action and human

achievement, especially within a life of obedience to the Law, stood in danger of

becoming one-sided. In Romans, Paul calls it "seeking to establish their own

righteousness" (10:3). To the contrary, Deuteronomy 9:1-8 proves that no causal

connection exists between the occupation of the land as the concrete sphere of

grace and some earlier accomplishment, an inherent righteousness on Israel's

part. This pericope employssedqas human righteousness for the third and last

time in Deuteronomy; in fact, it uses this term over and over again. Un

fortunately, precisely this passage, which isas will be shownthe Old Test

ament's closest parallel to the Pauline texts on justification, is totally overlooked inthe latest and most comprehensive monograph on "Justification in the Horizon of

the Old Testament," by Henning Graf Reventlow.4

In the background to this text stands Israel's conquest of Palestine. It is

described as divine warfare; that means Yahweh is the decisive performer. Israel

also acts, but that which it does, it accomplishes out of the "prevenient" and

"cooperative" grace of its God. Now Israel admits that it is Yahweh who allows it to

move into the land. Israel sees the reason for God's deed, for this grace, as lying in

its own "righteousness." Indeed, Israel even awards itself this right to occupy the

land. Verses46begin by quoting this presumption but then place it under God's

judgment through Yahweh's spokesman, Moses. Unexpectedly, this judgmentcondemns only the hostile nations and pardons Israel, in spite of their history of

stubbornness, for the sake of Yahweh's promise to their fathers. The verses read

as follows:

"After Yahweh, your God, has thrust them" [that is the nations of Canaan] "out before you,do not say to yourselves,am in theright,therefore,[becauseofmyrighteousnessbesidqt]Yahweh has brought me in to possess this land.' Instead, these nations are in the wrong,therefore [because of their wickednessb^is'at]Yahweh is driving them out before you. [Itis]not because you are in the right(b

esidqt

ek)and have an upright mind that you are going

in to take possession of their land. But because these nations are in the wrong(fris'at),Yahweh, your God is driving them out before you, and in order to keep the promise whichhe made on oath to your fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

"Understand this, therefore: [It is] not because you are in the right (besidqt

eka) that

Yahweh, your God, is giving you this good land to possess. For you are a headstrongpeople" (9:4-6).

Th e proof of this is then delivered by the history of their insubordination,

unbroken from the very beginning, which is amply narrated in the subsequent

verses.

How in the first place, does Israel, while in the process of taking possession of

the land, understand itself as having the right to occupy it? According to an oldoriental conception, every war is a lawsuit in which a verdict is reached in the event

of either victory or defeat: whoever is in the right wins; whoever is in the wrong


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its enemies in the wrong. Verses 13, which immediately precede the text quoted

above, make it quite apparent that the conquest of the land west of the Jo rd an is a

war which Yahweh himself wages. Israel knows of this and must consequently

consider history also as a kind of divine judg ment . Th erefore, Israel rega rds itself

as "in the right," not only over against the nations but also as concerns Yahweh.

This attitude is now opposed by the criticism of Deuteronomy. It makes use of

the catch-words "righteousness" and "unrighteousness." Yet the two terms no

longer describe the relationship of Israel and the Canaanites to one another, but

exclusively the relationship of Israel to Yahweh. When Israel seeks to establish its

"righteousness"(se

dqa)then this righteousness must beas the test elucidatesastate of "upright mind" (jser lebb).In the though t of Deu teronomy this even

means: It must be a righteousness which Yahweh deems fitting within a sort of

"divine entrance liturgy" and which then secures for Israel the admission into the

land, into the place of life. That an association with the Temple entrance liturgy is

being alluded to here is clear from the use of its technical terms:sfdqa and risc.

Israel, however, is ju dg ed to be a "headstrong people ." From the beginning of its

history up to the present moment, it finds itself under God's wrath. Thereby, the

cleft between Israel's "being in the right ," which it ascribes toitself,and the "being

in the wrong" of the nations, is filled in, this difference is done away with in the

face of Israel's relation to its God. According to the evidence of history, "all areunder the domination of sin" (Rom. 3:9 and elsewhere).

That which Israel's self-righteousness is not capable of attaining, however, is

freely given to this guilt-laden people by its God in abundant mercy. It is allowed

to enter into salvation's sphere, into the good land, given unto a sinful people but

as a people yet unconditionally pardoned by Yahweh. To put this more precisely

and to encode it within Deuteronomy's historical fiction, when Yahweh helps his

people to victory over the larger and stronger nations of the land west of the

Jordan, he does not do so because Israel is guiltless or "in the right." Instead,

Yahweh's motivation is the promise he gave to the patriarchs (cf. Rom. 11:28).

Thus, Deuteronomy 9:46 implicitly destroys the thesis which says, "in the Old

Testament only those who faithfully remain in union, never the godless, are

just ified ," and that "Yahweh's just ifying action is clearly divorced from his

unqualified deeds and from those which are grounded in a promise."5 On the

contrary, these verses describe a "justification"independently of Deuteron

omywhich has been most recently theologically characterized by the statement

that "God turns himself to the sinner, who in no respect has earned this g i f t . . . .

God's saving action is at the same time his ju dgem en t upon man. In this ju dge

ment man is confronted with his guilt and, nevertheless, spoken righteous/

justified."0

So, to summarize: Deuteronomy 6:25 and 24:13 presuppos e "justification."


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Law as Gospel

Interpretation

That is, Israel's "being brought into" the land of promise; and they speak in a

qualifying man ne r over the workings of justifying, sanctifying grace in the one

already justified. One contributes "good works" (the observance of the Deu

teronomic commandments) to the "second grace" (to the blessing in the promised

land); a grace which God imparts in creative propriety. Deuteronomy 9:56, on

the other hand, speaks of the event of "justification" (the occupation of the

promised land). Thereby, the sinner, who in relation to God is unable to assert any

claim upon the land (Israel's appeal to its own righteousness) is declared righteous

by God, which can be deduced from the pericope as a "Pauline consequence."

Whoever accepts thi sjudgment of God, totally entrus ting all to God's grace, will beaccounted "faithful" and transmitted through God's word unto the grace of

justification. That is,an Israel which confesses its own guilt and professes Yahweh

as its savior may live in the land of promise. Thus , the t ru th of its sinful existence

becomes for Israel not a truth which condemns but a truth which saves; it becomes

"gospel."

Israel's Pardon and Its Conversion(sb ) :Th e sharp accentuation of Deuteronomy

9:46, which prevents the nomistic misunderstanding of Israel's claim of righ

teousness, could, of course, lead to another false interpretation: The effort of the

people who must live outside of the promised land is denied any meaning. Thus,texts which originated towards the end of the Babylonian exile (Deut. 4:2931

and 30:1-10) define precisely what constitutes Yahweh's work of grace and

Israel's merit. This is, of course, formulated with explicit reference to the crisis of

the exile and how it is to be overcome. The significance of the theology of

conversion of these pericopes is already shown by their position in the Book of

Deuteronomy; it constitutes a framework for the core of the book, the second

speech of Moses (chaps. 528). The conversion theme is found in the first

parenetic passage of the book as its primary intention and rounds it off as the

decisive message for the exile generation in the last parenetic text of the book.

When Israel broke the covenant and had to suffer the sanctions for falling away

from Yahweh, then the entire hope for the future rested and concentrated itself

in a "conversion (sb)to Yahweh," or "a renewed heeding to his voice." Further

more, this verb, (sub), is used by Deuteronomy in its religious sense only in 4:30

and 3:110. Yet does the following hold t rue: "Thr ou gh Israel's apostasy the Sinai

covenant became 'shredded paper,' through the nation's repentance it was once

again made into valid 'law' "?7 In regard to our line of questioning this would

mean that Israel can once again shift itself, by means of conversion, into the

proper relationship with God, thereby justifying itself. However, 4:2931 says:

"There [namely in the foreign land where the remnant of Israel is living in dispersion] youshall seek Yahweh, your God, and you shall find him when you search after him with your


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shall return (sb) to Yahweh, your God, and heed his voice. For Yawheh, your God, is amerciful God and will not desert and destroy you, nor forget the covenant he made on oathwith your fathers."

The context of this pericope in chapter 4 is clearly formed by the structure of a

covenant formula, of which the verse just quoted constitutes the section of

blessing. Contrary to the otherwise normal conditional wording, this blessing is

historicized. That means that a time of blessing is pledged unconditionally as

God's grace. Above and beyond this, the text explicitly promises that Israel will not

only search for Yahweh, it will find him. Still more:

Yahweh will not only let himself be found. He has foretold that he will let himself be found,and these words of prediction are already underway, they are already in search of Israel. Itis not Israel which will find Yahweh, but Yahweh's words which will find Israel. Israel mustnot repent in order that Yahweh once again turns towards it; rather, if Yawheh's wordsfind Israel, then Israel will be granted the grace of repentance.

8

Now, "all these words," to which the text refers, contain more than the mere

pledge that Israel will once again find its God. For these words are further

interpreted as Israel's "conversion" and its "heeding Yahweh's voice." With this,

however, the fundamental demand of the divine covenant is addressed: Israel's

exclusive relationship to Yahweh. Not taken into immediate consideration is the

observance of individual commandments. This is because they concretize Israel's

relationship with God primarily for the living situation in the promised land and

are thus not yet pertinent to the situation ofexile. "These words," which will find

Israel, thereby, also contain the covenant's central commandment pertaining to

Israel's relationship with God. They constitute the gospel for a guilty people. In

this way ju dg me nt is cast upon Israel's sin in accordance with the logic of the Sinai

covenant. Yet, in the long run, even Israel's guilt can not prevail against Yahweh,

the "merciful God," who has unilaterally and irrevocably already bound himself to

Israel by an oath to the patriarchs.

The message of 4:2931 concerns itself totally with the central hope whichIsrael , despite the jud gm ent of its God, has not lost definitively, not even in exile.

A return into the promised land with its many blessings is, however, only implicitly

contained within Yahweh's oath to the fathers; the function of the individual

commandments is at most only implied in the "heeding of Yahweh's voice." Both

aspects are now developed in 30:110. In that development the verb, sb,with its

various shades of meaning, is employed more repeatedly than anywhere else in

the Old Testament. Nowhere else are divine and human turning towards one

ano the r combined in such strict correspondence . Now, the per icope is artistically

arranged around a center. Nevertheless, its theme is brought to discussion in

several ways and at the same time is handled ever more thoroughly as the textprogresses. The verses constitute once again the section of blessing within a


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Law as Gospel

Interpretation

edited. As in 4:29-31 the blessing is historicized. Indeed, at the beginning

mention is explicitly made of the exile situation. The consequence of Israel's

breach of covenant, however, provides the exiles an occasion for self-inspection:

"And when all these words overtake you, the blessing and the curse I have set

before you, if you take them to heart (sb>llebb),wherever among the nations

Yahweh, your God, had dispersed you" (30:1). The verb sb indicates a cor

relation between Israel's "going within itself and its return, its conversion. Does

the initiative for this come from the human side? Strictly speaking, these words

provide the impetus for reflectionnot the deuteronomic laws but the blessing

and curse of this covenant charter. With regard to the "justification of the sinner"this means that those separated from God can indeed dispose themselves for the

reception of the grace of conversion: Israel, having fallen away from Yahweh, is

capable of preparing itself for the conversion to be awaited from God. However,

this surrendering of the old resistance against God is transmitted by God's word,

which first makes faith possible.

Israel's apostasy is to be replaced by a new fullness of grace. It is, however,

attached to certain conditions:

"And if you return(sub 'ad)to Yahweh, your God, and heed his voice in everything that I

enjoin on you today, you and your children, with your whole heart and whole soul; thenYahweh, your God, will turn (sb) your destiny. He will take pity on you, turn himselftowards you(sb)and gather you once again out ofallthe peoples wherein Yahweh, yourGod, has scattered you" (vs. 2-3).

In this passage the "heeding Yahweh's voice" is intentionally still only vaguely

explained. Individual commandments are not binding outside of the promised

land. The turn of Israel's destiny is grounded solely in Yahweh's turning toward

Israel, in his mercy, which here, however, is no longer anchored in the oath to the

fathers as it was in 4:31. Yahweh himself will gather those who have been

dispersed unto the ends of the heavens and bring them back into the land of their

fathers, the ancestors of the exile generation. The text continues:

"And Yahweh, your God, will circumcise your heart and the heart of your descendants,that you may love Yahweh, your God, with your whole heart and whole soul, and may sohave life...you, however, shall turn(sb)and heed the voice of Yahweh and observe all hiscommandments, which I enjoin on you today (30:6, 8)."

With these verses we come to the literary and theological center of the pericope.

Here is promised, as a gift of blessing, that which previously had been demand ed

of Israel as its principal commandment which was to be fulfilled as the condition

of its covenant: to love God with one's whole heart and soul (6:4), as well as the

circumcision of the heart (10:16). Circumcision is the Old Testament initiationinto the people of God in a similar way to baptism after Christ. It is thus a

i l d A i i i hi h G d hi lf d k


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enabled to have by Yahweh himself and which is the essence of the relationship

with God, is rewarded with the equally fundamental gift of life. From the

circumcision of the hea rt there also arise consequences which concern Israel first

in its own land. The re its conversion must be confirmed by its observance of all the

commands proclaimed by Moses. Thus, the circumcision of the heart through

God precedes the conversion of Israel and places it first in the condition of

obeying both the central and individual commandments. Thus, also here God's

first word to those who have fallen away from him is not a demand but a

consolation. Moreover, this circumcision of the heart is not only promised as a

solitary turning of God to the generation of the exile but also is assured at anygiven time for the coming generations. For these, too, it constitutes the presuppo

sition of once again receiving through obedience the rich blessings of the land.

This blessing in all undertakings, in the fruit of the womb, the fruit of the cattle,

and the fruit of the soil will outdo anything in the past. Its excess proves, as does

the obedience flowing from the transformation of the heart, that there will be no

mere restoration of the past but a surpassing of the past, a new beginning, when

Yahweh once again turns toward Israel and takes delight in bringing prosperity to

the returning remnant as he took delight in bringing prosperity to their fore

fathers.

The concluding verse describes, now as the reason for Yahweh's blessing, whatthe full conversion of Israel, the conversion "with the whole heart and the whole

soul," means: "Then you will heed the voice of Yahweh, your God, and keep his

commandments and laws that are [individually] written in this Book of Torah:

then you will return (sb 'el) to Yahweh, your God, with your whole heart and

whole soul" (30:10).

So can an Israel, the heart of which has been circumcised by Yahweh (cf. Rom.

2:2829), thatis,theologically speaking, "which has been justified by grace alone,"

adhere to the Deuteronomic law, not only because it has been inwardly disposed

for it by a transformation worked by God but also because the Torah is now

immediately accessible and easy to observe. According to 4:2931 Israel's sole

striving is to have once again Yahweh as its God. Above and beyond this, 30:710

develops a temporal hope for the future. Such a hope is possible, because

according to the subsequent (by way of editing) verses 1114, the deuteronomic

law, upon the fulfillment of which Yahweh's blessing at last depends, "is very near

to you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may keep it" (v. 14). With this,

then, the "righteousness that comes from faith" is made manifest in the deu

teronomic Torah, according to the witness of Paul's letter to the Romans, which

(rightly) cites this passage (Rom. 10:6). The deuteronomic law, truly interiori/ed,

is the "word of faith" (v. 8), that is, gospel (v. 16).

q


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braulik - law as gospel in torah law

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