1
Promise and Purpose in Romans 9:1-13
Toward Understanding Paulâs View of Time
L. Ann Jervis
In what follows I ask a question of Paul for which he offers neither a direct answer nor explicit discourse: what is the apostleâs conception of time?1 Despite the necessityâshared by all Pauline interpretersâof working with hints rather than clear evidence, this is a question that begs to be asked for at least two reasons: First, interpreters of Paul are heavily invested in the apostleâs view of time. Second, there is currently a stalemate in Pauline scholarship between the salvation historical and apocalyptic interpretative frameworks. I will begin by examining the first reason, and will then move on to the second.
Scholars with salvation historical or apocalyptic convictions about Paul, in particular, interpret certain passages in relation to their views concerning Paulâs conception of time.2 Salvation historical interpreters regard Paulâs conception of time as linear: Time moves forward under the direction of God. Time, understood as human history, is progressing ahead in divinely ordained stages.3
The apocalyptic reading claims that Paul is convinced, in the words of one of the most generative of current apocalyptic interpreters M. de Boer, that âbelievers . . . live at the juncture of the ages where the forces of the new age . . . are in an ongoing struggle with the forces of the old age.â4 In this view, Paul adapted Jewish apocalyptic eschatology in light of Christ. And believers in Christ know that âthe future has invaded the present.â5 Apocalyptic interpreters claim, then, that Paul conceived of the present time as having been invaded by the future time,6 and so, as it is often said, time is now âalready/not yet.â7 As de Boer describes, there is âtension between an âalreadyâ (God has already acted apocalyptically to liberate human beings from enslaving powers) and a âstill moreâ (God has not yet finished the job).â8 This tension will end when what is now only inaugurated is all that remains. Apocalyptic interpreters typically speak of what has been inaugurated but not completed as the future, new age9 or the new creation.10
Moreover, the apocalyptic reading connects space and time: the two ages are both âtemporal categoriesâ and âspatial categories.â11 Thanks to de Boer,12 Pauline apocalyptic interpreters typically understand the two ages in light of Jewish cosmological apocalyptic eschatology in which âthe two ages are not simply, or even primarily, temporal categories, referring to two successive, discontinuous periods of world history (âagesâ): they are also spatial categories, referring to two spheres or orbs of power, both of which claim sovereignty over the world.â13 The two ages (the present age and the future/new age/new creation) are structured by different powers: this age by anti-god powers14 and the age to come by God. These two interpretative frameworks about Paulâs view of time deeply affect interpretation of his letters.15
The second pressing reason for interrogating Paulâs view of time follows from the first: the current stalemate in Pauline scholarship between the salvation historical and apocalyptic interpretative frameworks. It seems the right moment to raise the question again. I will now speak to Paulâs use of the concepts of promise and Godâs purpose of election in Romans 9:1-13 in hopes of offering some fresh suggestions about how Paul might have thought about time.16
Briefly, let me emphasize that I am exploring what Paul might have thought about time. Before engaging with my investigation, then, it may be necessary for my readers to identify their assumptions about what time may or may not beâassumptions based on education in physics or philosophy, based on ordinary experience of time, or based on theological convictions such as are evidenced in the salvation historical and apocalyptic interpretations.
Promise, But Not Fulfillment
In what follows we will see that Paul refers to promise/s without, as one would expect, also referring to fulfillment of the promise/s. I will suggest that this says something about Paulâs view of time. Paul thinks of Godâs promise/s chiefly in the context not of the human linear experience of time, but rather in the context of the life of GodâGodâs time.
Promise in Romans 9:4-13. One of the curiosities, among many, of Romans 9â11 is that though Paul affirms that the promises belong to the Israelites (ÎżáŒ”ÏÎčÎœáœłÏ Î”áŒ°ÏÎčÎœ ጞÏÏαηλáżÏαÎč, ᜧΜ . . . αጱ áŒÏÎ±ÎłÎłÎ”Î»áœ·Î±Îč, 9:4), he does not speak of those promises being fulfilled. Given Paulâs aim in these chapters, this seems curious indeed.
In Romans 9â11 Paul ponders the mysterious state of affairs in which Godâs people have not accepted the one the apostle believes is their Messiah. Given this, we might then rightly expect that after Paulâs statement, the promises belong to the Israelites that in service of this argument he would introduce also the idea of fulfillment. Yet Paulâs discourseâwhich climaxes in the claim that God has not rejected Godâs people (11:1) and that all Israel will be saved (11:26)âis not structured by a promise-fulfillment scheme.17 Paul claims that the promises belong to Israel, but he does not say that they are fulfilled. (Neither does he say that Scripture is fulfilled.) I suggest that this curious fact may indicate something of Paulâs view of time.
A promise-fulfillment scheme (such as is found so plenteously in, for instance, the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and even John, as well as in Acts) relies on a linear conception of timeâan event happens following another event (the fulfillment after the promise). So, for instance, in the Gospel of Matthew when Jesus sends his disciples to find an ass and a colt in preparation for his entry into Jerusalem, Matthew writes, âThis happened in order that the word of the prophet might be fulfilled [ÏληÏÏΞáż], saying, âTell the daughter of Zion, Behold, your king is coming to you, humble, and mounted on an ass, and on a colt, the foal of an assâ â (Matt 21:4-5).18
Promise-fulfillment, which is fundamental to the salvation historical interpretative framework, works with a conception of time as an entity that moves linearly forward, in this case from potential to actuality (from the promise of something that is not yet, to the coming into existence of what is promised).
In Romans 9â11, however, Paul does not speak of the promises that belong to the Israelites as being fulfilled by Godâs action in Christ. Neither at 9:4, nor elsewhere in chapters 9â11, or indeed the rest of Romans, does Paul connect the promise with fulfillment.19 Paul says simply that the promises belong to the Israelites, along with other divinely given attributes, including âthe Messiah according to the fleshââwhich Messiah, it should be noted, Paul does not describe as the fulfillment of the promises (9:5). The promises belong to the Israelites, along with gifts from God that, as Paul will affirm, are permanentââthe gifts and the call of God are irrevocableâ (11:29). The promises are an aspect of the identity of the Israelites, but Paul does not claim that they need to be or are being fulfilled. This raises the question of whether Paul thought of the promises in a context other than a promise-fulfillment scheme.
At Romans 9:8-9 we again see this use of the concept of promise. Paul does not speak of the children of the promise as a fulfillment. The promise in the phrase âthe children of the promiseâ is, rather, contextually equated with âthe word of Godâ (9:6). This is made clear when at 9:9 Paul combines âthe wordâ with âpromiseâââthe word of promise.â Promise here appears, then, not with the idea of fulfillment but with the concept of âwordâ: áŒÏÎ±ÎłÎłÎ”Î»áœ·Î±Ï Îłáœ°Ï áœ Î»áœčÎłÎżÏ ÎżáœÏÎżÏ.
Paul frames 9:6-13 with his assertion of the certainty of ᜠλáœčÎłÎżÏ ÏοῊ ΞΔοῊ. Using the perfect tense, Paul affirms that the word of God has not failed (9:6). That is, the word of God is continually certain. The âword of Godâ at Romans 9:6 presumably does not stray far from the meaning it has in 2 Corinthians 4:2, where it is equivalent to âthe truth,â and so an entity that lacks no completion.
In context Paulâs use of the phrase âword of promiseâ at 9:9 suggests that he is seeking to view the promise from Godâs perspective. While from human perspective the promise might be described as fulfilled (Sarah gives birth to Isaac), fulfillment is not where Paul puts his attention. Paul focuses rather on the promise as âthe word,â presumably Godâs word. It is the promise in and of itself, an entity that is an aspect of the certainty of Godâs word and the continuance of Godâs purpose of election (9:11), to which Paul attends. Paul is, I submit, thinking of the promise from Godâs, and not from a human, perspective. The promise is, and it is certain in and of itself. And so the children of the promise (9:8; spoken of not as a fulfillment) are evidence of Godâs unfailing word and abiding purpose. The promise itself, then, is not an entity of potential, but an one of actuality. Promise here might be understood as an abiding vow, such as one makes in a marriage ceremony. The promise/vow is foundational: it is enough in itself (as long as the one who made the promise does not break it).
As mentioned, a promise-fulfillment scheme fits an understanding of time as an entity that moves from what is not to what is, and so is linear. In the context of fulfillment, a promise is a pledge to be fulfilled at a moment down the lineâit signifies potential. In a promise-fulfillment scheme, a promise looks ahead to its completion at the moment when it is fulfilled.
Paulâs use of promise here, however, teases our minds to ponder whether the apostle is thinking of the promises not as awaiting completion, but as already sufficient and completeâand so to imagine that Paul conceived of time in a manner other than the linear progression that a promise-fulfillment format assumes.
Promise Elsewhere in Romans. Let us take a necessarily brief look at what Paul says elsewhere in Romans about promise.
(1) Rom 4:13-20: For the promise to Abraham and his seed . . . is not through law but through righteousness of faith. For if those who are of the law are heirs . . . the promise is nullified. . . . On account of this it is from faith, in order that it might be according to grace, in order that the promise might be confirmed/firm [Î”áŒ°Ï Ï᜞ ΔጶΜαÎč ÎČΔÎČα᜷αΜ ÏᜎΜ áŒÏÎ±ÎłÎłÎ”Î»áœ·Î±Îœ] for all the seed. . . . Yet, with respect to the promise of God he . . . grew strong in faith.
Paulâs claim that the promise to Abraham and his descendants is âthrough righteousness of faithâ (4:13) declares that this promise is to be believed in. For Paul, Godâs promise must be understood as being entirely in Godâs hands, an entity that is to be believed; it is to be recognized as a gift (âaccording to graceâ), and so not something on which humans have any purchase, particularly not through obedience to the law (4:13). The appropriate response to Godâs promise is to know that it is certainâthat it is confirmedâfor all of Abrahamâs descendants (4:16).20
At Romans 4:13-16 Paulâs point is that the promise is certain, not that it will be seen to be certain once it is fulfilled. It is certain now. This, I venture, is why Paul does not couple promise with fulfillment. Fulfillment indicates that something has come about that was not before, whereas confirmation indicates that something is and is being attested to. There is a distinct absence of a sense of future in Paulâs use of promise hereâthe focus is on promise as the solid ground that can be trusted.
The sense of promise here is that it is complete in itself (without fulfillment). This accounts for Paulâs pronouncement that it could be nullified (ÎșαÏ᜔ÏγηÏαÎč, 4:14)ânot if it were unfulfilled, but if it were misunderstood. The promise would be made ineffective as promise if it were the case that Abraham and his seed were inheritors of the world áŒÎș ÎœáœčÎŒÎżÏ
âon the basis of law (4:14). Abrahamâs response of continuously strengthening faith is the right response to the promise (4:20). The promise is and is to be trusted in.
(2) Romans 15:8-9: For I tell you, Christ has become a servant of the circumcision on behalf of the truthfulness of God in order to confirm the promises and [a servant] with respect to the Gentiles on behalf of the mercy [of God] [in order] to glorify God.21
The notoriously difficult grammatical and semantic tangle of Romans 15...