Post 5 about Deuteronomy 30:10-14:
Now for elaboration of the second strand (see earlier post) – the notion that Paul’s use of the Deuteronomy 30:10-14 text in Romans 10 shows that he sees the Deuteronomy text as being specifically fulfilled in Christ, casting doubt on the literalistic reading which would see the text as saying something about the Jew and the keeping of the Law of Moses in Moses’ own time.
To refresh memory, here is the Deuteronomy text again:
if you obey the LORD your God to keep His commandments and His statutes which are written in this book of the law, if you turn to the LORD your God with all your heart and soul. For this commandment which I command you today is not too difficult for you, nor is it out of reach. 12"It is not in heaven, that you should say, 'Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 13"Nor is it beyond the sea, that you should say, 'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it, that we may observe it?' 14"But the word is very near you, in your mouth and in your heart, that you may observe it.
Now here is Paul quoting this text (stuff in italics) in Romans 10:
4For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5For Moses writes that the man who practices the righteousness which is based on law shall live by that righteousness. 6But the righteousness based on faith speaks as follows: "DO NOT SAY IN YOUR HEART, 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down), 7or 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)." 8But what does it say? "THE WORD IS NEAR YOU, IN YOUR MOUTH AND IN YOUR HEART"--that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
Let me dispense with one confusing thing first. Those who would take the Deuteronomy text “literally†– seeing it as saying something about obeying the Law of Moses – will no doubt point out that this “Christ†reading of the Deuteronomy passage in Romans 10 really only focuses on the matter of justification and, therefore, is only saying that obeying the Law of Moses cannot make you righteous. Such a person would no doubt agree – the Law of Moses does not justify. However, so the argument would continue, it still should be followed, and that the Deuteronomy passage shows that this is possible now, just as it was possible at the time Moses made the proclamation.
This misses the point. It is indeed true that Paul is speaking about the matter of justification when he quotes the Deuteronomy passage. However, Paul clearly sees the elements of the Deuteronomy passage as really talking about Jesus, not about the Law of Moses, even though Moses does indeed clearly say that the Law of Moses that is the subject of the treatment. Again, one needs to (1) be open to the usage of literary devices where one thing (in this case, the Law of Moses as the apparent subject of the Deuteronomy text) really stands for another (Jesus); and (2) read the Deuteronomy passage in light of the entire narrative of Scripture.
So how does Paul interpret the “Who will go up to heaven for us to get it for us†part of the Deuteronomy passage? He sees it as being about Jesus, not the Law of Moses: 'WHO WILL ASCEND INTO HEAVEN?' (that is, to bring Christ down). And the same thing re the “'Who will cross the sea for us to get it for us and make us hear it†part: 'WHO WILL DESCEND INTO THE (I)ABYSS?' (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead)â€
The relevant point is that Paul understands that the Deuteronomy passage actually is talking about Jesus, not the Law of Moses, despite the undeniable fact that, understood in strict isolation, the Deuteronomy passage itself declares that the Law of Moses is at issue. To finish the point, when Paul continues to quote the Deuteronomy passage on the matter of the “Law†being “in the mouth and the heartâ€, we know, from many other things that Paul says elsewhere in Romans and in his other letters, that he is speaking of the Holy Spirit which “replaces†the Law in that it writes the essence of the Law of Moses on the human heart:
6But now we have been released from the Law, having died to that by which we were bound, so that we serve in newness of the Spirit and not in oldness of the letter
See? Paul clearly thinks that the time of the Law of Moses has come to an end. People will no doubt try to argue that its time as a way to become righteous has come to an end, but that we should still follow it. I suggest that objection does not work, but I will leave that argument for another post.
Again, the relevant point is this: Paul is saying that it is Christ and the Holy Spirit that are what the Deuteronomy passage is really talking about. I politely suggest that Paul would reject any suggestion of a “double meaning†– that the passage was talking about a keeping of the Law of Moses in Moses time and also can be interpreted as being fulfilled in Christ and the Law. Why not a double meaning? Precisely because Paul sees the world fundamentally changing with the advent of Christ and the Spirit – it is only through Christ and the Spirit, and most certainly not through the Law of Moses, that the “word†can be brought to our hearts. Paul, I suggest, would not believe that the Law of Moses can, in any sense, “be written on the heart†as the Deuteronomy passage would suggest on a literal reading. No – “writing†on the human heart is something that the Law was powerless to do – witness the general failure of the nation of Israel and Paul’s general analysis of the Law as functioning only to reveal sin. Only the Spirit can accomplish the writing of €œthe words of God†on the human heart.
Other posts to follow....
