Paul and Jesus

We overthrow argument [i.e., with the weapons of divine power—verse 4] and every proud obstacle to the knowledge of God, and take every thought captive to obey Christ, having prepared to punish every disobedience, when your obedience is complete. (2 Corinthians 10:5–6)

The destructive use of his authority is intended for the outsider or the opponent, not for the obedient child who imitates the father. The situation at Corinth and with the Galatians is so desperate that the “children” themselves are in danger of moving into the category of the “outsider,” and thus suffering the destruction of divine power mediated by the apostle. This is very serious business, with cosmic consequences. In Galatians he uses hyperbolic language with a full repertoire of cursing, sarcasm, dire threats, and warnings:

I am amazed that you are so quickly deserting him who called you . . . (1:6)

If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be damned! (1:9)

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? (3:1)

I have confidence in the Lord that you will take no other view than mine and that the one troubling you will bear his condemnation, whoever he is! (5:10)

The threat Paul sees among the Galatians is apparently a specific person, unnamed, who has challenged Paul’s apostolic authority and his message that the Torah of Moses has been superseded by the coming of Christ. Conversion to Judaism, signified by the rite of circumcision in the case of males, was always an open option for Gentiles in the Jesus movement. It was not required or even expected, but those who felt so drawn to become part of Israel were welcome. Paul is adamant, to the point of vulgarity, in resisting this option. There were apparently some among his group of followers who were encouraging those who wanted to take this step. He declares: “I wish the ones who are troubling you would cut themselves off!” referring to a slip of the circumcision knife, and he warns that anyone who does become circumcised has severed himself from Christ! (Galatians 5:4, 12).

DOES GOD CARE FOR OXEN?

Perhaps the most telling indication of Paul’s approach to the Torah comes in his defense of his right as an apostle to be supported financially by his followers. Some of Paul’s opponents had apparently denied his apostleship and influenced some of his followers at Corinth to question his status compared to Peter, James, and the other Jerusalem apostles. He adamantly defends himself:

Am I not an apostle? Have I not seen Jesus our Lord? Are not you my workmanship in the Lord? If to others I am not an apostle, at least I am to you; for you are the seal of my apostleship in the Lord. (1 Corinthians 9:1–2)

He then compares himself to the Jerusalem apostles directly:

This is my defense to those who would examine me. Do we not have the right to our food and drink? Do we not have the right to be accompanied by a wife as the other apostles and the brothers of the Lord and Cephas? (1 Corinthians 9:3–5)

Although Paul insisted that out of dedicated service to his followers he worked as a manual laborer and did not ask them to support him financially, he is quite insistent that like the apostles at Jerusalem he had every right to do so (1 Corinthians 9:12, 18). Paul appealed to the example of the priests who serve at the temple in Jerusalem, noting that the Torah commands that they share in the offering brought by the people. He even refers to a teaching of Jesus: “In the same way the Lord commanded that those who proclaim the gospel should get their living by the gospel,” perhaps alluding to Jesus’ teaching that “the laborer deserves his wages” (1 Corinthians 9:14; Luke 10:7). However, his main support for his position comes from his citation of the Torah itself:

Do I say this on human authority? Does not the Torah say the same? For it is written in the Torah of Moses, “You shall not muzzle an ox when it is treading out the grain.” Does God care for oxen? Does he not speak entirely for our sake? . . . if we have sown spiritual good among you is it too much if we reap your material benefits? (1 Corinthians 9:8–11)

What Paul argues here is not just a multilayered interpretive meaning for a command of Torah, with a literal as well as an allegorical meaning. That was common among the rabbis, who might agree that although this command of the Torah was given to ensure the proper care of animals, how much more so, in principle, would it imply the proper care of humans. But Paul takes an opposite approach. He insists that this Torah command has nothing at all to do with the welfare of the animal—asking “Does God care for oxen?”—and asserting that this Torah command was entirely intended to support his position that he as a spiritual laborer had the right to be supported financially.