What’s Changed?
For we know that the whole creation groans and suffers the pains of childbirth together until now. Romans 8:22 NASB
Until now – Paul wrote this sentence about one thousand nine hundred and fifty years ago. The Greek words, achri nyn, (“up to this point in time”) indicate that Paul thought the universe was on the brink of some apocalyptic event. achri nyn might be interpreted as Paul’s declaration that the resurrection of Yeshua was this decisive event, but that occurred some thirty years earlier. It’s difficult to imagine that Paul viewed the resurrection in Jerusalem as “now.” While it’s true that nyn can be used to separate two eras, the urgency of Paul’s statement makes it more likely that he anticipated a coming event that would set the universe right. His letter to the Romans is one of his last works. It develops his position more completely than his other letters. As Nanos, Fredriksen and Zetterholm have argued, Paul’s perspective looks for the final day, the end of this age when the Messiah will judge the earth on God’s behalf and bring justice to all. According to this sentence, that day is arriving very shortly.
Of course, it didn’t come. As far as we can tell, the whole creation is still groaning and suffering, waiting for release from its enslavement to corruption. Even Yeshua’s repeated proclamation, “the Kingdom is at hand,” seems to have been either substantially premature or presumptively spiritual rather than physical. God’s Kingdom isn’t here—yet.
It’s passages like this one that have convinced the proponents of “Paul within Judaism” that Paul’s basic approach to the Gentiles was an apocalyptic one. Paul thought the world as it existed toward the end of the first century was about to be concluded. He expected the imminent return of Yeshua and the Kingdom of God on earth to begin. This is why Paul seems to have a different attitude toward Gentiles than the typical Jewish view of proselytes. Ethics at the end of the age need modification. It’s no different than our modern experiences with “End of the World” prophets. No sense in saving for retirement if the world is going to end. Don’t worry about insurance or debts either. When God comes (or the world ends), none of this will matter—and since the end is right around the corner,[1] some ethical constraints fly out the window.
Do you think this is what Paul had in mind? Let me suggest a different possibility. I can see the argument that Paul was basically an apocalyptic visionary. The urgency he expresses in many letters supports this view. But I don’t think that turns him into a Torah reformer. In other words, even if he thought that the end was near, Torah was still his baseline. The council in Jerusalem (Acts 15) seems to me to confirm this fact. Paul wasn’t trying to make exceptions because the end was near. His faith was anchored in two equally important things: Moses and Yeshua—the Torah and the Messiah. One did not replace the other. For Paul, the Messiah only confirmed that Moses’ declaration of God’s instructions was all the more necessary. The return of the King meant the absolute ubiquity of Torah, not different codes for different people. Of course, Torah already contained distinctions for gender, age, tribe, geography, and ethnicity. It did not have to be rewritten now, at the end of the age. The return of the Messiah only meant Torah would be the law of the land for everyone, according to its already-present codification.
This satisfies the question about Gentiles and Torah, but it still leaves us with the Greek term nyn. Here we are, two thousand years later, still waiting. Still feeling the groaning and suffering, in ourselves and in our universe. Paul wasn’t right about this, but that doesn’t make Paul a false prophet. He didn’t predict anything. He just made a human mistake. His desire to see the return led him to imagine its proximity. And it gave him the drive to accomplish great things. We can be thankful that he was mistaken. Maybe that was the plan all along.
Topical Index: until now, , achri nyn, the end of the world, Romans 8:22
[1] As just two examples of dozens, you could consider the prophecy in 2012 of F. Kenton Beshore, president of the World Bible Society who predicted the Rapture by 2021, with the Second Coming seven years later, or the prophecy of Jean Dixon who said the world would end in 2020. I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
