Summary of The Chosen People: Election, Paul and Second Temple Judaism: Chapter 3: Who Are the People of God?

This chapter is concerned with addressing the collective aspect of election, which Thornhill believes is the primary emphasis of the material of the Second Temple period. There are two main ways in which the writers of this era showed this: (1) through metaphor, and (2) through a general focus upon collective election, “where the nation or its remnant takes center stage” (59). Thornhill once again surveys the Second Temple material and pulls out relevant data to relate within his pages. Roughly ten pages of evidence are offered for metaphors and another thirteen pages are given over to the general focus of the period.

Corporate metaphors abound in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In the Rule (1QS), for instance, true Israelites are spoken of as those in covenant with God. Yet, even these covenanted individuals can suffer damnation, since they can remove themselves from the covenant—the locus of election. The Rule also refers to the community of believers as the “plantation,” “foundation,” or “house.” These metaphors make it clear that the group viewed itself as God’s place of activity. The War Scroll (1QM) continues this corporate outlook by speaking of other Jews as separated from the elect group. These men are said to be “violators of the covenant” and are clearly to be thought of as those who have rejected the covenant of God. Moreover, these individuals are said to fight alongside the Gentiles against the hand of God. The metaphor that stands out in this section is the “sons of light,” which is applied to the group that has been chosen by God to continue faithfully in this life. This idea is furthered by 1 Enoch 10:16 where the “plant of righteousness” is applied to the faithful community. This is a particularly helpful metaphor because it is clearly a single plant that is mentioned. Although the expected meaning would be that an individual is this plant, it is instead applied to a group of people. The one plant represents all the faithful. And this plant can even be further divided. In at least one section of 1 Enoch, two elements of the one plant seem to exist simultaneously. As the number of faithful diminishes the plant does not “shrink,” but rather it splits. There is now a subgroup of the plant, which is considered the “true Israel” (1 En 93:10). In all of this, however, it is important to keep in mind that there is no focus on the individual within the plant. The plant as the chosen one is a metaphor for the collective.

Several other works move from metaphors like the ones above to more explicit statements about corporate election. In Wisdom of Ben Sira, for example, Israel is made out to be the special target of God’s affection. Within this group, there is once again a select remnant. Indeed, the blessings promised to the nation are said to be given to this latter group (Sir 47:22). Thornhill argues that Ben Sira may have had in mind the idea that not every Jew was part of the elect group. The group had rules (i.e., the Law) that had to be kept to remain in the fold. But even if Ben Sira did not think this, the concept is clearly articulated elsewhere (1 Macc 1:11, 34; 3:20). First Maccabees makes it clear that there are many who no longer fit within the chosen group. They are no better than the Gentiles. And in the Psalms of Solomon these who have strayed from the chosen group will be subject to judgment. The explicit motifs continue even more clearly in the Dead Sea Scrolls. In 1Q34 there is a rather lengthy explanation of how the Qumran sect believes God has chosen a remnant, even though the nation of Israel has been shown to be wicked time and again. The same is the case for the author of 4Q252, who sees his group as the inheritor of David’s throne.

After this material, Thornhill offers a thorough summary of the relevant material of Pseudo-Philo. The author of this material seems to have two strains of thought. In the first case, he clearly has a place for the perpetual status of Israel as God’s chosen. On the other hand, there are numerous passages that indicate that he also believed in the remnant concept. Thornhill believes balance is to be found by understanding the author as teaching that God has a covenant people, to whom he is always faithful, but “each individual’s fate is determined by their [sic] keeping or forsaking the covenant” (82).

Thornhill closes out this chapter by offering examples of this type of thinking in the Pauline corpus. His first discussion focusses on 2 Thessalonians 2:13-15. Although this passage is most commonly used to support the concept of individual election, Thornhill believes this overlooks a number of significant issues. First, there is some reason to believe that Paul thought of the Thessalonians as “firstfruits” of a great harvest. Second, Paul’s command for them to continue in the truth makes little sense if not understood within the context of continuing within the elect group. I Corinthians 1:18-31 showcases a similar thought, because here Paul is encouraging these believers to embrace the “foolishness” of God’s plan. Obviously, this is a sarcastic Pauline conception, intended to show that from the world’s perspective what God is doing looks ridiculous. What is this foolishness, though? It is God’s choice of a group of people who stand against the grain of the world. Paul believes that this group must be unified because of its grand purpose on earth. For Thornhill, this unity is challenged when the idea of individual election is forced upon this passage. This is because the focus, in this case, shifts away from believers remaining faithful in the covenant to seeking their own salvation. In other words, Paul is using the collective election motif of the Second Temple period to do something more than just affirm individual salvation. This, however, does not mean that Paul simply adopted the ideology, but rather mutatismutandis he applies it with Christ now as the central focus. Faithfulness to Christ is now the defining mark of the elect community.

Image: By  Valentin de Boulogne - vAHBpCifHgxB7g at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=23590521

A. Thornhill's The Chosen People: Chapter 1: "The Missing Link in Election"

No, this chapter is not discussing the problems with the political election cycle in the United States. Instead, A. Chadwick Thornhill focuses upon the doctrine of election, and how the Jewish mindset most certainly affected its formulation in the New Testament. Specifically, Thornhill narrows his topic to the way in which the apostle Paul’s concept of election was formed. Thornhill begins by discussing the New Perspective on Paul (NPP), and how certain elements of this theory should be retained. His main contention is that most scholars who deal with the NPP never deal directly with the concept of election. It is his goal to remedy this situation.

Thornhill begins by defining three theories of election: “national and unconditional,” “national and cooperative,” and “remnant-oriented and conditional.” The first theory develops election along the lines of a once-saved-always saved mentality. Specifically, it views the election of Israel as a holistic enterprise, whereby God chose this people for salvation. Anyone who is an Israelite is therefore saved by the nature of his covenantal relationship with Yahweh. Supporters of this theory (e.g., Sanders) often seek to adjust the common view that salvation in Israel was based upon works-righteousness. The second theory views Israel’s soteriological position as a tension between two poles: obedience and election. This is the least clearly defined category of the three. The third position argues that unconditional election of the nation Israel was never the point of the covenant. Instead, by studying Qumranic material and Pseudepigraphical works, it becomes clear that a conditional view of the covenant was the predominant Jewish view. Developing this third theory, then, is the major focus of the present book.

    The first major question addressed deals with how Second Temple Jews viewed their election. This is an important area of study because it leads to a second question: how might this understanding have affected the apostle Paul’s writings? He was, after all, a Jew of this time period. Thornhill believes that it is inappropriate to assume that Paul necessarily stood against the tide of all Jewish thought, just because he argued against some ideas. It is illogical to assume that due to a few instances of disagreement, Paul would have denied all of his Jewish background. Indeed, if this concept were taken to its logical conclusion then one would have to argue that Paul stood even against the Old Testament! At the same time, Thornhill is cautious not to overstate this point. He is clearly aware that Jewish thought at this time was rather amorphous. Nevertheless, there are certain widespread characteristics that he will seek to illustrate in subsequent chapters.

With this in mind, our author establishes a criterion by which he will proceed: each work from Second Temple Judaism that he will analyze will be addressed on its own merits and only then will it be compared with Paul’s material. The hope is that this methodology will offer a necessary safeguard against reading a preconceived notion of Paul’s theology into surveyed material and vice versa. The goal is to develop a picture of the zeitgeist of the Second Temple Jewish world, in relation to the doctrine of election. This goal is to be reached by analyzing three sources: the Dead Sea scrolls, the Apocrypha, and the Pseudepigrapha. In each case, an attempt will be made to expose those ideas that seem to be held by a broad sector of the Jewish world.

Podcast: Chad Thornhill on the Doctrine of Election and the Moral Argument

On this week’s episode, we hear from Dr. Chad Thornhill regarding the doctrine of election and some of the implications for the moral argument. Certain views of the doctrine of election might pose substantial problems for the defender of the moral argument, but Dr. Thornhill explains how, when we have a biblical understanding of the doctrine, these objections can be turned back and how a good understanding of the doctrine of election actually supports the moral argument.

Photo: “Irish United Nations Veterans Association house and memorial garden (Arbour Hill)” by W. Murphy. CC. License.