Bogoslovska smotra, Vol. 73 No. 4, 2003.
Izvorni znanstveni članak
The Figure of Abraham on the Discussion of Salvation through Faith in the Epistle the Galatians
Marinko Vidović
orcid.org/0000-0003-0746-023X
; Katolički bogoslovni fakultet Sveučilišta u Splitu, Split, Hrvatska
Sažetak
In the exegetical analysis of Paul's speech on Abraham in the Epistle to the Galatians, the author attempts to penetrate the logic of Paul's approach to the fundamental truth of the Gospel regarding salvation through faith and not through practice of the Law. Beginning with the fundamental Christian certainty that Christ is the only Saviour through whom God equally and without prejudice offers through faith salvation to all, Paul notices that the figure of Abraham is accepted as Biblical proof, that one enters into the community of salvation establishing a correct relationship with God which is for him justification, on the foundation of faith and not the Law. All that Judaism attached to the figure of Abraham: the promise, heritage, blessing, sonship, freedom, all of this Paul if not in quite clear terms, removes from the system of Law and ascribes it to a system based on faith. In a profound exegesis of the Biblical accounts of Abraham, he discovers that God's plan of salvation was always coupled to promise and faith. This plan remains testamentartly unchanged as man's decision, even though it has manifested itself in various ways throughout history and the Law. This Law existed only after the promise. In God's plan of salvation there are, so to speak, two supporting columns: Abraham and Christ, and all that has happened from the time of Abraham to Christ, he interprets as the fruit of God's valorisation of human immaturity in their relationship with God. In Abraham God revealed and initiated his plan of salvation, and in Christ he brought it to its culmination. The foundation of God plan is the promise that offers heritage, blessing, sonship, and freedom, in which one participates through faith where Abraham is the model of this actualization. Having accepted faith in Christ, to which Abraham was predisposed as a Descendant of God's promise, the Galatians could be certain that even without the Law, they are Abraham's descendants, true sons and heirs of God's blessing to Abraham, Paul associates with slavery the system of law, outside of which the Judaisms and the Judaeo-Christians could not see another foundation for a proper life with God, and reflected through Abraham's wife Hagar and son Ishmael, while he sees that the system of promise and faith, is realised through Sarah and Isaac, and is associated with Christian freedom in Christ. For Paul the figure of Abraham is the legitimate figure for profiling true faith, which he seeks from the Galatians, and from a true Christocentric relationship with God who justifies, liberates and bestows salvation.
Ključne riječi
Abraham; justification; faith; promise; heritage; blessing; sonship; freedom; slavery; Law; salvation
Hrčak ID:
27346
URI
Datum izdavanja:
10.2.2004.
Posjeta: 1.526 *