Book Review: Paul and the Gift by John M.G. Barclay
John M.G. Barclay, Paul and the Gift.
(Grand Rapids, MI/Cambridge, U.K.: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing Company, 2015). 656 pp. (incl. Bibliography and Indices).
John M.G. Barclay, Lightfoot Professor of Divinity at Durham University, has written an exhaustive study on the theme of grace in Paul. Barclay’s starting point is the ancient notion of “gift” and how it has been “perfected” over the centuries by various groups – political, philosophical, religious and theological – that is, elaborated and fine-tuned from its original sense. For the most part gifting was an exchange between two parties. Expectations of ongoing reciprocal relations prevailed; no such thing as a “free gift” was in view, that is, the sense that no return was expected by the gifted.
In many ways, argues Barclay, the development of the term “gift” as associated with the biblical term “grace” (e.g., from the root word for both in Greek, charis) finds its most prevalent exemplar in Greco-Roman practices of patronage, in which benefits are offered for benefits sake, i.e., not “indiscriminately.” Loyalty and return service by the recipient is expected in response to gift. We moderns might argue that such is not a “gift,” therefore. Not so in the ancient world, and Barclay marshals extensive research to demonstrate this fact, whether from Greco-Roman sources, ancient Jewish practices and eventually the Apostle Paul and Second Temple Judaism. For example, the Roman philosopher Seneca, a near contemporary of Paul, posited that giving should have an “animus” (soul, spirit) of gratitude at all times as part of the exchange. Nonetheless, an exchange it is – gratitude for a gift. Yet, it was Jews in particular, Barclay reminds us, that in their Scriptures cast the idea of gift somewhat differently in terms of an “unreciprocated gift” based on “unconditional love.” Yet even here the notion of “return” is retained in terms of the God who gives back to the gift-giver. (So, the gifted does not return the favor, but God does.)
Barclay’s strength in this book lies in his deep reservoir of resources that he gives the reader for understanding the development of the concept of gift beyond these initial roots in Greco-Roman and Jewish practice. Thus Christian theologians like Calvin and Luther move away from the notion of “gifts with obligations” and more toward the idea of a “pure gift.” Barclay shows how the philosopher Kant universalized the principle of a “pure, unconditional gift” as an ethic for all. In fact, in the 20th century, another philosopher Derrida posited that any hint of an exchange annuls the concept of a “pure gift.” It is this kind of extensive, comprehensive analysis of resources, philosophies, and theologies, across the centuries, that rewards the reader of this exhaustive volume with how we get to our understanding of grace in the theology of Paul. It is part of a long history of gift and gift-giving in the ancient and modern world.
Paul and his writings, of course, are the heart of this book on grace. Yet, even here Barclay will cover a lot of ground with chapters surveying the history of theological reflection on Paul’s theology of grace and gift, and grace in the theology of Paul’s contemporaries in Second Temple Judaism. Barclay surveys a plethora of theologians of Paul, from Marcion to Martyn, and what each writes about grace in Paul. Those studies themselves are worth the price of this hefty tome, as a kind of review of the theology of these theologians, as well as a summary of what Paul wrote about grace. Essentially, argues Barclay, Paul wrote “perfections” (elaborations and extensions) on the concept of “gift” in Greco-Roman religions, but especially Second Temple Judaism (Wisdom of Solomon, Philo, etc.). The “Divine Gift,” about which Paul and Second Temple Jews wrote about, entails “the priority of divine benevolence,” as well as aspects of its “singularity, efficacy, or incongruity.” Much of Second Temple Judaism argued that God’s gift assumes the effectiveness of God’s grace above all other gifts and that it is “unmerited.”
So what’s different about Paul’s concept of grace? Barclay answers this important question, the heart of his book, with a careful study of both Galatians and Romans. Here is where the rich and detailed exegesis of both these letters on the topic of grace can be helpful to the preacher, although this long and detailed book is not for the faint of heart. In much of Second Temple Judaism, from which Paul, as well as his cohorts in the Jesus movement, emerged, God’s grace has its limits, otherwise it would be irrational and ultimately deny the goodness of God. There was a debate within Judaism, and eventually within earliest Christianity, about whether “grace” was “congruous” (depended on a response from the recipients of God’s grace) or “incongruous” (“free” grace, with no strings attached). There were several options in Second Temple Judaism, but all were considered as definitions of “grace.” Thus Barclay details how Paul and Peter and other early Jewish Christian leaders might have understood God’s grace differently. It seems from texts like Romans 9 to 11 that Paul understand God’s grace to be “incongruous” – absolutely free to the believer – because of the ultimate gift of Christ on the Cross. In addition, in the letter to the Galatians, for example, the conflicts inherent in that letter relate to “how to” live out the grace of God as a non-Jew in the aftermath of the decision to “be in Christ,” as Barclay puts it. In his exegesis of Galatians, especially Gal. 1-2, Barclay argues that Paul is completely excusing the Jewish Torah as a viable option for “righteousness” for both Jew and Gentile now that the Christ event has extended the grace of God for once and for all. The Jewish Law is no longer the guide for life (“habitus,” as described by Barclay); rather, grace is the “way of the Spirit,” Paul argues in Galatians (especially Gal. 5 and 6). Paul, therefore, sees Christ as the “incongruous [free] gift.”
Barclay discusses at length (as are most points of argument in this book) the long time debate in Pauline scholarship about the “objective” or “subjective” understanding of Paul’s phrase “faith in Christ.” Does it mean that the faith of the believer in Christ or the “faithfulness [obedience] of Christ” justifies the believer? For Barclay, “in Christ” implies the Christ event – death and resurrection. Putting our trust in the efficacy – “grace” – of the Christ-gift (death and resurrection) is all-sufficient for righteousness – our “worthiness” before God, which is how Barclay describes dikaiosune, “righteousness.” For Barclay, such an understanding of faith and grace in Paul implies the “death of the Torah,” a controversial statement, especially in light of the recent “new perspectives on Paul” debate, which nuances Paul’s Jewishness carefully. Thus Barclay devotes a major section of one of his final chapters to the relationship between the “Christ-gift” and the Law (chapter 13 – “The Incapacity of the Torah to Create Worth”).
In short, this long, involved study of Paul and “grace-as-gift” invites the reader to approach the topic carefully and over a rich, rewarding period of study, reflection and analysis. Barclay leaves no stone unturned. The working preacher, in particular, might find this study one she or he will return to often, perhaps not read through in a short period of time, given the busy life of the pastor/preacher. But, nonetheless, whether to review key theologians in church history and biblical studies and their take on Pauline theology, or to explore, again and again, the careful exegesis of passages in Galatians and Romans, Paul and the Gift will be the “gift that keeps on giving.”
