Texts and Contexts: Gospels and Pauline Studies

Texts and Contexts

Gospels and Pauline Studies

Todd D. Still

Editor

Baylor University Press

© 2017 by Baylor University Press

Waco, Texas 76798

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Unless otherwise stated, Scripture quotations are from the New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

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Contents

Preface

Abbreviations

Part One: Gospels Studies

Chapter 1. Seasoning in the Sermon: Wealth Wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount

Margaret E. Ramey

Chapter 2. Where Was Dalmanutha?: Mark 8:10

Richard Bauckham

Chapter 3. The Sinful Woman and Simon the Pharisee: Character and Characterization in Luke 7:36-50

Mikeal C. Parsons

Chapter 4. The Battle on the Mount of Olives: Reading Luke 22:39-46in Its Literary Context

Andrew E. Arterbury

Chapter 5. When Ockham’s Razor Shaves Too Closely: A Necessarily Complex Model of the Development of the Jesus Tradition

Craig L. Blomberg

Part Two: Pauline Studies

Chapter 6. Why Did Paul Preach Christ Crucified in Corinth? A New Answer to an Old Question from an Unexpected Place

Todd D. Still

Chapter 7. Paul: A Theologian of the Cross

Mark A. Seifrid

Chapter 8. Corrupted vs. Renewed Minds in Romans 1, 7, and 12

Craig S. Keener

Chapter 9. The Presence and Function of Athletic Language in Philippians 1:27-30

Bradley Arnold

Chapter 10. Reflections on Paul and Women

Klyne R. Snodgrass

Part Three: Gospels and Pauline Sermons

Chapter 11. You Be the Judge: Matthew 7:1-6

Ben Witherington III

Chapter 12. The Jericho Connection: Luke 19:1-10; 4:14-30

W. Hulitt Gloer

Chapter 13. The Things That Make for Freedom: Luke 10:1-11, 16-20

Bill J. Leonard

Chapter 14. Why Don’t Y’all Pass the Bread?: Galatians 2:11-16; 3:26-29

Timothy George

Chapter 15. Traveling Mercies: Reflections along Life’s Journey: 1 Thessalonians 5:12-22

Daniel O. Aleshire

Notes

A Comprehensive Bibliography of the Works of David E. Garland

Contributors

Modern Author Index

Preface

Todd D. Still

Although I had known the iconic Old Testament professor D. David Garland from my seminary days, I had neither the fortune nor the occasion to meet noted New Testament scholar, esteemed teacher, and the honoree of this volume David E. Garland until 1997. At the time I was teaching at Dallas Baptist University, while David, along with his dearly beloved, now-deceased wife, Diana, had just made the trek from Louisville, Kentucky to Waco, Texas to start teaching at Baylor University.

Indeed, David had hardly taken up his new professorial post before I contacted him wondering if he could come give a lecture to a class that I was teaching on the Gospel of Mark. As it happens, I had adopted his award-winning commentary on Mark’s Gospel for that class and was as eager as my students, if not more so, to meet the man behind the remarkable book. David graciously consented to come lecture to my class and in due course offered an exegetically insightful, theologically rich, and pastorally sensitive treatment of Mark 16:1-8. (Over time, I grew to appreciate that such instruction is the rule not the exception for David Garland.) Following the class, David was kind enough to linger for a visit over a Dr. Pepper. From that point forward, I have admired David as a senior colleague and have counted him as a valued friend.

Some six years later (i.e., in the fall of 2003), and due in no small measure to David’s encouragement and support, I was privileged to join the faculty of Baylor University’s George W. Truett Theological Seminary, where David was then serving not only as Professor of Christian Scriptures but also as Associate Dean for Academic Affairs. Eventually, David would go on to serve as Dean of the Seminary as well as Baylor’s Interim Executive Vice President and Provost and Interim President (on two separate occasions). Coming full circle, David’s role at Baylor is once again Professor of Christian Scriptures at Truett Seminary.

A little over four years ago, I began to wonder if I could, over time, bring together a group of scholars to offer a Festschrift in David’s honor. In keeping with David’s own interests and concerns, I envisioned the project including both academic studies and text-centered sermons on the Synoptic Gospels and the Pauline Epistles. Regrettably, and for a variety of now inconsequential reasons, it has taken far longer than I had imagined for this long-planned for, much-deserved honorific volume to come to pass.

Even still, this book would not have come to fruition if it were not for the following. First and foremost, honor of mention goes to the contributors themselves, a gifted and talented team comprised of David’s friends and colleagues—some of whom are his former students. I am grateful for both their commitment and contributions to this valuable project. I am no less thankful for the sacrificial labor of a former student and friend of both David’s and mine—Tia Park-Kim. She lent this volume her capable editorial assistance and carefully compiled a complete bibliography of David’s published works. Finally, a word of deep appreciation and ongoing gratitude is due to Carey C. Newman, director of Baylor University Press, and his highly skilled staff for supporting, producing, and publishing this work.

For some twenty years now I have been richly blessed by David E. Garland’s life, work, and friendship. (There is a company of others who have known David and have benefited from his ministry up to twice as long, as his lustrous career now stretches nearly forty years.) This volume is a small, yet sincere, token of appreciation to a consummate scholar, minister, and administrator who has a way with words and an abiding knowledge of the Word.

Abbreviations

1 En. ——— 1 Enoch

11QtgJob ——— Targum of Job

2 Bar. ——— 2 Baruch

AB ——— Anchor Bible

ABD ——— Anchor Bible Dictionary

Add. Esther ——— Additions to Esther

Aen. ——— Vergil, Aeneid

Aeth. ——— Heliodorus, Aethiopioca

Ag. Ap. ——— Josephus, Against Apion

AnBib ——— Analecta Biblica

Ant. ——— rom. Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Antiquitates romanae

Ant. ——— Josephus, Antiquities

ANTC ——— Abingdon New Testament Commentaries

Anth. ——— Xenophon of Ephesus, Anthia and Habrocomus

ARN ——— ’Abot de Rabbi Nathan

AJT ——— Asia Journal of Theology

ASNU ——— Acta Seminarii Neotestamentici Upsaliensis

Att. ——— Cicero, Epistulae ad Atticum

Ax. ——— Pseudo-Plato, Axiochus sive de morte

b.ʾAbot ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate ʾAbot

b. B. bat. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Baba Batra

b. B. Meṣ. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Baba Meṣi‘a

b. Ber. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Berakot

b. Giṭ. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Giṭṭin

B.J. ——— Josephus, Bellum judaicum (Jewish War)

b. Men. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Menaḥot

b. Yeb. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate Yebamot

b. ‘Abod. Zar. ——— Babylonian Talmud Tractate ‘Abodah Zarah

BAGD ——— Bauer, Walter, William F. Arndt, F. Wilburg Gingrich, and Frederick W. Danker. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 2d ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1979.

BAR ——— Biblical Archaeology Review

BBR ——— Bulletin for Biblical Research

BCBC ——— Believers Church Bible Commentary

BDAG ——— Danker, Frederick W., Walter Bauer, William F. Arndt, and F. Wilbur Gingrich. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature. 3rd ed. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 2000.

BECNT ——— Baker Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

Ben. ——— Seneca, De beneficiis

BETL ——— Bibliotheca Ephemeridum Theologicarum Lovaniensium

BGU ——— Aegyptische Urkunden aus den Königlichen Staatlichen Museen zu Berlin, Griechische Urkunden. 15 vols. Berlin: Weidmann, 1895–1937.

Bib ——— Biblica

BibInt ——— Biblical Interpretation

BNTC ——— Black’s New Testament Commentaries

BTB ——— Biblical Theology Bulletin

CBQ ——— Catholic Bible Quarterly

CBR ——— Currents in Biblical Research

CC ——— Continental Commentaries

Comm. Matt. ——— Origen, Commentary on Matthew

ConBNT ——— Coniectanea Neotestamentica

CurTM ——— Currents in Theology and Mission

Cyr. ——— Xenophon, Cyropaedia

Daphn. ——— Longus, Daphnis and Chloe

De nat. deor. ——— Cicero, De natura deorum

De off. ——— Cicero, De officiis

Deipn. ——— Athenaeus, Deipnosophistae

Dial. ——— Seneca, Dialogi

Diatr./Disc. ——— Epictetus, Diatribai (Discourses)

Ep. Lucil. ——— Seneca, Epistulae morales ad Lucilium

Ep. ——— Seneca, Epistulae morales

Epit. ——— Arius Didymus, Epitome

ExpTim ——— Expository Times

Fin. ——— Cicero, De finibus

HB ——— Hebrew Bible

Herm. Sim. ——— Shepherd of Hermas, Similitudes

Hipp. ——— Euripides, Hippolytus

Hist. eccl. ——— Eusebius, Historia ecclesiastica (Ecclesiastical History)

HNTC ——— Harper’s New Testament Commentaries

Hom. Hym. ——— Homeric Hymns

Hom. Prob. ——— Heraclitus, Homeric Problems

HTKNK ——— Herders Theologischer Kommentar zum Neuen Testament

ICC ——— International Critical Commentary

IG ——— Inscriptiones Graecae. Editio Minor. Berlin: de Gruyter, 1924–.

Il ——— Homer, Iliad

Int ——— Interpretation

JBL ——— Journal of Biblical Literature

JETS ——— Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society

JJS ——— Journal of Jewish Studies

Jos. ——— Philo, Life of Joseph

JSHJ ——— Journal for the Study of the Historical Jesus

JSNT ——— Journal for the Study of the New Testament

JSNTSup ——— Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series

JTS ——— Journal of Theological Studies

KEK ——— Kritisch-exegetischer Kommentar über das Neue Testament (Meyer-Kommentar)

L&N ——— Louw, Johannes P., and Eugene A. Nida, eds. Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament: Based on Semantic Domains. 2d ed. New York: United Bible Societies, 1989.

Let. Aris. ——— Letter of Aristeas

Life ——— Josephus, The Life

Ling. ——— Varro, De lingua Latina

LNTS ——— Library of New Testament Studies

LSJ ——— Liddell, Henry George, Robert Scott, Henry Stuart Jones. A Greek-English Lexicon. 9th ed. with revised supplement. Oxford: Clarendon, 1996.

Lys. ——— Aristophanes, Lysistrata

m. ʾAbot ——— Mishnah Tractate ʾAbot

m. Pe’ah ——— Mishnah Tractate Pe’ah

m. Sanh. ——— Mishnah Tractate Sanhedrin

Marc. ——— Porphyry, Letter to Marcella

Marc. ——— Tertullian, Against Marcion

Med. ——— Marcus Aurelius, Meditations

Mem. ——— Xenophon, Memorabilia

Metam. ——— Apuleius, Metamorphoses

Metam. ——— Ovid, Metamorphoses

Mil. glor. ——— Plautus, Miles gloriosus

MNTC ——— Moffatt New Testament Commentary

Mor. ——— Plutarch, Moralia

Mos. ——— Philo, On the Life of Moses

Mul. ——— Hippocrates, De morbis mulierum

Myst. ——— Iamblichus, On the Mysteries

NA²⁷ ——— Aland, Barbara, Kurt Aland, et al., eds. Nestle-Aland Novum Testamentum Graece. 27th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2006.

NA²⁸ ——— Aland, Barbara, Kurt Aland, et al., eds. Nestle-Aland Greek New Testament. 28th ed. Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2012.

NAC ——— New American Commentary

Nat. Q. ——— Seneca, Naturales quaestiones

NCBC ——— New Century Bible Commentary

NIB ——— The New Interpreter’s Bible. Edited by Leander E. Keck. 12 vols. Nashville: Abingdon, 1994–2004.

NICNT ——— New International Commentary on the New Testament

NIGTC ——— New International Greek Testament Commentary

NovT ——— Novum Testamentum

NovTSup ——— Supplements to Novum Testamentum

NPNF ——— Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers

NT ——— New Testament

NTL ——— New Testament Library

NTS ——— New Testament Studies

NTT ——— New Testament Theology

Onom. ——— Eusebius, Onomasticon

Or. ——— Dio Chrysostom, Orations

Or. ——— Maximus of Tyre, Philosophical Orations

Ot. ——— Seneca, De otio

OT ——— Old Testament

PEQ ——— Palestine Exploration Quarterly

Pesiq. Rab. ——— Pesiqta Rabbati

PG ——— Patrologia Graeca. Edited by Jacques-Paul Migne. 162 vols. Paris, 1857–1886.

PNTC ——— Pelican New Testament Commentaries

Pol. ——— Ignatius, Epistle to Polycarp

Pol. ——— Aristotle, Politics

Prov. ——— Seneca, Providentia

PRS ——— Perspectives in Religious Studies

Ps.-Phoc. ——— Pseudo-Phoclides, Sentences

Pss. Sol. ——— Psalms of Solomon

Pyth. Life ——— Iamblichus, Pythagorean Life

Quis her. ——— Philo, Quis rerum divinarum heres sit (Who Is the Heir?)

Quod. omn. prob ——— Philo, Quod omnis probus liber sit (That Every Good Person Is Free)

Rep. ——— Plato, Republic

Sat. ——— Petronius, Satyricon

SBLRBS ——— Society of Biblical Literature Resources for Biblical Study

SBLSP ——— Society of Biblical Literature Seminar Papers

SCJ ——— Stone-Campbell Journal

SEG ——— Supplementum epigraphicum graecum

Sib. Or. ——— Sibylline Oracles

SIG ——— Sylloge Inscriptionum Graecarum. Edited by Wilhelm Dittenberger. 4 vols. 3rd ed. Leipzig: Hirzel, 1915–1924.

Sipre Deut. ——— Sipre Deuteronomy

SNTSMS ——— Society for New Testament Studies Monograph Series

SP ——— Sacra Pagina

Str-B ——— Strack, H. L., and P. Billerbeck. Kommentar zum Neuen Testament aus Talmud und Midrasch. 6 vols. Munich, 1922–1961.

Strom. ——— Clement of Alexandria, Stromateis (Miscellanies)

T. Iss. ——— Testament of Issachar

T. Job ——— Testament of Job

T. Jos. ——— Testament of Joseph

T. Jud. ——— Testament of Judah

T. Levi ——— Testament of Levi

t. Peʾah ——— Tosefta Tractate Peʾah

T. Sol. ——— Testament of Solomon

T. Zeb. ——— Testament of Zebulun

TDNT ——— Theological Dictionary of the New Testament. Edited by Gerhard Kittel and Gerhard Friedrich. Translated by Geoffrey W. Bromiley. 10 vols. Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1964–1976.

Them ——— Themelios

TJ ——— Trinity Journal

TLG ——— Thesaurus Linguae Graecae: Canon of Greek Authors and Works. Edited by Luci Berkowitz and Karl A. Squitier. 3rd ed. New York: Oxford University Press, 1990.

TNTC ——— Tyndale New Testament Commentaries

TS ——— Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies

TU ——— Texte und Untersuchungen

TynBul ——— Tyndale Bulletin

UBS⁴ ——— Aland, Barbara, Kurt Aland, et al. Greek New Testament. 4th ed. American Bible Society, 2000.

Virt. ——— Philo, De virtutibus (On the Virtues)

WBC ——— Word Bible Commentary

WTJ ——— Westminster Theological Journal

WUNT ——— Wissenschaftliche Untersuchungen zum Neuen Testament

WW ——— Word and World

y. Naz. ——— Jerusalem Talmud Tractate Nazir

ZECNT ——— Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament

ZKG ——— Zeitschrift für Kirchengeschichte

ZNW ——— Zeitschrift für die neutestamentliche Wissenschaft und die Kunde der älteren Kirche

Part One

Gospels Studies

Chapter 1

Seasoning in the Sermon

Wealth Wisdom in the Sermon on the Mount

Margaret E. Ramey

Preface

I teach at a small Anabaptist college in south central Pennsylvania where surnames such as Sider and Yoder not only are common on my class rosters but also are names of revered scholars. Originally though, I come from a Baptist heritage in South Carolina where those surnames are as unfamiliar as these scholars’ views on kingdom ethics are. Although my two cultural contexts share the words south and Baptist, they can be as far from one another on some issues as my drive from Pennsylvania to the Carolinas can be, a fact that I was reminded of not too long ago on a visit home.

After completing my first year of teaching at Messiah College, I headed down to see my family. One Sunday, we visited a very large and wealthy Baptist church of the Reformed persuasion whose extensive grounds were as pristinely well manicured as its thousands of congregants were well dressed.

At first, I found nothing unusual with the service. It was the traditional procession of announcements, songs, and offerings, leading up to the pinnacle of Protestant worship—the sermon. Initially, there was nothing too out of the ordinary about the sermon. It was simply a description of an upcoming mission trip and an admirable plea for assistance. Soon, however, the pastor’s talk took a dramatic shift from charitable giving to a heated defense of personal wealth.

The detour began with an allusion to Francis Chan’s book Crazy Love, then newly released, and its call for Christians to live simply and with less in order to be able to share generously with others. The pastor referred to this book and its movement as a fad and told how he had seen all of this before. Books with similar ideas, such as Ron Sider’s Rich Christians in an Age of Hunger, were popular when he was in seminary. He joked that their arguments made sense to him when he was a poor student because when you have no money it always seems like a great idea for everyone to live that way, too. Of course, people grow up and realize how nonsensical this suggestion is once they actually start earning a salary. After having a good laugh with the congregation over this observation, the pastor explained that the real problem was that the authors’ ideas were simply unbiblical as the Bible never says that being wealthy is wrong.

At this point, I was so shocked by the direction that the sermon had taken that, before I could stop myself, I blurted out, What Bible is he reading?, an unfortunate breach in Southern etiquette that earned me a good nudging in the ribs by my very embarrassed father.

The pastor continued explaining to his highly affluent, nearly all-white congregation why being wealthy was a good and godly way to be and why they should not bother themselves with these unbiblical (a.k.a. very Anabaptist) fads. I, however, had become so agitated with what he was teaching his parishioners and how he was handling the biblical text that I walked out of the sanctuary.

As I sat in the parking lot waiting for the service to end, I was saddened at the thought of the influence his message was having on people who were some of the most blessed, most well-equipped Christians to give generously. Instead of receiving a prophetic call to embody the good news of the kingdom in a material way, we had simply received affirmation for our prosperous Western lifestyles, mine included.

Then I began to think about how, if I had heard the same sermon just eight years earlier in my life, I probably would have nodded my head along with the other congregants and accepted the pastor’s sermon as the biblical teaching on wealth. I certainly would not have ended up sitting alone wondering why no one else had left.

Of course, that was before I went to a little place in Texas called Truett Seminary.

That was before I had professors like David Garland.

Dr. Garland and other mentors at Truett were the first ones to help me wrestle with the nature of the prophetic call found in the Gospels and to discern how it could relate to our own modern culture on pertinent issues, such as wealth. So when I was asked to contribute a piece on the Gospel of Matthew to this Festschrift honoring David Garland, I knew what I wanted to write.

Introduction

No aspect of Jesus’ teaching is so confrontational and so difficult to implement as his teaching on money. Many Christians, if they even know what Jesus says about money, do not pay much attention to it.¹

Perform a search on the topic of wealth in Jesus’ teachings, and most of your scholarly returns will deal with the Gospel of Luke.² Well known as the champion of the poor and the castigator of the wealthy, Luke has rightly received such attention, but what about Matthew’s collection of teachings? Why has not more effort been given to exploring his cache of wisdom on this topic? Even though most of the sayings we will examine are not unique to Matthew,³ the fact that our evangelist chose to include so many teachings related to wealth is significant.⁴

When we explore the wealth passages scattered throughout the first Gospel, we find that Jesus’ teachings on wealth permeate almost every part of this book. Tellingly, every one of Matthew’s five major discourses includes teachings on wealth.⁵ Unfortunately, space constrains us to address only those found in the first major discourse, the Sermon on the Mount. Even a brief journey through this sermon, though, foreshadows almost every one of Jesus’ later teachings.⁶

Traveling through the various pericopae, we will be reminded of Matthew’s penchant for presenting Jesus as a teacher who instructs in the Israelite wisdom style with which he was so familiar. The movement of our journey will follow Kingsbury’s structural division of the sermon,⁷ in part because it highlights its main theme—the greater righteousness. Investigating these teachings, we shall find that, contrary to what the Carolina pastor taught, Matthew, at least, had a rather hostile attitude toward wealth and possessions, since the accumulation of earthly treasures was directly contrary to the life of discipleship and the will of God.⁸ Perhaps we may dare hope that this reexamination of Matthew’s wisdom sayings scattered as seasoning throughout the sermon will provide a challenge to us as modern disciples who struggle with how best to handle wealth in light of our allegiance to God’s empire.

Introduction: On Those Who Practice the Greater Righteousness (5:3-16)

A Strange Blessing Indeed (5:3)

Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. (Matt 5:3)

Our introduction to the theme of wealth in the sermon comes in the form of a blessing. Ironically, and contrary to all cultural expectations for Jesus’ original audience, it is not the wealthy or the powerful who are viewed as blessed, but the poor! Since the beatitudes are famous for presenting a divine reign that turns the present regime on its head, perhaps we should not be surprised that the first blessing heading the list in this topsy-turvy empire is no exception. John P. Meier perhaps puts it best when he observes, Jesus the revolutionary is heaving a verbal grenade into our homiletic garden.⁹

Some past interpreters, though, have downplayed the revolutionary nature of this statement, disagreeing that this beatitude refers to those who are economically, and not just spiritually, impoverished.¹⁰ Much of current scholarship, however, emphasizes the similarity in the meaning of Matthew’s poor in spirit (5:3) and Luke’s poor (6:20b).¹¹ Matthew’s version simply allows for a wider meaning than just material poverty.

If such is our introduction to Jesus’ view of wealth, or, more precisely, one’s lack of wealth, then we should be prepared for potentially more unexpected and uncommon wisdom. Moving through the rest of the sermon, we will discover that, ironically, there is a multifaceted type of poverty that wealth itself can produce.

On Practicing the Greater Righteousness toward the Neighbor (5:17-48): Financial Dealings between Friends and Foes

The next three pericopae related to wealth in the sermon fall into a section known as the six antitheses (5:21-48), each of which begins with the phrase You have heard that it was said . . . but (δέ) I say to you. This moniker is perhaps misleading since δέ is better translated as and to emphasize not a contradiction of the original laws (cf. 5:17-20) but an elucidation of their true spirit and the even greater demand of righteousness than that required by those laws placed on citizens of God’s empire.¹²

Reconciling Relationships Ruptured by Debt (5:25-26)

Make friends quickly with your opponent at law while you are with him on the way, so that your opponent may not hand you over to the judge, and the judge to the officer, and you be thrown into prison. Truly I say to you, you will not come out of there until you have paid up the last cent. (Matt 5:25-26 NASB)

Matthew 5:25-26 resides in the first antithesis (5:21-26) at the end of material dealing with issues of anger and reconciliation, an appropriate location for a teaching on wealth since money is frequently the root of anger and damaged relationships. The OT precedents from which Jesus begins in v. 21 are the Mosaic laws listing punishments for violent acts.¹³ Jesus’ expansion of the Law on these topics, however, deals not with their proper punishment but rather with their prevention.¹⁴ After delivering general prohibitions in apodictic style against not only murder but also anger and insults, Jesus goes on to offer two, more casuistic, rules for reconciliation (5:23-26). Both case studies offer guidance on deescalating the tensions that might lead to further ruptured relationships and perhaps violence itself.

The second of these scenarios pictures two adversaries walking together to court to settle a case, presumably regarding a financial debt.¹⁵ As with the first case study (vv. 23-24), immediate reconciliation is advised with an adverse warning of imprisonment if the situation is allowed to escalate. Not only is a settlement that precludes judiciary mediation and, presumably, full restitution of the debt a preferable outcome for the defendant, but also it carries the additional benefit of a restored relationship, even a friendship (cf. εὐνοῶν).

In both cases mentioned in the first antithesis, what is important is not retribution, whether of insults or financial debts, but reconciliation.¹⁶ Restoration of right relationships is so essential that one is not to allow anything, whether great distances of travel or great sums of money, to hinder it.

Generosity beyond Justice (5:38-42)

Our next proverbial pieces of wealth wisdom fall into the fifth antithesis (5:38-42) and pertain to the topic of justice. The OT lex talionis,¹⁷ from which Jesus begins this section, ensured that punishments were appropriate to their crimes—an eye for an eye, not an entire life—and prevented escalation in matters of retribution—only one eye for one eye, not two or twenty. It was the literal em-body-ment of a just response to another’s violent act.

Jesus’ teachings, however, prevent even measured retaliation against those who are clearly in the wrong, being labeled as evil (τῷ πονηρῷ). Once again, his teachings move from a general apodictic command to elucidations of that principle with casuistic examples of how to respond to mistreatment, one of which involves a dispute over assets (v. 40). After these, Jesus concludes with two commands (v. 42a, b) that are a much better form of embodiment of the greater righteousness God demands.

Naked Generosity (5:40)

And if anyone would sue you and take your tunic, let him have your cloak as well. (Matt 5:40 esv)

The picture again involves a courtroom scene and a legal dispute. Unlike the previous case (vv. 25-26) in which the defendant appeared guilty, this time the plaintiff is the evildoer who pursues a clearly impoverished person even to the point of demanding the shirt off his back. The advice given to the defendant in this situation, as in all the examples in vv. 38-42, is surprisingly not to demand justice but to act generously. Not only is the man to surrender what is asked of him, his tunic, but even more and what legally could not be required of him, his cloak.¹⁸

Such counterintuitive advice of meeting greed with generosity might just be shocking enough to disarm one’s opponent, but it also would be one of the only means of empowering the powerless. The hyperbolic image of literally being stripped naked highlights not so much the defendant’s impoverished state as it exposes the plaintiff’s own poverty of character before his peers. In an honor and shame culture, such naked humility and generosity would be the most effective form of meeting such naked aggression.¹⁹

Generosity toward One’s Neighbor (5:42)

Give to the one who begs from you, and do not refuse the one who would borrow from you. (Matt 5:42 esv)

Two final commands (v. 42a, b) follow the casuistic examples, but instead of giving guidance on responding to