Texts in Conversation
Romans describes God as one who “did not spare his own Son,” echoing Genesis 22, where God says Abraham did not withhold his only son. Paul uses the same Greek verb found in the Septuagint translation of Genesis.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
Genesis 22:12
Hebrew Bible
11 But the angel of the Lord called to him from heaven, “Abraham! Abraham!” “Here I am!” he answered. 12 “Do not harm the boy!” the angel said. “Do not do anything to him, for now I know that you fear God because you did not withhold your son, your only son, from me.” 13 Abraham looked up and saw behind him a ram caught in the bushes by its horns. So he went over and got the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering instead of his son. 14 And Abraham called the name of that place “The Lord provides.” It is said to this day, “In the mountain of the Lord provision will be made.”
Romans 8:32
New Testament
31 What then shall we say about these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? 32 Indeed, he who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, freely give us all things? 33 Who will bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies.
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Notes and References
“... The suspicion is abundantly confirmed in verse 32. “He who did not spare his own Son” is a transparent reworking of the angel”s words to Abraham at the end of the aqedah: “since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me” and “because you have done this and not withheld your son, your favored one” (Genesis 22:12, 16). Paul”s “spare” is the same Greek verb as the Septuagint uses for “withheld” in these two verses (pheidomai). His point is reminiscent of Galatians 3:13-14 but far more explicit: the new aqedah, which is the crucifixion of Jesus, has definitively and irreversibly secured the blessings of which the angel there spoke ...”
Levenson, Jon
The Death and Resurrection of the Beloved Son: The Transformation of Child Sacrifice in Judaism and Christianity
(p. 222) Yale University Press, 1993
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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