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
LXX Genesis 22:12
Septuagint
11 And the Lord’s angel called him from the sky and said to him, “Abraam, Abraam!” And he said, “Here I am.” 12 And he said, “Do not lay your hand on the youngster nor do anything to him. For now I know that you do fear God, and for my sake you have not spared your beloved son.” 13 And as Abraam looked up with his eyes he saw, and see, a ram held fast in a sabek plant by the horns. And Abraam went and took the ram and offered it up as a whole burnt offering instead of his son Isaak. 14 And Abraam called the name of that place “The Lord saw,” that they might say today, “On the mountain the Lord appeared.”
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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