Texts in Conversation
Paul in Romans teaches that sin ironically uses the Torah to cause a desire for what is wrong. Rabbinic tradition in tractate Chagigah similarly describes the evil inclination as a deceptive impulse, portraying disobedience as the result of this inclination, or “yetzer,“ that twists what is good into a source of temptation.
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Romans 7:11
New Testament
7 What shall we say then? Is the law sin? Absolutely not! Certainly, I would not have known sin except through the law. For indeed I would not have known what it means to desire something belonging to someone else if the law had not said, “Do not covet.” 8 But sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, produced in me all kinds of wrong desires. For apart from the law, sin is dead. 9 And I was once alive apart from the law, but with the coming of the commandment, sin became alive 10 and I died. So I found that the very commandment that was intended to bring life brought death! 11 For sin, seizing the opportunity through the commandment, deceived me and through it I died. 12 So then, the law is holy, and the commandment is holy, righteous, and good.
Date: 55-58 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
Source
Chagigah 16a
Babylonian Talmud
Rabbinic
Apropos this Sage, the Gemara cites another statement of his: Rabbi Yehuda, son of Rabbi Naḥmani, the disseminator of Reish Lakish, interpreted a verse homiletically: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Trust not in a companion, do not put your confidence in an intimate friend” (Micah 7:5)? If the evil inclination says to you: Sin, and the Holy One, Blessed be He, will forgive, do not trust it, since it is stated: “Trust not in a companion [rei’a].” And rei’a is referring to none other than the evil [ra] inclination, as it is stated: “For the inclination of the heart of man is evil [ra]” (Genesis 8:21).
Date: 450-550 C.E. (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... The most interesting parallel to our text is produced by b. Chagigah 16a in which R. Judah in the name of Reish Lakish relates the “friend” mentioned in Micah 7:5 to the evil inclination: “‘Trust not a friend’ (Micah 7:5), and friend (רֵע) means none other than the evil yetzer, for it is said: ‘For the yetzer of man’s heart is evil’ (רע Genesis 8:21).” This interpretation rests on the similarity between the words “friend” and “evil,” and is therefore possible only in Hebrew. Furthermore, since the dating of rabbinic tradition is quite difficult, we cannot be sure if it precedes the composition of our text (the date of which is equally unknown). It cannot be excluded, however, that the author of the Syriac insertion was acquainted with it ..."
Pesthy-Simon, Monika
"The Rabbinic 'Inclination' yetser and the Christian Apocrypha" in Patmore, Hector M., et al. (eds.) The Evil Inclination in Early Judaism and Christianity
(pp. 186-200) Cambridge University Press, 2021
* 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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