The situation for divorced and remarried couples in the Catholic Church is one of the most arduous contemporary questions. Having said this, the strict Roman attitude on this issue has evolved from the strict teaching of Jesus himself. The first part of the article consequently discusses the accounts of Jesus’ divorce teachings preserved in the synoptic gospels and in Paul’s First Letter to the Corinthians. Each place is considered in its own context and differences are observed. The second part of the article traces the evolution of the Catholic divorce doctrine from the early church to the pontificate of Benedict XVI and presents several suggestions proposing how to help those people in their severe life situation.
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Paul’s Letter to the Galatians is very often characterized as the “Magna Carta of Christian freedom”. The article investigates to what extent this designation is justified and what the Apostle Paul was thinking of when he spoke of freedom in this letter. We must suppose that from the beginning of the letter Paul had in mind the main issue he wanted to persuade the addressees of, namely that the only way to attain justification before God is the way of faith in Jesus Christ, not the way of fulfilling the works of the law (cf. Gal 2:16). The Apostle must have seen this way of faith as a space that gives the freedom to live in Spirit. Although Paul’s concept of freedom must have been broader, this freedom from the works of the law must always have been present in the Apostle’s mind when he was instructing and trying to persuade the Galatians in his letter. However, Paul very strongly emphasizes the positive side of Christian freedom, too: this freedom must manifest itself in loving service to others.
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Paul treats justice arising from the Law and from faith in Rom 10. In 10:6–8, he allows justice from faith to quote Deuteronomy as evidence from the Scriptures. First of all, it refers to Deut 8:17 or 9:4, two acute texts on the theology of justification in the Old Testament. These texts prepare an understanding of the three quotations which Paul extracts from Deut 30:12–14 explaining each in a Christological manner. If read in the context of the entire chapter 30, particularly in the perspective of the circumcision of Israel’s heart by God in 30:6, they document that justification through faith corresponds to the witness of the Old Testament.
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The article deals with the pericope Gal 4.21-31 (thus it is delimited by the author) in which the apostle Paul once more uses arguments from the Old Testament to convince the recipients of the Letter of the right way to reach justification before God. Actual quotations of the Old Testament are only in the verses 27 and 30. However, in the first part of the pericope (4.22-26) Paul alludes to the story of Abraham's two sons and two wives adding the interpretative key in v. 24: 'these things are said allegorically'. Although there is no consensus among authors in what sense Paul applies this principle to the biblical texts it is preferable to see here rather a typological approach than a pure allegory because Paul does not certainly deny a real story in the text of Genesis. However, for Paul the decisive factor in interpreting biblical texts was the person and life of Jesus Christ. In this light we must also see the quotations of Isa 54.1 in v. 27 and Gen 21.10 in v. 30, even though Paul may have been influenced by the reading of these biblical texts in Jewish liturgy. As for Paul, so for all true believers in Christ, the gift of the freedom Christ has brought must remain living.
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The article deals with changes found in the long version of Ignatius of Antiochia’ Letter to the Ephesians, with a special focus on the biblical quotations. After an examination of 30 parallel sections containing approximately 70 biblical quotations, we can conclude: (a) Pseudo-Ignatius had observed Ignatius’ intentions quite closely, even if he amended his opinion at times, mostly due to considerations on orthodox correctness or practical church business. Specifically, Ps.-Ignatius amplifies Ignatius’ reverence for the apostle Paul. – (b) Ps.-Ignatius quotes from various books of both the New and Old Testament, most frequently John, Matthew, First Corinthians, Romans and Ephesians. When implanting biblical quotations into Ignatius’ text, Ps.-Ignatius at times commits inaccuracies and negligence in respect to the context. Nevertheless, on the whole, his biblical work can be evaluated extremely highly. These conclusions should be further demonstrated by readings of the other six epistles by Ps.-Ignatius.
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