The new Exodus in Paul's letter to the Galatians

While various central themes have been suggested for Galatians, including justification by faith alone, the need for Gentiles to follow the Mosaic law (via the New Perspective on Paul), or sonship, none of them truly binds the letter together or is satisfactorily represented in all six chapters. The search within existent scholarship for a comprehensive thread has led to the discovery of the New Exodus theme. The New Exodus has enjoyed considerable attention in recent years and shows great promise for the construction of a consistent biblical theology. Yet the New Exodus in Galatians has not been explored with any depth. The premise of this thesis is that the New Exodus undergirds Paul’s theology as he writes his letter to the Galatians, and to recognize this will result in a clearer and more coherent reading of the letter. In particular, it highlights the way in which Paul views the salvific work of Jesus as fundamental to the life of the people of God as was the first exodus of Israel. A threefold approach is adopted. The study indentifies New Exodus motifs found in the OT prophets that are also located in Galatians to confirm the presence of the pattern there. It also recognizes apocalyptic antitheses that mark the inauguration of the New Exodus and examines the letter for evidence of these. And finally, the method uses an intertextual hermeneutic, which exposes Paul’s reliance on a wider use of the OT than is seen at the surface, and in particular, a reliance on Isaiah. The analysis presented here focuses on Galatians 1–4, while providing pointers for applying the results to remaining two chapters of the lette