Citation: Du Toit, Philip La Grange. 2024. Was Paul Within Judaism, Within Israel or Within Israel’s Messiah? Religions 15: 1217. hps://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101217 Academic Editor: Simon Dein Received: 4 September 2024 Revised: 26 September 2024 Accepted: 3 October 2024 Published: 7 October 2024 Copyright: © 2024 by the author. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Swiꜩerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Aribution (CC BY) license (hps:// creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ 4.0/). religions Article Was Paul Within Judaism, Within Israel or Within Israel’s Messiah? Philip La Grange Du Toit Faculty of Theology, North‑West University, Mahikeng 2745, South Africa; philip.dutoit@nwu.ac.za Abstract: In NT scholarship, the Paul Within Judaism approach has gained considerable momen‑ tum. In this approach to Paul’s discourse on identity, a distinction is drawn between “Jewish” and gentile followers of Christ. “Jewish” followers, including Paul, are considered those that remain fully Torah‑observant, whereas gentile followers are regarded as not fully Torah‑observant, espe‑ cially with respect to circumcision. In this contribution, Paul’s identity in relation to first‑century “Judaism” and/or historical Israel is reconsidered. The main question that is asked in this regard is whether the Paul Within Judaism approach is a viable position in light of the hermeneutical dif‑ ficulties surrounding first‑century “Judaism”, as well as Paul’s own rhetoric around the Ἰoυδαῖoι (“Jews”/“Judaeans”). Another question that is asked is whether Ἰσραήλ (“Israel”) and the Ἰoυδαῖoι point to the exact same entity. Would it be more accurate to see Paul as being within Israel as one of God’s covenant people than as remaining a Ἰoυδαῖoς (“Jew”/“Judaean”)? Or did Paul leave his identity as a Ἰoυδαῖoς or as part of Israel behind for a new identity to be defined around Israel’s Mes‑ siah only? Lastly, it is considered whether Paul’s discourse on identity leaves room for an identity in Christ that is inclusive of an identity as a Ἰoυδαῖoς or as being part of Israel, or whether the identity in Christ excludes the laer. Keywords: Paul; Paul Within Judaism; ethnicity; Judaism; Radical New Perspective on Paul; Pauline theology; religion; Israel 1. Introduction The “Paul Within Judaism” (PwJ) approach, also known as the Radical New Perspec‑ tive on Paul (RNPP), has gained considerable momentum in Pauline research. The basic claim of this approach is that after Paul’s encounter with Christ, he continued to practice “Judaism” and thus did not become a “Christian” as such, which is held to be an anachro‑ nistic designation. Paul rather remained fully Torah‑observant, which included unique marks of identity such as circumcision, food purity laws and Sabbath observance. Ac‑ cording to the PwJ position, Paul’s discourse in Romans and Galatians is understood as solely directed to a gentile audience, and the main problem that he addresses is bring‑ ing gentiles into a covenant relationship with the God of Israel without having them be‑ come Ἰoυδαῖoι (“Jews”/“Judaeans”) or fully Torah‑observant. Paul advocates tolerance and unity between the Ἰoυδαῖoι and gentiles, where all have an allegiance to Christ, al‑ though each retains their own ethnic and cultural identity. In this understanding, instead of the requirement of full Torah observance or taking on a “Jewish” identity, gentile follow‑ ers of Christ are accommodated as God’s people based on a minimum set of requirements or a “relaxed halakah”, often referred to as the “Noahide Laws” or “Noahic Covenant”, which are said to be based on the so‑called Apostolic Decree (Acts 15:19–32; 16:1–5; 21:25). By implication, different criteria are applied for membership as one of God’s covenant peo‑ ple for Ἰoυδαῖoι and gentiles (e.g., Nanos 1996, pp. 50–56; 2012, pp. 123–24; Campbell 2008, pp. 89–93; Eisenbaum 2009, p. 252; Rudolph 2011; Tucker 2011, pp. 62–114; Nanos and Zeerholm 2015; Thiessen 2016; Zeerholm 2020; Fredriksen 2022; Novenson 2022; Bird et al. 2023; Runesson 2023). Religions 2024, 15, 1217. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel15101217 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions