Where to live: The hermeneutical significance of Paul's citations from scripture in Galatians 3:1--14

Galatians 3:1--14 is a particularly important passage in discussions of Paul's understanding of the law; unfortunately, it also poses notorious difficulties for interpretation. Many of the difficulties stem from the density and interplay of citations: Two of the six scriptures Paul cites seem to say exactly the opposite of the argument in support of which he cites them (Dt 27:26 and Lev 18:5); in addition, two citations seem to be directly contradictory with one another (Hab 2:4 and Lev 18:5). Efforts to resolve these difficulties have proved less than satisfactory, as have efforts to describe Paul's understanding of the law as expressed in this passage.; The current investigation, making use of insights drawn from intertextuality, examines the citations not as obstacles but rather as opportunities for interpretation. Intertextuality examines the way texts interact to produce meaning, including not only explicit texts such as citations and allusions, but also anonymous intertexts supplied by culture, history, literary genre, etc. Jonathan Culler and Michael Riffaterre provide models especially well suited to an intertextual investigation of the citations in Gal 3:1--14: Culler focuses attention on presuppositions invoked by features of a text, while Riffaterre focuses on the nature and significance of ungrammaticalities (puzzles or discontinuities in a text), such as those posed by the citations in Gal 3:1--14.; A number of significant results have emerged from this investigation. First, the use of citations invokes the presupposition of authority and applicability as an intertext with which the passage must relate; this presupposition leads in turn to a reevaluation of the function of the citations in the passage. Second, the ungrammaticalities posed by the citation find resolution and significance in the eschatological matrix, "where to live," i.e., in the old age which includes law and sin, or in the new age of faith and the Spirit. Finally, these results lead to a new understanding of Paul's argument concerning the law in Gal 3:1--14, shifting away from a soteriological focus on whether or how one is saved, to a holistic focus on life in the new age, with not only soteriological but also and especially behavioral implications.