Why do God’s people suffer at the hands of their enemies? Both Galatians and 2 Baruch address this same question while arriving at different conclusions. In Galatians, Paul makes an argument from persecution for the authenticity of his gospel. Persecution demonstrates that Paul and the Galatians belong to God and have believed in the divinely revealed gospel. While Paul does not offer an explicit theodicy in Galatians, his argument from persecution requires an implicit theodicy in order to make sense. Second Baruch, however, gives an explicit theodicy for God’s actions in the destruction of Jerusalem by the Romans. By examining both of these texts together, readers will be able, first, to appreciate the multiplicity of theodicies within Second Temple Judaism and, second, to see how both texts utilize the same constellation of theological themes—law, promise, and fulfillment—to support different theodicies.
My thesis is that while 2 Baruch’s understanding of law, promise, and fulfillment supports a disciplinary theodicy, Galatians utilizes these same themes to support a cosmic conflict theodicy. That is, 2 Baruch identifies the fall of Jerusalem as the discipline necessary to bring about Israel’s obedience to the law so that Israel can inherit God’s promise. Galatians, by contrast, views persecution as characteristic of an ongoing, yet escalating, cosmic conflict between the domain of the flesh/law and the domain of the Spirit/promise. Since each author’s theological premises create a logical architecture that supports their respective theodicies, I will begin my study of each book with an exploration of law, promise, and fulfillment, asking three questions: (1) Character: What is the essential character of promise/fulfillment (i.e. terrestrial/this-worldly or celestial/other-worldly)? (2) Primacy: In the economy of salvation, which receives primacy, law or promise? (3) Timing: When will the fulfillment of the promise come? After mapping this theological architecture, I will examine the sophisticated answers that 2 Baruch and Galatians give to God’s suffering people.