Judgements etc

I don’t disagree with the thrust of this, Eric, that both Jew and Gentile are in desperate need, and God’s judgements are right.

I suspect the Jew-gentile rift had already occurred in the church at Rome (Jews expelled under Claudius, allowed to return later, clash of cultures etc).

Would gentiles have accused Jews of idolatry - ‘worshipping the creature rather than the Creator’ etc. These all seem very gentile sins to me.

I think the judgement turns against the Jews when Paul starts to talk about attitudes (which in the case of the gentiles, flow from their turning away from God). My point was that it was then that the Jewish believers might have realised that the stage was revolving and they were no longer quite in the limelight of God’s total approval.

Also, I do not want to detach ‘doing the same things’ (though I have qualified that) from ‘judgementalism’. But it does seem to me there is a huge emphasis on making judgements (just look at the number references), which seems to point to a major issue.

I’m somewhat unnerved that neither you nor Andrew can see this. I’ll look again - but I do get the feeling that you may be putting your point of view (with which I’m not really in disagreement) without looking at the point I am trying to make.

I hope we’ll all be on speaking terms for your visit!