In E.P. Sanders’s generally positive re-examination of the religion reflected in Second Temple Jewish texts, 4 Ezra still fares badly as the ‘closest approach to legalistic works-righteousness which can be found in the Jewish literature of the period’ (Sanders 1977: 418). Bruce Longenecker criticizes 4 Ezra even more sharply as articulating a religion in which divine grace is ‘removed from the scene altogether’. This article seeks to correct such misperceptions of the place of grace in the theology and ethical imperative of 4 Ezra and of the author’s conceptions of Torah-observance as earning merit as opposed to responding to God’s grace gratefully. This leads, in turn, to a greater appreciation for the connection between receiving (and continuing in) God’s favor and making an appropriate response to God in Paul’s thought than is typically acknowledged.
BarclayJohn M.G.1991Obeying the Truth: Paul’s Ethics in Galatians (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
2.
BarclayJohn M.G.2014 ‘Constructing a Dialogue: 4 Ezra and Paul on the Mercy of God’, in KonradtMatthiasSchläpferEsther (eds.), Anthropologie und Ethik im Frühjudentum und im Neuen Testament (WUNT, 1/322; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck): 3-22.
3.
BauckhamRichard J.2001 ‘Apocalypses’, in CarsonD.A.. (eds.), Justification and Variegated Nomism. I. The Complexities of Second Temple Judaism (WUNT, 2/140; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck): 135-87.
4.
BetzHans Dieter1979Galatians: A Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Churches in Galatia (Hermeneia; Philadelphia: Fortress Press).
5.
BeyerleStefan1999 ‘“Du bist kein Richter über dem Herrn” (4 Esr 7,19): Zur Konzeption von Gesetz und Gericht im 4 Esrabuch’, in BeyerleS.MayerG.StraussH. (eds.), Recht und Ethos im Alten-Testament: Gestalt und Wirkung (Neukirchen-Vluyn: Neukirchener Verlag): 315-37.
6.
BrandenburgerEgon1962Adam und Christus: Exegetisch-religionsgeschichtliche Untersuchung zu Römer 5. 12-21 (1. Kor. 15) (WMANT, 7; Neukirchen: Neukirchener Verlag).
7.
BurkesShannnon2001 ‘“Life” Redefined: Wisdom and Law in Fourth Ezra and Second Baruch’, CBQ63: 55-71.
8.
BurtonErnest de Witt1921A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistles to the Galatians (ICC; Edinburgh: T&T Clark).
9.
CollinsJohn J.1998The Apocalyptic Imagination: An Introduction to Jewish Apocalyptic Literature (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
10.
deSilvaDavid A.2000Honor, Patronage, Kinship and Purity: Unlocking New Testament Culture (Downers Grove, IL: InterVarsity Press).
11.
deSilvaDavid A.2002Introducing the Apocrypha: Message, Context, and Significance (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic).
12.
deSilvaDavid A.2011Global Readings: A Sri Lankan Commentary on Paul’s Letter to the Galatians (Eugene, OR: Cascade Books).
13.
DesjardinsMichel1985 ‘Law in 2 Baruch and 4 Ezra’, Studies in Religion/Sciences Religieuses14.1: 25-37.
14.
DunnJames D.G.1998The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans).
15.
Engberg-PedersenTroels2000Paul and the Stoics (Louisville, KY: Westminster John Knox Press).
16.
Engberg-PedersenTroels2008 ‘Gift-Giving and Friendship: Seneca and Paul in Romans 1–8 on the Logic of God’s Χάρις and its Human Response’, HTR101: 15-44.
17.
GarlingtonDon B.1994Faith, Obedience, and Perseverance: Aspects of Paul’s Letter to the Romans (WUNT, 1/79; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck).
18.
HarrisonJames R.2003Paul’s Language of Grace in its Graeco-Roman Context (WUNT, 2/172; Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck).
19.
HoganKarina M.2007 ‘The Meanings of tôrâ in 4 Ezra’, JSJ38: 530-52.
20.
JohnsonLuke Timothy2001The First and Second Letters to Timothy (Yale Anchor Bible Commentaries; New Haven: Yale University Press).
21.
KolenkowA.B.1982 ‘The Fall of the Temple and the Coming of the End: The Spectrum and Process of Apocalyptic Argument in 2 Baruch and Other Authors’, in RichardsKent Harold (ed.), SBL 1982 Seminar Papers (Chico, CA: Scholars Press): 243-50.
22.
LongeneckerBruce W.1991Eschatology and the Covenant: A Comparison of 4 Ezra and Romans 1–11 (JSNTSup, 57; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press).
23.
LongeneckerBruce W.19952 Esdras (Sheffield Guides to the Apocrypha and Pseudepigrapha; Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press).
MooJonathan A.2011Creation, Nature and Hope in 4 Ezra (FRLANT, 237; Göttingen: Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht).
26.
Pitt-RiversJulian1992 ‘Postscript: the Place of Grace in Anthropology’, in PeristianyJ.G.Pitt-RiversJulian (eds.), Honor and Grace in Anthropology (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press): 215-46.
27.
SandersE.P.1977Paul and Palestinian Judaism (Minneapolis: Fortress Press).
28.
SchreinerJosef1981Das 4. Buch Esra (JSHRZ, 5.4; Gütersloh: Gerd Mohn).
29.
SearleJohn R.1975 ‘A Taxonomy of Illocutionary Acts’, in GundersonKeith (ed.), Language, Mind, and Knowledge (Minnesota Studies in the Philosophy of Science, 7; Minneapolis: University of Minnesota Press): 344-69.
