Sharing in the Sons Inheritance

This book explores the link between Pauls belief that Jesus is Israels Messiah, and his interpretation of the Abrahamic Land Promise in Galatians. Countering claims that Paul replaces the Promised Land with the gift of the Spirit or salvation, Esau McCaulley argues that Paul expands this inheritance to include the whole earth; believing that, as the seed of Abraham and David, Jesus is entitled to the entire world as his inheritance and kingdom. McCaulley argues that scholars have neglected Pauls expanded interpretation of the inheritance of the earth, rarely appreciate the role that messianism plays in Galatians, and fail to acknowledge that Second Temple authors often portrayed royal and messianic figures as Gods means of fulfilling the promises made to Abraham and Israel, via the establishment of kingdoms. Through a comparison of texts from the Pseudepigrapha, apocrypha, and the Dead Sea Scrolls with Galatians 3:14:7, 5:21, McCaulley argues Pauls interpretation of Jesuss death is a manifestation of Second Temple messianism because it ends the covenant curses outlined in Deuteronomy and begins the restoration of the inheritance to Abrahams offspring through the establishment of Jesuss worldwide kingdom; he concludes that Pauls interpretation of the Abrahamic inheritance is inseparable from his belief that Jesus is Israels Messiah.