Justification as the work of the Holy Spirit and its relation to other spiritual realities in Galatians and Romans

Abstract

This dissertation investigates the work of the Spirit in Paul's idea of justification and its relation to other spiritual realities. Paul views justification as a work of the Spirit by which God raised Christ from the dead and also delivers humanity from the bondage of the spiritual powers such as sin, death, law, flesh and elemental spirits and transfers them to the realm of the lordship of Christ. For Paul, Christ's becoming a curse of the law on the cross is the object ground of justification (Gal 3:13) and the purpose of this death is fulfilled in the bestowment of justification (the reception of the Spirit) through faith (Gal 3:14). Paul defines the notion of justification by parallelling and intertwining the category of being justified and receiving the Spirit (Gal 3:8, 21). Thus, according to Paul, justification is the work of the Spirit and entails overcoming the enslaving powers of sin, death and evil spiritual realities, which was impossible by the Law (Gal 3:8, 21-22; Rom 8:1-4).

Chapter 1 as an introduction contains the statements of problem, thesis, background, and methodology used in this study. This chapter also surveys how the Spirit and/or other spiritual realities are reflected or discussed in recent studies of Pauline idea of justification.

Chapter 2 demonstrates that the nature of the curse of the law in light of Paul's view of the world is the very reason why Paul believed that "whoever of works of the law are under a curse."

Chapter 3 focuses on how or in what sense Christ's becoming a curse of the law becomes the means of Jews' redemption from the curse of the law which is, in Paul's mind, the basis of justifying work of the Spirit in both Galatians and Romans.

Chapter 4 examines how or in what sense the Spirit of Christ justifies those under the enslaving spiritual realities in Galatians.

Chapter 5 shows that in Romans the demonic sin in its coalition with other spiritual realities is the main culprit which enslaves all human beings.

Chapter 6 then examines and demonstrates how the Spirit justifies those under the demonic power of sin.

Chapter 7 summarizes the arguments made and relates the conclusions drawn from the research.