For centuries, scholars have argued that Paul thought the Church replaced Israel as God's chosen people and that Jewish identity is erased upon the acceptance of Jesus's Gospel message. Here, I argue that when you carefully read Paul's use of the Shema in Romans 3.27-31 and use the Tanakh, Josephus, and later rabbinic literature to expand your interpretative imagination, you find Paul understood God remained the God of Israel and that Jewish Jesus-followers were to maintain their Jewish identity.   
00:00 - Introduction and Thesis Statement
3:10 - The Shema as a Pledge to the God of Israel in Deuteronomy 6.4
6:40 - The Shema abbreviated to 'God is One'  
8:13 - The Shema in Zechariah 14.9
12:40 - The Shema in Josephus 16:12 - Josephus, Paul, and Gentile Conversion
20:31 - Paul's Use of the Shema in Romans 3.29-30
26:17 - The Shema in Rabbinic Tradition
30:24 - The Shema and the Gospel
_________________________________________  

You can also listen on our YouTube Channel
Follow us on Social Media:
Facebook
Instagram
Support links:
SubscribeStar
PayPal
Merch shop
_________________________________________  

Key Citations:  

Josephus was about 19 and active in the Jewish world around when Paul wrote Romans (~55 CE). See The Life of Josephus 10-11. And, F. B. A. Asiedu, Paul and His Letters: Thinking with Josephus (Lanham: Lexington Books/Fortress Academic, 2020), xxv.  

Paul and Josephus Claimed to be Pharisees. See The Life of Josephus 10–11; Phil. 3:4-5. And, Asiedu, Paul and His Letters, xxiii.  

Paul and Josephus are writing to Gentiles. For example, Against Apion 1.1–3, 314; 2.1, 65–67, 147, 296; cf. Rom. 1:6, 13; 1 Cor. 12:2; Gal. 5:1-2.  

Josephus's comments on Gentile conversion. For neutral to positive reactions, see Antiquities of the Jews 18.81–84; 20.17–96. For a negative reaction, see The Life of Josephus 111–112.  

Noted works:

Mark Nanos, “Paul and the Jewish Tradition: The Ideology of the Shema.” In Celebrating Paul: Festchrift in Honor of Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P., and Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., edited by Peter Spitaler, 62–80. Washington, DC: The Catholic Biblical Association of America, 2011. Also found in Reading Paul Within Judaism by Mark Nanos.  

Christopher R. Bruno, “God Is One”: The Function of “Eis Ho Theos” as a Ground for Gentile Inclusion in Paul’s Letters. (London: Bloomsbury Publishing, 2014).
_________________________________________

Music: https://www.bensound.com