The Meaning of Telos in Romans 10:4

This study attempts to resolve the ambiguity surrounding the meaning of ‘telos’ in Rom 10:4 and to provide philological criteria for the understanding of this term. Chapter I indicates clearly that a considerable shift has occurred in the history of the interpretation of ‘telos’ in Rom 10:4. The early church and the Reformers understood this verse in a teleological/completive sense: as a statement of the fulfillment of the law in Christ in a prophetic as well as purposive signification. However, since the post-Reformation era and particularly since the nineteenth century the terminal/temporal/antinomian interpretations have prevailed. Rom 10:4 has been generally approached from the perspective of the law-gospel debate. The thrust of the passage and the meaning of ‘telos’ have not received due attention. ‘Telos’ has been translated by termination, fulfillment, or goal, without semantic substantiation. Chapter II provides the needed philological study on the word ‘telos’ and the phrase ‘telos nomou’ in biblical and cognate literature. This study shows that the semantic import of ‘telos’ is primarily teleological, not temporal. ‘Telos’ with a genitive is generally used to indicate purpose or outcome, not termination. The phrase ‘telos nomou’ designates the object or fulfillment of law, never its abrogation. Therefore, on philological grounds, the interpretation of Rom 10:4 as Christ has superseded or abrogated the law would be awkward, if not incorrect or unintelligible to the audience of Romans, even if it were so intended by Paul. Chapter III consists of an exegesis of Rom 10:4 and its immediate context (9:30-10:21) within the larger context of Rom 9-11. it shows that ‘nomos’ is consistently used in this section in the broad sense of Torah, while ‘telos’ is used probably as the culminating point in a series of athletic terms. It appears, therefore, that the relationship between Christ and the law is explained by Paul in teleological categories. One main concern of Paul in this passage is to prove that the Torah leads to the gospel (10:5-21) and that the Christ event is the climactic manifestation of the righteousness of God promised in Scripture (10:4-8). The way Paul deals with the OT in this passage reveals one of the lesser known features of his thought, namely, his teleological view of Scripture

El Libro de horas del obispo Morgades : precisiones estilísticas sobre una obra de factura flamenca

A través de este estudio deseamos abordar la compleja realidad del Libro de horas (ms. 88) del Museo Episcopal de Vic que fue regalado al obispo Morgades entre 1891 y 1899. Se trata de un códice que, con el fin de incorporarlo al mercado del libro ilustrado decimonónico fue enriquecido mediante tres series de ilustraciones independientes entre sí, convirtiéndolo en un objeto donde prima el deleite visual frente al específicamente devocional. Las dos primeras series que integran este Libro de horas proceden de dos manuscritos datados en torno a 1400. De las cuatro imágenes que constituyen este grupo, centró nuestra atención en un trabajo anterior, la representación de San Juan Evangelista (f. 33v) obra del miniaturista y pintor barcelonés Rafael Destorrents. Ahora, deseamos dar a conocer las otras tres ilustraciones intercaladas para demostrar su filiación con las propuestas estéticas de principios del siglo XV en los Países Bajos. El resto del manuscrito está formado por una serie de folios extraídos de un códice perteneciente a la escuela ganto-brujesa.In this essay we aim to aproarch the complex reality of the Book of hours (ms. 88) of the Episcopal Museum in Vic that was offered as a apresent to the bishop Morgades between 1891 and 1899. It is a codex that, aiming to be incorporated into the nineteenth-century illustrated books market, was enriched with three series of independent illustrations turning the book into an object in which the visual pleasure outweighs the devotional one. The two first serie of this Book of hours spring from two manuscripts dated around the year 1400. In a previous essay, among the four images comprising this group, we focused our attention in the representation of St. John the Evangelist (f. 33v), a work by the miniaturist and painter from Barcelona Rafael Destorrents. Now, we wish to introduce the three other illustrations to proove his connection with the aesthetic proposals from the Low Countries of the beginning of the XV century. The rest of the manuscript is composed by a serie of folios taken from a codex belonging to the Ghent and Bruges school