The Problem of the Identity of Covenant Community in Paul’s Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans

Abstract

The identity of the New Israel, most comprehensively and most consistently formulated in the Epistles to the Galatians and the Romans and expressed through the ethos, eccle- sial attitude as well as social responsibility of the church members, has undergone sev- eral phases of reception in the post-pauline period during the end of 1st and the first half of the 2nd century A.D. The identity determinants found in the writings of Apostle Paul strongly influence the formation of christian ethos nowadays and, as such, essentially de- termine the relation of the Christians towards the society in which they live and whose values they share. Furthermore, especially in the context of the already advanced pro- cess of globalization and striving for global legal and socio-structural uniformity, the an- alyzed notions allow the Church to preserve its own identity and recognize its respon- sibility for every individual as well as for the community she establishes in the modern society.