Frank

Cheryl, I don’t know how familar you are with the writings of Gordon Fee, but in his book, LISTENING TO THE SPIRIT IN THE TEXT, he has a discussion on how Paul’s teaching on the New Creation in Christ, as found in 2 Cor 5:11-21 and Gal 3:26-4:7, radically changed this whole shame/honor mindset for the earliest Christians. Here’s what he says:

Our difficulty with understanding the truly radical nature of Paul’s assertion [in Gal 3:26-28] is twofold. First, most contemporary Christians have very little sense of the fundamental eschatological framework which was common to the entire New Testament experience, and which in fact was the only way the earliest believers understood their existence. Second, Western culture in particular is quite foreign to that of these earliest believers at some fundamental points. In the culture into which Paul is speaking, position and status prevailed in every way, so that one’s existence was totally identifed with and circumscribed by these realities. By the very nature of things, position and status gave advantage to some over others; and in Greco-Roman culture, by and large, there was very little chance of changing status.

Well, I’m at the public library, and my time on the computer has run out. So I’ll finish the rest of my comment later.