¹ I am grateful to my colleagues Moisés Silva and Royce Gruenler, as well as my students Jeffrey Herron and Kathy Stumcke, for their reading of this manuscript and for helpful suggestions.

² Cf. BAGD, 393, who sees the last two options as examples of an explicative use.

³ RSV: "Peace and mercy be upon all who walk by this rule, upon the Israel of God"; the New Living Translation: "May God’s mercy and peace be upon all those who live by this principle. They are the new people of God" (a footnote equates "new people of God" with "the Israel of God"); JB: "Peace and mercy to all who follow this rule, who form the Israel of God".

⁴ The following translations conform to this basic rendering and appear to favor this alternative: NASB, NRSV, KJV, NKJV, NEB, Douay. The NIV and Moffat do not clearly favor either alternative. P. RICHARDSON, Israel in the Apostolic Church (Cambridge 1969) 85, who favors this view offers the following rendering: "May God give peace to all who will walk according to this criterion, and mercy also to his faithful people". This is ambiguous, however, so that both groups could still be understood to be identical.

⁵ E.g., see M. SILVA, Explorations in Exegetical Method: Galatians as a Test Case (Grand Rapids 1996) 184.

⁶ That 6,11-17 sums up the major themes of the epistle has been argued most trenchantly by J.A.D. WEIMA, "Gal 6,11-18: a Hermeneutical Key to the Galatian Letter", Calvin Theological Journal 28 (1993) 90-107, and likewise id., "The Pauline Letter Closings: Analysis and Hermeneutical Significance", Bulletin for Biblical Research 5 (1995) 177-198. Because of the summarizing nature of 6,11-18, Weima also identifies "the Israel of God" with the entire church of Galatia, both Christian Jew and Gentiles; so also C.A. RAY, "The Identity of the ‘Israel of God’", The Theological Educator 50 [1994] 105-114, makes the same identification). H.D. BETZ, Galatians (Hermeneia; Philadelphia 1979) 321, says "The whole argument in the letter leads up to the rule in v 15". See also F.J. MATERA, "The Culmination of Paul’s Argument to the Galatians: Gal 5,1–6,17", JSNT 32 (1988) 79-91, who argues that the last two chapters of Galatians summarize the earlier themes of the epistle and are the culmination of Paul’s overall argument.

⁷ E.g., S.L. JOHNSON, "Paul and the ‘Israel of God’: a Case Study", Essays in Honour of J. D. Pentecost (eds. S.D. TOUSSAINT – C.H. DYER (Chicago 1986) 181-196. For others following a position similar to Johnson’s, see his own discussion and that of R.N. LONGENECKER, Galatians (WBC; Dallas 1990) 274. Johnson (188) even agrees with Ellicott’s contention that it is unlikely that Paul ever employs kai/ in "so marked an explicative sense". A number of grammars, however, acknowledge the explicative or epexegetical sense of kai/ as an explicit category of usage in the NT and Paul: e.g., BAGD even prefix their entry of the "explicative" kai/ (expressed as "and so, that is, namely") with "often" (393, including the subcategory of "ascensive" ["even"]), citing Rom 1,5; 1 Cor 3,5, and 15,38 as among the Pauline examples (cf. also ibid. 392, I.d). Intriguingly, M. ZERWICK, Biblical Greek (Rome 1963) 154, cites apposition ("that is") as an explicit category for kai/, and then cites Gal 6,16 as the lone Pauline example (though followed by a question mark). Likewise, N. TURNER, Syntax. Vol. 3 of A Grammar of New Testament Greek, by J. H. MOULTON (Edinburgh 1963) 334-335 (citing, among other examples, Rom 1,5 and 8,17); F. BLASS – A. DEBRUNNER – R.W. FUNK, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament (Chicago 1961) 229 (citing, e.g., 1 Cor 12,15; 15,38); A. BUTTMANN, A Grammar of the New Testament Greek (Andover 1873) 401 (citing 1 Cor 3,5; 15,38). Cf. also Rom 5,14. Approximately eighty times in the NT kai/ has the appositional meaning in the construction of article + substantive + kai/ + substantive, which is known as the Granville Sharp Rule (see D.B. WALLACE, Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics [Grand Rapids 1996] 270-277). Even among the first descriptions of usage in LIDDELL-SCOTT (857) is the following: "to add a limiting or defining expression". H.W. SMYTH, Greek Grammar (Cambridge, MA 1920) 650 (sect. 2869) says, "copulative kai/ often has an intensive or heightening force," and "often = namely," etc.

⁸ See K. TITRUD, "The Function of kai in the Greek New Testament and an Application to 2 Peter", Linguistics and New Testament Interpretation. Essays on Discourse Analysis (ed. D.A. BLACK) (Nashville 1992) 240, 248, 255, who also shows throughout the essay numerous examples of the appositional kai/ in the NT.

⁹ So RAY, "Identity of the ‘the Israel of God’", 106 ff., whose conceptual analysis is good, though it may not be precisely accurate to refer to this particular case as an example of "the rule of maximal redundancy" in the light of the way the phrase was originally formulated in linguistic discussion (on which see M. SILVA, Biblical Words and Their Meaning [Grand Rapids 1983] 153-156); nevertheless, the principle of "the rule of maximal redundancy" appears to be generally applicable to Gal 6,16. See MATERA, Galatians 233, for a full range of the various possible identifications of "the Israel of God".

¹⁰ So, e.g., BETZ, Galatians 321-322; RICHARDSON, Israel in the Apostolic Church, 79, who especially thinks that the order of "peace" and then "mercy," which is unique to Gal 6,16 and the Shemoneh ‘Esreh, makes the latter a plausible source of dependence or "unconscious allusion". His conclusion that Paul interprets the Jewish benediction ironically, so that "the Israel of God" refers to ethnic Jews to be converted in the future is speculation, since such a notion has not been explicitly referred to anywhere else in Galatians. If Weima, along with others, is correct, that the Pauline conclusions, especially in Galatians 6, summarize the themes of the epistle (on which see above), then Richardson’s futuristic notion should have been addressed explicitly earlier in the epistle.

¹¹ E.g., MATERA, Galatians 226; J.G.D. DUNN, The Epistle to the Galatians (Black’s NTC; Peabody 1993) 344, also cites the parallels of 11QPsa 23,11 ("Peace be upon Israel"?), Psalms of Solomon 9,19 and 11,9 ("The mercy of the Lord be upon Israel [or the house of Israel]") and 17,51 ("May the Lord hasten his mercy upon Israel").

¹² So RICHARDSON, Israel in the Apostolic Church, 78, who also compares other similar OT texts such as Ezek 39,25; Amos 5,15, etc., as well as similar repeated expressions in the Psalms of Solomon.

¹³ For debate about the prayer’s antiquity, see RICHARDSON, Israel in the Apostolic Church, 79, n. 1, and see especially E. SCHÜRER, The History of the Jewish People in the Age of Christ, II, (eds. G. VERMES – F. MILLAR – M. BLACK) (Edinburgh 1979) 455-463, who also has a convenient list of quotations of the Babylonian and Palestinian benedictions, along with relevant bibliography on the nature and date of the prayer. In particular, Schürer contends that the core of the nineteen parts of the prayer goes back before the first century A.D., and that it reached its final form around 70-100 A.D., though even that cannot be reconstructed in detail.

¹⁴ Indeed, there are no other examples of the combination even within a twenty-five word range.

¹⁵ After writing the rough draft of this article, I found that DUNN, Galatians, 344, merely lists Isa 54,10 and Ps 85,11 among a number of other texts which he believes would have highlighted the Jewish tone of the benediction in the ears of the Jewish Christian audience.

¹⁶ The Tobit reference could be an echo of Isa 54,10 since Isa 54,11-12 is alluded to in 13,16-17. The combination also occurs within a wider twenty-five word range in Odes of Sol 9,78-79; Sirach 50,22-24; Isa 45,7-8, all in contexts of a promise of restoration from exile; other combinations within the same range occur in insignificant contexts of personal blessing in 1 Sam 20,7-8.13-14, and 1 Kgs 2,6-7. The Syriac of 2 Baruch 78,2 reads "to the brethren carried into captivity: ‘Mercy and peace’". PHILO, On Dreams, II.149, has the combination within a close word-range: "supplicate God that He ... charge His saving mercy to remain with us to the end, for it is a grievous thing that when we have tasted peace in its purity we should be hindered from taking our fill of it" (following the Loeb translation).

¹⁷ The searches noted in this paragraph and the preceding one were made on the Thesaurus Linguae Graecae Data Bank computer concordance. Two other occurrences outside the LXX appear also to be found in the Hebrew of Qumran and the Latin of Jubilees, on which see below.

¹⁸ The Targum adds to the MT by identifying the barren woman of Isa 54,1 twice as "Jerusalem," and then the next time it adds "Jerusalem" is in 54,10, where the name also identifies the "you" who is promised "peace" and "mercy". Could this have been a subtle influence upon Paul in alluding to Isa 54,10 in further development of the Isa 54,1 quotation in Galatians 4,27, which is introduced in 4,26 by the phrase "the Jerusalem above is free"?

¹⁹ Cf. poie/w and kti/zw respectively. These references in Isaiah 54 anticipate Isa 65,17 which refers to "a new heaven and a new earth," which is elaborated upon in 65,18 with "I am making Jerusalem a rejoicing".

²⁰ For various aspects of the Noah narrative (Genesis 6–9) as recapitulations of the Adam narrative, see, e.g. W.A. GAGE, The Gospel of Genesis. Studies in Protology and Eschatology (Winona Lake 1984) 8-16.

²¹ E.g., PHILO, Life of Moses II, 65, uses the word paliggenesi/a ("regeneration, rebirth") in referring to the renewal of the earth after the cataclysmic flood; likewise Jub 5,12 (immediately after the Noahic deluge, God "made for all his works a new and righteous nature so that they might not sin in their nature forever") and 1 En 106,13 ("The Lord will surely make new things upon the earth").

²² On which see G.K. BEALE, "The Old Testament Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5-7 and Its Bearing on the Literary Problem of 2 Cor. 6:14-7:1", New Testament Studies 35 (1989) 550-581; id., "The Old Testament Background of Rev 3.14", New Testament Studies 42 (1996) 133-152.

²³ The full phrase in Hebrew reads, Mwl#$l [ ] lwkl Mlw( ydsxw. This phrase is rendered differently by various DSS editions: "and eternal mercy to all [who walk] in peace" (M. WISE – M. ABEGG – E. COOK, The Dead Sea Scrolls [San Francisco 1996] 87); "and everlasting favor for all [the periods] of peace" (F. GARCÍA MARTÍNEZ, The Dead Sea Scrolls Translated [Leiden 1992] 319); "and eternal grace unto all the peace-[makers]" (A. DUPONT-SOMMER, The Essene Writings from Qumran [Oxford 1961] 242). It is difficult to know what to supply in the lacuna: in addition to the above, other options could be such words as "[leading] to peace," "[making] for peace," etc.

²⁴ Pirke de Rabbi Eli(ezer XIX cites Isa 54,10 at the end of a discussion on God’s creation of the world (which repeatedly cites Gen 1 and Isa 48,13) in order to underscore that without God’s "mercy and lovingkindness we [Israel] are unable to exist, because the world rests upon Thy mercy and lovingkindness, as it is said ... [quotation of Isa 54,10 follows]".

²⁵ As far as I have found, the only other place in DSS where the two words occur together is in 1QS 2,4, where the following blessing is pronounced upon Qumran saints: "May he lift up his merciful [wydsx] countenance toward you for eternal peace [Mwl#$l]". Here, only "peace" is pronounced on people, not "mercy," the latter of which is described as an attribute possessed by God and not by the people. Furthermore, the context of 1QS 2 has nothing to do with new creation.

²⁶ Similar to Gal 5,22–6,16, 1QH 13 also has a contrast between "the spirit of flesh" (associated with the ungodly qualities of "ignominious shame," "perverseness," and "ungodliness") and "the Spirit which you have put in me" (associated with "truth" and "righteousness;" cf. 1QH 13,13-19). Furthermore, both 1QH 13,5 and Isa 54,8 have the phrase "everlasting mercy" (Mwlo( dsx), a similarity which shows further affinities between the two, though the phrase often occurs elsewhere, especially in the Psalms (e.g., 26 times in Psalm 136 alone).

²⁷ I am grateful to my research student Jeffrey Herron for pointing out the combination of these two words in this passage. The Vulgate also renders ei)rh/nh and e!leoj of Gal 6,16 respectively as pax and misericordia, and has the same two words in its translation of Isa 54,10b. It is difficult to be certain what precise words stood in the original Hebrew Vorlage and the subsequent Greek translation of the Jubilees’ text.

²⁸ In Jub 22,13 Abraham prays that his seed would have the same new creation blessings "with which he [God] blessed Noah and Adam", so that the comparison of the blessing on Noah with the blessing on restored Israel in Isa 54,9 also is a striking similarity. Further, that the "seed" is to be blessed "for all the days of the generations of the earth forever" likely includes the blessings of the eternal, new creation, which develops the notion in earlier chapters: e.g., Jub 1,29 reads, "the new creation when the heaven and earth and all of their creatures shall be renewed ... and all of the lights will be renewed for ... blessing all of the elect of Israel ... from that day and unto all the days of the earth"; similarly, in Jub 19,25 the seed of Abraham and Jacob will be blessed so that "they will serve to establish heaven and to strengthen the earth and to renew all of the lights which are above the firmament". Jub 1,29 is likely an allusion to Isa 65,17 and 66,22 (so cf. the margin of Charlesworth’s edition) and Jub 19,25 echoes the earlier use (the "new creation" of Jub 4,26 is also likely an echo of Isa 43,18-19 or Isaiah 65 and 66). Other texts from Isaiah hover in the nearby context of Jub 22,9: cf. 21,25, "may he bless your seed ... for eternal generations with all righteous blessing ... so that you might be a blessing in all the earth", which appears to derive from Isa 65,16 (where also there is a multiple "blessing" by God focused on Israel "in the earth" of the eschatological age, the only passage in the OT where such a complex of words and ideas occurs); cf. Jub 22,16, probably based on Isa 52,11 (so cf. the margin of the Charlesworth edition). Intriguingly, in Isa 19,24-25 there is a threefold blessing pronounced on Israel, as well as redeemed Egypt and Assyria, in the end-time period of salvation, and all three are said to be "a blessing in the midst of the earth". Both Isa 65,16 and Isa 19,24-25 are plausibly developments of the repeated Abrahamic promise in which dual blessings are pronounced on Abraham’s seed and the nations (Gen 12,2-3; 17,16; 22,17; 27,33; 48,20; cf. also 1 Chr 17,27 for a triple blessing on David’s seed, which is also a development of the Abrahamic promise).

²⁹ On which see G.K. BEALE, Revelation (NIGTC; Grand Rapids – Carlisle 1998) ad loc.

³⁰ Some traditions held that the light reflected by the gems in Isa 54,11-12 was figurative for peace (Pesiqta de Rab Kahana, Piska 18,6; Pesik. Rab., Piska 32,3/4).

³¹ Tob 13,16-18 specifically speaks of rebuilding the walls, towers, gates and streets, a description which is similar to the mention of foundations, battlements, gates and wall in Isa 54,11-12. Tobit is probably developing Isaiah 54 in the light of the broader Isaiah context: e.g., note Tob 13,10 (11) (AB), "that his tabernacle may be built" (= Isa 56,5.7; 60,7.13) and Tob 13,11 (Alex.), "many nations will come from far ... with gifts in their hands (= Isa 49,23; 60,3.5.9-11.16-17). Both Tobit and Rev 21,18-21 have this common imagery and themes, including the ideas of the nations bearing gifts (21,24.26, based on the same Isaiah texts) and the future rebuilding of the tabernacle (21,3.22). In addition, both refer to "Jerusalem, the holy city" (Tob 13,9 [10]; Rev 21,2, 10; note further the phrase li/qw| e)nti/mw| which occurs with xrusi/w| kaqarw|= in Tob 13,16 (17) (AB) and essentially the same phrases occur in Rev 21,18-19.21, as well as the common elements of walls and streets).

³² "Your seed will possess [LXX has "inherit"] the nations" (cf. Amos 9,12 where the prophecy that Israel will "possess the remnant of Edom and all the nations" is understood by Acts 15,15-18 as fulfilled in the salvation of the Gentiles (though the textual problems in the Amos text are complex).

³³ In this light, the "seed" in Isa 54,3 is probably an allusion to the "seed" of the Abrahamic promise.

³⁴ Here God’s promise in the MT to protect Israel from Gentile enemies and to give them victory over the enemies is apparently interpreted by the LXX as God’s causing Gentiles to seek refuge in Israel and her faith! This interpretation is strikingly similar to the one of Amos 9,11-12 by the LXX and Acts 15,15-18 (mentioned directly above).

³⁵ On the 2 Cor 5,17 and Rev 3,14 texts see BEALE, "Old Testament Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5-7", and id., " Old Testament Background of Rev 3,14".

³⁶ The reference to "all Israel like antimony" at the beginning of the Qumran pesher of Isa 54,11 underscores what is clear throughout Isaiah 54 but not said explicitly in v. 10 or v. 11: that this was a prophecy for Israel, with the implication, therefore, that it was not a prophecy for the redeemed nations except as they identify with Israel, convert to Israel’s faith, and take refuge under the umbrella of Israel and Israel’s God.

³⁷ The three appositional groups (equaling believing Israel) in Ps 84,9 upon which the peace is pronounced would further confirm this identification. The solution of R.Y.K. FUNG, The Epistle to the Galatians (NICNT; Grand Rapids 1988) 311, also fits with the view developed here: that, as far as I understand him, the first group ("them") refers to Jewish and Gentile Christians in the Galatian church and the following "Israel of God" alludes to the church at large, also composed of Gentiles and Jews, who are the new Israel.

³⁸ See BEALE, Book of Revelation, ad loc at Rev 7,9, for the possible ways Gentiles could be understood to be part of the fulfillment of the Abrahamic promise from Genesis.

³⁹ These criteria are taken partly from R.B. HAYS, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven 1989) 29-32, and G.K. BEALE, The Use of Daniel in Jewish Apocalyptic Literature and in the Revelation of St. John (Lanham 1985) 43, 306-312.

⁴⁰ K. JOBES, "Jerualem, our Mother: Metalepsis and Intertextuality in Galatians 4.21-31", WTJ 55 (1993) 319, mentions the first of these three themes in her discussion of Isaiah 54 in Galatians 3, as well as noting most of the parallels from Isaiah in Galatians in # (3) above.

⁴¹ Ibid., 319.

⁴² For further discussion of the issues involved in answering this question with respect to allusions, see G.K. BEALE, John’s Use of the Old Testament in Revelation (JSNTSS 163; Sheffield 1999) 62-75.

⁴³ MCNAMARA, "‘to de (Hagar) Sina oros estin en tê Arabia’ (Gal 4,25): Paul and Petra", Milltown Studies 2 (1978) 24-41.

⁴⁴ LONGENECKER, Galatians, 212.

⁴⁵ Romans 16,20 places, after the clause "the God of peace", the phrase "will trample Satan under your feet quickly", and 1 Thess 5,23, after the same clause, puts the even more amplified phrase "sanctify you entirely, and may your spirit and soul and body be preserved complete, blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ".

⁴⁶ For these differences see WEIMA, "The Pauline Letter Closings", 194-195. With respect to the sixth point, though the future active indicative stoixh/sousin is used in Gal 6,16, it is still part of a sentence which has a conditional sense, since the distinction between the future indicative without a!n and the aorist subjunctive with a!n was sometimes obliterated (so F. BLASS, A. DEBRUNNER, and R.W. FUNK, A Greek Grammar of the New Testament, 192; interestingly, P⁴⁶ changed the future to an aorist subjunctive).

⁴⁷ WEIMA, "The Pauline Letter Closings".

⁴⁸ Even subsequently, the combination is found only in later patristic literature of the second and third century.

⁴⁹ This point is different from that made by many commentators, who usually appeal to the use of sti/gma as a brand or tatoo mark on slaves to show who their owner was (e.g., see LONGENECKER, Galatians, 299-300). If overtones of such a meaning are in mind, they have been shaped by the idea of identification with the new creation discussed here. DUNN, Galatians, 347, comes close to my own conclusion, but he does not relate his view of v. 17 to the old and new creation: "Paul ... sets in contrast an identity defined in terms of circumcision and one focused in the cross of Christ". Likewise, D. GUTHRIE, Galatians (NCC; Camden, NJ 1969) 163; F.F. BRUCE, Commentary on Galatians (NIGTC; Grand Rapids 1982) 275-276 (also citing 2 Cor 4,11 in support), and T. GEORGE, Galatians (NAC; Nashville 1994) 442; FUNG, Galatians, 314.

⁵⁰ As argued by BEALE, "The Old Testament Background of Reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5-7", and id., "The Old Testament Background of Rev 3,14".