the aim of all exegesis ought to be to get to the point where we can say, stand here (in the first-century world of a well-taught Jewish thinker); look at things like this; and then you’ll see that he has in fact said exactly what he meant. We don’t have to help Paul to get it right. We have to allow him to go on teasing us until we see his point, allowing the bits of the jigsaw to fall finally into place.
