and foolishness to Gentiles” (1 Cor 1:23). Many of Paul’s detractors, Jews and some Jewish Christians, thought that Paul was doing the unthinkable. He was declaring that the Gentiles are acceptable to God on the basis of faith in Jesus, apart from observing the Torah, and completely bypassing the visible emblems of Israel’s election (see Acts 15:1–2; Gal 2:4–5; 5:1–12; 1 Thess 2:15). The objection was probably along the lines that Paul was denigrating the God-given Torah by failing to insist on obedience