388 GESILA NNEKA UZUKWU In Jewish tradition, uses of pairs of opposites are of two kinds: the one to express how creation is ordered 31, and the other to emphasise and reinforce hierarchical or discriminatory distinctions between various pairs of opposites. For the latter, it is commonly assumed that Greek thoughts, Jewish religious traditions, and Jewish history in the first centuries have enormous influence on the oppositional or discriminatory uses of pairs of opposites found i n Jewish writings 32 . One example is the use of the pair Judean/Jew and Gentile, which according to James Dunn emerged as a result of the need to create a distinctive national and religious identity in opposition to the Hellenistic policy “intended to oblit- erate national and religious distinctiveness” 33. The pair male and female is a common division, but the extent to which the differ- ences between these two realities should or should not be empha- sised is a much debated question in Judaism. The foregoing discussion describes the context of the Greco- Roman society in which Paul lived and worked. Paul was very much familiar with the basic distinctions used in his society, as well as their influences and consequences on the social realities of his day. For different purposes and especially for the message of his gospel, he employs a range of binary terms such as Jew and Greek, male and female, slave and free, flesh and Spirit, honour and shame, light and darkness. The antitheses Jew and Greek, slave and free, and male and female (i.e., the pairs used in Gal 3,28) appear in several of Paul’s writings including Romans, 1 Corinthians and Galatians. At one time, Paul simply shares the opposing ideas associated with those pairs (see, for instance 1 Cor 1,22-23 ; Gal 2,14-15 ; Rom 1,16, for the pair Jew and Greek, 1 Cor 7,21, Gal 4,21-31 for the pair slave and free, see also Rom 1,26 where the cognate of arshn and uhly are used). At other times he ¶ ˜ critiques and alters their original content and intent (see, for instance 1 Cor 1,24; 12,13; Gal 3,2 ; Rom 3,9.29; 9,24. Cf. Col 3,11 See, for instance, the origin of creation in Genesis 1 and 2, and Sir 31 33,7-14, 15; 42,24. For an in-depth survey on the issue, see the scholarly contributions in 32 J. NEUSNER – A.J. AVERY-PECK (eds.), Judaism in Late Antiquity (Leiden 1999) III/2. J. DUNN, “Was Judaism Particularist or Universalist?”, Judaism in Late 33 Antiquity, III/2, 57-76, 61, 62.