Galatians 2:20

Eric Weiss eweiss at gte.net
Thu Apr 1 14:51:53 EST 1999


"...EN PISTEI ZW THi TOU hUIOU TOU QEOU..."

Is it possible or likely that Paul phrased it this way (as opposed to EN 
PISTEI ZW TOU hUIOU TOU QEOU, e.g.) because he meant the subjective 
genitive, i.e.,

"...I live by faith(fulness), that is, the Son of God's faith(fulness)..."

Dunn, I believe, argues based on hHMEIS EIS CRISTON IHSOUN EPISTEUSAMEN 
(2:16) that PISTEWS CRISTOU IHSOU in 2:16 and PISTEI...TOU hUIOU TOU QEOU 
(2:20) are objective genitives equivalent to faith in (EIS) Christ. I'm not 
sure anymore, and am tending, like David Alan Black and Norman Wright, to 
see the PISTIS IHSOU CRISTOU phrases here and in Romans as subjective 
genitives, i.e., Christ's faith(fulness).

I guess I'm asking why the "THi" in 2:20, and if grammatically this 
supports the subjective genitive meaning (or maybe says nothing either 
way).



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