[B-Greek] Genitive in Ro. 3:22
Carl W. Conrad
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
Wed Sep 8 08:02:27 EDT 2004
At 7:49 AM -0400 9/8/04, Robert Kaster wrote:
>Hello,
>I was wondering why the passage below is often translated as faith 'in'
>Jesus Christ, rather than 'of'. I recall that the genitive serves more than
>to merely convey the English notion of possessive, but I cannot find a good
>explanation of it functioning as the NIV uses it here.
>
>DIKAIOSUNH DE QEOU DIA >>PISTEWS IHSOU CRISTOU<< EIS PANTAS TOUS PISTEUONTAS
The fact is that there is no indication whatsoever in the syntax that it
SHOULD be translated as 'in' rather than 'of.' The distinction between a
subjective and an objective genitive has more to do with interpretation
than with Greek grammar. In this instance there's a growing number of
interpreters who think that PISTEWS IHSOU CRISTOU SHOULD be understood as
"faithfulness of Jesus Christ." We've had considerable discussion of this
over the years. My impression is that there are instances where the
"objective" genitive seems more likely, but that there are quite a few
instances in the GNT where there is no objective way to determine whether
it is "faith in Jesus Christ" or "faithfulness of Jesus Christ." Where
there's ambiguity in the Greek text, the translators' presuppositions are
likely to resolve the question.
--
Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University (Emeritus)
1989 Grindstaff Road/Burnsville, NC 28714/(828) 675-4243
cwconrad at artsci.wustl.edu
WWW: http://www.ioa.com/~cwconrad/
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