Re: Episteusen

Carl W. Conrad (cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu)
Sat, 12 Apr 1997 06:51:02 -0500

At 5:52 PM -0500 4/11/97, Mike A Porter wrote:
>What is the sense of Episteusen (aorist) in Rom 4:3 and James 2:23? I am
>trying to answer the question of when Abraham believed. Here's why:
>
>We hold to justification by faith. Hence, Abraham believed and was
>justified. But, the writer of Hebrews tells us that
>
> 8 By faith Abraham, when he was called,
>obeyed by going out to a place which he
>was to receive for an inheritance; and he
>went out, not knowing where he was going.
>
>and again,
>
> 17 By faith Abraham, when he was
>tested, offered up Isaac, and he who had
>received the promises was offering up his
>only begotten son;
>
>The question is when did Abraham believe. Most commonly, we will argue
>that he believed in Gen 15:6 based on the covenant.

I have read Paul Zellmer's response to your question, and I don't think I
can add anything substantive to the question of WHEN Abraham believed. In
this regard, when it comes to the "aspect," "Aktionsart," or whatever
different name the party of the umpteenth part wants to call it, I'm old
fashioned and think that the aorist is emphasizing the historical
factuality of Abraham's belief rather than the TIME of Abraham's belief.

I do think, however, that the way Paul develops the theme of Abraham's
PISTIS in $om 4:17ff. points (quite regardless of the "aspectual"
interpretation of EPISTEUSEN, there is pretty clearly a "timeless" or a
"future anticipatory" dimension to this PISTIS. Inasmuch as Abraham is said
to KATENANTI hOU EPISTEUSEN QEOU TOU ZWOPOIOUNTOS TOUS NEKROUS KAI
KALOUNTOS TA MH ONTA hWS ONTA (4:17), followed by the 2x repetition of the
motif of "death": TO hEAUTOU SWMA HDH NENEKRWMENON ... THN NEKRWSIN THS
MHTRAS SARRAS ... , it's always seemed to me that Paul here deliberately
equates the God who creates with the God who raises the dead, thereby
implicitly linking Abraham's faith with the faith of believers whose faith
has been triggered by a more direct apprehension of the resurrection of
Christ--so that Abraham's faith is a kind of proleptic PISTIS IHSOU
CRISTOU. I don't know that I've ever read this anywhere, although it seems
"obvious" enough to me that I would suspect it ought to be one standard
interpretation. But I don't know the bibliography on this section of Rom 4.

Carl W. Conrad
Department of Classics, Washington University
One Brookings Drive, St. Louis, MO, USA 63130
(314) 935-4018
cwconrad@artsci.wustl.edu OR cwc@oui.com
WWW: http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~cwconrad/