Re: ei)s u(pakoh\n pi/stews in Rom. 1:5

Jonathan Robie (jwrobie@mindspring.com)
Tue, 30 Sep 1997 22:14:43 -0400

At 05:42 PM 9/30/97 -0700, Rick Brannan wrote:
>Please excuse the beta code in the subject line.
>
>I was just reading through this in the NASB (Rom. 1:5) which translates
>"obedience of faith". The same phrase occurs at the end of Romans (16:26) with
>the same translation, in the NASB. It seemed like an interesting concept, so I
>thought I'd explore it further.
>
>BAGD has: ei)s u(pakoh\n pi/stews Ro 1:5; 16:26 is to be taken in this sense
>_to promote obedience to the message of faith_. But it may be better to render
>it more generally _with a view to (promoting) obedience which springs from
>faith_

PISTIS can always mean faith or faithfulness, and the Greek genitive can
mean many different things, so the grammar gives us plenty of rope here. I
*think* that each of the following is a possible rendering of the grammar:

1. For obedience to the faith.
2. For faithful obedience.
3. For the obedience of faith. (Which is the same as your "obedience which
springs from faith)

Does anybody know some good reasons to prefer one of these to the others?

The translations reflect the many different possibilities of this phrase:

ASV: unto obedience of faith
BBE: sending us out to make disciples to the faith
NIV: to call people from among all the Gentiles to the obedience that comes
from faith
RSV: to bring about the obedience of faith for the sake of his name among
all the nations

Hope this helps!

Jonathan

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