A brief (but not unrelated, I hope) theological indulgence: My
several-months'-long wrestling to comprehend Romans 1:16-17 (not over
yet!) - complete with various intelligent and not-so-intelligent queries
to B-Greek over those same months - is causing a paradigm shift in my
thinking - one that is away from "Luther's legacy" to
Protestants/Evangelicals that the "theme verse" of Romans is 1:17b with
the concurrent idea that the "theme" of the epistle is "justification by
faith/imputation of righteousness" - and one that is toward the idea
that it is God's righteous faithfulness to his covenant/promises -
perhaps through the "faithfulness of Jesus Christ" - that is the
apostle's theme. Needless to say, this is a not-oft-heard interpretation
in evangelical/charismatic circles/teachings/publications, where a
believer is taught that he/she is saved by his (or her) "faith" as
opposed to God's (or Christ's) faithfulness/righteousness (though both
may be true) - or at least I never heard it in my 20 years. But I think
it is one that Christians such as myself would do well to consider or
give ear to - and this "view" is in my opinion one that must be
considered when interpreting the Greek text of Romans (and Galatians) -
hence my indulgence here on B-Greek. (Okay, I'll stop preaching!) For
those interested in reading an interesting essay on this interpretation
- especially those of you who were kind enough to respond to my query on
DIKAIOSUNH - I found last night this 1980 article (19 pages to print
out) by Prof. Lloyd Gaston entitled "Abraham and the Righteousness of
God" at http://www.jcrelations.com.articl1/gaston4.htm Please feel free
to e-mail me off list if you have any additional thoughts about this
theological interpretation. Thanks!
--- "Eric S. Weiss" eweiss@gte.net http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htmHaving been the original poster of this query, let me give a parting thought, if only to reference the suggested article I list at the end of this message. Thanks to all for their comments on what Paul might mean by this phrase, including Edgar Krentz who off-list sent me some suggestions for reading.
A brief (but not unrelated, I hope) theological indulgence: My several-months'-long wrestling to comprehend Romans 1:16-17 (not over yet!) - complete with various intelligent and not-so-intelligent queries to B-Greek over those same months - is causing a paradigm shift in my thinking - one that is away from "Luther's legacy" to Protestants/Evangelicals that the "theme verse" of Romans is 1:17b with the concurrent idea that the "theme" of the epistle is "justification by faith/imputation of righteousness" - and one that is toward the idea that it is God's righteous faithfulness to his covenant/promises - perhaps through the "faithfulness of Jesus Christ" - that is the apostle's theme. Needless to say, this is a not-oft-heard interpretation in evangelical/charismatic circles/teachings/publications, where a believer is taught that he/she is saved by his (or her) "faith" as opposed to God's (or Christ's) faithfulness/righteousness (though both may be true) - or at least I never heard it in my 20 years. But I think it is one that Christians such as myself would do well to consider or give ear to - and this "view" is in my opinion one that must be considered when interpreting the Greek text of Romans (and Galatians) - hence my indulgence here on B-Greek. (Okay, I'll stop preaching!) For those interested in reading an interesting essay on this interpretation - especially those of you who were kind enough to respond to my query on DIKAIOSUNH - I found last night this 1980 article (19 pages to print out) by Prof. Lloyd Gaston entitled "Abraham and the Righteousness of God" at http://www.jcrelations.com.articl1/gaston4.htm Please feel free to e-mail me off list if you have any additional thoughts about this theological interpretation. Thanks!
---
"Eric S. Weiss"
eweiss@gte.net
http://home1.gte.net/eweiss/index.htm