Galatians 2:16 Faith IN Christ? OR Faith(fulness) OF Christ? Good scholars disagree over the translation and meaning of Is it pisteōs iēsou christou. (or faithfulness) Jesus in of “faith Jesus Christ” or “faith Christ”? The confusion comes from the words or christou, iēsou “Jesus Christ,” which are written in the genitive case. All Greek nouns occur in case forms, which simply indicate the way the noun is functioning in the sentence. It tells us if the noun is the subject, the object, an indirect object or if it is in a genitive construction. A genitive construction is made up of two nouns: a head noun and a genitive, which always follows the head noun. This construction simply indicates that the two nouns are related to each other in some way. In English, we can often translate this with the the genitive, word “of” before e.g. “blood This is an example of a genitive,” of Christ.” “possessive i.e. “Christ’s blood,” but there is a variety of uses of the genitive. Another type of genitive is an attributive genitive, which describes the head noun. the type of song. This of celebration” “A song specifies could also be written as “a celebratory song.” In this particular instance in Galatians 2:16, scholars debate whether this phrase is an or a genitive. An objective genitive functions as the direct object “objective” “subjective” of the noun, which conveys a verbal idea (in this case, “faith”). If pisteōs iēsous christou is an objective genitive, then Paul means to say Jesus in “faith Christ,” with “Jesus being the object of faith. If is a subjective genitive, in Christ” pisteōs iēsous christou which the genitive is the subject of the verbal head noun, then Paul has the faith (or faithfulness) of Christ in mind: of Jesus “faith Christ.” But at this point in research, scholars are equally divided on the intent of the original author. Sarah Cramer, Dallas Theological Seminary doctoral student August, 2016
Galatians 2:16 Faith IN Christ? OR Faith(fulness) OF Christ? Good scholars disagree over the translation and meaning of pisteōs iēsou christou. Is it “faith in Jesus Christ” or “faith (or faithfulness) of Jesus Christ”? The confusion comes from the words iēsou christou, or “Jesus Christ,” which are written in the genitive case. All Greek nouns occur in case forms, which simply indicate the way the noun is functioning in the sentence. It tells us if the noun is the subject, the object, an indirect object or if it is in a genitive construction. A genitive construction is made up of two nouns: a head noun and a genitive, which always follows the head noun. This construction simply indicates that the two nouns are related to each other in some way. In English, we can often translate this with the word “of” before the genitive, e.g. “blood of Christ.” This is an example of a “possessive genitive,” i.e. “Christ’s blood,” but there is a variety of uses of the genitive. Another type of genitive is an attributive genitive, which describes the head noun. “A song of celebration” specifies the type of song. This could also be written as “a celebratory song.” In this particular instance in Galatians 2:16, scholars debate whether this phrase is an “objective” or a “subjective” genitive. An objective genitive functions as the direct object of the noun, which conveys a verbal idea (in this case, “faith”). If pisteōs iēsous christou is an objective genitive, then Paul means to say “faith in Jesus Christ,” with “Jesus Christ” being the object of faith. If pisteōs iēsous christou is a subjective genitive, in which the genitive is the subject of the verbal head noun, then Paul has the faith (or faithfulness) of Christ in mind: “faith of Jesus Christ.” But at this point in research, scholars are equally divided on the intent of the original author. Sarah Cramer, Dallas Theological Seminary doctoral student August, 2016
Genitive%20Explanation.docx