Paul’s use of faith in context: Galatians 2:15 – 21 as a test case.

Abstract

This re-examination of Paul’s use of faith language explores the pistis language and syntax in the surrounding literary corpora of his era (the Hebrew Bible, Septuagint, Philo, Josephus, New Testament and the Apostolic Fathers). I show that Paul’s distinctive emphasis on the prepositions dia (through) and ek (from, out of) with pistis is a new development within Greek literature that underscores the relationship between Divine and human faith. Paul’s understanding of faith is shown to be inclusive of the Divine and human; subjective and objective; individual and communal; belief and action; noun, verb and adjective; and, in the verb forms, present continuous and punctiliar. This inclusive understanding of faith is tested in a reading of Galatians 2:15 – 21, focusing on Galatians 2:20 as the key text. The thesis concludes with implications for faithing communities today, and a brief reflection on their significance for my own Australian Vietnamese Evangelical faith context.