LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

32 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
As we shall see in the next section, this line of thinking—focussing on
Christ as the active agent in salvation, over against the passive human role—
also helps to clarify Paul’s line of thinking at Galatians 3:22ff. As far as
Galatians 2:15-21 is concerned, however, understanding pi,stij Cristou/
( vIhsou~) in a subjective manner seems to clarify the whole passage by
highlighting Paul’s absolute contrast between anthropocentric “works of
law” and theocentric “faith of Christ”.
c) Galatians 3:22
Even though this verse follows shortly after the passage discussed above, a
new factor has to be considered: the extended emphasis on Abraham
throughout the intervening section. Because Richard Hays’ interpretation of
this whole section, Galatians 3-4, sheds much light on its difficulties, his
analysis provides a good place to enter the text.
The main problem of Galatians 3, according to Hays, is the dissonance
between 3:6-14, which seem to suggest that every believer who shares
Abraham’s faith is his heir, and 3:16-29, which identify Christ as the only
“seed” of Abraham. 37 Hays attempts to solve this problem by identifying a
narrative structure running from 3:1-4:11. The controlling idea of the whole
section is found in 3:1—Paul’s reference to Jesus Christ being publicly
exhibited as crucified—the brevity of which suggests that Paul is operating
“in the mode of recapitulation”. 38 Thus, Paul still expects his readers to be
hearing echoes of the Gospel about Christ—even when Abraham seems to
be front and centre in the discussion in 3:6-14. 39
Can this argument be sustained? Can Christ really be the central figure in
Paul’s thinking, even in 3:6-14? Hays’ exegesis shows how, first of all
interpreting oi` evk pi,stewj in 3:6 as “those who are given life on the basis of
(Christ’s) faith”—a major departure from the usual reading which
understands oi` evk pi,stewj as if it were equivalent to oi` pisteu,ontej (“the
believing ones”) or o[soi pisteu,ousin (“those who believe”). 40 As Hays says,
though, “as the discussion unfolds, it becomes clear … that these people
share the blessing not because their faith imitates Abraham’s faith, but
because they participate in Christ, who is Abraham’s ‘seed.’” 41 He stresses
37 Hays, Faith of Jesus Christ 194-95.
38 Hays, Faith of Jesus Christ 198.
39 As we saw before in the discussion of 3:5, understanding that verse’s difficult concluding
phrase evx avkoh/j pi,stewj as meaning “through the proclamation which evokes faith” is yet
another invocation of the story of Christ, further suggesting that Christ is being “imported”
into the subsequent discussion about Abraham. Note also, in this connection, Paul’s use of
kaqw,j to make such a linkage explicit at 3:6.
40 Hays, Faith of Jesus Christ 200-1.
41 Hays, Faith of Jesus Christ 202.