Faith as Participation: An Exegetical Study of Some Key Pauline Texts

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In recent years, three particular debates have risen to the fore of Pauline Studies: the question of the centre of Pauline theology, how to interpret the πίστις Χριστοῦ formula, and the relationship between divine and human agency. In the present study, Jeanette Hagen Pifer contends that several of the apparent conundrums in recent Pauline scholarship turn out to derive from an inadequate understanding of what Paul means by faith. By first exploring the question of what Paul means by faith outside of the classic justification passages in Romans and Galatians, she reveals faith as an active and productive mode of human existence. Yet this existence is not a form of human self-achievement. On the contrary, faith is precisely the denial of self-effort and a dependence upon the prior gracious work of Christ. In this way, faith is self-negating and self-involving participation in the Christ-event. Cover Titel Preface Table of Contents Abbreviations Chapter 1. Introduction 1. The Meaning of Faith 1.1 Martin Luther (1531) 1.2 Adolf Schlatter (1885) 1.3 Rudolf Bultmann (1952) 1.4 Fritz Neugebauer (1961) 1.5 Teresa Morgan (2015) 1.6 Summary: A Consensus on the Pauline Conception of Faith? 2. The Centre of Paul’s Theology 2.1 William Wrede (1904) 2.2 Albert Schweitzer (1930) 2.3 E. P. Sanders (1977) 2.4 Ernst Käsemann (1969) 2.5 Summary: Pauline Centres? 3. Πίστις Χριστοῦ 3.1 Richard Hays (1983) 3.2 Morna Hooker (1989) 3.3 Douglas Campbell (1992) 3.4 James Dunn (1997) 3.5 Barry Matlock (2000) 3.6 Summary: Πίστις Χριστοῦ 4. Divine/Human Agency 4.1 Rudolf Bultmann: The Indicative/Imperative Paradigm (1924) 4.2 Karl Barth: Covenant Partners with God (1956) 4.3 John Barclay (2006) 4.4 Summary: Human or/and Divine Agency? 5. Faith as Participation 5.1 Axel von Dobbeler (1986) 5.2 David Hay (2006) 5.3 Douglas Campbell (2014) 5.4 Summary: Participation by Faith? 6. Methodology Chapter 2. Faith and Participation in 1 Thessalonians 1. Centrality of Faith in Paul’s Theology (1 Thess 1–3) 1.1 Faith as the Primary Identifier of Christians 1.2 Active Faith 1.3 Actively Passive Receiving 1.4 The Basis of Faith: The Power of God 1.5 Evidence of Faith 1.5.1 Re-identification with the Christ-event 1.5.2 Standing in Christ 1.5.3 Growing in Faith 1.5.4 Suffering with Joy 1.6. Conclusion 2. Faith as Participation (1 Thess 4–5) 2.1 Participation in the future resurrection (4:13–18) 2.1.1 Interpretative Issue 1: Logical or Conditional? 2.1.2 Interpretative Issue 2: διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ ἄξει or κοιμηθέντας διὰ τοῦ Ἰησοῦ? 2.1.3 Conclusions 2.2 The Future Orientation of Faith (5:1–11) 2.3 Faith in the Faithful One (5:23–24) 3. Conclusion Chapter 3. Faith and Participation in 1 Corinthians 1. Faith as Participation in 1 Corinthians 1–2 1.1 Boasting and Faith (1:26–31) 1.2 πίστις is Rooted in the Power of God in Christ Crucified (2:1–5) 1.3 Summary of 1 Corinthians 1–2 2. Faith as Participation in 1 Corinthians 15 2.1 Subjective Features of Faith (15:1–2) 2.1.1 Receiving (παραλαμβάνω) 2.1.2 “Standing in the Gospel” 2.1.3 Holding Fast in Faith (κατέχω) 2.1.4 Being Saved 2.1.5 Summary 2.2 The Objective Basis of Faith (1 Cor 15:1–20) 2.3 The Future Hope of Faith (15:19–23, 42–29, 52–53, 58) 3. Conclusion Chapter 4. Faith and Participation in 2 Corinthians 1. Participation in Suffering (2 Cor 1–3) 1.1 Hermeneutical Key: Faith as Reliance (πεποίθησις) on God (2 Cor 1:9) 1.2 Confidence through Weakness and Incompetence (2:14–3:6) 1.3 Paul’s Own Faithfulness Rooted in the Faithfulness of God 1.4 Faith: Self-Involving Dependence (1:24) 1.5 Summary 2. Faith: Anthropology and Christology (2 Cor 4:7–15) 2.1 Participation through Christ 2.2 Spirit of Faith 2.2.1 The Spirit of Christ’s Faith? 2.2.2 Campbell’s Conception of Faith 2.2.3 The Pauline Conception of Faith 2.2.3.1 The “Spirit” of Faith: Divine Priority 2.2.3.2 Faith Acts 2.2.3.3 Self-giving Faith: Ministry for the Other 2.2.4 Summary 2.3 Faith: Confident Knowing 2.4 New Creation and Reconciliation in Christ 2.5 Summary: Participation by Faith 3. A Confident Boast (2 Cor 10–13) 3.1 Boasting in Weakness 3.2 Boasting in the Lord 4. Conclusion Chapter 5. Galatians 2:15–21 1. Recent Apocalyptic Readings of Galatians 2:15–21 1.1 J.Louis Martyn’s Apocalyptic Framework 1.1.1 δικαιόω 1.1.2 ἔργα νόμου 1.1.3 πίστις Χριστοῦ 1.1.4 Human Faith 1.1.5 Critique of Martyn 1.2 Martinus de Boer’s Apocalyptic Framework 1.2.1 δικαιόω 1.2.2 ἔργα νόμου 1.2.3 πίστις Χριστοῦ 1.2.4 Human Faith 1.2.5 Critique of de Boer 2. Exegesis of Galatians 2:15–18 2.1 Context 2.2 Exegesis of 2:16 2.2.1 δικαιόω 2.2.2 ἔργα νόμου 2.2.3 Πίστις Χριστοῦ 2.2.3.1 Subjective Genitive Arguments 2.2.3.2 “Objective Genitive” Reading 2.2.3.3 Re-theologising the Objective Genitive 2.2.3.4 Agency Clarified 2.2.3.5 Πίστις Χριστοῦ Summary 2.2.4 Defining the Antithesis 2.3 Galatians 2:17–18 2.3.1 Exegesis of 2:17–18 2.3.2 Justification: Through Human or Divine Agency? 2.3.3 Justification or Participation? Is That the Question? 2.3.4 Hermeneutical Key: Faith 2.3.5 Galatians 2:17–18 Conclusions 2.4 Galatians 2:16–18 Conclusions 3. Exegesis of Galatians 2:19–21 3.1 Dying to Live (Gal 2:19a) 3.2 The Interpretative Crux: The Revivified “I” (2:19b–20) 3.2.1 Χριστῷ συνεσταύρωμαι (2:19b) 3.2.2 The Revivified I Lives in the Mode of Faith (Gal 2:20) 3.3 Mode of Faith: Incorporating a Pauline Theology of Participatory Faith 3.3.1 Self-involving Dependence 3.3.2 Self-negating Dependence 3.3.3 Endurance 3.3.4 Faith as Participation in Christ’s Death and Resurrection 3.3.5 Faith as the Nexus of Anthropology and Christology 3.4 Participation in Christ’s Faithfulness? 3.4.1 Richard Hays’s Thesis 3.4.2 The Indicative/Imperative Paradigm 3.5 The Grace of God: Grounding Paul’s Theology 3.6 Galatians 2:19–21 Summary 4. Conclusions from Galatians 2:15–21 Chapter 6. Galatians 3–6 1. The Human Reception of the Divine Gift 1.1 The Spirit and Faith (3:1–5) 1.1.1 Receiving the Life-Giving Spirit 1.1.2 The Reciprocal Relationship of Faith and the Spirit 1.1.3 Receiving the Spirit ἐξ ἀκοῆς πίστεως (3:2, 5) 1.2 Scriptural Proofs for the Pattern of Faith (Gal 3:6–14) 1.2.1 The Function of the Abraham Narrative: The Paradigm of Faith (3:6–9) 1.2.2 Faith is the Chief Identifier of Christians: οἱ ἐκ πίστεως (3:7, 9) 1.2.3 The Function of the Habakkuk Citation (3:11) 1.2.3.1 A Messianic Reading of Habakkuk 2:4? 1.2.4 Conclusions from the Scriptural Proofs 1.3 The Disambiguation of the Genitive (3:22) 1.4 Faith Personified: “Faith Came” and “Faith Revealed” (3:23, 25) 1.5 Participatory Faith (Gal 3:26) 1.6 Summary 2. Participatory Faith: The Primary Believer Act 2.1 Faith is the Believer Act from Which All Christian Activity Flows (5:5–6, 16–25) 2.2 Πίστις as the Fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5:22) 2.3 Summary 3. True Christian Identity in Christ 4. Conclusion Chapter 7. Conclusion 1. The Aim of This Thesis 2. Summary of the Thesis 2.1 A Multi-faceted Mode of Existence 2.2 A Synthesised Pauline Conception of Faith: Self-negating and Self-involving 2.3 Clarifications about Faith 3. Implications of This Reading 3.1 Centre of Paul’s Theology 3.2 Πίστις Χριστοῦ 3.3 Agency 4. Expanding the Discussion 4.1 Faith in Romans 4.2 Faith in Philippians 5. Conclusion Bibliography Index of Ancient Sources Index of Modern Authors Index of Subjects