Abraham’s Paternity and God’s Promise: Another Look at the Context and Syntax of Romans 4.1

The complexity of Paul’s engagement with the Abrahamic narrative in Rom. 4 arises immediately in Rom. 4.1. The challenging syntax of Rom. 4.1 has resulted in distinct views on the apostle’s engagement with the patriarch and the purpose of his argument in Rom. 4. My intenti...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Aernie, Jeffrey W. (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage 2022
In: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Year: 2022, Volume: 45, Issue: 2, Pages: 217-238
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Abraham, Biblical person / Faith / Syntax / Bible. Römerbrief 3,27-4,12 / Bible. Römerbrief 4
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
Online Access: Volltext (lizenzpflichtig)
Description
Summary:The complexity of Paul’s engagement with the Abrahamic narrative in Rom. 4 arises immediately in Rom. 4.1. The challenging syntax of Rom. 4.1 has resulted in distinct views on the apostle’s engagement with the patriarch and the purpose of his argument in Rom. 4. My intention is to reconsider Rom. 4.1 based on a wider structural analysis of Rom. 3.27–4.22. Building especially on the work of Douglas Campbell and Joshua Jipp, I argue that Rom. 4.1 should be read in connection (conceptually and structurally) with Rom. 4.16-22. I then contend that the lexical and thematic parallels between Rom. 4.1 and 4.16-22 provide clarity with respect to the syntactical complexity of Rom. 4.1. This analysis suggests that, in Rom. 4.1, Paul considers what Abraham discovered with respect to his action according to the flesh (Ishmael) and God’s action according to the promise (Isaac).
ISSN:1745-5294
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0142064X221113179