A Linguistic Analysis of πίστις χριστοῦ: The Case for the Third View

This study seeks to demonstrate that the Pauline phrase πίστις Χριστοῦ is best understood grammatically as the ‘Christ-faith’ in accordance with the so-called ‘third view’, where ‘faith’ is taken to mean a system or set of beliefs, and ‘Christ’ qualifies what the system is about. I argue that the gr...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Author: Grasso, Kevin (Author)
Format: Electronic Article
Language:English
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Published: Sage [2020]
In: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Year: 2020, Volume: 43, Issue: 1, Pages: 108-144
Standardized Subjects / Keyword chains:B Jesus Christus / Pistis / Faith / Linguistics / Perspective / Pauline letters
IxTheo Classification:HC New Testament
KAB Church history 30-500; early Christianity
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Summary:This study seeks to demonstrate that the Pauline phrase πίστις Χριστοῦ is best understood grammatically as the ‘Christ-faith’ in accordance with the so-called ‘third view’, where ‘faith’ is taken to mean a system or set of beliefs, and ‘Christ’ qualifies what the system is about. I argue that the grammar disallows the meaning ‘faith in Christ’ where Christ is the object of one’s ‘trust’, since objective genitives can only mean ‘belief of something (to be true)’, as is shown by an analysis of the data in the NT and in Harrisville 1994; 2006. Additionally, the subjective genitive rendering often fails to make sense within the literary context and faces its own grammatical difficulties. Drawing on work from theoretical linguistics in lexical semantics and syntax, I show that the third view meaning, translated as the ‘Christ-faith’, is the most likely rendering given the context of each of the passages, the Greek case system and the meaning of the noun πίστις as used in the NT and other Koine Greek writings.
ISSN:1745-5294
Contains:Enthalten in: Journal for the study of the New Testament
Persistent identifiers:DOI: 10.1177/0142064X20949385