Wednesday, June 07, 2017

Romans 1:17 and Double Prepositional Phrases

The double prepositional phrase in Romans 1:17 is somewhat problematic and ultimately context determines how one should understand the grammatical construction there. I notice that NWT 2013 renders the passage:
"For in it God’s righteousness is being revealed by faith and for faith, just as it is written: 'But the righteous one will live by reason of faith.' ”
NWT inserts "and" to help us make sense of the double prepositional phrase: it renders the genitive ἐκ πίστεως as "by faith" and the accusative εἰς πίστιν with the words "for faith" thereby drawing a contrast between the two prepositions ἐκ and εἰς. RSV handles the phrase by using "through" and "for" in its rendering: '"For in it the righteousness of God is revealed through faith for faith; as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live."'

Rogers and Rogers say that the preposition
ἐκ in Romans 1:17: "may indicate the source of righteousness" (The New Linguistic and Exegetical Key, p. 316). Another important point to consider is that ἐν αὐτῷ ("in it" NWT) probably refers to the Gospel mentioned in the preceding verse. If that is the case and the prepositional phrase ἐν αὐτῷ were construed as an independent construction, it would lend credence to the NIV rendering:

'"For in the gospel a righteousness from God is revealed, a righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is written: "The righteous will live by faith."'

Robert Mounce (Romans, NA Commentary Series):
"The Greek 'out of faith into faith' has been taken in many ways: 'from the faith of the OT to the faith of the NT,' 'from God's faithfulness to man's faith,' 'from one degree of faith to another,' and so on. Most probably it points to faith as the origin of righteousness and the direction in which it leads."

Richard A. Young thinks that
ἐκ πίστεως εἰς πίστιν "is best explained as means that is perhaps intensified by the addition of the second phrase (by faith and faith alone)." See his work Intermediate NT Greek, p. 95.

However, I don't think Young's view is tenable. For other suggestions, see https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2051677020983500

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