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The Meaning of Righteousness in Paul. A Linguistic and Theological Enquiry

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  05 February 2009

Nigel M. Watson
Affiliation:
Parkville, Victoria, Australia.

Abstract

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Type
Review Article
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1974

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References

page 217 note 1 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 14 f.

page 217 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 4.

page 217 note 3 New Testament Questions of Today (London, 1969), pp. 168–82Google Scholar, ET of Exegetische Versuche und Besinnungen II (Göttingen, 1965), pp. 181–93.Google Scholar

page 217 note 4 NT Questions, p. 175; cf. also his essay, ‘Justification and Salvation History’, in Perspectives on Paul (London, 1971), pp. 6078Google Scholar, ET of Paulinische Perspektiven (Tübingen, 1969), pp. 108–39Google Scholar. In another essay in the latter volume, ‘The Faith of Abraham in Romans 4’ (p. 82; Paulinische Perspektiven, p. 145), he does observe that the forensic sense dominates the meaning of the verb.

page 217 note 5 Küng, H., ‘Justification and Sanctification according to the New Testament’, included as Excursus II in Justification (London, 1964), p. 293Google Scholar. For the original German text see Roesle, M. and Cullmann, O. (eds.), Begegnung der Christen (Stuttgart/Frankfurt, 1960), p. 254.Google Scholar

page 217 note 6 Stuhlmacher, P., Gerechtigkeit Gottes bei Paulus (Göttingen, 1966), p. 5.Google Scholar

page 217 note 7 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 168.

page 218 note 1 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 1, 162 f., 168 f., 212.

page 218 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 212.

page 218 note 3 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 168, 212.

page 218 note 4 Ibid.

page 218 note 5 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 169.

page 218 note 6 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 212; cf. p. 169.

page 218 note 7 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 212.

page 218 note 8 Cf. my article, ‘Justification – A New Look’, Australian Biblical Review XVIII (1970), 3144Google Scholar. Two writers in this field who reach conclusions close to Ziesler's are Kertelge, K., Rechtfertigung bei Paulus (Münster, 1967), pp. 112–20Google Scholar; and Hill, D., Greek Words and Hebrew Meanings (Cambridge, 1967), pp. 139–62.Google Scholar

page 218 note 9 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 160, with reference to II Cor. v. 21.

page 218 note 10 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 187, with reference to Rom. i. 17.

page 218 note 11 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 206, with reference to Rom. x. 3.

page 219 note 1 For a survey of the history of this debate see Kertelge, Rechtfertigung, pp. 6–12.

page 219 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 187.

page 219 note 3 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 160.

page 219 note 4 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 151.

page 219 note 5 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 160; cf. Kertelge, Rechtfertigung, pp. 105 f.

page 219 note 6 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 150.

page 219 note 7 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 198.

page 220 note 1 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 204, 208; cf. Kertelge, Rechtfertigung, p. 156.

page 220 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 177.

page 220 note 3 On pp. 175–7 Ziesler makes a good case for attaching έκ πίστεως to ό δίκαιος rather than to ξήσεται. cf. Feuillet, A., ‘La citation d' Habacuc ii. 4 et les huits premiers chapîtres de l'épître aux Romains,’ N.T.S. VI (1959/1960), 52.Google Scholar

page 220 note 4 Among commentators Burton and Duncan, as well as Hill (Greek Words, p. 146), take δίκαιος here in a purely forensic sense.

page 220 note 5 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 179.

page 221 note 1 Ziesler apparently takes έκ νόμου adjectivally, as a qualification of ή δικαιοσύνη, but the order of words makes it more natural to take the phrase predicatively.

page 221 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 189 f.

page 221 note 3 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 184 f.

page 221 note 4 The word ‘righteousness’ here is taken as equivalent to ‘justification’ by Hatch, W. H. P. (The Pauline Idea of Faith in its Relation to Jewish and Hellenistic Religion, Cambridge, Mass.: London, 1917, p. 58Google Scholar) and by Hill, (Greek Words, p. 149).Google Scholar

page 221 note 5 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 185.

page 221 note 6 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 205.

page 222 note 1 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 159.

page 222 note 2 Cf. Meaning of Righteousness, p. 190.

page 222 note 3 Skinner, J., ‘Righteousness in the Old Testament’, Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible, 5th ed. (Edinburgh, 1906), IV, 273.Google Scholar

page 222 note 4 Goudge, H. L., The First Epistle to the Corinthians (London, 1903), p. 13Google Scholar. The connotations of ‘righteousness’ to which these scholars refer are especially clear in Ps. xxxvii. 5 f.

page 223 note 1 Beare's comment on Phil. iii. 9 is of interest in this connection. He concludes that ‘the righteousness which proceeds from God and is accorded to faith’ means basically and primarily the forgiveness of sins and adds: ‘We are bound to feel… that “righteousness” has here had forced upon it a meaning which is not really proper to it.’ See Beare, F. W., The Epistle to the Philippians, 2nd ed. (London, 1969), p. 120.Google Scholar

page 223 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 192, 199.

page 223 note 3 Meaning of Righteousness, pp. 168 f., 188, 212.

page 223 note 4 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 173. This verse is assigned to a glossator by O'Neill, J. C.. See The Recovery of Paul's Letter to the Galatians (London, 1972), pp. 42 f.Google Scholar At this point I find his argument convincing.

page 224 note 1 Tannehill, R. C., Dying and Rising with Christ (Berlin, 1967), p. 19.Google Scholar

page 224 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 200.

page 224 note 3 It is discussed by Ziesler on p. 204.

page 225 note 1 Bultmann, R., ‘Glossen im Römerbrief,’ Theologische Literaturzeitung, LXXII (1947), 197 f.Google Scholar; alternatively, Exegetica (Tübingen, 1967), pp. 278 f.Google Scholar

page 225 note 2 Burton, E. D., The Epistle to the Galatians (Edinburgh, 1921), p. 279.Google Scholar

page 225 note 3 Schrenk, G., ‘δίκη κτλ’, Theological Dictionary of the New Testament (Grand Rapids, from 1964), II, 207Google Scholar. For the original text see Kittel, G. and Friedrich, G. (eds.), Theologisches Wörterbuch zum Neuen Testament (Stuttgart, from 1933), II, 210 f.Google Scholar

page 225 note 4 Bornkamm, G., Das Ende des Gesetzes (Munich, 1952), p. 33Google Scholar n. 66.

page 225 note 5 Schlier, H., Der Galaterbrief, 12th ed. (Göttingen, 1961), pp. 233 f.Google Scholar

page 225 note 6 Kuss, O., Der Römerbrief, 2nd ed. (Regensburg, 1963), p. 129.Google Scholar

page 225 note 7 NT Questions, p. 178; EVB II, p. 190.

page 225 note 8 Gottes Gerechtigkeit, p. 228.

page 225 note 9 Rechtfertigung, p. 147.

page 225 note 10 Greek Words, p. 151.

page 225 note 11 Guthrie, D., Galatians (London, 1969), p. 138.Google Scholar

page 225 note 12 Barth, M., Rechtfertigung (Zürich, 1969), p. 63Google Scholar n. 143.

page 225 note 13 Kümmel, W. G., Die Theologie des Neuen Testaments nach seinen Hauptzeugen: Jesus, Paulus, Johannes (Göttingen, 1969), p. 180.Google Scholar

page 225 note 14 Bligh, J., Galatians (London, 1969), pp. 423 f.Google Scholar

page 226 note 1 Scholars who see here a reference to acquittal in the Last Judgement include Burton (Galatians, p. 471); Schrenk, (TDNT, II, 207Google Scholar; Th.W. II, 210 f); Bonnard, P. (L'épître de saint Paul aux Galates, Neuchâtel: Paris, 1953, p. 104)Google Scholar; Oepke, A. (Der Brief des Paulus an die Galater, 10th ed.Göttingen, 1965, p. 42).Google Scholar

page 226 note 2 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 197.

page 226 note 3 Achtemeier, P. J., ‘Righteousness in the New Testament’, The Interpreter's Dictionary of the Bible (New York: Nashville, 1962), IV, 97.Google Scholar

page 227 note 1 Nygren, A., Commentary on Romans (London, 1952), pp. 284–93Google Scholar. For a critique of Nygren's position see Mitton, C. L., ‘Romans vii Reconsidered,’ Exp. T. LXV (1953/1954), 7880, 99–103, 132–4.Google Scholar

page 227 note 2 An observation of another systematic theologian, however, Paul Althaus, may appropriately be noted at this point. Althaus observes that without eschatology, that is, without a doctrine of the consummation of God's purpose for the believer, which includes his moral renewal, a doctrine of justification alone must, in view of our continuing sinfulness, succumb either to frivolity or to scepticism. See Althaus, P., Die letzten Dinge, 7th ed. (Gütersloh, 1957), pp. 39 f.Google Scholar

page 227 note 3 Rom. vi. 19, 22; I Cor. i. 2, 30; vi. 11; vii. 14; I Thess. iv. 3–7; v. 23; II Thess. ii. 13.

page 228 note 1 Rom. v. 5; vii. 6; viii. 2, 4, 9, 11, 15 f., 23, 26; I Cor. xii. 7, 13; II Cor. iii. 3; Gal. iii. 2 f.; v. 5.

page 228 note 2 Rom. vi. 2–11; I Cor. v. 7; Gal. v. 1, 25; Col. iii. 3, 5; cf. also Gal. iii. 27 and Rom. xiii. 14; I Thess. i. 6 and I Cor. xi. I.

page 228 note 3 Meaning of Righteousness, p. 189.