An Exegetical and Theological Analysis of Galatians 3:6–14, with Specific Reference to the Phrase “the Blessing of Abraham”
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Johannesburg South African Theological Seminary
Abstract
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Abraham is central to Paul’s argument in Galatians that justification and covenant membership are by faith and not by works of the law. For Paul, Abraham is the exemplar of justification by faith alone. Moreover, Paul maintains that the Abrahamic promise of blessing for the nations is fulfilled in the justification of the Gentiles by faith (Gal 3:8). In light of this, there has been special interest in why Paul juxtaposed the phrases “the blessing of Abraham” and “the promise of the Spirit,” in Galatians 3:14. In addition, there are divergent interpretations of the phrase “the blessing of Abraham.” Two main views can be identified; the one popular, the other scholarly. The popular view among members of the Word of Faith movement is that the blessing of Abraham is a promise of financial prosperity. The majority view among biblical scholars is that the blessing of Abraham is the gift of the Spirit. The central claim of this study is that both the popular view, and the majority scholarly view are inaccurate and deficient. The project sets out to demonstrate this by conducting a thorough exegetical and theological analysis of Galatians 3:6–14, in order to uncover the meaning of the phrase within its literary, historical, and theological contexts. It then expounds and assesses the views of representative proponents of both the popular view and majority scholarly view. The main contention of this study is that the blessing of Abraham is justification by faith (in agreement with a minority of scholars), with the Spirit serving as the evidence of it.
Keywords
Theology, Doctrinal, Galatians, Pauline churches