The Relationship of Jewish and Gentile Believers to the Law Between A.D. 30 and 70 in the Scripture

194 blessing of the Spirit because of their faith in the same way Abraham was justified because of his faith. In this way Abraham serves as the paradigm of faith in whose footsteps Paul's readers should follow. Thus in 3:7, 9 the phrase ol EK n(aTEwc; is understood as "those who exercise faith" along with Abraham the believer (3:9). 145 Several have argued lately however that Galatians 3 has been too much influenced by Romans 4. Donaldson remarks that "What interests Paul about Abraham in Gal 3 is not the paradigmatic structure of his faith, but the fact that it is 'in him' . . . or 'in his seed' . . . that the Gentiles are to be blessed . . . . " 146 Hays argues similarly that the route which Paul traces from the Galatians to Abraham does not go through faith but through Christ, i.e., the "participationist soteriology" which is "the presupposition for Paul's argumentation all along. " 147 These writers see a different argument in 3:6-9 and therefore assign a different nuance to "ol EK n(aTEwc;." Thus, in order to understand the meaning of the phrase we must investigate Paul's argumenta- tion in 3:6-9. Longenecker and others assume that Paul's comparison between Abraham's faith Sache nach die Galater mit Abraham. . . . Diese Verbindung deutet der Apostel knapp an mit der Vergleichspartikel Ka0wc;, die hier elliptisch gebraucht wird. Der Gedankengang i t der: Es Verhalt sich mit eurer Heilssituation 'wie' bei Abraham: 'er glaubte Gott ... "' MuBner Der Galaterbrief, 213. 145 Longenecker states in reference to verse eight, "The central phra e of the ver e , EK n fan:wc;, being parallel with EK n(aTEwc; of v 7, certainly refer to the human re pon of trust and commitment 'by faith,'" Longenecker, Galatians, 115. 146 T . L . Donald on, "The ' ur e of the Law' and the lnclu i n f the G ntil : alatian 3: 13- 14, " New Te tament Studie 32 (1986) : 101. H ontinu , ' brah m i n t a timele m del of faith that anyone- Jew or Gentile- can mulat ; h i a r pr ntati figure , who initiate a pr ce of alvation, hara teriz d b f ith , th t ultim t l i ful fi ll d or a group which P ul de ignate ol l n(aT we; .... Th k r 8) and oi l n (an:wc; ( . , 9) , [ i ] nd th n P ul' arum nt m 2 . 15 .; 3. 1 , 22-2 ." Ibid . f 8 nd