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

198 refer to their justification by faith. If, however, Paul's point is that Gentiles are justified by their identification with the gospel message rather than their identity with Moses, the quotation fits nicely. First, it more closely correlates the message which the Galatians received (the gospel) with the message which Abraham received (the gospel preached beforehand) and thus clarifies the basic comparison (Ka0wc;, 3:6) with which Paul began the section. 156 Second, the quotation does not mention Abraham's faith but does emphasize the promise of blessing which was given to him. In reality the text of the Paul's quotation differs slightly from Genesis 12:3. Betz suggests that Paul conflates several texts including Genesis 12:3; 18: 18; 22: 18; 26:4; 28: 14. 157 The following table compares Paul's quotation in Galatians 3: 8 with the possible sources. 158 Gal 3:8 ,E ~ 0 / ' ' / ' "0 VEU/\Oyn naoVTat ~ aot TTaVTa Ta E vn Gen 12:3 'EvEu.Aoyn0naovTat h aoi TTOaat al cpu.Aai Tl7c; y17c; Gen 18: 18 .,EVEU.Aoyn0naovTat h mhQ m:ivTa TO rnvn Tl7c; y17c; Gen 22: 18 'EvEu1ioyn8naovTat h T4J OTTEpµaT( aou TTOVTa Ta rnvn Tl7c; y17c; Gen 26 :4 'EvEu.Aoyn0naovTat h T4J OTTEpµaT( aou TTOVTa Ta rnvn Tl7c; y17c; Gen 28: 14 'EvEU.Aoyn0naovTat h aoi TTOaat al cpu11ai Tl7c; y17c; , Kai EV T4J OTTEpµaTL aou. It appears that Paul does conflate a number of texts of Genesis, but it is clear that they are all very similar and either rephrase or slightly clarify the original promise given to Abraham in Genesis 12: 3. Still the correlation between Paul 's statement " that God would ju tify the Gentiles EK rr(an:wc;" and Paul 's quotation is hard to see if hi empha i i upon Abraham ' I 6 n day , ' h ur wand the ro " 1 7 8etL., alattans , 14 , n . 1 8 Adapt d rom ned ' he u nd th ,, ' -