Pistis Christou als open plek. Is er een hermeneutische uitweg uit de exegetische impasse over de betekenis van pistis Christou?

Abstract

The debate about the meaning of the Pauline phrase pistis Christou focuses on the syntax. If the genitive case is subjective then it is rendered “faith(fulness) of Christ”, if objective, then “faith in Christ”. This article examines the occurrence of pistis Christou in Philippians 3:9 from a reader-response perspective to determine if the difference between the subjective and the objective genitive reading could have led to a different understanding by the Philippians. The phrase and meaning of pistis Christou will be treated as an open space in the text, which the first readers could fill by following the letter’s authorial instructions and textual indications. The article concludes that a reader-response approach does not provide a way out of the exegetical debate on the meaning of pistis Christou, but that it does shift the reader’s focus from the grammar to the person of Christ.