Critical Reflections on Paul's "Partisan ek" as Recently Presented by Don Garlington

Abstract

According to Don Garlington the preposition κe in Paul's letter to the Galatians is not so far removed from ev in its locative sense. So he paraphrases 2,15-16: "not sinners belonging to the ranks of the Gentiles" and "not justified by belonging to the arena of Torah-works". This "partisan eκ" has been overlooked in the justification debate. Christ has rendered the law obsolete and demolished the mark of Israel's distinctiveness from the Gentiles. But Paul's opponents see Christ as secondary to the law. However, an analysis of the passages with eκ in Galatians shows that not the nuance of locality is present but that of instrumentality. A person is not justified by the works of the law. One has probably to add mentally: because there are also works of the law not done (cf. e.g. 3,10b).