The Shape of Πίστις in 1 Corinthians: How Faith Receives, Boasts, and Discerns

Main Article Content

Bradley J. Bitner
https://orcid.org/0009-0001-4474-4664

Abstract

This article considers the contribution of 1 Corinthians to debates about the nature of πίστις in Paul. In conversation with studies of 1 Corinthians that argue for relational, participatory, and communal constructions of πίστις, this article engages in a close exegesis of key passages of the epistle to highlight receiving, boasting, and discerning as important and salient features of faith.

Article Details

How to Cite
Bitner, Bradley J. “The Shape of Πίστις in 1 Corinthians: How Faith Receives, Boasts, and Discerns”. Reformed Theological Review 82, no. 3 (December 1, 2023): 181–211. Accessed April 29, 2024. https://rtrjournal.org/index.php/RTR/article/view/369.

References

Barclay, John M. G., Paul and the Gift (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2017).

Bates, Matthew W., ‘The External-Relational Shift in Faith (Pistis) in New Testament Research: Romans 1 as Gospel-Allegiance Test Case’, Currents in Biblical Research 18, no. 2 (2020), 176–202.

Bauer, W., Danker, F. W., Arndt, W. F., and Gingrich, F. W., A Greek-English Lexicon of the New Testament and Other Early Christian Literature, 3rd edn (Chicago: University of Chicago, 2000).

Betz, Hans Dieter, ‘The Problem of Rhetoric and Theology according to the Apostle Paul’, L’apôtre Paul: personnalité, style et conception du ministère, ed. Albert Vanhoye, BETL 73 (Leuven: Peeters, 1986), 16-48.

Bitner, Bradley J., Paul’s Political Strategy in 1 Corinthians 1–4: Constitution and Covenant, SNTSMS 163 (Cambridge: CUP).

Brookins, Timothy A. and Longenecker, Bruce W., I Corinthians 10–16. A Handbook on the Greek Text (Waco: Baylor University Press, 2016).

Ciampa, Roy E. and Rosner, Brian S., The First Letter to the Corinthians, PTNC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2010).

Ciampa, Roy E., ‘Prophecy in Corinth and Paul’s Use of Isaiah’s Prophecy in 1 Corinthians’, Scripture, Texts, and Tracings in 1 Corinthians, eds Linda L. Belleville and B. J. Oropeza (Lanham: Lexington/Fortress, 2019), 141–159.

Cunitz, Edouard, Baum, Johann-Wilhelm, and Reuss, Eduard, eds., Ioannis Calvini Opera quae supersunt omnia, vol 49 (Corpus Reformatorum 77; Berlin: C. A. Schwetschke, 1863).

Dunson, Ben C., Individual and Community in Paul’s Letter to the Romans, WUNT II.332 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2012).

Fee, Gordon D., The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NICNT (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1987).

Gupta, Nijay K., Paul and the Language of Faith (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2020).

John Chrysostom, ‘Homily 38 in 1 Corinthians’, Patrologiae Cursus Completus, Series Graeca, ed. Jacques Paul Migne (Parisiorum: J. P. Migne, 1862), vol. 61.

McFadden, Kevin W., ‘Does ?????? mean ‘Faith(fulness)’ in Paul?’, Tyndale Bulletin 66, no. 2 (2015), 251-270.

McFadden, Kevin W., Review of Faiths as Participation by Jeanette Hagen Pifer, Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 63, no. 2 (2020), 389-391.

Mitchell, Margaret M., ‘Rhetorical Shorthand in Pauline Argumentation: The Functions of ‘The Gospel’ in the Corinthian Correspondence’, Gospel in Paul. Studies on Corinthians, Galatians, and Romans for Richard N. Longenecker, eds L. Ann Jervis and Peter Richardson, JSNTSupp 108 (Sheffield: Sheffield Academic Press, 1994), 63–88.

Mitchell, Margaret M., Paul and the Rhetoric of Reconciliation: An Exegetical Investigation of the Language and Composition of 1 Corinthians (Louisville: Westminster/John Knox, 1993).

Morgan, Teresa, Roman Faith and Christian Faith: Pistis and Fides in the Early Roman Empire and Early Churches (Oxford: OUP, 2015).

Morgan, Teresa, The New Testament and the Theology of Trust: ‘This Rich Trust’ (Oxford: OUP, 2022).

Oakes, Peter, ‘Pistis as Relational Way of Life in Galatians’, Journal for the Study of the New Testament 40, no. 3 (2018), 255–275.

Oropeza, B. J. ‘Justification by Faith in Christ or Faithfulness of Christ? Updating the ?????? ??????? Debate in Light of Paul’s Use of Scripture’, Journal of Theological Studies 71, no. 1 (2021), 102–124.

Pifer, Jeanette Hagen, ‘Don’t Stop Believing: Paul and Plutarch on Faith’, Paul and the Giants of Philosophy. Reading the Apostle in Greco-Roman Context, eds Joseph R. Dodson and David E. Briones (Grand Rapids: IVP, 2019), 74–85.

Pifer, Jeanette Hagen, Faith as Participation: An Exegetical Study of Some Key Pauline Texts WUNT II.486 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2019).

Robertson, Archibald and Plummer, Alfred, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the First Epistle of St. Paul to the Corinthians (Edinburgh: T&T Clark, 1914).

Schellenberg, Ryan S., ‘?? ???????????: An Early Christ-Group Self-Designation and Paul’s Rhetoric of Faith’, New Testament Studies 65, no. 1 (2019), 33–42.

Schliesser, Benjamin, ‘Glaube als Ereignis: Zu einer vernachlässigten Dimension des paulinischen Glaubensverständnisses’, Zeitschrift für Theologie und Kirche 111, no. 1 (2020), 21–45.

Spaeth, Jakob, ‘Der Glaube des Einzelnen und der Glaube der Gemeinschaft im Ersten Korintherbrief’, Glaube: Das Verständnis des Glaubens im frühen Christentum und in seiner jüdischen und hellenistisch-römischen Umwelt, eds Jörg Frey, Benjamin Schliesser, and Nadine Ueberschaer, WUNT I.373 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 369–398.

Thiselton, Anthony C., The First Epistle to the Corinthians, NIGTC (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2000).

Turretin, Francis, Institutes of Elenctic Theology. Volume Two: Eleventh through Seventeenth Topics, ed. James T. Dennison, Jr, trans. George M. Giger (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R, 1992).

Van Mastricht, Petrus, Theoretical- Practical Theology. Volume 2: Faith in the Triune God, ed. Joel R. Beeke, trans. Todd M. Rester (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage, 2019).

Vos Geerhardus, Reformed Dogmatics. Volume Four: Soteriology, trans. and ed. Richard B. Gaffin, Jr (Bellingham, WA: Lexham Press, 2015).

Watson, Francis, ‘Quaestiones disputatae: Roman Faith and Christian Faith’, New Testament Studies 64, no. 2 (2018), 243–247.

Weiss, Johannes, Der erste Korintherbrief (Göttingen: Vandenhoek & Ruprecht, 1910).

Wolter, Michael, ‘Die Wirchlichkeit des Glaubens: Ein Versuch zur Bedeutung des Glaubens bei Paulus’, Glaube: Das Verständnis des Glaubens im frühen Christentum und in seiner jüdischen und hellenistisch-römischen Umwelt, eds Jörg Frey, Benjamin Schliesser, and Nadine Ueberschaer, WUNT I.373 (Tübingen: Mohr Siebeck, 2017), 347–367.