Paul’s View of Abraham’s Faith: Genesis 22:18 in Galatians 3

By Jared M. August

[Jared M. August is associate professor of New Testament and Greek, Northeastern Baptist College, Bennington, Vermont.]

Abstract

In Galatians 3:8 and 16, Paul cites promises made to Abraham—but which promises? Syntax and theme suggest that Paul cited Genesis 22:18 in Galatians 3:8 and 16 to remind his readers of the centrality of the hope of a coming eschatological individual. According to Galatians, Abraham’s faith had the same object as Paul’s: the Christ.

Introduction

The apostle Paul devotes significant discussion to the relationship between Christ’s coming and the promises first given in Genesis. Specifically, in Galatians 3:6, 8, and 16, Paul considers the implications of Abraham’s faith for the lives of believers in Galatia.[1] In Galatians 3:6, Paul cites Genesis 15:6 and demonstrates the similarity of Abraham’s faith with that of his readers. However, there have been numerous proposals regarding from where in Genesis the citations in Galatians 3:8 and 16 were taken. It is widely accepted that Galatians 3:8 combines Genesis 12:3 and 18:18 and that Galatians 3:16 is taken from Genesis 13:15 and 17:8. This article, however, proposes that both Galatians 3:8 and 16 cite Genesis 22:18.[2] Since the Hebrew of Genesis 22:17b–18 refers to a single Offspring, Paul’s interpretation in Galatians 3:16 reflects a contextual hermeneutic.

Abraham’s faith in Genesis 15:6 is faith in the Lord’s future victory through the promised singular Offspring of Genesis 3:15. This concept of Abraham’s faith helps explain Paul’s emphasis on the singularity of the Offspring promised to Abraham (Gal 3:16). Paul’s goal in Galatians 3:6, 8, and 16 is to demonstrate the unity of faith held by all believers in God’s promised Offspring, God’s promised Christ.

Abraham’s Faith In Genesis

The book of Genesis presents Abraham as an individual who lived by faith in the promises of God.[3] While Abraham was still in Haran, the Lord called him to leave his country and family and follow the Lord’s guiding (12:1–3). In faith, Abraham went forth and journeyed to a land unknown (12:4). Throughout the following chapters, Abraham’s faith is developed in various ways. He trusts the Lord’s provision of land (13:14–15), safety (14:14), riches (14:22–23), circumcision (17:22–27), a child (21:1–7), and a sacrifice (22:10–14). Perhaps the central statement concerning Abraham’s confidence in the Lord is found in 15:6, “And he believed the Lord, and he counted it to him as righteousness.”[4] Yet although this verse is cited in three New Testament letters (Rom 4:3, 9; Gal 3:6; and Jas 2:23), there is little unanimity regarding the content of Abraham’s faith.

Popular suggestions for what Abraham believed include general faith in God,[5] faith in God’s promise of many descendants,[6] and faith in a single eschatological individual.[7] The primary issue is whether Abraham’s faith is connected to Genesis 1–11. Unfortunately, many scholars reject this possibility and allege that salvation history began with Abraham.[8] Even when Genesis 1–11 is accepted as historically accurate, Abraham is still often the first individual examined in salvation-historical discussions.[9]

However, recent work on the structure of Genesis[10] has proposed that this book is a unified document that narrates the expectation of the victory of the Lord’s promised Offspring.[11] This hope is first given in the so-called protoevangelium of Genesis 3:15 and subsequently traced through the book of Genesis.[12] Furthermore, the grammatical similarities between the promises of Genesis 3:15 and 22:18 highlight the unity of hope given first to Adam and Eve and subsequently to Abraham.[13] Both passages focus on the expectation of a single Offspring who will defeat his enemies and bring blessing to all the world.[14] In this view, Abraham’s faith was demonstrated in response to very specific promises given to prior generations and subsequently passed to Abraham in the genealogical line of promise.[15]

The passages of Genesis to which Paul alludes indicate a strong correspondence between Abraham’s expectation of a single eschatological Offspring and Paul’s newfound belief that Jesus was the promised Christ. Although it would certainly be anachronistic to refer to Abraham as a “Christian” or “believer in Messiah,” his faith was certainly in the same Offspring who would receive the title “Messiah.”

Paul’s Citation Of Genesis 22:18 In Galatians 3:8

Most commentators understand Paul’s citation in Galatians 3:8 as a paraphrase of Genesis 12:3 or a combination of 12:3 and 18:18. About Genesis 12:3, Hultgren asserts, “Paul quotes that passage in Gal 3:8 but alters it to read ‘in you shall all the nations/Gentiles (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) be blessed.”[16] Wright agrees, “Paul quotes [Gen.] 12.3 in Gal. 3.8.”[17] Hansen focuses on 12:3, yet explains that the quotation is best understood as a combination citation: “The text which Paul quotes is an amalgamation of Gen. 12.3 and Gen. 18.18.”[18] Bruce goes further and argues that Galatians 3:8 “may be regarded as a midrashic interpretation of Gn. 12:3 and 18:18.”[19] His point is that Paul was more concerned with understanding the passages in view of Christ’s accomplishment than he was in understanding them in their original context.[20] However, Collins provides a more persuasive view—namely, that Paul’s citation is from Genesis 22:18.[21]

Collins examines each case “where the Hebrew ‘bless’ (ברך) is used in the niphal or hithpael . . . [and] the LXX has ἐνευλογέω in the future passive,” thereby narrowing the possible options to Genesis 12:3; 18:18; 22:18; 26:4; and 28:14.[22] In so doing, he focuses on the passages that match Paul’s use of ἐνευλογηθήσονται. Collins recognizes that Paul’s use of the preposition with the dative (ἐν σοί) matches Genesis 12:3 and 28:14, though the reference to “all nations” (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) matches 18:18; 22:18; and 26:4. Of these five passages, one may eliminate 26:4 (promise given to Isaac) and 28:14 (promise given to Jacob), as Paul’s focus is on a promise given “to Abraham” (Gal 3:8). The three options that remain are Genesis 12:3; 18:18; and 22:18. Below, these three options are compared with Galatians 3:8:

Genesis 12:3	ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς
Genesis 18:18	ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν αὐτῷ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς
Genesis 22:18	ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς
Galatians 3:8	ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη

None of the three match Paul’s citation point for point. Though it is possible that Paul offered a combination quotation, as has often been suggested, two qualifications need to be made. First, the phrase ἐν αὐτῷ of 18:18 refers to Abraham, as does ἐν σοί of 12:3 (and Gal 3:8). Second, the phrase ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου of 22:18 refers primarily to Abraham’s offspring, yet implicitly includes Abraham (the one through whom the offspring will come). Therefore, as with 18:18, the intent of the phrase in 22:18 is virtually identical to ἐν σοί of 12:3 (and Gal 3:8); through Abraham, blessing will come to all nations.[23] That Paul cites the phrase πάντα τὰ ἔθνη (18:18; 22:18) in Galatians 3:8 rather than πᾶσαι αἱ φυλαὶ τῆς γῆς (12:3) is strong evidence that either Genesis 18:18 or 22:18 fits the context of Paul’s argument better than 12:3.

The question remains, then, whether 18:18 or 22:18 fits better as the primary text to which Paul alludes in Galatians 3:8. In the broader context of Galatians 3, Paul makes several subtle—though important—connections to Genesis 22:17–18. First, Paul alludes to the faithfulness of Abraham in Galatians 3:9. In this verse, Paul recognizes that the blessing to the Gentiles was promised as a result of Abraham’s faith: “those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith (τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ)” (3:9).[24] This conceptually links back to the climactic demonstration of Abraham’s faith in the near sacrifice of his son Isaac in Genesis 22:1–19.[25] In this passage, the Lord announces that “all nations/Gentiles” (πάντα τὰ ἔθνη) will be blessed because Abraham “obeyed my voice” (Gen 22:18). That is, due to Abraham’s faith—as demonstrated by extreme obedience—the Lord confirms the promise of future blessing to all nations/Gentiles through Abraham’s offspring. Paul picks up this very theme: the nations/Gentiles (τὰ ἔθνη) are blessed by Abraham’s Offspring because of Abraham’s faith (Gal 3:9).

Paul’s Citation Of Genesis 22:18 In Galatians 3:16

An additional link between Genesis 22:18 and Galatians 3:8 appears in Paul’s citation in Galatians 3:16. In Galatians 3:16, Paul states, “Now the promises were made to Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, ‘And to offsprings,’ referring to many, but referring to one, ‘And to your offspring,’ who is Christ.” Discussions about Paul’s use of the Old Testament in this verse center around Paul’s understanding of the term σπέρμα.[26] Since this term is often considered a “collective singular,”[27] yet Paul makes the point that its fulfillment is found in a single individual, the argument goes that Paul could not have been using a contextually sensitive hermeneutic. For example, Ellis argues that Paul’s interpretation “does not involve a question of grammatical accuracy but of theological interpretation.”[28] Ellis is so confident that the Genesis passages could not have referred to a single individual offspring that he alleges that if Paul had argued thus, his argument would have been “baseless caprice” that “out–rabbis the rabbis.”[29] Similarly, Hansen proposes ten parallels between the midrashic exegesis of the rabbis and Galatians 3.[30] He asserts that Galatians 3:16 is an example of “atomistic exegesis,” where Paul follows the “rabbinic method of occasionally treating the generic singular as a specific singular.”[31] However, the present article proposes that in Galatians 3:16, Paul cited Genesis 22:18, just as he had in Galatians 3:8.[32]

There is much evidence to commend this view. First of all, the blessing to “the Gentiles” (τὰ ἔθνη) of Galatians 3:14 connects back to Galatians 3:8 and reinforces the focus on universal blessing that was promised in Genesis 22:18. Second, and perhaps more importantly, Paul’s entire argument rests on the singular nature of the term “offspring” (זֶרַע or LXX σπέρμα). As Paul states, the Scripture is not “referring to many, but referring to one” (Gal 3:16). This focus on the singular nature of the Offspring is consistent with Paul’s argument in 2:15–4:7. Paul focused throughout this section on the individual Jesus Christ (2:16, 20), who redeems and brings the blessing of Abraham to the Gentiles (3:13, 14), providing the promise to those who believe (3:22, 26), and who was born of woman at the “fullness of time” (4:4–5).

Although the term “offspring” (זֶרַע or LXX σπέρμα) by itself could refer to either a collective group (e.g. Abraham’s many descendants) or a single individual (e.g. Isaac), the author of Genesis was able to mark his intent through his use of pronouns.[33] Given Paul’s focus on the grammatical distinction between a plural and a singular subject, he appears to be keenly aware of the singular pronoun in Genesis 22:17b–18.[34] Furthermore, Paul’s entire argument in Galatians 3 rests on the expectation and hope of a single Offspring.

Arguing against this view, Schreiner claims that seeing Genesis 22:18 in Galatians 3:16 “does not seem convincing.”[35] Instead, Schreiner accepts the standard view that Paul “appeals to Gen 13:15 and 17:8 here, not to Gen 22:17–18.”[36] He bases his argument on the presence of the conjunction “and” (καί) in Galatians 3:16, Genesis 13:15, and 17:8, and its absence in Genesis 22:18. He calls this “a stubborn piece of evidence that calls into question Collins’s interpretation.”[37] The following possibilities are compared below:

Genesis 13:15	καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου
Genesis 17:8	καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου
Genesis 22:18	καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου
Galatians 3:16	καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου

Schreiner is correct that the exact word order of Genesis 13:15 and 17:18 appears in Galatians 3:16. However, Schreiner’s discussion is a bit misleading. He states, “The use of the word ‘and’ (καί) as part of the OT citation . . . is lacking in Gen 22:18.”[38] This is not true. Although the conjunction precedes the verb, the conjunction is still present in this clause, and each of the words cited by Paul in Galatians 3:16 is, in fact, in Genesis 22:18. Furthermore, it would have been unnecessary for Paul to repeat ἐνευλογηθήσονται in 3:16, as he had already quoted it in 3:8. If Paul sought to develop Genesis 22:18 in both Galatians 3:8 and 3:16, the text appears precisely as one might expect. Paul does not introduce a new passage in 3:16, but continues his discussion of the same verse cited in 3:8.

Additionally, Genesis 22:18 better fits Paul’s argument in Galatians. In the original context of Genesis, both 13:15 and 17:18 are land promises, while 22:18 is a universal blessing promise. Since Paul does not mention land promises in Galatians, it seems unlikely that he would cite a land promise passage.[39]

A comparison of Genesis 22:18 with Galatians 3:8 and 16 makes these things clear.[40]

Genesis 22:18	καὶ ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν τῷ σπέρματί σου πάντα τὰ ἔθνη τῆς γῆς
Galatians 3:8	ἐνευλογηθήσονται ἐν σοὶ πάντα τὰ ἔθνη
Galatians 3:16	καὶ τῷ σπέρματί σου

Further, Paul’s argument in 3:16 is entirely based on the singular interpretation of “offspring” (σπέρμα) in a promise concerning universal blessing. In referring specifically to the promise given to Abraham in Genesis 22:18, Paul reminds his readers that Abraham placed his faith in the promise of a single Offspring who would come through his line.

Paul’s Faith In Galatians

Genesis pictures Abraham as an individual who placed his faith in the promised eschatological Offspring of Genesis 3:15 (cf. Gen 22:17b–18).[41] Paul, in Galatians, pictures him the same way. In Galatians 3, Paul shows that Abraham was justified by faith (Gen 15:6; Gal 3:6). He then describes the Lord’s promise that all nations/Gentiles would be blessed through Abraham (Gen 22:18; Gal 3:8). Finally, Paul claims that true faith has always been in God’s promised Offspring (Gen 22:18; Gal 3:16). Paul cites only two passages from Genesis in the third chapter of Galatians: Genesis 15:6 and 22:18. Furthermore, Paul’s argument rests on the grammatical point that the “Offspring” promised to Abraham must be understood as a single individual (Gal 3:16).

By citing both Genesis 15:6 and 22:18, Paul reminds his readers that from the dawn of time, the faith that God counts as righteousness has always been in the promised eschatological Offspring. What Paul previously missed in his Jewish faith and what he so harshly critiques about the false teachers in Galatia is that they have forsaken the true object of faith—the Messiah, the Christ.

Notes

1. Whether one accepts the North or South Galatian hypothesis has little relevance for this study. See F. F. Bruce, The Epistle to the Galatians, New International Greek Testament Commentary (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1982), 4–18; and Thomas R. Schreiner, Galatians, Zondervan Exegetical Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010), 22–29.
2. This view has been advocated most prominently by C. John Collins, “Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete Was Paul?,” Tyndale Bulletin 54:1 (2003): 75–86. Collins built his argument on the conclusions of T. D. Alexander, “Further Observations on the Term ‘Seed’ in Genesis,” Tyndale Bulletin 48, no. 2 (1997): 363–67. This article considers several responses to Collins’s proposal and further discusses the implications of this view, especially related to an accurate understanding of Genesis 15:6 in Galatians 3:6.
3. Following Paul’s example in Galatians, the patriarch is referred to as Abraham throughout this article, even though he was known as Abram up to Genesis 17:5.
4. Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996), proposes that “the writer did not intend this verb [“he believed”] to be understood as a result of the preceding section” (309). The author uses a waw conjunctive plus perfect, not a waw consecutive with preterite. Ross explains, “The narrator did not want to show sequence in the order of the verses; rather, he wished to make a break with the narrative in order to supply this information about the faith of Abram” (309).
5. For a succinct summary of views, see Walter C. Kaiser Jr., “Is It the Case That Christ Is the Same Object of Faith in the Old Testament? (Genesis 15:1–6),” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 52, no. 2 (2012): 291–98. Kaiser critiques Ryrie, who he claims misjudges Abraham’s faith in Genesis 15:6. About this passage, Charles C. Ryrie states, “Abraham’s faith was in God, not in the contents of the Abrahamic Covenant” (The Grace of God [Chicago: Moody, 1963], 45). However, the distinction between faith in God and faith in God’s promises seems artificial. James D. G. Dunn raises the issue, “If Abraham provides a model for saving faith, then it is a faith which presumably can still be exercised in God, quite apart from Christ” (New Perspective on Paul, 2nd ed. [Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2008], 90).
6. This view is advocated strongly by N. T. Wright, “Paul and the Patriarch: The Role of Abraham in Romans 4, ” Journal for the Study of the New Testament 35, no. 3 (March 2013): 207–41. Commenting on Genesis 15:6, Wright states, “This promise of an enormous, uncountable family is the promise which Abraham believes; and this in turn is the belief, the faith, of which the text says that God ‘reckoned it to him as righteousness’” (211). Similarly, see Richard B. Hays, The Conversion of the Imagination: Paul as Interpreter of Israel’s Scripture (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2005), 61–84. Additionally, John H. Walton states, “Abram’s belief has nothing to do with salvation and nothing to do with a faith system. He simply believed that, though he had no children and no hope of having any, God could make his offspring as numerous as the stars of the sky” (Genesis, NIV Application Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001], 421). Arguing against this view (specifically against Wright), Jason S. DeRouchie and Jason C. Meyer conclude, “Wright does not appreciate enough Paul’s proper stress on the coming of Christ as Abraham’s ‘seed’ (v. 16) in order to enable Gentile individuals to be granted the same title (v. 29)” (“Christ or Family as the ‘Seed’ of Promise? An Evaluation of N. T. Wright on Galatians 3:16, ” Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 14, no. 3 [2010]: 36–48, 36).
7. This is the view accepted in this study and will be demonstrated below. This view is most strongly advocated by Collins, “Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete?,” 86. See also Bruce K. Waltke with Cathi J. Fredricks, who assert, “The subject is God and the object of reference is Abraham’s faith in the promised offspring. The expression means that God reckons Abraham’s faith in the promise as righteousness” (Genesis: A Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2001], 242).
8. For example, N. T. Wright, Justification: God’s Plan and Paul’s Vision, rev. ed. (Downers Grove: IVP Academic, 2016), states, “The single plan began with the promises God made to Abraham” (202, emphasis original).
9. For example, Thomas R. Schreiner begins his discussion of Paul’s understanding of “redemptive history” with an analysis of God’s promises given to Abraham (Paul Apostle of God’s Glory in Christ: A Pauline Theology [Downers Grove: IVP, 2011], 73.
10. Jared M. August, “The Toledot Structure of Genesis: Hope of Promise,” Bibliotheca Sacra 174 (July–September 2017): 267–82; Matthew A. Thomas, These Are the Generations: Identity, Covenant, and the ‘Toledot’ Formula, Library of Hebrew Bible/Old Testament Studies 551 (New York: T&T Clark, 2011); Jason S. DeRouchie, “The Blessing-Commission, the Promised Offspring, and the Toledot Structure of Genesis,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 56, no. 2 (2013): 219–47; Marten H. Woudstra, “The Toledot of the Book of Genesis and Their Redemptive-Historical Significance,” Calvin Theological Journal 5 (1970): 184–89.
11. Jared M. August, “The Messianic Hope of Genesis: The Protoevangelium and Patriarchal Promises,” Themelios 42, no. 1 (April 2017): 46–62.
12. August, “Toledot Structure,” 281.
13. Jack Collins, “A Syntactical Note (Genesis 3:15): Is the Woman’s Seed Singular or Plural?,” Tyndale Bulletin 48 (1997): 139–48. See also August, “Messianic Hope.”
14. Alexander, “Further Observations on the Term ‘Seed’ in Genesis,” 363–67.
15. This is not to diminish the revolutionary nature of Abraham’s covenant and the specific promise the Lord gave him.
16. Arland J. Hultgren, “The Scriptural Foundations for Paul’s Mission to the Gentiles,” in Paul and His Theology, ed. Stanley E. Porter (Boston: Brill, 2006), 29. Hultgren does mention in a footnote the similarity between Genesis 12:3 and 22:18 (29, n. 26). However, he still assumes that Paul quoted 12:3.
17. Wright, “Paul and the Patriarch,” 210.
18. G. Walter Hansen, Abraham in Galatians: Epistolary and Rhetorical Contexts, in Journal for the Study of the New Testament Supplement Series 29 (Sheffield: JSOT Press, 1989), 115. Hansen explains, “The phrase πάντα τὰ ἔθνη from Gen. 18.18 is inserted in place of the phrase πᾶσαιαἱφυλαί” (115). See also Dunn, New Perspective, 251; Richard B. Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ: The Narrative Substructure of Galatians 3:1–4:11, 2nd ed. (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 173–77, esp. 173.
19. Bruce, Galatians, 156.
20. Ibid.
21. To a significant extent, this view has been neglected by modern scholarship. Collins admits that a few individuals (such as Billerbeck, Ellis, Longenecker, and Schoeps [82, n. 18]) have suggested that Genesis 22:18 was at least in Paul’s mind in Galatians 3:8, 16, though Collins alleges that they did so “without much argument” (“Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete?,” 82).
22. Ibid., 80.
23. Genesis 12:3 and 18:18 both focus on Abraham and his role in the fulfillment of the promise, while 22:18 begins to shift the focus toward that of the coming generations. However, in no way does it remove Abraham’s key role.
24. Bruce translates σὺν τῷ πιστῷ Ἀβραάμ in Galatians 3:9 as “with” Abraham or “by means of” Abraham (Galatians, 157).
25. This point is made by Hays, Faith of Jesus Christ, 175–76. Although Hays argues that Genesis 12:3 and 18:18 are the primary verses quoted by Paul in Galatians 3:8, he recognizes the centrality of 22:18 in the overall Abrahamic account. About 22:18, Hays states, “Paul does not quote this text in 3:6–9, but . . . he surely has it in mind” (176).
26. It is often suggested that Paul referred here to either Genesis 13:15 or 17:8. This view is accepted by Schreiner, Galatians, 228–30. Bruce does not take a strong stance, but he indicates that Paul alluded to the Genesis passage in general (Galatians, 171–72). Wright simply assumes that σπέρμα here refers to plural descendants. He translates Galatians 3:16, “The promises were made ‘to Abraham and his family.’ It doesn’t say ‘his families,’ as though referring to several, but indicates one: ‘and to your family’—which means the Messiah” (Justification, 97). Wright continues by asserting that in 3:16, Paul is not “imagining that the singular noun ‘seed’ must refer to a single individual (he knows perfectly well that that is not so, as Galatians 3:29 demonstrates), but that the Messiah is himself the one in whom God’s true people are summed up” (125). Jason S. DeRouchie claims that Paul primarily has Genesis 17:8 in view (“Counting Stars with Abraham and the Prophets: New Covenant Ecclesiology in OT Perspective,” Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 58, no. 3 [2015]: 457). Furthermore, Dale Mark Wheeler rejects the possibility of an allusion to Genesis 22:18 with little evidence (“Paul’s Use of the Old Testament in Galatians 3:16” [PhD diss., Dallas Theological Seminary, 1988], 160–65).
27. Most scholars appeal to the concept of “corporate solidarity.” For example, Schreiner states, “Paul probably has in mind the idea that Jesus is the corporate head of God’s people, just as Adam was the head of all humanity” (Paul Apostle of God’s Glory, 80). Similarly, Scot McKnight states that Paul’s interpretation is a “special form of interpretation . . . in which he sees in ‘seed’ a corporate solidarity’ in Christ” (Galatians, NIV Application Commentary [Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1995], 167). Burton asserts that this passage refers to Christ “not as an individual, but as the head of a spiritual race” (Ernest DeWitt Burton, A Critical and Exegetical Commentary on the Epistle to the Galatians, International Critical Commentary [New York: Scribner’s, 1920], 182). Burton continues, “This is, of course, not the meaning of the original passage referred to (Gen. 13:15, or 17:7 or 8)” (182). See also Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians, Word Biblical Commentary (Dallas: Word, 1990), 130–32; Ronald Y. K. Fung, The Epistle to theGalatians, New International Commentary on the New Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1988), 155–56; and Timothy George, Galatians, New American Commentary (Nashville: B&H, 1994), 246–48.
28. E. Earle Ellis, Paul’s Use of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1957), 73. He continues, “It is a collective and not a simple plural, and within the limits of the grammar [Paul] interprets it of Christ, or better, of that particular type of seed which is identified with and headed up in Christ” (73). Ellis argues that the only other options are that “Paul the Hebrew was entirely ignorant of the fact that the singular זרע was used continually in the Hebrew (and Greek) OT as a collective,” or that the apostle was “in the role of a charlatan fooling his audience with a bit of chicanery” (71).
29. Ibid., 71.
30. Hansen, Abraham in Galatians, 202–9.
31. Ibid., 208. Hansen continues, “Thus, the term ‘seed’ has been redefined and circumscribed in a way that contrasts with rabbinic theology, but corresponds with rabbinic methodology” (208). This interpretation is “based on [Paul’s] understanding of the corporate solidarity of Christ and those who belong to Christ” (276, n. 65). Hansen follows the methodological approach of Richard N. Longenecker, Biblical Exegesis in the Apostolic Period (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1999), who states that Paul is “invoking a corporate solidarity of the promise to Abraham wherein the Messiah, as the true descendant of Abraham and the true representative of his people, and the Messiah’s elect ones, as sharers in his experiences and his benefits, are seen together as the legitimate inheritors of God’s promises” (107). See also James D. G. Dunn, The Theology of Paul the Apostle (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1998), 173; and Richard B. Hays, Echoes of Scripture in the Letters of Paul (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1989), 121.
32. By connecting Paul’s argument in Galatians 3:8 to his assertion in 3:16, Collins demonstrates that Paul had a single verse in mind in both these passages. Collins states, “Galatians 3:16 may show us whether one member of the second set (18:18; 22:18; 26:4) is more in view than the others” (“Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete?,” 81). However, others take a different approach. For example, DeRouchie and Meyer, “Christ or Family,” claim that Genesis 22:17–18 “most likely stands behind Paul’s recollection in Gal 3:8” (39), yet for Galatians 3:16, “the most likely candidate . . . is [Gen] 17:8” (38).
33. When the author of Genesis wanted זֶרַע to be understood as a singular noun, he used singular pronouns (3:15; 21:13; 22:17b; and 24:60), and when he wanted it to be understood as a plural noun, he used plural pronouns (15:13; 17:7, 8, and 9). See Alexander, “Further Observations,” 363–67; and August, “Messianic Hope,” 46–62. Note the use of the singular pronoun in 22:17b, “his enemies” (אֹיבָיו). See Collins, “What Kind of Exegete?,” 85.
34. Collins, “Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete?,” notes: “Another connection between Gal. 3 and Gn. 22:17–18 is the presence of the verb κληρονομέωGn. 22:18 [sic; 22:17] . . . and the noun κληρονομία in Gal. 3:18” (84, n. 23). This grammatical link develops the expectation of what Abraham’s offspring would accomplish.
35. Schreiner, Galatians, 230.
36. Ibid.
37. Ibid.
38. Ibid.
39. Collins, “Galatians 3:16: What Kind of Exegete?,” 82–83; Bruce, Galatians, 171–73.
40. Connections between Genesis 22:18 and Galatians 3:8 are single underlined; connections between Genesis 22:18 and Galatians 3:16 are double underlined.
41. DeRouchie and Meyer, “Christ or Family,” conclude that Genesis 3:15 is in Paul’s focus. In reference to various Old Testament messianic prophecies, DeRouchie and Meyer state, “The background of the promises in Genesis 3:15 and 22:17b–18 is unmistakable” (40). They view this progressive expectation (beginning in Genesis 3:15) as the basis for Paul’s discussion in Galatians 3, although they reject Genesis 22:18 as the background of Galatians 3:16 (38–39).