Jason Hare wrote:I don't know what the theological implications of this are (I'm not part of that discussion), but it would seem that ἐὰν μή in the case means "but rather," something similar to ἀλλά.
Well, the theological implications are that the usual "except" meaning ἐὰν μή makes Gal 2:16 less usable as a proof text for sola fide. This is the unavoidable theological subtext in the exegesis of this verse.
Jason Hare wrote:Are you saying that he argued that it should be understood as εἰ μὴ διά + acc (as in Smyth §2346.c), except that we should understand it as "except through" (genitive) instead of "except for" (accusative)?
That Smyth section is pretty good at showing the meaning of "except" for ἐὰν μή / εἰ μή.
Jason Hare wrote:"A man is not justified from works of the law, except through faith in Jesus Christ."
That's interesting. I never would have thought of that. Again - for another thread. But interesting. Thanks for the suggestion to munch on.
Well, that's Jimmy Dunn's proposal (IIRC), right down to the objective genitive. I'm not endorsing it or arguing for it, but just letting you know that it's out there in the academic literature and argued in some detail. As for the scholar who construes the prepositional phrase adjectivally, I forgot who it was and I'd have to look it up. My mention here is also a non-endorsement of the reading--more of a hope that if I eventually track down the article, there may be examples evidencing the proposed syntactical construal.
