-
Chapter 11: The Love of God (Romans 5:5)
- Baylor University Press
- Chapter
- Additional Information
145 Chapter 11 The Love of God (Romans 5:5) Expansive Syntax and Theological Polyvalence Bruce W. Longenecker Surveying the Issue Notwithstanding the view of Augustine and Luther that the Greek phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ in Romans 5:5 speaks of our love for God, the vast majority of commentators side with Origen, Ambrosiaster, and Chrysostom in thinking that the phrase refers to God’s love for us.1 The basis for this preference for the subjective genitive (God’s love for us) over the objective genitive (our love for God) is relatively simple: the verses that follow speak of God’s self-giving love for us (5:6-8). Moreover, a number of features from Romans 5 appear again in Romans 8, as if to bring the early discourse in Romans 5 full circle in Romans 8—with God’s love for us being explicitly referred to on three occasions in Romans 8 (8:35, 37, 39). Of course, the love of Jesus-followers for God is also highlighted in Romans 8 (v. 28), and this alone might give a foothold to those who argue that we should not be thinking of stark alternatives when interpreting ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ in Romans 5:5. Karl Barth, for instance, seems to read the verse this way. For him, God’s love for us enables our love for God, so that all love ultimately belongs to and transpires from God.2 Similarly, in his syntactical grammar of the New Testament Dan Wallace argues that the phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ in 5:5 outstrips either-or 146 Bruce W. Longenecker categorizations.3 Wallace grants that the phrase includes a reference to God’s love for us. But the fact that this love has been poured out “in [ἐν]” us (as opposed to simply upon or toward us) suggests to Wallace that such love “is the source for a reciprocated love.”4 So Wallace advocates the “plenary genitive” in this instance, in which both the objective and the subjective senses are seen to be included simultaneously. Consequently, Wallace proposes that the full sense of Romans 5:5 is this: “the love that comes from God and that produces our love for God has been poured out within our hearts through the Holy Spirit.” Here the single genitive is thought to be doing double duty, conveying two senses of the phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ simultaneously, both the objective and the subjective. None of this is very surprising for anyone who has ever spent five minutes studying the genitive in a syntactical grammar of the New Testament. Terms like “the gospel of God,” “the revelation of Jesus Christ,” “the faith of Jesus Christ,” “the hearing of faith,” and “the righteousness of God” have all been candidates for similar proposals regarding “plenary” meaning packaged up within the single genitive case. Accordingly, one scholar has recently characterized Paul’s discourse as frequently exhibiting “genitive flexibility,” noting, as a case in point, that while the term “the righteousness of God” is best understood as involving a subjective genitive rather than an objective genitive or a genitive of quality, the term also “tends to break out of such categories” altogether.5 I want to propose that something similar may well be evident in the phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ. But I don’t think it is necessary to restrict the semantic spheres simply to God’s love for us and our love for God, as evidenced in the interpretations of Barth and Wallace. Since Paul has much to say throughout his letters about our love for others by means of the Spirit, I would like to consider the case for including even this ethical aspect within the phrase ἡ ἀγάπη τοῦ θεοῦ. If this proposal has merit, the genitive would include a “genitive of producer”—that is, God is the one who produces love for others: “the love that God produces has been poured out into our hearts by the Holy Spirit.”6 In a sense, we are back to Barth’s view but with the proviso that the love that God produces is not simply love for God but love for others as well. Although this proposal does not have traction in scholarly discussion of Romans 5:5, it may have some traction in at least one English translation . For instance, in the popular Catholic Douay-Rheims translation (dating back to 1582), the phrase under consideration is translated “the charity [54.144.233.198] Project MUSE (2024-03-28 12:22 GMT) The Love of God (Romans 5:5) 147 of God,” which is poured out into our hearts. Of...