The role of ἐπαγγελία in Galatians with particular focus on 3:14-22.

This has been a matter of relative scholarly neglect in Pauline studies, although the term is prominently and intensively employed 8 times in those 9 verses and sits in direct relationship with almost every other major idea / concept used in Paul’s argument.<br><br>The methodological approach provides an in-depth exegetical analysis of Gal. 3:14-22, drawing on insight from Relevance Theory and Discourse Analysis and set within contextual understanding of the letter.

This enables an appreciation of the concept template ἐπαγγελία and leads to three significant implications concerning its use in Galatians:<br><br>The first implication concerns Paul’s use of ἐπαγγελία to establish a promise-narrative. This plays a key role in the letter. Such a promise-narrative: underpins his understanding of the gospel (εὐαγγέλιον); establishes the place of the law (νόμος) with a limited, temporal function; enriches an understanding of his use of πίστις and δικαι-language; and leads on to Paul’s ethical paraenesis – what it is for believers to live as children of promise (ἐπαγγελίας τέκνα 4:28ff).<br><br>The second implication is how Paul draws on the Abrahamic narrative as a whole.