Thursday, April 18, 2024

Brendan Byrne vs. Joseph A. Fitzmyer on εφ ω in Romans 5:12

  

With great respect, particularly in the present context, I have to align myself with those who have not been convinced by Joseph Fitzmyer’s (Romans, 413-17) understanding of the phrase in a consecutive sense. Though based upon an impressive array of linguistic usage and, at first sight, seeming to offer a better connection to what immediately follows the assertion of the universal prevalence of sin in v. 13—the consecutive interpretation runs counter to the overall thrust of the thought, both with respect to the passage as a whole and the preceding clauses (v. 12a-c), to the effect that sin is a cause rather than a consequence of death. Whatever we may say about v. 13, it is the clear implication of v. 14 that death’s universal prevalence is a consequence of sin. (Brendan Byrne, “Adam, Christ, and the Law in Romans 5-8,” in Celebrating Paul: Festschrift in Honor of Jerome Murphy-O’Connor, O.P. and Joseph A. Fitzmyer, S.J., ed. Peter Spitaler [The Catholic Biblical Quarterly Monograph Series 48; Eugene, Oreg.: Wipf and Stock, 2012], 215 n. 14)