Paul’s Theological Use of hypo with the Accusative in Romans and Galatians

Seminary Room S215

Paul is notorious for creating/appropriating catch phrases and expressions. It seems that Paul’s theology is filled with code words such as works of the law, power-of-God, justification by faith, obedience of faith, in Christ, etc. These terminologies represent deeper theological foundations. These become labels of his systematization. Along with these expression, Paul makes use of many prepositional phrases in order to illustrate his point by means of parallels and contrasts. When reading Romans and Galatians it becomes evident that Paul’s use of prepositions become central in providing preferred meaning. These propositions are connected with key terminology such as faith, Christ, sin and law. The interest of this paper is to provide a framework to visualize Paul’s use of hypo with the accusative in Romans and Galatians and how this concept shapes his theological exposition. Four expressions need clarification: Under Sin (Rom 3:9; 7:14; Gal 3:22), under the law and under grace (e.g., Rom 6:14–15), under a curse (Gal 3:10). How are these hypo expressions related? What does Paul mean with all this language/these categories? Any misunderstanding of Paul’s framework of law, sin and grace might be resolved with a closer look at Paul’s use of hypo (with the accusative “under”) and his own designation used to explain the nature of humankind, the power of sin, the purpose of the law, and the reach of grace. By explaining these three overarching systems may provide better understanding of the Pauline expressions “obedience of faith,” “works of the law,” “law of the Spirit,” etc.