04_Romanov_391_co_415 30/10/15 13:10 Pagina 391 Through One Lord Only: Theological Interpretation of the Meaning of dia, in 1 Cor 8,6 One of the striking elements of 1 Cor 8,6 1 is the usage of a “cluster of prepositions” 2. Paul uses evk and eivj with respect to God the Father and two times dia, (with the genitive) with respect to the Lord Jesus Christ. These prepositions characterize God’s and the Lord’s relations with ta. pa,nta and h`mei/j, but also (implicitly) the relationship between one God and one Lord. The present study at- tempts to clarify the link between the meaning of dia, in 1 Cor 8,6 and Paul’s understanding of the relationship between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ. The traditional understanding of this relationship expressed in the verse could be rendered by H. Conzelmann’s words that “the interpretation of ku,rioj, ‘Lord’ — despite the formal parallelism [of the verse] — is deliberately set in contrast to that of the concept qeo,j, ‘God’: (a) by choosing the preposition dia,, ‘through’; (b) by using the same preposition twice” 3. One can, however, pose some ques- tions: What kind of a “contrast” between God the Father and the Lord Jesus Christ is indicated by dia,? What is the theological impli- cation of this “through”? Can the analysis of the “formal parallelism” of the verse and of the difference between its prepositions say something more about the relationship between qeo,j and ku,rioj? Having in mind these questions I proceed in this study in three steps. In the beginning I briefly survey some hypotheses which discuss the position of Jesus Christ in his relationship with God, primarily in 1 Cor 8,6. In the second part I analyze the structure of 1 Cor 8,6 (described by Conzelmann as “the formal parallelism”) and particularly 1 According to NA28: (8:6a) avllV h`mi/n ei-j qeo.j o` path.r evx ou- ta. pa,nta kai. h`mei/j eivj auvto,n( (8:6b) kai. ei-j ku,rioj VIhsou/j Cristo.j diV ou- ta. pa,nta kai. h`mei/j diV auvtou/ I use the NRSV for the English translation of the Bible. 2 So P. RAINBOW, Monotheism and Christology in I Corinthians 8.4-6 (DPhil thesis; Oxford University 1987) 41. 3 H. CONZELMANN, 1 Corinthians. A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians (trans. J.W. LEITCH) (Philadelphia, PA 1975) 144. BIBLICA 96.3 (2015) 391-415