04_Romanov_391_co_415 30/10/15 13:10 Pagina 392 392 ANDREY ROMANOV 392 the meaning of its prepositions. In the third part I discuss the ap- plication of dia, with respect to God (the Father) and its possible correlation with dia, used with respect to Jesus Christ. I. The relationship between God and Jesus Christ according to some recent studies In recent NT scholarship the relationship between God and Jesus Christ is interpreted in different ways. For instance, E.L. Allen con- siders New Testament Christology as “representative-Christology”. According to him, Jesus Christ is God’s representative in accordance with the old Jewish formula: “A man’s representative is as the man himself” 4. In turn C.A. Wanamaker understands Paul’s Christology as “agency Christology”; he defines an agent as “anyone who takes over the function of his principal under the principal’s direction” 5. In other words, in these hypotheses Jesus Christ is presented as the one who exercises (temporarily) God’s functions. R. Horsley understands the position of Jesus Christ in his rela- tionship with God differently 6. Horsley draws an explicit parallel between the usage of the prepositions (including dia,) in 1 Cor 8,6 and Platonic and later Philonic ideas of causes. In the Platonic tra- dition there is a clear distinction between the instrumental cause and the first creative cause. Horsley finds an illustrative example of this distinction in Philo’s Cher. 125-127 where Philo uses differ- ent prepositions in reference to each of the four (Platonic) causes 7. In Philo’s conception, according to Horsley, “God is the cause, and not the instrument”, and that which comes into being is brought into being “through an instrument” [diV ovrga,nou] but “by [u`po,] a cause” (namely, God) 8. The role of the instrument in Philo’s 4 See E.L. ALLEN, “Representative Christology in the New Testament”, HTR 46.3 (1953) 162. 5 See C.A. WANAMAKER, “Christ as Divine Agent in Paul”, SJT 39.4 (1986) 519. 6 R.A. HORSLEY, “The Background of the Confessional Formula in 1 Cor 8,6”, ZNW 69 (1978) 130-135. 7 See especially Cher. 125: to. u`fV ou-, to. evx ou-, to. diV ou-, to. diV o[ (PHILO, Works [LOEB Classical Library] [English trans. F.H. COLSON; London 1949- 1954] 10 [+2] vols). 8 HORSLEY, “The Background”, 133.