156 Rainer Reuter 4. The meaning of “οἱ ἐκ“-constructions in Paul Constructions beginning with οἱ ἐκ … are used in the Protopauline corpus only 9 times. In four cases they mean a group of persons com- ing from a certain house, family or ethnic group.37 The meaning of the remaining instances will be discussed in the following passage. In Rom 4,12a Paul presents Abraham as a father for “those from the circumcision” (τοῖς ... ἐκ περιτομῆς). The meaning here is clearly “Jews,” because in the verse before Abraham was presented as a father of gentiles. But in fact Abraham is presented here as a father of Jewish and gentile Christians, because Rom 4,11 as well as 4,12 their faith is in view.38 The reference markers indicate clearly that Christian Jews are in view. In con- trast to them in Rom 4,14 Paul mentions Jews who find their identity in the Torah (νόμος)39 and not in Christ (πίστις). They are called οἱ ἐκ νόμου. So the expressions οἱ ἐκ περιτομῆς as well as οἱ ἐκ νόμου mean Jews, but they are referring to different groups: Christian and non-Christian Jews. For the second group Paul could not use the word Jews, because in this context it doesn’t express exactly what he means. Those ἐκ νόμου are persons who accept only the Torah as a theological basis – as opposed to those who are circumcised but share in Abraham’s faith (Rom 4,12). In this context the second οἱ ἐκ construction (οἱ ἐκ νόμου) does not indicate the origin of persons but their basic theological orientation.40 The same meaning can be found in Gal 3,7.9 in the construction οἱ ἐκ πίστεως. According to the context of Gal 3,7.9 οἱ ἐκ πίστεως means people who accept not only the gospel of Christ, but also know that this is the only way to receive righteousness.41 The opposite is expressed in Gal 3,10 with the phrase “those who are of the works of the law” (ὅσοι γὰρ ἐξ ἔργων νόμου εἰσίν).42 It refers to people who find their basic orientation in the Mosaic Law. The following context informs the reader that such an orientation is out-dated because of Christ (Gal 3,13-14). So the οἱ ἐκ— phrases in Gal 3,7-10 – similar to the instances found in Rom 4 – express the basic theological orientation a person has, ἐκ πίστεως43 or ἐξ ἔργων 37 Rom 9,6 οἱ ἐξ Ἰσραὴλ; 16,10 τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ἀριστοβούλου; 16,11 τοὺς ἐκ τῶν Ναρκίσσου; Phil 4,22 οἱ ἐκ τῆς Καίσαρος οἰκίας. 38 Cf. U. Wilckens, Der Brief an die Römer, 1. Teilband: Röm 1-5 (EKK 6.1, Zürich / Einsiedeln / Köln / Neukirchen-Vluyn 1978) 265-266. 39 Cf. Wilckens, Römer 270. 40 Cf. Mußner, Galaterbrief 216 n. 25 who points out, that ἐκ in these constructions does not express the origins of a person, but his/her affiliation to a certain group. 41 Cf. Lührmann, Galater 54. 42 Cf. Betz, Galatians 141-142. 43 Cf. Betz, Galatians 141: “The οἱ ἐκ πίστεως (‘the men of [the] faith’) are those whose existence before God is based upon (ἐκ) faith”.