The Faith of Christ

Back in the 1950’s, there was a debate among theologians regarding the translation of certain key passages in Paul that had to do with justification by faith. The question was whether we should translate these passages as referring to Christ’s faith or to ours. Of course, most post-reformation translations take these passages as obvious references to our faith in Christ. In the Greek language, however, the construction could be translated either as a subjective genitive (Christ’s faith) or as an objective genitive (our faith in Christ). Interestingly, the King James Version translates them as referring to Christ’s own faith. Over the decades, the debate grew intense and scholars from around the world joined in. In fifty or so years a decided shift has taken place. At first the burden of proof was on those who thought the passages should be translated as referring to Christ's faith, and not to our faith in Christ. These days it is the other way around.

Here are the key passages. I will quote first from the New American Standard Bible:

Romans 3:22 “even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction.”

Romans 3:26 “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who as faith in Jesus.”

Galatians 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

Galatians 3:22 “But the Scripture has shut up all me under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

Ephesians 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and confident access through faith in Him.”

Philippians 3:9 “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”  

As you can see, far from being peripheral, these passages are at the center of Paul’s theology. The issue at hand challenges our understanding of the doctrine of justification at a fundamental level. 

I first discovered the debate when I was in seminary working on an exegetical paper on Ephesians 4:11-13. Verse 13 reads, “until we all attain to the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a mature man, to the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ.” In my paper, I argued that ‘of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God’ were to be interpreted as referring to Christ’s own faith and knowledge, as surely as ‘the fullness of Christ’ refers to his own fullness and not ours.   Over the years, I continued to follow the debate, which reached its peak in the 90’s, but is still brewing.  The major contribution to the debate was the excellent work of Richard Hays, The Faith of Jesus Christ (Eerdmans, 1983).

Three factors convince me that Paul is not talking about our faith in Christ, but Christ’s very own faith, such that we are justified by the faith and faithfulness of Jesus himself.

(1) It seems clear enough, as even the NASB translation reads, that Paul (in Ephesians 4:13) is speaking about our participation in Jesus’ own faith, knowledge and fullness. In his earlier prayer (3:14-19) Paul prays that we would come to comprehend and to know the love of Christ, that we “may be filled up to all the fullness of God.” In Colossians Paul says, “For in Him [Christ] all the fullness Deity dwells in bodily form, and in Him you have been made full” (2:9-10). Clearly the fullness belongs to Jesus and is then shared with us. Jesus himself tells us that he came to give us not simply peace, but his own peace (John 14:27), and his own joy (15:11). And, of course, in his famous prayer it is abundantly clear that Jesus envisages the very love and glory of the Father and Son themselves dwelling in us personally (17:22-26). In Matthew, Jesus claims not only that all things have been handed over to him, but also that he alone knows the Father, and anyone to whom the Son wills to reveal Him (11:27). The heart of the gospel is the fact that Jesus alone knows the Father, and he alone is filled with the fullness of God, and that he has come to share himself and all that he is and has (fullness, knowledge, peace, joy, glory, love, and faith, among other things) with us. Sharing in Jesus' own life and relationship with his Father and the Spirit is the point.

 (2) The genitive construction in Romans 3:26 (ek pisteos Jesou) is the same in Romans 4:16 where Paul is talking about Abraham’s faith (ek pisteos Abraam). The NASB does not translate the Abraham passage as 'our faith in Abraham,' but as “those who are of the faith of Abraham.” If the NASB were consistent, Romans 3:26 would read, “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus. 

 (3) In Galatians 2:16 we have a perfect illustration of what is called a chiasm. The verse reads, “nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law, but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by faith in Christ, not by the works of the Law…” 

A chiasm or chiastic structure is Hebraic. It is named after the Greek letter ‘Chi’ which looks like an X in English. If you take away the right part of the X you are left with an arrow pointing to the right. In terms of a chiastic argument, the first point in the argument starts with the top left of the X, or arrow. The next point, which is the heart of the argument is the tip. The last point is a repeat of the first point and starts at the beginning of the bottom of the left side of the X. If this is all too confusing to you, let me put Paul’s argument in chiastic sequence.

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law
but through faith in Christ Jesus
even we have believed in Christ Jesus,
that we may be justified by faith in Christ
not by the works of the Law.

Three times in this verse, Paul, allegedly, speaks of faith in Christ, which is redundant and superfluous, unless a chiasm is being employed, and he has in mind not our faith in Christ, but Christ’s faith or faithfulness. The verse works perfectly only when we understand that Paul is thinking about the faith of Christ. It would then read:

knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law
but through the faith of Christ Jesus,
even we have believed in Christ Jesus
that we may be justified by the faith of Christ
not by the works of the Law.

The first and the last clauses speak of not being justified by the works of the law. The second and next to the last speak of being justified by the faith of Christ himself. The middle clause speaks of our trusting in Jesus’ faith and faithfulness. The point of Christian faith is not in the efficacy or power of our own faith but believing in the faith and faithfulness of Jesus himself, who stands in our place. We believe in Jesus and in his faith. This is the center, the tip of the arrow, of Paul’s chiastic argument. Jesus has taken his place on our side of the covenant relationship with God. And in our place, he has offered the perfect response of faith and faithfulness, wherein we are justified. We take our stand, according to Paul, upon his vicarious offering to the Father, upon his faith and faithfulness, that we may be justified not by our own works or faith, but by Jesus.’ We choose to be justified by Jesus’ faith and faithfulness, not our own. 

If we translate the key passages as references to Jesus’ faith in our place, it will look something like the following:

Romans 3:22 “even the righteousness of God which comes through the faith/faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all those who believe, for there is no distinction.”

Romans 3:26 “for the demonstration, I say, of His righteousness at the present time, that He might be just and the justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.”

Galatians 2:16 “nevertheless knowing that a man is no justified by the works of the Law but through faith of Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, that we may be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law shall no flesh be justified.”

Galatians 2:20 “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me, and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith/faithfulness of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered Himself up for me.”

Galatians 3:22 “But the Scripture has shut up all me under sin, that the promise by the faith of Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.”

Ephesians 3:12 “in whom we have boldness and confident access through His faith/faithfulness.”

Philippians 3:9 “and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith.”

Much of evangelical Christianity cannot rid itself of the notion that man's faith is a contributing factor in justification so the Greek genitive faith of Christ has been consistently translated as an objective genitive indicating that I am justified on account of my faith in Christ. Such is the hangover of the distortions introduced by “decision theology,” beginning with the heretical approach to evangelism introduced by revivalist Charles Finney in the nineteenth century whereby man become an equal participant with God in the salvation process.

Most certainly we are called upon to believe in Jesus and to grasp in faith everything that is found in Christ Jesus.  I have come to love the expression I have Christ, and if I have Christ, I have everything that is found in Him including His joy, His peace and His faith or faithfulness whereby I am declared righteous before my heavenly Father.

In 2005 a new translation of the Bible was introduced.  It is called the New English Translation or the NET and is readily available on-line. The translators of the Greek text accurately and consistently translate the genitive as subjective. Note Galatians 2:16:

Yet we know that no one is justified by the works of the law but by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. And we have come to believe in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by the faithfulness of Christ and not by the works of the law, because by the works of the law no one will be justified.

While on the surface this appears to be a minute, technical issue but the implications are profound. This thing called Christianity is not about me but about everything that is found in Christ Jesus.