Faith, Part II

It brings up an interesting question: whose faith counts – ours or Christ’s? The only faith that will save is that of the Christ, whose Names are Faithful and True (Rev 19:11). Our faith only assures us of His faith – the faith that He put in the Father to raise Him from the dead. And so, with that same faith, He can, and will, also raise us up from the dead. As it says in Romans in the KJV, “Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of (not in) Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe” (Rom 3:22, bold mine). Young’s Literal renders this verse, “and the righteousness of God [is] through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing” (underline mine). And the Concordant Literal New Testament reads, “yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing” (bold and underline mine).

As we can read from this website:

Jesus Christ’s faith

Returning now to Romans 3:21-26, we read in v. 22 that the righteousness of God that is “for all, and on all who are believing”is “through Jesus Christ’s faith.” The Greek words translated “through Jesus Christ’s faith” are dia pisteôs Iêsou Christou. The majority of English Bibles we have today have translated these words as “through faith in Jesus Christ.” However, the King James Version, Young’s Literal Translation, the Concordant Literal New Testament, the Dabhar translation and the New English Translation (NET) all translate these words as “through the faith [or “faithfulness”] of Christ Jesus,” “through Jesus Christ’s faith,” or something equivalent in meaning to this (see also Galatians 2:16, 20, 3:22; Romans 3:26; Ephesians 3:12; Philippians 3:9). But what accounts for the difference in translation in Romans 3:22 and other similar verses?


The grammatical issue which the translators have sought to resolve in verses like these is whether pisteôs Iêsou Christou should be understood as referring to (1) Christ’s own faith, or (2) the believer’s faith in Christ. The translational ambiguity here stems from Paul’s use of the genitive in the expression pisteôs Iêsou Christou. Genitives can be understood as either subjective or objective. According to the objective genitive reading, what Paul had in view in Romans 3:22 and elsewhere was Christ as the object of the believer’s faith. According to the subjective genitive reading, on the other hand, Paul had in view Christ as the subject who possesses the faith that is in view here.


So which view is correct? It is my conviction that those translations in which pisteôs Iêsou Christou in Rom. 3:22(and other similar verses) is translated “faith of Jesus Christ” (or some equivalent expression) are correct, and that those scholars who have defended the “subjective genitive” translation have provided the most compelling arguments. Although there are a few verses outside of Paul’s letters where the genitive can be understood as indicating the object of faith (Mark 11:22; Acts 3:16; Jas 2:1; Rev 2:13), Paul’s usage is consistent. The only other times that Paul speaks of faith followed by the genitive of a noun denoting a person, the genitive is subjective. In more than twenty verses, Paul uses the term faith + genitive of a person referred to by a pronoun, and in all of these it is the faith (or faithfulness) of the person that is in view.


Of these texts, probably the most relevant and decisive are Romans 3:3 and 4:16 (since these verses occur in the immediate context of Paul’s use of the expression pisteôs Iêsou Christou in Romans 3:22). In Rom. 3:3 we read of “the faithfulness of God” (pistin tou Theou), which is set in contrast with the unbelief of the Jews. Here, the “faith” in view must refer to God’s faithfulness (and not the faith that the believer has in God). And in Rom. 4:16 we read of the “faith of Abraham” (pisteôs Abraam). The “faith” in view here does not refer to the believer’s faith in Abraham, but rather to the faith which Abraham had when he believed God (verses 17-22), and which is similar in nature to the faith of those who are “believing on Him Who rouses Jesus our Lord from among the dead” (v. 24). These verses can thus be understood as confirming the view that the faith referred to in Rom. 3:22 is the faith that Christ had in God when he died on the cross.


Based on these (and other) grammatical considerations, I believe the burden of proof rests squarely on those holding to the objective genitive (“faith in Jesus Christ”) position.  But there are other, non-grammatical considerations that I see as lending weight to the “faith of Jesus Christ” position. For example, in four different verses (Romans 3:22, Galatians 2:16, 3:22 and Philippians 3:9), there would be an unusual repetition if what Paul wrote was translated in such a way that the believer’s faith (rather than the faith of Christ) was in view. Consider, for example, how Galatians 2:16 is translated in the English Standard Version: “…yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ...”


The repetition expressed in this translation seems to go beyond a mere use of repetition for the sake of emphasis, and makes Paul appear redundant. Consider, also, Romans 3:22. In the CLNT we read, “a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ’s faith, for all, and on all who are believing…” However, in the ESV we read of “the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” The words translated in the CLNT as “through Jesus Christ’s faith” (and in the ESV as “through faith in Jesus Christ”) are dia pisteos Ieesou Christou, and are nearly identical to what we find in Gal. 2:16. If, by Paul’s use of this expression, he merely meant “through faith in Jesus Christ,” why did he then need to add “for all, and on all who are believing” (for “believing,” of course, implies faith in Christ)?


However, when dia pisteôs Iêsou/Christou in Rom. 3:22 and Gal. 2:16 is translated as “through the faith of Jesus/Christ,” we find that Paul wasn’t being redundant. He was, instead, revealing to his readers the following profound truth: as important as our God-given faith is (and it is God-given; see Rom. 12:3 and Phil. 1:29), the justification that we receive when we believe the evangel is not based on our faith. Rather, the basis of our justification is the faith of Jesus Christ.


This understanding of Romans 3:22 and other similar verses also makes better sense of Paul’s words in Romans 1:17, where we read that the righteousness of God is revealed “out of (or “from”) faith, for faith” (ek pisteos eis pistin). When we understand this verse to be foreshadowing what Paul would later write in Romans 3:22, the verse becomes much less enigmatic: “Out of faith” in Romans 1:17 corresponds to “through Jesus Christ’s faith” in Rom. 3:22, and “for faith” in 1:17 corresponds to “for all, and on all who believe” in 3:22. Thus, interpreting scripture with scripture, “out of faith” can be understood as a reference to Christ’s faith, and “for faith” can be understood as a reference to the faith of those who believe Paul’s evangel (and who have consequently been justified by God on the basis of Christ’s faith).


“A Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus”


Paul went on to write that God purposed Christ “for a Propitiatory shelter, through faith in His blood, for a display of His righteousnessbecause of the passing over of the penalties of sins which occurred before in the forbearance of God” (Rom. 3:25). As argued in part one of my study “For Him to be Just,” the term translated “Propitiatory shelter” in this verse (hilasterion) literally denotes a place where, through the blood of a sin-offering, it becomes consistent with God’s righteousness for him to exercise mercy toward sinners by eliminating their sins (i.e., by ceasing to reckon their sins to them). Thus,to understand Christ as a hilasterion or “Propitiatory shelter” is to understand him as the one by whom God is able to cease reckoning sins to sinners without ceasing to be righteous. That is, because Christ was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross,” God is able to righteously do what he has always been willing and disposed to do – i.e., justify sinners.


Now, the words translated “through faith in His blood” in Rom. 3:25 are commonly understood as a reference to the faith of the believer. One problem with this interpretation is that, if the faith in view is the faith of the believer, Paul would be communicating the idea that God’s purposing Christ as a Propitiatory shelter is dependent on the faith of the believer (as the word “through” would indicate). Some Bible translations have tried to get around this rather awkward fact by adding one or more additional words into the verse so as to make it communicate the idea that the “Propitiatory shelter” referred to is receivedby faith in Christ’s blood (see, for example, the NIV, ESV, NET and WNT). However, I don’t think any such additional wording is necessary in order to understand what Paul most likely had in mind here.


Just a few verses earlier (v. 22), Paul referred to Jesus Christ’s faith as the faith through which sinners are justified. And in v. 26 we find yet another reference to Jesus’ faith (which I’ll be commenting on below). Given these references to Christ’s faith in the immediate context, I think it’s reasonable to believe that the faith to which Paul was referring in v. 25 is not the faith of the believer at all. Rather, it’s the faith of Christ.According to this understanding, the words “in His blood” (which, of course, refer to the death of Christ) simply serve to clarify the fact that the faith of Jesus Christ through which we’re justified is the faith that Christ had in God when he died on the cross. If Paul did, in fact, have Christ’s faith in view in v. 25, then a comma should be placed after the word “faith” (such that the verse would then read as follows: “…for a Propitiatory shelter, through faith, in His blood, for a display of His righteousness…”).


We go on to read that this purposing of Christ by God was “toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, for Him to be just and a Justifier of the one who is of the faith of Jesus.”


Since it is believers of whom God is, at present, “a Justifier,” we can reasonably conclude that “one who is of the faith of Jesus” refers to anyone who has believed the evangel that was entrusted to Paul to herald among the nations. Moreover, as in Rom. 3:22, the Greek expression translated “the faith of Jesus” in this verse (pisteôs Iêsou)is in the genitive, and would best be understood as referring to Jesus’ faith (rather than the faith that the believer has in Jesus). But what, exactly, does it mean to be “one who is of the faith of Jesus”? I believe that Paul’s words in Galatians 2:20-21 can help us better understand what Paul meant in Rom. 3:26. In these verses we read the following:


“With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ. Now that which I am now living in flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me. I am not repudiating the grace of God, for if righteousness is through law, consequently Christ died gratuitously.”


The truth to which Paul was referring by his use of the paradoxical expressions found in this passage is, I believe, the spiritual union that he had with Christ. Paul knew that, after having been given the faith to believe the evangel of the grace of God, he was justified by God and thus placed in spiritual union with Christ (Rom. 6:3-9). It is this spiritual union with Christ that Paul had in mind by his frequent use of the expression “in Christ” (which occurs some twenty-five times in Paul’s letters; see, for example, Rom. 8:1; Gal. 3:27-28; Eph. 1:3-13; 2:5-7; etc.), and is also the basis of the “body of Christ” metaphor that Paul alone used to describe the relationship that all who have been justified by faith in the evangel of the grace of God have with Christ (1 Cor. 6:15-19; 10:16-17; 12:12-27; Rom. 12:4-5; Eph. 1:23; 3:6; 4:4, 12-16; 5:23-33; Col. 1:18, 24; 2:19; 3:15).


It was this spiritual union with Christ that every member of the body of Christ enjoys that allowed Paul to say that he had been crucified with Christ, and that, while he continued to live “in flesh,” Christ was living in him. It was also this union that enabled him to write that he was “living in faith that is of the Son of God.” The faith to which Paul was referring here (and in which he was living) was not his own, but rather the faith which Christ had when, in obedience to God, he died on the cross (which is the event that Paul had in view when he wrote that Christ “gives Himself up for me”). However, by virtue of his spiritual union with Christ, Paul considered himself to be “living in” this faith. It is this reality – which is equally true for every member of the body of Christ – that I believe allowed Paul to refer to those who have been justified by God as being “of the faith of Jesus” in Rom. 3:26.

(Source: https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2020/12/christs-faith-and-our-justification.html)

Is belief in Jesus necessary? What about those who lived before Him? Are people that died before missionaries got there doomed? What if someone passed away five minutes before a Christian was able to talk to them about Christ? Well, I’ve heard of missionary reports of indigenous people that already seemed to know Him, as they described who He was perfectly. So, we do have at least anecdotal evidence of Christ appearing to some without the use of missionaries. Kind of like how the Apostle Paul was converted. He saves the Elect no matter what – with missionaries and without. And, if God can convert the self-righteous Pharisee Saul of Tarsus, then I contend that no one is beyond His reach of salvation! Even if someone is not saved in this life, does not mean that they won’t be in the next ages. God saves all!

What about maturing as a believer? Is that necessary or is it completely optional? Paul and the author of the book of Hebrews seemed to be obsessed with people coming into maturity. Paul wrote to the Church in Corinth, “And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2 I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3 for you are still fleshly (1Cor 3:1-3, NASB). And in the fifth chapter of Hebrews, the author writes, “For though by this time you ought to be teachers, you have need again for someone to teach you the elementary principles of the oracles of God, and you have come to need milk and not solid food. 13 For everyone who partakes only of milk is not accustomed to the word of righteousness, for he is an infant. 14 But solid food is for the mature, who because of practice have their senses trained to discern good and evil” (Heb 5:12-14, NASB).