How Christ secured our salvation by his death
Because of its relevance to the subject I’m going to be considering in this article, I think it would be helpful to first review my understanding of why Christ had to die. My understanding of how our salvation was secured by Christ’s death on the cross can be summarized as follows:
1. It would be unjust for God to use his own authority and power to save those who are deserving of death by vivifying them (for doing so wouldn’t be in accord with the truth that they’re deserving of death, and that God isn’t obligated to save those who are deserving of death).
2. Because God is perfectly loving and good, he wills that all mankind be saved through a mediator (i.e., through someone distinct from himself who can obediently carry out his will that all mankind be saved). And that mediator is his Son, Jesus Christ (1 Tim. 2:4-5).
3. It was by his obedience “unto death, even the death of the cross” that Christ became worthy of the exalted position and authority that he needed to have to be able to carry out God’s will that all mankind be saved (and which he received when he was roused by God).
4. Since Christ wills to do the will of his Father – and is thus going to use his God-given authority to save all sinners from death (starting with believers) – the salvation of all mankind (and thus the justification of all mankind) was secured through Christ’s obedience unto death (Rom. 5:18-19).
According to the view summarized in the four points above, the prophecy-fulfilling circumstances that led to, and culminated in, the crucifixion of Christ were purposed by God to qualify his Son to become Lord of all (and thus to receive all authority in heaven and on earth).
During his mortal lifetime on earth, Christ was already fully committed to doing God’s will (and was thus committed to saving all mankind, starting with believers). What Christ needed was the authority to fully carry it out (for although God already had such authority, he couldn’t justly use it). And as Paul makes clear in Romans 14:9, it was by means of Christ’s death on the cross that he acquired this great authority:
“For for this Christ died and lives, that He should be Lord of the dead as well as of the living.”
The words “for for this” indicate that being Lord of all is the purpose for which “Christ died and lives.” And since Christ died and lives to be Lord of all, it means that Christ died to become Lord of all.
This understanding is further confirmed by what Paul wrote in Philippians. 2:7-11:
“…[Christ] empties Himself, taking the form of a slave, coming to be in the likeness of humanity, and, being found in fashion as a human, He humbles Himself, becoming obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore, also, God highly exalts Him, and graces Him with the name that is above every name, that in the name of Jesus every knee should be bowing, celestial and terrestrial and subterranean, and every tongue should be acclaiming that Jesus Christ is Lord, for the glory of God, the Father.”
As explained in my article “When did Christ take the form of a slave?” (https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2023/06/when-did-christ-take-form-of-slave.html), Paul’s words in verses 7-8 are a brief summary of Christ’s prophecy-fulfilling obedience from the time of his betrayal and arrest in the garden of Gethsemane to his death on the cross. It was during this time that Christ “emptied himself” and took “the form of a slave” (and, in doing so, came to be “in the likeness of humanity” – i.e., he came to be in the likeness of the humans whom he came into the world to save, and who didn’t possess the privileged status and authority from God that Christ alone had at that time). And it was because Christ humbled himself and became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (despite being completely undeserving of death) that he received the exalted position and authority that is referred to in verses 10-11.
In accord with this point, it should be emphasized that Christ was not a passive victim during the time that began in Gethsemane and ended on Golgotha. Instead, his death was something that would not have occurred apart from his active, willing involvement in the prophecy-fulfilling events that led to it. As is evident from the words of Christ recorded in John 10:17-18, his death was an act of obedience to God:
Therefore the Father is loving Me, seeing that I am laying down My soul that I may be getting it again. No one is taking it away from Me, but I am laying it down of Myself. I have the right to lay it down, and I have the right to get it again. This precept I got from My Father.
Moreover – and as is evident from verses such as Luke 22:37 – Christ was very much aware of the fact that his actions were completely necessary for the fulfilling of prophecy (and apart from which prophecy wouldn’t have been fulfilled, and God’s will thus wouldn’t have been done). We also know that Christ had the authority to prevent his arrest and avoid the cross completely (see, for example, Matt. 26:52-54). And yet, he obediently chose to do what he knew had to be done so that prophecy would be fulfilled (and the will of God expressed through prophecy would thus be done). Everything that Christ allowed to happen to him during this dark time fulfilled prophecy and was done in obedience to God. Christ had to die in the exact way and in the exact circumstances he did to remain obedient to God, as well as to fulfill all that was written concerning him.
We can thus conclude that Christ’s death was the means through which he became Lord of all (and acquired all authority in heaven and on earth), and thus became qualified to save all mankind.
Now, in accord with the teaching of Paul in the above passages concerning why Christ died (and had to die), we read the following in Hebrews 2:9-10:
“Yet we are observing Jesus, Who has been made some bit inferior to messengers (because of the suffering of death, wreathed with glory and honor), so that in the grace of God, He should be tasting death for the sake of everyone. For it became Him, because of Whom all is, and through Whom all is, in leading many sons into glory, to perfect the Inaugurator of their salvation through sufferings.”
Notice, also, the reference to Christ being perfected in Hebrews 2:9-10. The author of this letter referred to this perfecting of Christ again in 5:7-9:
“…Who, in the days of His flesh, offering both petitions and supplications with strong clamor and tears to Him Who is able to save Him out of death, being hearkened to also for His piety, even He also, being a Son, learned obedience from that which He suffered. And being perfected, He became the cause of eonian salvation to all who are obeying Him…”
When we read in Hebrews 2:10 and 5:9 that Christ “learned obedience from that which he suffered” and was “perfected” through his sufferings, the idea being expressed is not that Christ learned how to be obedient (with the implication being that he was previously disobedient). For, as Scripture makes clear elsewhere, Jesus never sinned (2 Cor. 5:21; Heb. 4:15; 7:26; 1 Pet. 2:22). Christ was already obedient prior to the time of suffering and shame that culminated in his death. The idea is that Christ came into a full, experiential knowledge of obedience by going through everything that he went through.
Moreover, the sense in which Christ was “perfected” through his sufferings is that he became all that he needed to be in order to do all that God wills for him to do. In the immediate contexts in which we read of Christ being “perfected” (Heb. 2:10; 5:9; 7:23-28), it seems clear that this involved Christ being perfected as the Savior of everyone whom God wills for him to save by acquiring the ability and authority to save them. And according to Christ himself, this took place when he was roused (Luke 13:32). As already noted, it was when Christ was roused that he became Lord of all, and was given all authority in heaven and on earth.
Since Christ is going to use his authority to save everyone whom God wills for him to save, the salvation of everyone he’s going to save was secured when he died (for it was by his death that Christ became worthy of the authority he’s going to use to save them).
Consider the following argument:
1. Christ is going to use his authority as Lord of all to save all mankind from death.
2. Christ became worthy of this authority when he died.
3. The salvation of all mankind from death was secured when Christ died.
Again, Christ was already committed to carrying out God’s will that all mankind be saved; he only needed the authority to be able to do so. When Christ became worthy of this authority, our salvation was guaranteed. This understanding explains Paul’s declaration that Christ gave himself a “correspondent Ransom for all” (1 Tim. 2:6). Just as the release of someone being held for ransom is secured through the payment that’s required for their release, so our deliverance from death was secured when Christ died and became worthy of the authority to save us.
The faith of Christ
With these points in mind, let’s now consider the truth that Christ had faith during his mortal lifetime on earth. As important as I believe this truth is, it’s one with which most Christians are unfamiliar (it’s certainly not a truth that I recall being taught or emphasized in the church in which I grew up). In fact, I suspect that many Christians would respond to this truth with a degree of puzzlement, if not incredulity. After all, most Christians believe that Jesus is the same divine being as his God and Father, and is one of three (or, according to some, two) divine “persons” who, together, comprise the “one God.” According to this understanding of who Jesus is, how could Jesus have had faith during his lifetime on earth?
If, as most Christians believe, Jesus is God in the same sense that his Father is God, then there’s no good reason to think that Jesus could have had (or indeed needed to have) faith at all. Can God have faith in God? Thus, the false doctrine of the deity of Christ not only prevents one from believing that Jesus died (a truth that’s essential to the evangel), but it also prevents one from believing that Jesus truly had faith. But just as it’s clear that Jesus did die, so I think it’s clear that Jesus did, in fact, have faith. And – as I hope will be clear to the reader by the time he or she reaches the end of this article – just as Jesus’ death is essential to our salvation, so Jesus’ faith is essential to our salvation. In fact, Jesus’ faith and his death are inseparably connected (such that the one cannot be truly understood and appreciated apart from the other).
Now, we know that, during his time on earth, Christ always did what was pleasing to God (John 8:29). This included, of course, his sacrificial death (Eph. 5:2). We also know that, apart from faith, it’s impossible to please God (Heb. 11:6). We can thus conclude that Christ’s obedience to God throughout his life was an expression of his faith in God, and that his death was the supreme demonstration of this faith.
We also have good reason to believe that, during his mortal lifetime on earth, Christ had a scripturally-informed (and thus accurate) understanding of what death is (and what it means to be dead). He would have known, therefore, that dying would result in him entering into a lifeless – and thus completely insensible – state. Thus, Christ knew that, after he breathed his last on the cross, he would be completely dependent on God (who alone would be able to save Christ from the lifeless state into which he was going to be entering).
We can thus conclude that a key aspect of Christ’s faith in God – especially that which was demonstrated through his obedience unto death – was his faith that God would rouse him from among the dead (as God, in his word, had promised to do). In accord with this fact, we’re repeatedly told in the Greek Scriptures that God roused Christ from among the dead (see, for example, Acts 3:15; 4:10; 13:30, 34; 17:31; Rom. 4:24; 6:4, 9; 8:11; 10:9; 1 Cor. 15:15; Gal. 1:1; Eph. 1:20; Col. 2:12; 1 Thess. 1:10; Heb. 13:20; 1 Pet. 1:21). From these verses we can conclude that Christ did not rouse himself from the lifeless condition into which he entered when he died on the cross. Rather, it was his God and Father (i.e., Yahweh) who restored him to a living, conscious existence three days after he died.
In accord with this consideration, we find the faith of Christ implicitly referred to in Hebrews 2:10-13:
For it was fitting that he, for whom and through whom all things exist, in bringing many children to glory, should make the leader of their salvation perfect through suffering. He who consecrates and those who are being consecrated all have one origin. Therefore, he is not ashamed to call them “brothers,” saying:
“I will proclaim your name to my brothers, in the midst of the assembly I will praise you”;
and again:
“I will put my trust in him”;
and again:
“Behold, I and the children God has given me.”
In each of the above quotations from the Hebrew Scriptures, the one speaking is Christ.[i] That is, it’s Christ who was declaring that he would put his trust in God (whereas “the children” who were given to Christ by God – and who would also put their trust in God – are Jewish believers; see John 6:36-40).
In the statement, “I will put my trust in him,” the word translated “put my trust” is a form of the verb peithó. This is the verb from which the noun “faith” (pistis) is derived (see Strong's Greek: 3982. πείθω (peithó) -- To persuade, to convince, to trust, to have confidence). The clear implication, then, is that Christ had faith in/believed God.
Thus, just as we read in Hebrews 11 of the various righteous acts that certain notable people of long ago performed “by faith” (e.g., “By faith Abel offers to God more of a sacrifice than Cain”), so it can be said that it was by faith that Christ was obedient unto death. In fact, according to the author of the letter to the Hebrews, Christ is the greatest and most notable example of someone who had faith. For in Hebrews 12:1-2 we read the following concerning Christ:
“…let us rid ourselves of every burden and sin that clings to us and persevere in running the race that lies before us while keeping our eyes fixed on Jesus, the leader and perfecter of faith.“ (New American Bible Revised Edition)
Most Bible translations erroneously insert the word “our” before “faith” in v. 2. But the author of the letter to the Hebrews wasn’t referring exclusively to the faith of those to whom he wrote. For, as has already been shown, Christ also had faith in God.
The word translated “leader” in Heb. 12:2 (archégos) is translated “author” in most Bibles. In the CLNT it’s translated “Inaugurator.” However, I don’t think either of these words best expresses the main idea being communicated here. Christ didn’t “author” or “inaugurate” faith; as Hebrews 11 makes clear, people had faith in God long before Christ lived on the earth. Rather than expressing the idea of authoring (or inaugurating) faith in Hebrews 12:2, the word archégos expresses the idea of being the chief leader of faith (hence, the word is translated “Archleader” in the Dabhar translation).[ii] Christ is the “chief leader of faith” in that he has provided believers with the supreme demonstration and example of faith.
In accord with this understanding are A.E. Knoch’s comments on Hebrews 12:2 (see page 348 of his Concordant Commentary on the New Testament):
All the other examples of faith pale before the supreme Example. Even Abraham, the father of the faithful, failed once and again in the very virtue for which he is distinguished. But the Saviour, as a man, never faltered in His implicit confidence in God. He did always those things which pleased God without regard to the consequences to Himself. When His message was rejected, He acquiesced. Even though His God forsook Him in the hour of deepest need and sorest suffering, it did not shake His faith, for, at the very last, He committed His spirit into the Father's hands.
In accord with this understanding, Christ is also referred to as the “perfecter of faith.” That is, he perfected faith. To better understand what it means for Christ to have perfected faith (and thus to be the “perfector of faith”), let’s consider James 2:17-22:
Thus, also, is faith, if it should not have works: it is dead by itself.
But someone will be declaring, “You have faith and I have works.” Show me your faith apart from the works and I shall be showing you my faith by my works. You are believing that God is one. Ideally are you doing. The demons also are believing and are shuddering.
Now are you wanting to know, O empty man, that faith apart from works is dead? Abraham, our father, was he not justified by works when offering up his son Isaac on the altar? You are observing that faith worked together with his works, and by works was faith perfected.
If Abraham’s faith can be said to have been “perfected” when he offered up his son Isaac, how much more can it be said that Christ perfected faith when he became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross”?
That this is what the author of the letter to the Hebrews had in mind when he referred to Jesus as “the leader and perfecter of faith” is evident from what he went on to write:
“…Jesus, Who, for the joy lying before Him, endures a cross, despising the shame, besides is seated at the right hand of the throne of God.”
What the author referred to as “the joy lying before Him” was referred to by Jesus himself in Luke 24:26 and 46 as follows:
“Was it not necessary for the Christ to suffer these things and to enter into His glory?”
“Thus it is written, that the Christ would suffer and rise again from the dead the third day.”
It was by faith – i.e., by his faith that God would rouse him from among the dead – that Jesus saw and anticipated “the joy lying before Him.” And it was this faith that was demonstrated (and perfected) when Christ endured the cross.
Christ’s faith was tested and proven
Now, keeping in mind the fact that Christ’s obedience unto death was the demonstration of his faith in God (and the act through which his faith was “perfected”), let’s now consider the following from James 1:2-4 and 12:
“All joy deem it, my brethren, whenever you should be falling into various trials, knowing that the testing of your faith is producing endurance. Now let endurance have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and unimpaired, lacking in nothing.”
“Happy is the man who is enduring trial, for, becoming qualified, he will be obtaining the wreath of life, which He promises to those who are loving Him.”
Similarly, we read the following in 1 Peter 1:3 -9:
Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, Who, according to His vast mercy, regenerates us into a living expectation, through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from among the dead, for the enjoyment of an allotment incorruptible and undefiled and unfading, kept in the heavens for you, who are garrisoned by the power of God, through faith, for salvation ready to be revealed in the last era, in which you are exulting; briefly at present, if it must be, being sorrowed by various trials, that the testing of your faith, much more precious than gold which is perishing, yet, being tested by fire, may be found for applause and glory and honor at the unveiling of Jesus Christ, Whom, not perceiving, you are loving; in Whom, not seeing at present, yet believing, you are exulting with joy unspeakable and glorious, being requited with the consummation of your faith, the salvation of your souls.
Notice how both James and Peter associated the “various trials” that the believing Jews to whom they wrote were going through with the testing of their faith. When those to whom they wrote were being “tried” (which is the word James used in the verse quoted), it was their faith that was being tested. And the one who endured the trial became “qualified” – i.e., worthy to obtain what James referred to as “the wreath of life.” This is in accord with Christ’s words in Luke 20:35 (where the believers of Israel who will take part in the “resurrection of the just” – i.e., “the former resurrection” referred to in Rev. 20:5-6 – are referred to as “those deemed worthy to happen upon that eon and the resurrection from among the dead”).
In accord with James’ affirmation that “the man who is enduring trial” is “becoming qualified” (i.e., worthy to “be obtaining the wreath of life”), it’s reasonable to believe that the prophecy-fulfilling circumstances that led to (and culminated in) Christ’s death on the cross was a trial that he endured (and which tested and proved his faith in God). And it was by enduring this trial that Christ became “qualified” – not only qualified to obtain a “wreath of life” (which Christ received when he was roused the third day) but to become Lord of all (and thus Savior of all).
The trial that Jesus underwent (and by means of which his faith in God was tested and proven) was foreshadowed by God’s testing of Abraham, and the (near) sacrifice of Isaac. In Genesis 22:1-2 and 9-18 we read the following:
Now it happened after these things, that God tested Abraham and said to him, “Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” Then He said, “Take now your son, your only-begotten, whom you love, Isaac, and go forth to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you.”
Then they came to the place of which God had told him; and Abraham built the altar there and arranged the wood and bound his son Isaac and put him on the altar, on top of the wood. And Abraham stretched out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of Yahweh called to him from heaven and said, “Abraham, Abraham!” And he said, “Here I am.” And He said, “Do not stretch out your hand against the boy, and do nothing to him; for now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your only one, from Me.” Then Abraham lifted up his eyes and saw, and behold, there was a ram after it had been caught in the thicket by its horns; and Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up for a burnt offering in the place of his son. And Abraham called the name of that place Yahweh Will Provide, as it is said this day, “In the mount of Yahweh it will be provided.”
Then the angel of Yahweh called to Abraham a second time from heaven, and said, “By Myself I have sworn, declares Yahweh, because you have done this thing and have not spared your son, your only one, indeed I will greatly bless you, and I will greatly multiply your seed as the stars of the heavens and as the sand which is on the seashore; and your seed shall possess the gate of his enemies. In your seed all the nations of the earth shall be blessed, because you have listened to My voice.”
In Hebrews 11:17-19, the author of this letter referred to this important historical event as follows:
By faith Abraham, when undergoing trial, has offered Isaac, and he who receives the promises offered the only-begotten, he to whom it was spoken that “In Isaac shall your seed be called,” reckoning that God is able to be rousing him from among the dead also; whence he recovers him in a parable also.
As is evident from what we read in Genesis 22:1-3, it was God who directly brought about the trial that Abraham underwent (and which began when he commanded Abraham to sacrifice his son, Isaac).[iii] As should be obvious to all who believe in the truth of the sovereignty of God, God didn’t test Abraham because he was unsure of what Abraham would do in such circumstances. God knew that Abraham would “pass the test,” because it was God who was operating in Abraham “to will as well as to work for the sake of His delight” (Phil. 2:13). God tested Abraham for Abraham’s benefit. Notice that, in response to Abraham’s faith-based obedience, God bestowed a great blessing upon Abraham (and it’s worth noting that a major part of this blessing involved the promise that the Messiah – i.e., the singular “seed” who “shall possess the gate of his enemies” – would descend from Abraham, and that “all the nations of the earth” will be blessed “in” this individual).
Now, just as Abraham’s faith was tested by God through the command to offer up his only-begotten son, Isaac, so the faith of Jesus was tested by God through the difficult circumstances that Jesus had to endure in order to fulfill all the prophecies concerning himself (and which included, crucially, his death on the cross). The trial that Christ underwent was, in some ways, a combination of both the trial undergone by Abraham (who was commanded by God to sacrifice his only begotten son) and the ordeal of Isaac (who would’ve been slain by Abraham had God not intervened).
As was the case for Abraham when he was commanded to sacrifice Isaac, it was Jesus’ own faith that was being tested by God when he went through the prophecy-fulfilling circumstances that led to, and culminated in, his death. And as was the case for Isaac (that is, at the time when Abraham was told to sacrifice him), it was Jesus’ sacrificial death that was willed by God. And just as the tested (and demonstrated) faith of Abraham involved his assurance that God was able to rouse Isaac from among the dead (Heb. 11:19), so the tested (and demonstrated) faith of Christ involved his assurance that God would rouse him from among the dead.
We thus have good reason to believe that everything Christ endured from the time of his betrayal in Gethsemane to his death on Golgotha was essentially a test of his faith. It was by enduring this trial (which was brought about by God through the agency of sinful beings, both human and celestial) that Christ became worthy of what he received from God when (and after) he was roused from among the dead.
Justified through the faith of Christ
With the above points in mind, let’s now consider some of the key passages from Paul’s letters in which our justification is said to be “through” or “by” Christ’s faith. In Romans 3:21-22 (Concordant Literal New Testament)[iv] we read the following:
“Yet now, apart from law, a righteousness of God is manifest (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction, for all sinned and are wanting of the glory of God.”
Similarly, in Galatians 2:15-16 we read the following:
We, who by nature are Jews,[v] and not sinners of the nations, having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified.
To be justified by God is to receive a judicial status that involves being undeserving of, and free from, any condemnation of which we would otherwise be deserving because of our sins. To be justified, therefore, means that God shall “by no means” be “reckoning sin” to us (Rom. 4:4-8). Instead of reckoning our sins to us, God relates to us as if we’ve never sinned (and never will sin).
Now, in the majority of English Bibles, the words translated in Rom. 3:22 as “through Jesus Christ’s faith”– i.e., διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, (or dia pisteos Ieesou Christou) – are translated as “through faith in 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 the words pisteos Ieesou Christou as “the faith of Jesus Christ,” “Jesus Christ’s faith,” or something equivalent in meaning to this. Similarly, pistis Christou in Galatians 2:20 is translated “faith of Christ,” or “Christ’s faith,” rather than “faith in Christ” (see also Galatians 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 that the translators have sought to resolve in verses like these is whether pisteos 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 the fact that Christou is the genitive form of the word “Christ,” and 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’s in view here.
So which view is correct? It’s my conviction that those translations in which dia pisteos Ieesou Christou in Romans 3:22 (and other similar verses) is translated “faith of Jesus Christ” (or some equivalent expression) are correct, and that the grammatical evidence supports this understanding. While it’s beyond my capability to provide an in-depth analysis and defense of the “faith of Christ” position (especially from a grammatical standpoint), those who have defended this position have provided evidence which, by my lights, strongly tilts the scales in favor of the subjective genitive translation. In his article, “Justification by the Faithfulness of Jesus Christ,” Chad Harrington helpfully summarizes the grammatical evidence for this position as follows:
“In regard to grammar, the case is strongest towards the subjective genitive interpretation despite current the majority opinion of scholars on an international level. This is the argument: Robinson states that there is no usage of πίστις with an objective genitive next to a pronoun in the Septuagint. Then, there is non-Septuagintal literature--every time a noun is followed by a genitival pronoun in Jewish literature during the Second Temple era, the construction is subjective except once.”
Harrington goes on to say,
“In the Pauline corpus, more importantly, Paul never uses πίστις, a proper noun and an objective genitive together. The twenty-four instances where πίστις is followed by a proper noun or pronoun in the Pauline corpus, twenty refer to the faith of Christians, two the faith of Abraham (Rom 4.12, 16), one to any believer (Rom 4.5) and one to God's faithfulness (Rom. 3.3).”
Quoting George Howard, Harrington concludes, “Thus in every instance in which πίστις is followed by a proper noun or pronoun in the genitive case, the genitive is unmistakably subjective.”
Harrington’s point bears repeating: The only other times that Paul speaks of “faith” followed by the genitive of a noun denoting a person (i.e., in Rom. 3:3, 4:5, 12, 16), the genitive is subjective (such that the faith in view is the faith of the person who’s in view). And each of these instances occurs in the immediate context of Rom. 3:22.
In accord with this point, the NET Bible states the following in a footnote for Romans 3:22:
“When πίστις [“faith”] takes a personal genitive it is almost never an objective genitive (cf. Matt 9:2, 22, 29; Mark 2:5; 5:34; 10:52; Luke 5:20; 7:50; 8:25, 48; 17:19; 18:42; 22:32; Rom 1:8; 12; 3:3; 4:5, 12, 16; 1 Cor. 2:5; 15:14, 17; 2 Cor. 10:15; Phil 2:17; Col 1:4; 2:5; 1 Thess. 1:8; 3:2, 5, 7, 10; 2 Thess. 1:3; 2 Tim. 2:18; Titus 1:1; Philemon 6; 1 Pet. 1:9, 21; 2 Pet. 1:5).”
Of the examples referenced above, twenty are from Paul’s letters. Thus, when we come to those verses from Paul’s letters in which the word “faith” is followed by the genitive of a noun denoting the man, Jesus Christ, we have good reason to believe that Paul was referring to Christ’s faith (and not our faith in Christ).
This understanding also makes better sense of Paul’s words in Romans 1:16-17:
“For not ashamed am I of the evangel, for it is God's power for salvation to everyone who is believing -- to the Jew first, and to the Greek as well. For in it God's righteousness is being revealed, out of faith for faith, according as it is written: ‘Now the just one by faith shall be living.’”
When we understand v. 17 to be Paul’s way of foreshadowing what he would later say in Romans 3:22, the verse becomes much less enigmatic: “Out of faith” in Rom. 1:17 corresponds to “through Jesus Christ’s faith” in Rom. 3:22, and “for faith” in Rom. 1:17 corresponds to “for all, and on all who believe” in Rom. 3:22. Thus, by interpreting Scripture with Scripture, “out of faith” is a reference to Christ’s faith, and “for faith” is a reference to the faith that’s given to those who’ve been called by God to believe Paul’s evangel (and who have, consequently, been justified by God).
Similarly, in Philippians 3:9 we read the following:
“…and may be found in [Christ], not having my righteousness, which is of law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is from God for faith…”
Here, again, the righteousness we receive from God when we’re justified is “through” (or because of) Christ’s faith, and is received by us when we’re given the faith to believe the evangel (and is thus “for faith”).
According to this understanding of the verses in which we read of the faith of Christ, Paul was revealing the following profound truth: the righteousness that we receive from God when we believe the evangel of the grace of God is not based on our own faith. Rather, it’s because of the faith of Christ – i.e., the faith that Christ had when he became “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” – that we’re justified by God. But how?
Answer: We know that it’s because of Christ’s death that all mankind shall be saved from death. And this means that it’s because of (or “through”) Christ’s death that the justification of all mankind shall occur. Thus we read the following in Romans 5:18-19:
Consequently, then, as it was through one offense for all mankind for condemnation, thus also it is through one just award [or “through one righteous act”] for all mankind for life’s justifying. For even as, through the disobedience of the one man, the many were constituted sinners, thus also, through the obedience of the One, the many shall be constituted just.
To be “constituted just” is to be justified (see, for example, the scriptural meaning and use of the word translated “constituted” in v. 19: https://biblehub.com/greek/2525.htm; see especially Thayer's Lexicon, definition “c”). Since one must be justified by God in order to be saved from death, it follows that all who are going to be saved from death by Christ are going to be justified (or constituted just) by God. And since our salvation from death was secured by Christ’s death (that is, our salvation is certain to happen because Christ was obedient unto death), so our justification by God is “through” (or because of) Christ’s obedience unto death.
The same point can be made with regard to the forgiveness of sins. As I’ve argued elsewhere (https://thathappyexpectation.blogspot.com/2017/09/concerning-meaning-and-application-of.html), justification and the forgiveness of sins/offenses are inseparably connected; one cannot be justified without one’s sins being forgiven (and vice-versa). In accord with this fact, we read in Ephesians 1:7-8 that, in Christ, “we are having the deliverance through His blood, the forgiveness of offenses in accord with the riches of His grace…” Here, the “deliverance” that we’re having through Christ’s blood (i.e., through his sacrificial death) is “the forgiveness of offenses.”
The forgiveness of our offenses is “through” Christ’s sacrificial death in the same way that our justification is “through” Christ’s sacrificial death. Because Christ was obedient unto death, all sinners are going to be saved from death/vivified. And this means that everyone’s sins/offenses must be forgiven by God (starting with believers).
Moreover, we know that Christ’s sacrificial death was the supreme demonstration of his faith. The reason Christ’s sacrificial death was so pleasing to God (and made Christ worthy of his authority as Lord of all) is because of the faith that motivated it, and of which it was the expression. Thus, it’s because of the faith that Christ had when he died in obedience to God (and which was demonstrated through his death) that God is able to justify sinners (for it’s by this faith that Christ became worthy of the authority that he’s going to use to save all mankind).
This isn’t to say that Paul considered our own faith unimportant. Based on the number of times in which Paul wrote about our faith in Christ/the evangel, it’s clear that he did consider the faith of the believer to be important. It’s also clear that God considers our faith important (he wouldn’t have given it to us if it wasn’t important). Our faith is the appointed means through which God brings us into a realization of the truth and justifies us. But as important as our own God-given faith undoubtedly is, it isn’t the reason that God is able to justify us. The reason why God can justly (and thus shall) justify all mankind – that is, the basis on which God can and shall justify all – is that Christ, by faith, was “obedient unto death, even the death of the cross” (and thereby secured the salvation of all mankind).
[i] The words of the first quotation of v. 13 (“I will put my trust in him”) are found in the LXX translation of 2 Sam 22:3, Isaiah 8:17 and 12:2. However, since the next quotation is from Isaiah 8:18 we can reasonably conclude that the first quotation is from Isaiah 8:17. In any case, it’s clear that the inspired words quoted in this verse were understood by the author of the letter to the Hebrews to be the words of Christ (with the pronoun “I” referring to Christ himself).
[ii] The first element of the word archégos is the noun arché. Although this word can (and often does) mean “beginning” or “origin,” it’s also used as a title (or office) for certain high-ranking human and celestial beings. And when it’s used in this way, it’s consistently translated as “sovereignty” in the CLNT (e.g., Luke 12:11; Rom. 8:38, Eph. 1:21; 3:10; 6:12; Col. 1:16; Titus 3:1). This word – along with the noun archón (“chief”) – is derived from the primary verb archó (which means “to rule over” or “to be chief of”; see Mark 10:42 and Rom. 15:12).
In Thayer’s Greek Lexicon, the first two meanings of archégos are given as follows:
1. the chief leader, prince: of Christ, Acts 5:31; (Aeschylus Ag. 259; Thucydides 1, 132;. The Sept. Isaiah 3:5; 2 Chronicles 23:14, and often).
2. “one that takes the lead in anything (1 Macc. 10:47, ἀρχηγός λόγων εἰρηνικῶν) and thus affords an example, a predecessor in a matter”: τῆς πίστεως, of Christ, Hebrews 12:2 (who in the prominence of his faith far surpassed the examples of faith commemorated in Hebrews 11)
In a footnote for Heb. 2:10, we read in the NET Bible that the title archégos “is used of a ‘prince’ or leader, the representative head of a family…” We go on to read that this word occurs “some thirty-five times in the Greek OT.” For example, in the LXX translation of Judges 11:6, we’re told that Jepthah was asked to become “archégos” over the inhabitants of Gilead in order to deliver them from the Ammonites (the Hebrew word that’s translated “archégos” in the LXX is qatsiyn, and is translated “leader” in the ESV and “captain” in the CVOT). Jepthah agreed on condition that the position would be made permanent. The elders consented, and Jepthah was made archégos (or chief leader) over the people of Gilead before the battle even began.
[iii] In light of the fact that God is the one who tested or “tried” Abraham, some may find the words of James 1:13 perplexing. There, we read the following:
“Let no one, undergoing trial, be saying that ‘From God am I undergoing trial,’ for God is not tried by evils, yet He is trying no one.”
However, based on what we go on to read in v. 14, we can reasonably conclude that the kind of trial to which James was referring here is an inward trial that consists of being “drawn away and lured by [one’s] own desire.” James would’ve undoubtedly agreed that God can (and does) try people by bringing about circumstances that are intended to test their faith and produce endurance. However, James’ point in the above verse is that God does not directly tempt people to sin (the key word being “directly” here; James undoubtedly would've agreed that God is sovereign over everything that happens, and brings about all circumstances).
It would seem that some of the Jewish believers to whom James wrote were attempting to justify sinful conduct on the basis of the mistaken assumption that, whenever they were being tempted to sin, it meant that it was God’s intention that they sin. For since God is sovereign over whether we are led into trials or not (Matt 6:13), then – according to their erroneous reasoning – it must mean that God is directly tempting them to sin (through the inward trial they are undergoing), and that it must therefore be God’s intention that they yield to their temptation and sin (for, in the words of Paul, “who can resist his intention?”). It is against this mistaken view that I believe James was arguing.
Since God doesn’t directly try anyone in this way – as James is clear in verses 13-14 – one’s being tempted to sin is not evidence that it’s God’s intention that one yield to the temptation. That is, one need not conclude that, when undergoing an inward trial (i.e., when being tempted to sin), it is necessarily God’s intention that one yield to the temptation and sin. Thus, those being “tried” in this way have no reason to think that, when they’re being tried, it is inevitable that they sin (as if it were necessarily God’s sovereign will for them to sin at that time).
[iv] As noted in my last article, the Concordant Literal New Testament translation of Romans 3:21-26 was recently updated and shared in Volume 114 of Unsearchable Riches magazine (see page 134). Here’s how the updated (and, I think, improved) translation reads:
“Yet now, apart from law, God’s righteousness has been made manifested (being attested by the law and the prophets), yet God’s righteousness through Jesus Christ’s faith for all (and on all who are believing it), for there is no distinction, for all sin and are wanting of the glory of God, being justified gratuitously in His grace, through the deliverance, the deliverance which is in Christ Jesus (Whom God purposes for a Propitiatory through His faith, by means of His blood, for a display of His righteousness because of the passing over of the penalties of sins which occurred before in the forbearance of God) toward the display of His righteousness in the current era, for Him to be righteous and to be justifying the human out of Jesus’ faith.”
While I’m inclined to think that the changes made in these verses are an improvement upon the originally worded translation (and thus serve to better express the ideas that Paul was communicating in this passage), the points made in defense of the position for which I’m arguing in this article don’t require that the updated translation is necessarily more accurate than the original (although, again, I think that it is).
[v] It’s commonly believed that, when Paul used the plural pronoun “we” in Gal. 2:15, he was including Peter and other believers among “the Circumcision” (such as James and John). However, I don’t think this view is necessitated by what Paul wrote. Instead, I believe that Paul was referring only to those believing Jews whom he said were to be “for the nations,” in accord with the agreement referred to in Gal. 2:7-10 (such as he and Barnabas). According to this understanding, Paul wasn’t referring to those Jews who were to be “for the Circumcision” (such as Peter, James and John). For a defense of this view, see my response to the third objection in the following article: A Response to Objections (Part Two)
