The “Faith of Christ” means Christ’s faithfulness, not our “Faith in Christ”!

The “Faith of Christ” means Christ’s faithfulness, not our “Faith in Christ”!

A response to Mark McCulley’s article The Faith of Christ Means “Faith in Christ” and not “Christ’s Faith”

and a positive statement of the doctrine.

The position I defend is the truth of Scriptures. The Scriptural phrase “the faith of

[Jesus] Christ”¹ spells the gospel of our salvation. It can be summed up in one paragraph:

The Good News of our salvation is that, apart from the law, which justly condemns us, sinners, God’s own righteousness [in justifying the ungodly] has been revealed through the faith (faithfulness)² of Christ, the Righteous One, for all who believe. God’s righteousness is made manifest through Christ’s faithfulness [even unto death] to the covenant keeping God, Who has promised to save His people. This promise was fulfilled through Christ’s faithfulness whereby He laid down His life for His sheep and obtained for them an eternal redemption. God’s elect / Christ’s sheep, taught by the Spirit are made to hunger and thirst after that righteousness which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith, for they know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Therefore they do believe in Jesus Christ, so as to be justified by Christ’s faithfulness, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified.

The strength of this position is simply its faithfulness to what Scripture actually says, not to what interpreters or theologians think it should say. This fact can be easily verified by looking up the cited references in any New Testament Greek /English Interlinear or, in a good (faithful), literal translation, such as KJV/AV or YLT. (LITV or Green’s Literal Translation can be consulted also, but it errs in the crucial passage of Galatians 2:16, by supplying the non-existent, interpretative preposition “in” in the phrase). The idea of justification through the faith (faithfulness) of Jesus Christ is repeatedly taught by Scripture in the following texts:

"Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:" (Rom 3:22 KJV)

"for the shewing forth of His righteousness in the present time, for His being righteous, and declaring him righteous who [is] of the faith of Jesus." (Rom 3:26 YLT).

"Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." (Gal 2:16 KJV)

"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." (Gal 2:20 KJV)

"But the Scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith of Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe." (Gal 3:22 KJV)

{Please, note that the promise [of Abraham’s blessing] was obtained by Christ’s faithfulness, not by our believing (which is also mentioned in this verse!)}.

"And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith:" (Phil 3:9 KJV)

"In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him." (Eph 3:12 KJV)

Observe, in Christ we have boldness and access with confidence [to the throne of grace] through His faith (faithfulness). It is through His faithfulness this access was gained, not through our believing! HE opened a new and living way by HIS faithfulness!

Well, someone might object at this point, that none of this is reflected in my Bible translation (which might be NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV or a host of other modern versions)! Why should I trust you or the KJV over my Bible?

A pertinent question. Especially, in light of the fact, that most of us (myself included) have little or zero knowledge of the original Greek. How do we know that the Greek phrase “the faith of Christ” means “the faith OF Christ” and not the “faith IN Christ” (as is the rendering in NIV, ESV, NASB, NKJV (shame on them!) and virtually every other modern and not so modern translation with the exception of KJV, YLT, LITV and, surprisingly NET). So what of the phrase “faith of Christ”?

In the Greek phrase pistis Christou (‘faith of Christ’) the word “faith” is related to the word “Christ” in the form of the “genitive case”, which generally corresponds to the English “possessive” case. Something belongs to something or someone else. In English this idea is expressed by either preposition “of” or an apostrophe ‘ followed by “s”. Abraham’s faith or the faith of Abraham. The faith of God (Romans 3:3), the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, love of God, fellowship of the Holy Spirit, longsuffering of God, etc, etc. In all such instances (which our translations render through the use “of”) the same grammatical structure is used as in the phrase “the faith of Christ”. No one thinks that the phrase “finger of God” should be translated a “finger in God”, or that “faith of Abraham” should be translated a “faith in Abraham”. Yet, in the case of “the faith of Christ” we get a totally different picture in the majority of Bible translations and in majority of Bible commentaries. WHY? Well, in short, because of two reasons:

#1. Indecisiveness / certain ambiguity of the Greek grammar of the phrase.

#2. A preconceived theological bias, which tends to favor the objective genitive reading of “the faith of Christ”, as “the faith in Christ”, simply because “believing on Christ” is such a prominent theme in the NT.

First, the genitive case in Greek can be an “objective genitive”, that is, the noun connected to the other noun by means of a genitive case ending (translated into English as “of”) is about or towards that other noun. For example, the expression “the gospel of Jesus Christ” in Mark 1:1 can mean “the gospel about Jesus Christ” and probably does mean that: “ the gospel about Jesus Christ”. Hence, Greek πιστις Χριστου - “faith of Christ’ can mean “faith about or towards Christ” as well as the “Christ’s faith”.

Yes, this does sound confusing. The Greek grammar can be ambiguous. It is often open to interpretations. The exact meaning, signification of a word / phrase must be determined by its immediate and larger context. And it can be ascertained by the context. But that is precisely what the modern Bible paraphrases prevent their readers from doing, by deciding for us, or instead of us, what the phrase should mean in their opinion, leaving us not with what Scriptures say, but with their interpretation...which in this case of the “faith of Christ” I believe, is wrong.

Once again, the expression “the faith of Christ” could mean either Christ’s faith or faithfulness (please keep in mind that Greek pistis can mean both “faith” and “faithfulness”, depending on the context), or “faith toward or in Christ”, but the faithful Bible translation must render the expression as close to the original as possible, leaving the options of interpretation to the reader of the passage.

At the end of the day, there are two undeniable facts and one observation as far as the grammar / linguistics of the phrase:

Fact #1. There is no preposition “in” between the words “faith” and “[Jesus] Christ” as the phrase exists in the original Greek. The word “faith” is in genitive case relation to the word “Christ”. It is literally “the faith of Christ”, even though the expression itself can be interpreted in more than one way, as we have seen. But the point being, it does not by any means dogmatically establish the “faith in Christ” reading.

Fact #2. Paul knew very well, how to express the idea of our believing in / on Christ clearly, unambiguously and unmistakably. In fact we have a prime example of this in Galatians 2:16, where he simultaneously speaks of justification by the faith of Jesus Christ AND our believing in Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ.

Observation: if the apostle, who knows how to communicate effectively and unmistakably the idea of our believing on Christ and who sometimes does it in the very same verses where the mysterious phrase “the faith of Christ” occurs (as in Gal. 2:16), if that same apostle chooses, under the inspiration of the Spirit, to employ a different grammatical structure to speak about some ‘faith of Christ” where there is no preposition “in”, it is at least possible that means by it something other than our believing on Christ.

But the grammar / linguistics by themselves do not settle the question. Larger theological concerns help to arrive at the true import of the ambiguous “faith of Christ”.

Look at Romans 3:23: "Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:" (Rom 3:22) There and in the preceding v. 22 we have God’s righteousness being (or having been) revealed or disclosed by or through the faith of Christ and this righteousness is for all who believe. Notice, both Christ’s faith and our believing. In one verse. Now the modern prevailing reading makes the second part of Rom. 3:22 superfluous, redundant. Since to believe is to have faith, the verse reads as follows: “...by faith in Jesus Christ for all who have faith [in Jesus Christ]”. Does it not sound like a needless repetition - tautology? But reading the faith of Christ as Christ’s faithfulness explains how God’s righteousness has been disclosed! It is through Christ’s keeping faith to His Messianic role as the Redeemer of God’s elect that God’s righteousness in pardoning His people’s sins is being made manifest! Otherwise, it is obscured! Christ is the revelation of God’s righteousness! In Him is God’s righteousness in justifying the ungodly is justified / vindicated (Rom. 3:26).

Galatians 2:16: "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified." We see both here {incidentally, no one suggests that the phrase “works of the law” should be understood as “works in the law”, somehow}. Again, if we read Gal. 2:16 as speaking about our faith or believing in Christ in all the three occurrences where faith and believing is mentioned in this verse, we get a needless repetition: “knowing that a man is...justified by the faith in Christ, we exercised faith in Christ, that we might be justified by the faith in Christ…”. This is called tautology: a needless repetition. But Paul knows how to express the idea of our believing in Christ unmistakably and unambiguously.

So what does the faithfulness of Christ mean or could signify, in a nutshell?

It is Christ’s being faithful to the Father, to the covenant of redemption, to His mission, to His beloved elect even unto death; It is His faithfulness in doing God’s will, faithfulness in accomplishing so great a salvation for His people and faithfulness in bearing witness to it and faithfulness in the whole mediatorial office of our High Priest.

Consider these Scriptures:

"Who then is a faithful and wise servant, whom his lord hath made ruler over his household, to give them meat in due season?" (Mat 24:45)

"[Christ] was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house." (Heb 3:2)

Please, note, that Christ is a perfectly “faithful and wise Servant” Whom God hath made Ruler over all His house (Hebrews 3:2)

"Wherefore in all things it behooved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be a merciful and faithful high priest in things pertaining to God, to make reconciliation for the sins of the people." (Heb 2:17)

"And from Jesus Christ, who is the faithful witness, and the first begotten of the dead, and the prince of the kings of the earth. Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood," (Rev 1:5)

"And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war." (Rev 19:11)

"Faithful is he that calleth you, who also will do it." (1Ths 5:24)

We are saved, justified, sanctified and glorified by God’s faithfulness in Jesus Christ in the whole great work of redemption. It is through Christ’s being faithful that God’s righteousness in justification of guilty sinners is disclosed, it is by His faithfulness that the promise of blessing promised to Abraham is realized and given to all those who believe (Gal. 3:22), it is by His faithfulness that we have gained access and boldness to the throne of grace (Eph. 3:12) and we hope to be found not with our own righteousness of the law but that which is [earned, merited, purchased for us] by the faithfulness of Jesus (Phil. 3:9).

Thus far the positive statement of justification through the faith of Jesus Christ.

Mr. Mark McCulley has written an article: The Faith of Christ Means “Faith in Christ” and not “Christ’s Faith” where he takes issue with the idea of salvation by the faith of Christ and shows a great deal of misunderstanding what it is all about.

He writes:

“Some Reformed folks are so unhappy with the idea that faith is a condition that [they] also deny that faith in Galatians 3 is the human act of believing. I too deny that faith is an instrumental condition before justification. But take a few minutes to read Gal 2:16, 3:22; Romans 3:22,26; Phil 3:9; Ephesians 3:12. When I look at all the texts together, I cannot deny that faith often means the human act of an individual elect person hearing, understanding, and believing the gospel”.

This is begging the question. Having looked at all those texts mentioned by McCulley closely (as we just did above), we cannot deny that faith of Christ in these texts might actually mean something other than the human act of believing, which is also clearly mentioned in some of these passages. In my opinion, every one of these texts speaks about justification or righteousness by or through the faith of Christ (or “faith of Him” in Ephesians 2:12).

Mr. McCulley proceeds:

“Here’s the question. Is Christ the subject or object of faith? The view I oppose says we should read all these verses as saying, “Christ’s faith.” Some of the Reformed people who say this remind us that God gives us faith, that God is the source of faith. I agree that faith is God’s gift to the elect. But Christ does not believe for us. Christ makes us both able and willing to believe the gospel so that we do believe the gospel. Christ indwelling in us does not believe, and so I disagree with Primitive Baptists who deny that the elect need to hear or understand or believe the gospel”.

I will not concern myself with Primitive Baptists or their beliefs here. I disagree with dormant regenerationism also. (I cite whole paragraphs for the sake of being fair to the author) Here’s where the misunderstanding shows: McCulley says “but Christ does not believe for us”. This is a strange idea that faith of Christ means His believing for us in our stead. Now, of course, He through His Spirit does enable us to believe, but He does not do the believing in Himself for us in our stead! No, it is we who believe in / on Christ; He is the object of our believing. But we are not justified by our believing. Scripture explicitly says that we are justified by the faith of Christ, which expression means, as we have seen in the context of the whole Scripture, His faithfulness to the Father, to the covenant of redemption, to us, His people, in His mediatorial office as God’s Lamb and our High Priest.

McCulley goes on:

“But many who agree with me that the elect need to believe the gospel still insist that “faith” in these texts means “Christ’s faith”, either in the sense that He is the source of my faith, or in the sense of Christ Himself believing. But no other texts refer to the act of Christ believing, unless these texts do”.

Christ is the source, origin of our faith (Hebrews 12:2), but He does not do the believing in Him for us as we said before. McCulley confidently asserts that “no other texts refer to the act of Christ believing, unless these texts do”.

WRONG: 2 Corinthians 4:13 and Psalm 116:10. These texts refer to the act of Christ's believing and Paul states that Christ's believing is the basis of our believing , that we follow Christ's faith in His resurrection.

McCulley also appears unaware of the fact that the word “faith” in Greek original is inclusive of “faithfulness” so that “the faith of Christ” is Scripture’s shorthand in referring to His faithfulness in discharging His Father’s will.

McCulley continues:

“James 2:1 tells us, “show no partiality as you hold the faith in our Lord Jesus Christ, the Lord of glory.” I think that Christ is the object of faith, and that our faith is in/toward Christ and not toward His act of believing”.

I agree with this. Moreover, James 2:1 does present a little thorn in the flesh of my argumentation, since in this verse “the faith of the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ” clearly refers to our faith about or in the glorious Lord Jesus Christ. This instance, along with Mark 11:22 present a case of reading pistis Christou as the “faith about or towards Christ”, which facts reinforce the truth that the proper meaning / signification of the word is always determined by its use in the context.

“Romans 3:3 does refer to God’s faithfulness. “Does their unfaithfulness nullify the faithfulness of God? The gospel is about Christ’s death as that which satisfies God’s justice. Justice demands death because of the elect’s sins imputed to Christ. To believe that gospel promise is to believe in Christ’s death. We can’t have a gospel which speaks generically about God’s faithfulness without talking about Christ’s death”.

Agree again, but would note that Romans 3:3 uses exactly the same structure as “the faith of Christ”, only the here it is “the faith of God”, which as McCulley rightly concedes is God’s faithfulness.

Romans 3:25,26. “God put forward Christ as a propitiation by his blood to show God’s righteousness, to be RECEIVED by faith.” The receiving here is the human act of believing. Yes, God is faithful to His law and therefore just, but also God does not justify all sinners, but only of those sinners who have faith in Christ and His propitiation. This language no more makes faith the condition of salvation than does John 3:16. God does not love everybody. God only loves the elect, and the elect are identified as those who believe the gospel. There is no reason not to talk about election in John 3 or Romans 3, but also there is no reason not to talk about “as many as” believe the gospel.

This is a perfect example of an argument built upon a bad translation: Romans 3:25 does NOT have “to be received by faith”. People use loose translations and then attempt to build their theology on them. McCulley is using a paraphrase, not a faithful Bible translation. There is no “to be received by faith” in that verse. There is no “us” or “our” in reference to the word “faith” in the passage. This is what Romans 3:26 actually says:

"whom God did set forth a mercy seat, through the faith in his blood, for the shewing forth of His righteousness, because of the passing over of the bygone sins in the forbearance of God --" (Rom 3:25 YLT)

It speaks of Christ whom God did set forth a mercy sea (propitiation) through the faith in His (Christ’s) blood, etc. Who is the Actor in this passage? Who DOES whatever is being done in the verse? It is God Who sets forth the mercy seat. He does it through what? - through the faith in His blood. People tend to read “our faith” in the text, but there is no “our”. “We” are not present in the text, because we are not mentioned in the text at all. The only action figure / subject in the verse is GOD Himself. He sets Christ as a mercy seat and He does it through the faith, I say, HIS faith in Christ’s blood. God had faith that Christ’s blood shall be an effectual propitiation for the sins of His people. In other words, God trusted that Christ’s sufferings would not be wasted, that His sacrifice would not be offered in vain. You will say to me, no, but He KNEW for certain, because God is an all-knowing, omniscient God, Who knows all things beforehand. True. God does know all things beforehand. But a person may have faith with certainty in something yet to be done. For instance, Hebrews 12:2, speaks of Jesus, “the author and finisher of our faith; who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God.” He endured the cross, despising the shame for the joy that was set before Him. In other words, He was looking in faith to the joy [of the glory and happiness of the accomplished salvation] and that is why by faith, that is by His faith He ran the race marked out for Him, enduring the cross, despising the shame. He knew of course, that His travail shall see a goodly fruit, but He also had faith in the same, because it was still before Him.

Thus, Romans 3:25 does not speak of our reception of the propitiation by our faith. It speaks of God setting forth Christ a propitiation through the [that is His] faith in His (Christ’s) blood.

McCulley goes on:

“Some Reformed people, to avoid making faith a condition of salvation, tell us that the continual faith in the gospel by the elect is a work. They do this in order to prove that the elect are saved not by believing but by the work of Christ. For example, Harold Camping quotes John 6:28-28, “ What shall we do to do the works of God? “ Jesus answered and said unto them, “This is the work of God, that ye believe in Him whom He has sent.” Then Camping quotes Phil 2:13, “For it is God who works in you both to will and to do of His good pleasure.”

Then Camping goes to James about faith working and then says this proves that our human act of believing is no part of salvation. He claims that it’s Christ’s faith that saves. The logic is clear. The elect are saved by Christ’s work. And then Camping reminds us that Christ’s faith is Christ’s work”.

I do not have to be an advocate for the late Mr. Camping, but I do appreciate some of his arguments and Scripture references quoted here by Mr. McCulley. I agree for instance, “that the elect are saved not by believing, but by the work of Christ”. I should add that every saved soul must certainly, wholeheartedly agree “that the elect are saved not by believing, but by the work of Christ”. This statement cannot even be debated. It is Christ’s cross-work that saves us. Our believing is the primary evidence of our being saved by Christ’s cross-work. He has saved us before we ever came along. If we do not believe this blessed gospel truth, we have no gospel.

I also agree with Camping that believing is God’s work since Christ says it plainly in John 6:28. I also agree with the apostle James that faith which has no works is a dead faith (James 2:20,26) and that, by inference, a true, lively faith has works and the very activity of “faith” as “believing” is an action by itself. Hence, those who insist that we are saved by our own believing, or on the basis of our believing do imply in Scripture terms, that people get saved by the work of believing, which is another gospel.

I agree also with the statement itself as it is worded that “it’s Christ’s faith that saves”, but it is not clear what exactly Mr. Camping means by it. If by the “faith” of Christ he means Christ’s whole saving work of redemption (which He accomplished by His faith), then I agree. If he means we are saved by Christ’s vicariously believing in Himself for us in our stead, then, no, I do not agree with that. I believe in the instrumental function of our faith in Christ as a God-given, divinely appointed means of our arriving at the knowledge of salvation, which salvation has been accomplished two thousand years ago on the cross by Christ’s faithfulness.

The rest of McCulley’s article is non-controversial as far as the subject of discussion. I agree with what he says at the end of his article.

I hope this short material will help clarify my position on the faith of Christ.

Renat N. Ilyasov

1 Rom. 3:22, Rom. 3:26b {“faith of Jesus” YLT}, Gal. 2:16, 20 {“faith of the Son of God”} Gal. 3:22, Phil. 3:9, Eph. 3:12 {“by the faith of him”}

2 Greek word pistis means both “faith” and “faithfulness”, depending on the context.