Maybe this will help. What one member is arguing concerning the phrase,
pistis.
4102. pistis pis'-tis from 3982; persuasion, i.e. credence; moral conviction (of religious truth, or the truthfulness of God or a religious teacher), especially reliance upon Christ for salvation; abstractly, constancy in such profession; by extension, the system of religious (Gospel) truth itself:--assurance, belief, believe, faith, fidelity.
The debate concerning this unique phrase found in the Saint Apostle Paul's Galatians 2 text believe it or not has raged for centuries between scholars and laity alike. Is it then any wonder we've been led to argue this all these many pages and to no avail of one side conceding to the other?
Some believe this was an error in the transcribers part converting Paul's Greek textual letter to the church in Galatia into English.
I would agree in that when our Lord Christ was God Almighty, who is eternally knowing, God would not at all have faith in Himself. Because God predestined all things to occur in the Salvation principle according to His divine will by the free gift of His grace upon the world.
Pistis christou then is what is referred to in the grammatical frame of the passage the Objective Genitive meaning.
The objective genitive means Pistis, (faith) with Christou, is to be understood as faith
in Jesus Christ.
Consider the question here:
The question
I have come across an interesting translation of the Bible that Dallas Seminary produced. It is online, and it is called NET Bible. I was wondering if you would agree with how they translated
Galatians 2:16: “…
by the faithfulness of Jesus Christ” (other verses translated the same way are
Galatians 2:20;
Romans 3:22,
26;
Galatians 3:22;
Ephesians 3:12;
Philippians 3:9). I … think this is extremely thought provoking, if their translation is correct. If you have time I would love to know your thoughts on this!
I own a print copy of the First Beta edition of the NET Bible. The interpretative notes in the NET Bible at this point are undoubtedly the work of NT Professor Daniel Wallace. His
Greek Grammar Beyond the Basics takes precisely the same view, and indeed with precisely the same wording much of the time.
The Greek word at issue is
pistis, a noun, which occurs more than 200 times in the Greek NT. Depending on the context and how it is used, it can mean “faith” or “faithfulness” (for example, in the list of the “fruit of the Spirit” in Galatians 6, is it “faith” or “faithfulness”? A case can be made for either meaning there).
After considering Wallace’s arguments, and examining every passage where
pistis is used in the Greek NT, I must strongly disagree with the NET and Wallace’s interpretation at this point and rather side with the most widespread understanding of all these passages among grammatically-minded commentators—namely, that the use of the genitive in these passages is what grammarians call an “objective genitive.” The objective genitive means it is faith
in Jesus Christ.
Faith in Christ, with Him as faith’s object, is presented as the effective means of securing salvation throughout the NT, and is taught beyond question in numerous NT passages which do not involve the issue of the force and meaning of the genitive case. For example:
John 3:16;
Acts 16:31,
20:21,
24:24, etc., and especially
Galatians 3:26, which is in the same general context as
Galatians 2:16 (see also
Eph. 1:15). In
Galatians 3:26 pistis is in the dative case where no other interpretation but “faith
in Jesus Christ” is possible.
I cannot recall any place in Scripture where it is unambiguously stated that we are saved because of Christ’s faithfulness to us; the emphasis is always on our faith in/directed toward Him. The alternate view Wallace champions, a so-called subjective genitive (“the faithfulness of Jesus Christ”), is more novel than convincing. This view is rejected by such notable NT scholars as F. F. Bruce in his commentary on Galatians at 2:16 (I could heap up quotations and citations from grammarians and commentators who agree with Bruce, but let me simply say, it is a very strong majority). Christ is the object of our faith, and it is our faith-in/commitment-to Him that is the means of securing salvation.
In the NT, when “faithfulness” is spoken of with reference to Divine Persons, it seems to regularly refer to God the Father: “but God is faithful, who will not let you be tempted” (
I Cor. 10:13), “If we confess our sins, He is faithful and justice to forgive” (
I John 1:9). See also
Romans 3:3 and
2 Corinthians 1:18 and others. Here, the Greek word translated “faithful” is
pistos, an adjective related to the noun
pistis. In
Revelation 1:5 and
3:14, Jesus is called “the faithful witness,” specifying that the realm of His faithfulness there under consideration is as a witness. His soteriological work is not directly in view.
I find in checking just now,
Mark 11:22, where “have faith,” literally, “of God”
must be an objective genitive—“faith
in God.” It would be absurd to speak of “having God’s faithfulness” in this context. Likewise, in
Revelation 14:12 the term
must be understood as “faith
in Jesus Christ” (objective genitive).
While Christ is, of course, perfectly faithful to us, that is not the topic under consideration in the passages noted in NET. Having just now examined every verse in the NT where
pistis (faith) and
pistos (faithful) occur, I think the “faithfulness” interpretation put forth by Wallace and the NET Bible is without any justification at all.
Doug Kutilek is the editor of
www.kjvonly.org, a website dedicated to exposing and refuting the many errors of KJVOism and has been researching and writing in the area of Bible texts and versions for more than 35 years. He has a BA in Bible from Baptist Bible College (Springfield, MO), an MA in Hebrew Bible from Hebrew Union College (Cincinnati; and completed all requirements for a PhD except the dissertation); and a ThM in Bible exposition from Central Baptist Theological Seminary (Plymouth, MN). His writings have appeared in numerous publications including
The Biblical Evangelist,
The Baptist Bible Tribune,
The Baptist Preacher’s Journal,
Frontline,
Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society and
The Wichita Eagle. The father of four grown children and four granddaughters, he resides with his wife Naomi near Wichita, Kansas.
Maybe now we can move forward in this discussion.
We know it is folly to try to change each other's mind as to what we hold in faith, right?
God does not hold faith in us. He created us as an Omniscient Father Creator.
God is the object of Faith. Not the Object that holds faith in Himself. That would be silly. I'm God and I believe in me.
And you should too. Here, meet me as Jesus and believe in me because I do too.
See how odd that sounds if we boil that centuries old argument over the Greek Pistis Christou into terms we can understand?
