Does Paul mean the “faithfulness of Jesus Christ” or “faith in Jesus Christ”?

Explanation:

Paul has been explaining to the Jewish audience in Rome that by works of the law, no one will be saved. Now he explains that God’s saving righteousness is διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. We can detect that this likely means through faith in Jesus Christ, because we know from Galatians that Paul contrasts works of the law with faith in Jesus Christ. In Galatians 2:16, Paul explains that we are not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ.¹ Further, he writes similarly in Romans 3:27–28 when he says that we are justified by faith apart from the works of the law. Likely he has the same theme in mind when he says that no one will be justified by works of the law (Romans 3:21). Thus, in Romans 3:22, we should take him to refer to faith in Jesus Christ.   

Counterargument:

This argument does not consider what follows διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ. For Paul follows this with for all who believe. Now, if we take it that by διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, Paul means faith in Jesus Christ, then the follow-up phrase is redundant.² For Paul would be saying the righteousness of God is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ for all who have faith in Jesus Christ. Added to this, another perfectly legitimate way to translate the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ is the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. Now, if we combine the fact that Paul would not be unnecessarily repetitive with the fact that there is a another perfectly legitimate translation of the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, it is more likely that Paul is saying through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ than through faith in Jesus Christ.

Response to counterargument:

This counterargument hinges on the notion that when Paul writes for all who believe, he is being repetitive. For if he is not being repetitive, there is no reason to think that he does not contrast works of the law with faith in Jesus Christ, as he does in Galatians 2:16 and Romans 3:27–28. Unfortunately, the notion that Paul is being unnecessarily repetitive misses the mark. Far from being unnecessarily repetitive, Paul’s statement aligns closely with another important theme in this section, which is the universality of faith.³ We know that Paul has been explaining that the Gentiles have access to God’s saving righteousness through Jesus Christ, so it makes sense that he would make clear that saving faith in Jesus Christ is available to all who believe. That is, faith in Jesus Christ is applicable not only to the Jews but also to the Gentiles.⁴

Explanation:

We can detect that Paul means that God’s righteousness is revealed through faith in Jesus Christ because Paul refers to living by faith, and faith in Jesus Christ, in Romans 1:17 and Romans 3:26. First, in Romans 1:17 he says that the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, before quoting from Habakkuk when he writes, The righteous will live by faith. There, Paul emphasizes that the person who is righteous is the person who lives by faith.⁵ Similarly, Paul writes in Romans 3:22 that the saving righteousness of God is through faith.

Next, when we reach Romans 3:26, Paul writes that God’s righteousness is revealed in that he is the just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus Christ. In other words, God justifies the one who has faith in Jesus Christ, which echoes what Paul says in Romans 1:17 and Romans 3:22. Righteousness is through faith in Jesus Christ.

Counterargument:

The term πίστις can be used to denote faith, or faithfulness. Further, it may be that Paul uses the term πίστις to refer to faithfulness in both Romans 3:25 and Romans 3:26. ⁶ Finally, the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ is not the best grammatical way for Paul to refer to through faith in Jesus Christ. Rather, we expect him to use the preposition ἐν with the dative instead of διά with the genitive. Of course, the preposition διά with the genitive makes good sense if Paul has in mind faithfulness by his use of πίστις. For then he is saying the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

Response to counterargument:

There are two responses to this argument. First, that πίστις can be used to denote both faith and faithfulness does not help us decide between these. That is because we need an argument to show why one denotation is more appropriate than another. In this case, we have argued that it is best to take Paul to mean faith in both Romans 1:17 and Romans 3:26, which is why we ought to take him to mean faith in Romans 3:22.

Second, this counterargument suggests that the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ is not the preferred way to denote faith in Jesus Christ, and Paul would have used the preposition ἐν instead. In fact, it makes good sense that Paul would use the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ to denote faith in Jesus Christ because he is contrasting faith in Jesus Christ with the works of the law. The phrase ἔργων νόμου (works of the law) is in the genitive, so it makes sense, given that Paul contrasts works of the law with faith in Christ, that he would also use the genitive to denote faith in Christ.⁷

It is hard to see what the weakness of this view might be.

Explanation:

In order to understand what Paul means when he writes διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ it is important to consider the Hebrew word for faith. The Hebrew word is אמונה, and it means both faith and faithfulness. Added to this, we know from Romans 3:3 that Paul refers to the faithfulness of God.¹⁰ Given that the Hebrew term for faith carries a sense of both faith and faithfulness, along with the fact that Paul refers to the faithfulness of God in Romans 3:3, it is likely that Paul has in mind the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in Romans 3:22. ¹¹ That is, likely Paul has in mind that we should translate διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ as through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that Paul not only uses the term πίστις in the Hebrew sense of faith and faithfulness, but he also uses it in the Greek sense of referring only to faith. For example, in both Romans 3:25 and Romans 3:26 Paul seems to have in mind faith rather than faith and faithfulness with his use of πίστις. In Romans 3:25 Paul discusses Christ’s atoning sacrifice, which is received διὰ πίστεως (through faith). And in Romans 3:26 he says that God shows his righteousness to the ones who have faith in Jesus. In both Romans 3:25 and Romans 3:26, Paul uses the term πίστις, but it is unlikely that he has faithfulness in mind. Thus, he uses the term to refer not to the Hebrew notion of faith and faithfulness but to faith. He may do the same in Romans 3:22.

Explanation:

When Paul writes διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, he likely has in mind the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. An important theme for Paul in this section is the contrast between the unfaithfulness of the Jews and the faithfulness of God. In particular, Paul asks in Romans 3:3 whether Jewish unfaithfulness nullifies God’s faithfulness, to which he answers, By no means! Further, when we reach Romans 5:19, Paul refers to the fact that through Adam’s disobedience the many were made sinners, while through Jesus Christ’s obedience, the many will be made righteous.¹² In other words, the obedience of Jesus, which has to do with his faithfulness, is on Paul’s mind. Thus, given that Paul contrasts God’s faithfulness with the Israelites, along with the fact that he discusses Jesus’ obedience in Romans 5:19, Paul likely has in mind the faithfulness of Jesus Christ in Romans 3:22.

Counterargument:

There are two counters to this argument. First, while it is true that Paul contrasts the faithfulness of God to the faithlessness of the Jews, he also contrasts salvation by works of the law with salvation by faith in Jesus Christ. Since we are trying to decide whether Paul has in mind the faithfulness of Jesus Christ or faith in Jesus Christ, the fact that he contrasts God’s faithfulness to Jewish faithlessness won’t help us. For we can simply argue that because he contrasts the works of the law with faith in Jesus Christ, he must have faith in Jesus Christ in mind, and without mitigating evidence, there is no way to choose between these.

Second, this argument contends that because Paul refers to Jesus’ obedience in Romans 5:18, he has in mind Jesus’ faithfulness in Romans 3:22. The problem with this line of thinking is that obedience and faithfulness are not quite the same, and we know from Romans 4:1–25 that Paul highlights Abraham’s faith as a model for our faith. Now, it’s important to see that obedience and faithfulness are not equivalent, along with the fact that Paul highlights Abraham’s faith, because if Paul had in mind not only Christ’s obedience but also his faithfulness, we should expect Paul to point to the faithfulness of Christ, not Abraham, as the paradigmatic example of faith.¹³

Explanation:

In order to understand what Paul means by the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, we have to understand his broader writings.¹⁴ He refers to the obedience of Jesus Christ (Romans 5:19; Philippians 2:8). Further, since Paul was Jewish, he would have been familiar with Isaiah 11:5, where we read that the branch of Jesse will wear righteousness and faithfulness around his waist. So Paul considers the obedience and faithfulness of Jesus Christ important theological motifs. Thus, these details suggest that the phrase διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ likely means through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ.

Counterargument:

The problem with this argument is that we need to consider the meaning of a phrase in context. The fact that Paul refers to Jesus’ obedience elsewhere, along with the notion that he was familiar with Isaiah 11:1–16, is simply not relevant to understanding Romans 3:22. Rather, the context for understanding Romans 3:22 is the fact that Paul is explaining to the Jewish Christians that the Gentiles are included as the people of God (Romans 2:9–11). That is, his point in this section is not on Jesus’ faithfulness, but that the works of the law will not save, and the Gentiles are not excluded (for everyone who believes (Romans 3:22)). Instead, faith in Jesus Christ saves, to which the Gentiles have full access.

The weakness of this view is that while the phrase the faithfulness of Jesus Christ can work with the grammar and Paul’s overall writings, he Paul never highlights the faithfulness of Jesus Christ. On the other hand, he often highlights that salvation is through faith in Jesus Christ.