Basic HTML Version
" In" or "Of"?
When Paul discussed the subject of
faith and its relationship to salva–
tion, he frequently used the Greek
expression "pistis Christou." In the
Authorized Version, this was trans–
lated "faith of Christ." Most mod–
ern versions, however, change this
to "faith
in
Christ."
Grammatically, it is an arguable
point , since the original Greek does
not use either of the prepositions
in
or
of
The grammatical sense is
derived rather from the ending of
the words themselves. However, in
English, a preposition is needed.
lt
should not surprise us that the
translators of the modern versions
preferred
in
to
of
lt
seemed
to
them to make more sense, since the
focus of modern Christian belief is
a gospel
about
Christ, accepting
him and believing
in
him.
From that point of view, it was
presumably felt that "pistis Chris–
tou" could adequately be rendered
"faith
in
Christ." Consequently,
the expression and thus the
thought,
"faith ofChrist," does not
appear in these modern versions, as
it did in the older Authorized Ver–
sion.
What difference does it make?
lt makes all the difference in the
world- the difference between
be–
ing
a real Christian, and
thinking
you are one.
Preposition Changas Meaning
Remember that old expression–
"For the want of a nail the battle
was lost"?
l t
could also be said of
these new translations, "For the
want of a preposition, a life could
be lost."
Perhaps we can demonstrate the
difference it makes by this analogy.
Suppose your wristwatch breaks.
You take it to a reputable watch–
maker, whom you know you can
trust, and you ask him to repair it.
You leave your watch with him, in
complete confidence that he will
return it to you in good working
order.
You have, in other words, com–
plete faith
in
that watchmaker. He
has learned how to repair watches,
and he will do it for you.
This, in effect, is how many
people are taught to Iook to J esus
Christ. They trust
in
him, and
June
1984
believe that his )ove, his goodness,
and his merey and holiness will
save them when the time comes.
But that kind of faith- however
sincere- is
not enough to save
you.
But supposing, when you took
your broken watch to be repaired,
this happened:
The watchmaker agrees that
your watch is broken. But he says,
"If
1
just repair this for you, you
have learned nothing.
1
know how
to repair watches, but it is impor–
tant that
you
learn something
about it, too. We will repair it
together.
"1
will do a part of the work, the
part you cannot do by yourself, and
1'11
show you how to do what you
must learn to do."
Now the situation is different.
No longer do you just need faith
in
the watchmaker's skill- you are
going to need sorne
of
his skill as
well.
It is the same with faith
in
and
of
Christ. Of course, we must have
faith
in
Jesus Christ. The apostle
Peter, speaking to the crowds in
Jerusalem on the day of Pentecost,
urged them to believe that Jesus,
whom they had crucified, was the
Lord and Messiah (Acts 2:36).
Many believed Peter, and asked,
"What shall we do?" (verse 37,
Author ized Version). "Repent, and
be baptized ... in the name of
Jesus Christ," replied Peter, "for
the remission of sins, and ye shall
receive the gift of the Holy [Spir–
it]."
So far so good. As a result of
having faith
in
Christ, many today
are told to be baptized for the
remission of their sins. Then they
think they are saved. But there is
more to it than that.
After Baptism-What Then?
Many scriptures show what you do
after
you have placed your faith
in
Jesus Christ and his sacrifice will
determine whether you will be
u/ti–
mate/y
saved.
Let's now take a close Iook at
sorne of these scriptures that have
been mistranslated in the generally
excellent new translations and see
exactly what it was that the apostle
Paul taught. Then you will under–
stand why the phrase "faith
of
Christ" carries the right choice of
prepOSltlOn when rendering these
verses into English.
First, Romans 3:22. This verse is
breaking into the middle of a
thought. We should go back two or
three verses to pick up the thread
of Paul's discussion. The church at
Rome in Paul's day was a mixture
of different ethnic groups, and
there was a controversy among
them.
The Jews thought that they were
superior to others since they had
had the law of God delivered to
them. The non-Jews on their part
were critica) of the Jews for not
keeping that law. Note that the dis–
cussion did not center around
whether or not
the law should be
kept, but rather,
how
it
could be
kept.
Paul 's epistle put everything in
perspective. He showed that a
Christian must quit sinning. Break–
ing God's law is sin (Rom. 3:20,
and see also
1
John 3:4). Paul
pointed out that
al/- Jews and
gen–
tiles- had broken the law. Nobody
(except Jesus Christ) ever lived a
life without sinning in sorne way.
Therefore, no one could consider
himself justified-guiltless and
worthy of salvation- as a result of
his conduct. Let's pick up the story
in verse 21.
The New International Version
explains it rather well. "But now a
righteousness from God, apart
from law [apart from human "righ–
teousness"], has been made known,
to which the Law and the Prophets
testify" (Rom. 3:21, New Interna–
tional Version throughout, except
where noted).
In other words, there is a way to
come up to God's standard of righ–
teousness (the Ten Command–
ments) apart from the impossible
task of trying to keep the law per–
fectly through your own strength or
your own faith. How can you do it?
" T his righteousness from God
comes through faith
in
[should be
translated
oj]
Christ to all who
believe" (verse 22).
Do you see what a difference the
preposition makes?
Having repented of your past
sins, you can't continue to sin. Paul
makes that very clear in Romans
6: l-2, in any version or translation.
You are to live a new life free of sin
(Continued on page 43)
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