I am grateful for Your word!
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. 17 But if, while we seek to be justified by Christ, we ourselves also are found sinners, is therefore Christ the minister of sin? God forbid. 18 For if I build again the things which I destroyed, I make myself a transgressor. 19 For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God. 20 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. 21 I do not frustrate the grace of God: for if righteousness come by the law, then Christ is dead in vain. (Galatians 2)
Three times in the passage above, Paul refers to the “the faith of” Jesus the Son of God. It does not say faith in, it says faith of. [Translations other than the KJV (even the NKJV) have mostly translated this as “faith in”. My amateurish look at the Greek text did not help me much because the meaning of the possessives depends on parsing the language accurately. I must defer to someone trained in Greek grammar to sort this out. So, I refer to an article by Bobby Grow who takes a look at this exact passage in an evenhanded way. He favors the way the King James has it, all things considered.] If we are “crucified with Christ” and if the life that is now in us is the indwelling Christ, as stated clearly in verse 20, then “faith of” would lend credence to His faith being active in us.
On the other hand, the passage goes on the speak of the possibility of our “building again” as transgressors. This is most likely if we are not actively renewing our minds according to the word and submitting to it.
If it is the faith of Christ by which He did all the Father gave Him to do (and it is). If it is the faith of Jesus that allowed Him to conquer the grave, though He had become sin that its power in us might be broken when it was nailed to the cross in Him (and it is). Would we not do well to understand that it is now His faith that is the power by which we are to live. Does not our self-generated faith come fearfully close to the works of the Law that Paul was saying are totally ineffective at justifying us?
