Justified by faith in Christ or the faithfulness of Christ?

Galatians 2:15-17: "15 We are Jews by nature and not sinners from among the Gentiles;16 nevertheless knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus, even we have believed in Christ Jesus, so that we may be justified by faith in Christ and not by the works of the Law; since by the works of the Law no flesh will be justified. 17 But if, while seeking to be justified in Christ, we ourselves have also been found sinners, is Christ then a minister of sin? May it never be!"

My homework for Greek this past week was to translate the above text. In addition to translating I was to categorize the different types of Genitive words that appear in these verses. Rather than boring you discussing each Genitive in the passage, I would like to discuss one phrase of Genitives that is considered somewhat controversial. The phrase I'm referring to is found in verse 16 where Paul writes: "a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus." The Gentive words that appear are: FAITH, CHRIST, and JESUS. The Genitives here can be translated in one of two ways: (1) As Objective Genitives, or (2) as Subjective Genitives. If we were to translate this phrase as Objective Genitives it would read: "a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through faith in Christ Jesus." But if we were to translate this phrase as Subjective Genitives it would read: "a man is not justified by the works of the Law but through the faithfulness of Christ Jesus."

Historically this phrase has been translated Objectively. It is fairly recent where we see certain movements trying to find ways to translate the phrase Subjectively. (This is a MAJOR summary folks, come on, cut me some slack here. It's 2am) =)

Being the good Greek student that I am, I waited until two days before class to begin considering what types of Genitives were in this rich passage (Hey I was in Cali people! gooOOOSH!). Even though I was late getting started on my homework, I really worked hard on understanding this text. I don't know how many times I read my own translation as well as the NASB's. I wanted to have this figured out, and soon.

Then it hit me. If the phrase being discussed was translated Subjectively, why in the world does Paul include the next clause: "even we have believed in Christ Jesus." Think about that. If we are justified by the faithfulness of Christ, why does Paul then say that we have believed in Christ? Why does he mention our faith? It seems totally out of place! BUT if you translate the phrase Objectively, it makes perfect sense: ... we are justified through faith in Christ, even we have believed!

There is much more technical stuff that might be added at a later date (whenever I get to the ... technical stuff). Nevertheless, translating the text Objectively seems to be true to the text. We are justified by faith in Christ alone. Sola Fide.

Anywho, just wanted to share that neato little piece of information with ya.

Btw, this is all stuff Gobbler has gone over in our class. It is an exciting thing being taught to better exegete the Scriptures. Thanks professor.

the mathetes,
Case of Base