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Who's Faith? Aramaic clears up the misunderstanding
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yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
(Gal 2:16 WEB ®)

I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
(Gal 2:20 WEB ®)

But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
(Rom 3:21-22 WEB ®)

Reading these verses in a standard translation, it appears clear that:

1. Justification comes by our placing our faith in Christ. (we might be justified by faith in Christ)

2. This occurs by our believing in him. (we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ)

3. We live by our faith in him. (That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God)

Based on this, I have heard it said that it is only by placing our faith in him, (a faith that is defined as being necessary because of things not seen) that we experience salvation. In other words, we live by our faith in him because we do not currently see him, yet believe he exists.

Peter indeed had this in mind when he wrote:

whom not having known you love; in whom, though now you don't see him, yet believing, you rejoice greatly with joy unspeakable and full of glory--
(1Pe 1:8 WEB ®)

And, the prophet seems to agree:

Behold, his soul is puffed up. It is not upright in him, but the righteous will live by his faith.
(Hab 2:4 WEB ®)

I have always been taught that the righteous living by his faith was referring to us, all who believe in him. However, when this verse is quoted by the first century writers, notice how they consistently quote it:

For in it is revealed God's righteousness from faith to faith. As it is written, "But the righteous shall live by faith."
(Rom 1:17 WEB ®)

Now that no man is justified by the law before God is evident, for, "The righteous will live by faith."
(Gal 3:11 WEB ®)

But the righteous will live by faith. If he shrinks back, my soul has no pleasure in him."
(Heb 10:38 WEB ®)

Notice that the word 'his' is not in any of the quotes. I wanted to understand why that word was missing, so I thought that perhaps they were quoting from the Septuagint, or from a Hebrew manuscript upon which the Septuagint was based, which didn't have the word 'his'. So I looked it up and this is what I found:

If he should draw back, My soul has no pleasure in him: but the just shall live by My faith.
(Hab 2:4 Complete Apostles' Bible)

Needless to say, I was pleasantly surprised. The translators of the Septuagint understood something that most modern translators today totally miss - the faith that the just live by is not theirs, but HIS!

Now that we have this as an understanding, let me add one more piece of information that helps tie everything together, and forms the foundation upon which my initial question "Who's Faith" can be built.

Concerning Jesus, he is the only human to ever live a life totally just before his Father. His life was a reflection of perfect faithfulness. No other human could say that. It is for that reason, I believe that the 'just' or 'righteous' one who lives by his (God's) faith, is first and foremost referring, not to men at all, but to A MAN, Jesus Christ.

Therefore:

'The righteous (Jesus) will live by his faith' (better translated as faithfulness).

It can also be equally said that the faith ultimately is from the Father, so that it is the Father's faithfulness that Jesus lived by. Here is his own definition of faithfulness:

Jesus therefore answered them, "Most certainly, I tell you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what he sees the Father doing. For whatever things he does, these the Son also does likewise.
(Joh 5:19 WEB ®)

Faithfulness cannot be separated from utter dependence.

So what about us? Does Habakkuk apply to us in any way? Yes it does. We have been justified. Therefore, we live by faith. But as I mentioned earlier, it is not our faith, for in ourselves, we do not even have faith the size of a mustard seed. I know this because I have never seen anyone move a mountain by speaking to it. <!-- sSmile --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/smile.gif" alt="Smile" title="Smile" /><!-- sSmile -->

The faithfulness we live by is his faith - the faith of God expressed through his faithful son.

This is purely conjecture, but perhaps the reason that all of those writers who quoted from the Habakkuk passage took out the word 'his' was to avoid anyone mistaking the faith as coming from themselves as a source; since at the time the quotes were written, there were many others who now shared in the justification brought about by Jesus, and could in that sense apply the Habakkuk passage to themselves.

What then, of the first passages I quoted in the beginning? If we are living by Jesus faithfulness...if we are just by his faithfulness...how does that square with those passages that speak of OUR faith IN him?

Here are the same verses again, but this time I am putting them with a literal translation that says something slightly different:

yet knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ, even we believed in Christ Jesus, that we might be justified by faith in Christ, and not by the works of the law, because no flesh will be justified by the works of the law.
(Gal 2:16 WEB ®)
having perceived that a man is not being justified by works of law, except alone through the faith of Christ Jesus, we also believe in Christ Jesus that we may be justified by the faith of Christ and not by works of law, seeing that by works of law shall no flesh at all be justified."
(Gal 2:16 CLV)


I have been crucified with Christ, and it is no longer I that live, but Christ living in me. That life which I now live in the flesh, I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me.
(Gal 2:20 WEB ®)
With Christ have I been crucified, yet I am living; no longer I, but living in me is Christ. Now that which I am now living in flesh, I am living in faith that is of the Son of God, Who loves me, and gives Himself up for me."
(Gal 2:20 CLV)


But now apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been revealed, being testified by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ to all and on all those who believe. For there is no distinction,
(Rom 3:21-22 WEB ®)
yet a righteousness of God through Jesus Christ's faith, for all, and on all who are believing, for there is no distinction,
(Rom 3:22 CLV)

1...faith in Christ...
2...faith of Christ...

1...faith in the Son of God...
2...faith that is of the Son of God...

1...faith in Jesus Christ...
2...Jesus Christ's faith...

Although the majority of today's translations read according to view 1, there are several that read according to view 2.

Why then the difference in renderings? Here is what the Greek says, which I have laid out word by word, underneath of which I have also rendered the Aramaic Peshitta, another ancient rendering of the script, for a comparison which is made even more clear:

dia (through)
pisteos (faith)
iesos (Jesus)
xristos, (Christ)
(Rom 3:22 Translit)

BYD (by)
HYMNWT) (the faith)
HY (is)
DY$W( (of Jesus)
M$YX) (the Messiah)
(Rom 3:22 Pesh)

dia (through)
pisteos (faith)
iesos (Jesus)
xristos, (Christ)
kai (and)
emeis (we)
eis (into)
xriston (Christ)
iesosn (Jesus)
episteusamen, (believed)
ina (that)
dikaiothomen (we are justified)
ek (out)
pisteos (faith)
xristos (Christ)
(Gal 2:16 Translit)

BHYMNWT) (in faithfulness)
DY$W( (of Jesus)
M$YX) (the Messiah)
)P (also)
XNN (we)
BH (in him)
BY$W( (in Jesus)
M$YX) (the Messiah)
HYMNN (we believed)
DMN (of from)
HYMNWTH (the faithfulness)
DM$YX) (of the Messiah)
NZDDQ (we are justified)
(Gal 2:16 Pesh)

en (in)
pistei (faith)
zo (I am living)
to (to the one)
tos (of the)
uios (son)
tos (of the)
theos (God)
(Gal 2:20 Translit)


BHYMNWT) (in faith)
HW (that)
DBRH (of son)
D)LH) (of the God)
(Gal 2:20 Pesh)

I want you to notice 2 things. First of all, there is no preposition 'en' (in) or 'eis' (into) between the words faith and Jesus and or Christ. So when you read the phrase 'faith in Christ', 'faith in Jesus Christ', and 'faith in the Son of God', in most of the modern translations, the word 'in' is not in the text. It was added by the translators because of what they believe the text means. Ask most people, and they will tell you that it is faith IN Jesus that justifies...that it is by faith in him that we live. This is because of not only what they have been taught, but also what their particular translation of the Scriptures says. I can understand completely why most would believe this today.

The reason I also gave the Aramaic reading is because, unlike the Greek, we have an even more definitive reason for believe that the proper translation is 'of' rather than 'in.' In Aramaic, there are several prepositions that are attached to the beginning of words. Two common ones that are seen in these texts are:

bet (in)
dalet (of)

The bet originally was a pictograph of a home, which is meant for someone to be IN, or WITH; hence its reason for being used as the preposition meaning 'in'.

The dalet originally was a pictograph of a door, which is meant to connect the inside to the outside; hence its reason for being used as the preposition meaning OF or THAT; relating two things together.

If you look at the texts, you will see that in every case the faith is dalet (of) Jesus, and dalet (of) the Messiah, and dalet (of) the son. I have underlined and enlarged each case of the bet and dalet used as a preposition.

Depending on how you read it, one of these readings has man as the cause, the other has Christ as the cause. Which is consistent with the message of scripture? Which is consistent with what we have seen concerning the Habakkuk passage? Which truly gives us no room for boasting and gives God the glory due him?

I will leave that for you to answer.

Shlama,

Ronen
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