The Faith of Jesus

Translation choices and inherited doctrine can obscure the faith of Jesus, but Christ’s own trust and obedience are central to understanding his death and resurrection.

By Jason Hensley

Read Time: 7 minutes

As a community, we’re often familiar with wrested Scriptures. We’re ready to explain how “the spirit returns to God who gave it” (Ecclesiastes 12:7)¹ and how “souls” eat, drink, and even die scripturally. We have our list of contradictions between Jesus’s life and Biblical descriptions of God Himself, thus allowing us to prove that Jesus isn’t God in the way that the churches teach—and that instead, he was a perfect representation of his Father. Many of these doctrines and these proofs are drilled into us and are also very much precious to us. Together, they describe the Gospel, the truth as it is in Christ, and we treasure them—as we should.

Yet sometimes, we know some of these doctrines and wrested Scriptures better than others. In particular, when it comes to the death of Jesus and its meaning, we can sometimes struggle, even among various branches of Christadelphians, to explain it. We acknowledge the need for Christ to put the flesh to death. We recognize his desire to obey his Father. We also believe this action was for us—that this death mattered to truly bring us to God. One of the reasons, though, why this can be so hard is that a crucial piece of Christ’s death and resurrection gets masked—primarily by translation influenced by false ideas. That’s what we want to consider together.

Jesus’s Faith

The members of the Catholic Church are taught that Jesus did not have faith. Faith is the belief in things that one cannot see (Hebrews 11:1), and the Church teaches that Christ always possessed spiritual vision. Stephen Beale, in his article “Jesus Did Not Have Faith,” writes: “This teaching of the Church is rooted in the fact of the Incarnation: in becoming fully man, Jesus did not lose any aspect of the fullness of divinity. As God, Christ knew all things.”² Shaun McAfee explains in the National Catholic Register, “Jesus, though, is God. As God, He has perfect knowledge of all things unseen, excluding nothing. There is literally no ability in Jesus to have faith because He already knows everything seen, unseen, possible, actual, in the past, in the future, and every combination between.”3 While this may surprise us, this isn’t some kind of extreme view. Thomas Aquinas, one of the most influential theologians of all time, taught the same thing.

While the Catholic Church spurns the idea of Jesus having faith, the Protestant picture is more complex. Unlike the Catholic Church, which has clear, fixed teachings, Protestant denominations hold varying views, and few have chosen to address this question. Every once in a while, an author will stand against the Catholic teaching of an unbelieving Jesus,⁴ but for the most part, Protestants don’t fight much against this teaching. How could they? It’s based on the notion of Jesus being God.

Unfortunately for us, the idea that Jesus had no faith has affected our translations. Consider Paul’s words about Christ in Galatians: “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me.” (Galatians 2:20). What would you say this verse teaches you about Christ? That he loved you? Certainly. That he was faithful? Not really.

Except maybe this verse should. In the Greek, the words “the Son of God” are all in the genitive case. We don’t really use cases in English (although we did at one point), but they essentially show what the word is doing in the sentence (we use word order instead). Often, the genitive works as a possessive. While “I live by faith in the Son of God” is indeed one way to translate this genitive (if we took it as an “objective genitive”), it’s not the typical way. The more typical translation would be “I live by the faith of the Son of God” (my translation). In other words, this is a reference to Christ’s faith, not Paul’s faith.

This same construction shows up in many passages:

The righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ [or faith of Jesus Christ] for all who believe. For there is no distinction. (Romans 3:22).

Yet we know that a person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ [or faith of Jesus Christ], so we also have believed in Christ Jesus, in order to be justified by faith in Christ and not by works of the law, because by works of the law no one will be justified. (Galatians 2:16).

But the Scripture imprisoned everything under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ [or faith of Jesus Christ] might be given to those who believe. (Galatians 3:22).

There are still more passages with the same phraseology (Philippians 3:9; Revelation 14:12). In each case, the straightforward translation of the Greek would read “faith of Jesus Christ.” Translators have perhaps decided that this was an objective genitive (and thus translated as “in”) because of their doctrinal bias, because they felt that the context suggested “in,” or both.

Yet for us, for those who know the Gospel and believe it, these passages speak to something crucial in the death and resurrection of Christ. This situation wasn’t some kind of grandly organized show in which God became a man to kill Himself and somehow placate His own anger. It’s a picture of real, perfect faith.

Thus, we live by the faith of the Son of God. Righteousness comes through the faith of Jesus. Justification comes through the faith of Jesus. The promise comes by the faith of Jesus. Yes, these verses tell us to have faith in Christ, but they don’t just tell us to believe in him abstractly. They tell us to follow his example. Just as he had faith, and that faith led him to the cross, perfectly trusting that when he took his last breath, God would raise him again, we too live lives founded on that same kind of faith.

The Author of Faith

Have you ever noticed that the chapter division between Hebrews 11 and 12 completely cuts off the flow of the author’s argument? We call Hebrews 11 the faith chapter, but because of this chapter break (and another unfortunate translation), we miss exactly what it was leading up to. Hebrews 11 isn’t the end. It’s the foundation for what comes in Hebrews 12 (which is why Hebrews 12 begins with the word “Therefore”!).

Therefore, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us also lay aside every weight, and sin which clings so closely, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, looking to Jesus, the founder and perfecter of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is seated at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2).

Do you see it there? Do you see the crowning example of faith?

Hebrews 11 lists the faithful actions of various individuals. It shows how Noah demonstrated faith, how Abraham and Sarah demonstrated faith, and how Moses demonstrated faith. But it cannot end there. Why? Because none of these individuals consistently showed faith. That’s why Hebrews 12 turns to the final example: to Jesus. And, it doesn’t simply list a faithful moment of his life. Instead, it calls him “the founder and perfecter of our faith.” But there’s more. The word “our” isn’t actually in the Greek. Instead, the verse should read “the founder and perfecter of faith” (my translation). Because really, that’s what he is. He is the perfect example, and that example reached its pinnacle on the cross, when he despised the shame, and went through with it all anyway.

When we think about the death and resurrection of Christ, we should recognize that through death, he put the flesh to death. We should recognize that he did this for us. We should acknowledge that his willingness to give his life shows the supreme example of faith. His sacrifice wasn’t about pacifying an angry God. It was about showing an example to everyone of perfect faith, a faith that trusts God, even to the point of giving up everything.

This Month’s Issue

Through this issue, we hope to build your faith as you attempt to follow Christ’s example of perfect faith. We’ll begin with a short article by Joe Hill, remembering Peter Hemingray, one of the Tidings’s previous editors, and his life of faith. David Fraser will then continue his series on relationships, this time examining the relationship between a man and a woman and how it can build faith. Trevor Buchanan will tell his story and how he came to believe in the God of the Bible.

Moving to our Exhortation and Consolation section, James DiLiberto discusses Christ’s victory in Gethsemane. In Back to the Original, Daniel Blackburn considers how Hebrew words connect, focusing on how Scripture uses the root word for “wait” and “hope.” In Stuff that Works, Stephen Bartholomew explains the “Kaio” weekends and how those have been used to strengthen faith.

For First Principles, Simon Keene examines Christ as a manifestation of God, and in Bible Studies, Ben Brinkerhoff continues his series on Romans. Brandon Entwistle begins a new two-part series on David’s census and the altar at the threshing floor. In the Mothers in Israel section, Linda Beckerson discusses private Christian schools. For the Teaching and Preaching section, we have something special: Anna Tikvah has written a new book, and we will be running a chapter each month for the next few months. Finally, George Booker’s articles about those who knew Christ turn to the story of John the Baptist.

All in all, may our offerings this month help you not only to have faith in Christ, but to value the faith of Christ, recognizing that this faith is our example, and in following him, we truly find life.

Jason Hensley