Trying to define things down to exacting details can get difficult. Language has it's limitations.
Let me say this. I separate believing and faith not because they are two distinct actions, but because they have two separate origins. Biblical saving faith comes from the word, our believing is an act of our will, it doesn't save us but it acknowledges that which is true as revealed by God in His grace. Our believing then acts in accordance with that truth, we may not even (at times) have an absolute confidence that it's true but we act accordingly anyway (a I believe, help my unbelief scenario).
I believe, at the point of salvation, it is Christ's faith we are given. We are given His life ergo, I see it is His perfect faith in us that pleases God. By God's grace through this faith we are saved which is why it is called a gift. (yes I am saying both the grace and the faith of
Eph.2:8 is a gift) We do not manufacture/produce this faith from within ourselves.
Our growth in salvation, ie sanctification, is that faith of Christ being transferred into our "bank account" (so to speak) so that His faith becomes our faith. That occurs as we apply the same principle we did in the first instance by acknowledging the truth (believing), resting in the faith we already possess ie the Gospel and applying what we believe to be true. As we do that, the faith of Christ we already possess (by grace) continues to become our faith. This is why I say faith is the word at work in us.
As we continue to learn and come to know Christ better, the faith found in the elemental doctrines are added to the Gospel and if we persevere, the faith found in the meat of the word is added on top of these things so that, ultimately we reach the full stature of Christ having full transferrance of His faith to us. Of course, we have to persevere and if it was guranteed as some insist, there would be no need to tell us to persevere for it would happen automatically.
Whether reaching the full stature does happen in one's lifetime or even can happen, I don't know. I only know I'm still learning, still walking but I am not what I was and like Paul, I have found a contentment that surpasses anything that at one time I thought possible.
I hope that makes sense. I'm not always the best when it comes to explaining stuff.
Actually, I think you both explained it well and did break it down to some very exacting details, so thank you for the effort and perseverance.
I think what I appreciate most in what you did here is dealt with the "faith
OF Christ" that more have been working on in the Text and considering as you have.
I'm not suggesting to be explaining anything to you here, rather I'm just seeing if we are on the same page and explaining for anyone else who might care about such things.
The problem with this phrase "faith OF Christ" is that it's mostly being translated as "faith IN Christ" which is a perfectly legitimate translation, but IMO overdone in some translations. In topically studying "faith" I began to think the phrase was more often speaking about His Faith. Then I look into some scholarship and saw I wasn't alone.
Articles like this explain it well. There is also a footnote in the NET Bible translation about the increasing scholarship agreeing with it and we can see this translation agreeing with the scholarship (but using "faithfulness" vs. "faith") vs. the ESV that remained with "IN":
NET Romans 3:22 namely, the righteousness of God through
the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,
ESV Romans 3:22 the righteousness of God through
faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction:
Interestingly not only the very literal YLT identifies the actual language, but so did Darby in the 1800's:
YLT Romans 3:22 and the righteousness of God is through
the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, -- for there is no difference,
DBY Romans 3:22 righteousness of God by
faith of Jesus Christ towards all, and upon all those who believe: for there is no difference;
What I found interesting in my studies about this is how this single 2 letter word changes the focus from us to Jesus - it's not our belief or faith in Him but His perfect faith or belief or faithfulness that is in view, which for me gives even more appreciation for Him and how He lived in relationship with our Father, but also for what He's passed on to us and lives in us.
By believing or having faith in Him we have His belief or faith or faithfulness in us and I think what you've picked up is that this provides insight for what's being developed in us - His perfect faithfulness. And once we get into this understanding of how important this word is -"faithfulness" - we're tapping into what faith is all about - an increasingly faithful relationship with perfectly faithful God until we reach perfection which Paul sees not only as spiritual maturity, but further the high call of God in Christ Jesus and arriving at the resurrection per Phil3.
And one more note, when we understand Paul's mindset about this, when he says in Rom1:5 and bookends Romans with the same phrase in Rom16:26 - "obedience OF faith" - as his God mandated mission to the nations, this phrase can be translated as "obedience meaning faith" or simply "faith obedience" or "faithful obedience". If we focus on this and reason with it, IMO I came to see it as ultimately meaning "faithfulness". God desire for the nations is to have the perfect faithfulness of His Son and thereby become perfectly faithful sons just like Him. With a little more work in the Text, we're ultimately speaking also of Love.
Thanks for explaining your thinking. Honestly, IMO it's this type of detail we should be discussing here rather than the repetitive surface-level nonsense that keeps hijacking and side-tracking us.
Thanks again!
Or maybe they were simply children of the night, taking after their former father the Prince of Darkness whose seed they used be? How's that for a "novel" idea?
