I finally took the plunge and purchased a Bible software package. Since on a MacBook (albeit I’m running Windows via VMWare Fusion), I had two options: 1) Accordance or 2) Logos Bible Software 4 Mac. Accordance was very appealing, especially since they develop exclusively for Mac, but I decided to go with Logos. After reading this post, I learned how to link two floating panels so that Greek text changed in one panel will also change the corresponding English Bible panel, and vice versa. Though I’ve hardly had time to explore all the features and resources, I’m pleased so far with my not-so-meager purchase.

Reading through D. A. Carson’s article “The Vindication of Imputation: On Fields of Discourse and Semantic Fields” [with thanks to my dear friend Louis McBride for sending a link], I’ve highlighted a text below that has me pondering this question: Why in Philippians 3:9 would Paul use the genitive πίστεως Χριστοῦ to say “faith in Christ” (ESV, NIV, NASB) rather than “the faithfulness of Christ” (so the updated NIV alternate reading here)? Carson’s treatment rightly focuses upon the alien righteousness implicit in this passage, but he does not address my question (p. 69).

If anyone has any [Greek] ideas, I’d love to hear from you.

Interestingly, the only other place this construction is used is Galatians 2:16—a not-so-small passage related to the NPP discussion!

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4 Comments

  1. I’ve got just the book for you: “The Faith of Jesus Christ: Exegetical, Biblical and Theological Studies” edited by Michael Bird and Preston Sprinkle (formerly a Hendrickson title but recently acquired by Baker Publishing Group).

  2. Ah…I saw this at ETS but failed to pick it up ‘-)

  3. Peter T. O’Brien’s commentary The Epistle to the Philippians: A Commentary on the Greek Text (New International Greek Testament Commentary) is quite telling here (pp. 398-400).

    τὴν διὰ πίστεως Χριστοῦ. ‘Through the faithfulness of Christ’. This qualifying phrase is usually taken to refer to the means by which this righteous standing, the new relationship with God, is appropriated, namely through faith in Christ. Accordingly, Χριστοῦ is regarded as an objective genitive, with Christ being the one to whom the believer’s faith is directed….However, in our judgment the case for understanding πίστις Χριστοῦ as ‘the faith[fulness] of Christ’ is stronger.

    O’Brien goes on to lay out the major arguments for and against this position.


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