What caused the shift from "Faith Of Christ" to "Faith In Christ" in modern translations?
Upvote:0
I think this is simply because English has changed. In modern English "faith of Christ" would mean that faith that Christ had, whereas "faith in Christ" expresses the need to put faith in Christ, i.e. to trust in Christ for salvation. I have no doubt that the translators of the King James were trying to express the same meaning when using "faith of Christ" as modern translators with "faith in Christ". English has changed and modern translations reflect that.
Upvote:1
Have a look at it through historical criticism.
One could do worse than pin it on Bultmann's Existentialist Alternative. (More crudely, the "I'm spiritual, not religious," phenomenon.)
Asbury Bible Commentary 1 lays it out in The Problem of Faith and History: Theological Alternatives
Bultmann's main response to Barth was that if revelation is independent of historical criticism, why claim that revelation has a historical point of reference at all! 2
And if the historical question is strictly an academic consideration, why not reinterpret the phrase “faith in Jesus Christ” in a symbolic way?
This is indeed what Bultmann did. “Faith in Christ” is a symbolic expression for experiencing a more authentic understanding of the meaning of existence!
That's probably a way more simple answer that what the OP is looking for, but understanding Bultmann's views (and his subsequent influence on biblical studies) helps me understand this shift.
Another thing that helps me understand is the old adage: "Jesus proclaimed the Kingdom of God, the church proclaimed faith in Jesus."
1 https://www.biblegateway.com/resources/asbury-bible-commentary/Problem-Faith-History
2 Rudolf Bultmann, Essays: Philosophical and Theological, trans. James C. G. Grieg (London: SCM, 1955), 261.
Upvote:1
The King James editors were translating the Greek literally.
The Greek phrase in question in Romans 3:22 is:
διὰ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ
where the words "Jesus Christ" (Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ) are in the genitive, or "possessive" case.
This is a Greek idiom. Whereas we use the preposition "in" to signify faith in something, Greek sometimes simply signifies that in which faith is placed through use of the genitive case.
The King James is not consistent in its use of "of" and "in" in expressions concerning "faith in", but the Greek consistently casts the object of faith in the genitive case.
Other examples:
Mark 11:22 (KJV 1900)
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.Καὶ ἀποκριθεὶς ὁ Ἰησοῦς λέγει αὐτοῖς, Ἔχετε πίστιν θεοῦ [lit. "faith of God"]
Romans 3:3 (KJV 1900)
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?Τί γὰρ εἰ ἠπίστησάν τινες; Μὴ ἡ ἀπιστία αὐτῶν τὴν πίστιν τοῦ θεοῦ [lit. "faith of the God"] καταργήσει;
I think that it is also true that in the 17th century the word "of" in English had shades of meaning that are different from what it has now. I don't have access to the complete Oxford English Dictionary, but the Shorter Oxford English Dictionary (6th ed.) does indicate that an archaic meaning of "of" was "in". For this reason, I am speculating, the King James translators were perhaps not all that concerned about translating literally.
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