We closed out last episode with Paul taking up one of the most unavoidable subjects in our world today: identity. “Who am I,” Paul asks. “Have I changed or am I the same person that I have always been?”
Have you seen those widow decals on cars that are from that Hawaiian lifestyle company: HE>i? Their website states that it’s referring to John 3:30— “He must become greater and greater, and I must become less and less.” (NLT) This doesn’t even come close to what Paul is telling the Galatians here in chapter 2 which is this: There is no longer an I!

And Paul doesn’t stop there. In verse 20b he writes:
“…and the 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.”

Let’s put all of verse 20 together before we continue with the verse’s second part:
“I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, by Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.”

en pistei zo te tou hyiou tou theou—Please forgive my Greek. This expression can be rendered: “I live by faith in the Son of God”—an objective genitive—or, “I live by the faith of the Son of God”—a subjective genitive. And this is what is known as a sticky wicket: “faith in” or “faith of”, that is the question. Which translation we choose will help shape the meaning of Paul’s theological message to the Galatians.

Let’s hear option one, one more time:
The objective genitive: “I have been crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but Christ lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me.” This is from the NASB. And here is the same verse from the Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition that uses the subjective genitive:
“…with Christ I am nailed to the cross. And I live, now not I; but Christ liveth in me. And that I live now in the flesh: I live in the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and delivered himself for me.”

Do you hear the difference? Most translations translate the passage in the objective genitive, with some of them, like the NLT, CSB, and NRSV providing the alternate translation in the footnotes.

By using “in Christ”, translators are juxtaposing the efficacy of one’s legal works with that of one’s faith. We cannot justify ourselves by the works of the Law that we perform but only when we choose to believe in Jesus Christ, “who loved me and gave Himself for me.” Can you see a potential problem with this interpretation?

Now let’s take a quick gander at the other possible and equally legitimate translation. “…I live in the faith of the Son of God…” Paul lives because of Jesus’ faithfulness and not his own. The life he has doesn’t result from either his performance of the works of the Law or even by his act of choosing to have faith. Life is given to him, since he—Paul—no longer lives but it is Christ who lives in him.

Now back to that potential problem. I’ll quote from the Sacra Pagina commentary on Galatians, page 100:
“To interpret the phrase…as an objective genitive [that’s faith in Christ] is to establish a contrast between a person’s legal works and a person’s faith in Christ. While there is clearly an important difference between the two, both are human actions: one active, the other passive.

"The more powerful contrast is between a person’s legal works and the work of Christ, i.e., Christ’s faithfulness in handing himself over for our sins; Christ’s faithfulness in accepting the curse of the cross; Christ’s faithfulness in fulfilling the mission entrusted to him by the Father.”

This is the benefit of using the subjective “faith of Christ” and why it ties in with Paul’s complaint about Peter and the others. Paul’s reminding the Galatians—and us—that we live only because of Christ’s willingness to suffer and die for us. To put this another way, we are justified not by our choice to believe but by the Jesus’ choice “to love [us] and give Himself up for [us]” (20)

On the other hand, as Occam’s razor dictates simplest answer is usually the correct one, faith in Christ does tend to be the translators’ default. And it is also the one that appeals to most Christians because—again—it’s the simpler of the two options: It doesn’t require as many terms to be defined and, quite frankly, it’s easier and a whole lot less demanding.

But what if the simpler answer isn’t the correct one? What if Paul actually means of Christ here? If he does, we might ought to pay more attention to what James says about faith in his letter, that we covered in the last series. There will more on this to come.

Paul closes out the chapter with the declaration,
“I do not nullify the grace of God, for if righteousness comes through the Law, then Christ died needlessly.” God brings justification through Jesus’ action on the cross; we do not justify ourselves—make ourselves right in God’s eyes—through the performance of the Law. So Paul will not throw away this gracious gift from God by taking up the law once again.