Galatians 3:22
Ok, here is the issue surrounding Galatians 3:22
It is not a textual issue, that is, there is no dispute as to what the original Greek says. It says the following:
alla sunekleisen he grafh ta panta hupo hamartian, hina he epangelia ek pisteos Iesou Cristou dothe tois pisteuousin
but declares the Scripture all under sin, so that the promise by faith (of/in) Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe
So, the issue is whether or not
Iesou Cristou should read "of Jesus Christ" or "in Jesus Christ." What this boils down to is an interpretive issue.
Here is how the various translations render it:
NIV Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture declares that the whole world is a prisoner of sin, so that what was promised, being given through faith
in Jesus Christ, might be given to those who believe.
NASB Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith
in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
KJV Galatians 3:22 But the scripture hath concluded all under sin, that the promise by faith
of Jesus Christmight be given to them that believe.
NKJ Galatians 3:22 But the Scripture has confined all under sin, that the promise by faith
in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.
Let's look briefly at the manner of translation of the New KJV:
"The New King James Version is a conservative revision of the King James version that does not make any alterations on the basis of a revised Greek or Hebrew text, but adheres to the readings presumed to underlie the King James version. In the New Testament, this means that the Greek text followed is the Textus Receptus of the early printed editions of the sixteenth century."
source
Only the KJV (original) retains "of Jesus Christ." Let's look at the issue.
The phrase is in the genitive (the English equivalent of the possessive), which sounds like "of Jesus Christ."
Let's first look at this in English:
Is it the faith
of Jesus Christ (that is, Christ's faith) that is at issue or is what was promised given through faith
in Jesus Christ? Is it Christ's faith or our faith? The answer seems fairly apparent. But there is another possibility here. It is possible that Paul is speaking of the "faithfulness of Jesus Christ" to effect the delivery of what was promised.
Now let's look at this in Greek:
The genitive in this sentence can either be an "objective genitive" or a "subjective genitive," that is, it is a genitive acting on the object or the subject. In fact, either one makes grammatical sense. Is there any other aspect of the grammar that might also help us here? Yes. Let's look at what follows: "being given through faith in Jesus Christ, might be given to
those who believe."
So, what do we learn from the fact that the sentence ends describing those to whom the promise is given? In fact, it is those "who believe" - "believe" being the same root word as faith. We learn that Jesus is the subject and "faith" is acting on the objects, that is, it is the faith of the believers that is being spoken of. The genitive is, therefore, an objective genitive and we are correct to view this as "faith in Jesus Christ" and neither the faith nor the faithfulness of Jesus Christ is in view.
I would say that all the versions other than the KJV have it correct here. In fact, to see it as the KJV has it, suggests something quite different altogether and the meaning is, indeed, changed.
However, I'm not sure if Cuiq would be happy to know what the meaning of the KJV text actually is.
Scott 8-)
