The Faith Of God
For what if some did not believe?
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
-Romans 3:22
What is the faith of God? When Jesus cursed the fig tree and the disciples asked him about it, Jesus told them this:
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God.
-Mark 11:22
The first thing Jesus answered His disciples in this passage of scripture was to HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
Some translations render this instead as have FAITH OF GOD, or, have THE FAITH OF GOD; (five of these are Youngs’ Literal Translation, Modern King James Version, The Literal Translation, Douay Rheims Bible, and the Worrel New Testament). Many other bibles will have the phrase have FAITH OF GOD, or, have THE FAITH OF GOD, in the margin.
That is because this phrase is translated from the Greek words (transliterated) pistis theos; literally FAITH GOD.
pistis (pē'-stēs) faith;
theos (the-o's) God).
The word IN or OF is added by the translators for clarity, though in this case there is some debate as to whether they should have used the word IN or OF, and rightly so, as this changes the meaning of the phrase entirely. One puts the source of FAITH in man and renders FAITH a verb; the other puts the source of FAITH in God and renders FAITH as a noun.
The argument for using the word IN states that since God is the object of our FAITH, we must therefore place OUR faith IN God. However, this interpretation creates two insurmountable problems:
1) It assumes FAITH is intrinsic to man, rather than a GIFT from God as we have determined it to be. Nowhere does the Bible say that God is the object of our FAITH, rather, it says that He is the AUTHOR of our FAITH.
2) It renders FAITH a verb, which it is not. FAITH is not an action, as we determined before, rather, FAITH is a noun, someTHING that is given to us by God.
God is not the object of our FAITH; He is however, the object of our believing. To believe is a verb, and it is what we do with the FAITH that God has given us. Thinking that God is the object of our FAITH is simply a misunderstanding of the difference between FAITH and believing. God is the object of our believing, not the object of our FAITH. Rather, He is the source of our FAITH.
In the light of these facts, OF would be a better addition to the text, however, neither is necessary, as we could easily read the phrase this way:
GOD’S FAITH
This would not require any additional words to be added by the translator, would be a literal translation, and have the added benefit of providing an accurate rendering of the word FAITH in line with its greater contextual biblical definition. There is one translation that I am aware of that renders it in such a manner:
And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith.
-Mark 11:22 (The Bible In Basic English)
My favorite rendering of this phrase was commonly used by Kenneth E. Hagin as:
THE GOD-KIND OF FAITH
This term did not originate with him, Kenneth Hagin claims to have read it in the margin of his Bible at one time, but because he did not elaborate and give us the translation, the publisher, and/or the copy write date, and has since passed away, I am unable to locate the Bible he referenced. Nevertheless, the phrase well illustrated the meaning given by both the immediate context, and the macro contextual definition of faith as found in the scriptures as a whole.
There is a well known and respected Greek Scholar that also used this phrase named A.T. Robertson. From his book:
Here again we must appeal to the root idea
of the genitive as the case of genus or kind.
The resultant idea is due to the context
and one must not suppose that the Greek genitive
means all the different English prepositions used to translate the resultant idea.
Thus in Mark 11:22 we rightly translate 'have faith in God,'
though the genitive does not mean 'in,' but only
the god kind of faith.
Ref:- A.T. Robertson A Grammer of the Greek New Testament
In the Light of Historical Research
(Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1934)
In other words, the phrase 'have faith in God' is accurate, as long as you are reading it as 'have the faith that is found in God', (because it is the God kind of faith).
What I find to be ironic, is that this is not the only time this phrase is used in the New Testament. It is also used in the verse that we started with:
For what if some did not believe?
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
-Romans 3:22
Again, as in Mark 11:22, this phrase is translated from the Greek words (transliterated) pistis theos; literally FAITH GOD.
pistis (pē'-stēs) faith;
theos (the-o's) God).
The wording of this verse makes it quite evident that God Himself is the subject of the sentence, therefore the faith being mentioned is the faith of God. Again, the most literal translation of this would be GODS FAITH, although the addition of the word OF by the translators gives the same meaning. There is not really any legitimate way around this conclusion, without handling the scriptures deceitfully.
The idea that God doesn’t have FAITH is rather ludicrous on its face, if you really think about it. First of all, how could God give us something that He did not already possess?
Secondly, if God does not possess FAITH, does that mean He possesses unbelief, or doubt? Well, of course not. God possess FAITH by virtue of the fact that He fully expects and believes that every Word which He speaks will come to pass. If you don’t think God believes that His Words will come to pass, you are mistaken:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
-Isaiah 55:11
To say that God believes His words will come to pass without FAITH would be like saying God drives to the store without a vehicle. Driving requires a vehicle; and believing requires FAITH.
Peace...
What is the faith of God? When Jesus cursed the fig tree and the disciples asked him about it, Jesus told them this: And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. -Mark 11:22
The first thing Jesus answered His disciples in this passage of scripture was to HAVE FAITH IN GOD.
Some translations render this instead as have FAITH OF GOD, or, have THE FAITH OF GOD; (five of these are Youngs’ Literal Translation, Modern King James Version, The Literal Translation, Douay Rheims Bible, and the Worrel New Testament). Many other bibles will have the phrase have FAITH OF GOD, or, have THE FAITH OF GOD, in the margin.
That is because this phrase is translated from the Greek words (transliterated) pistis theos; literally FAITH GOD.
pistis (pē'-stēs) faith;
theos (the-o's) God).
The word IN or OF is added by the translators for clarity, though in this case there is some debate as to whether they should have used the word IN or OF, and rightly so, as this changes the meaning of the phrase entirely. One puts the source of FAITH in man and renders FAITH a verb; the other puts the source of FAITH in God and renders FAITH as a noun.
The argument for using the word IN states that since God is the object of our FAITH, we must therefore place OUR faith IN God. However, this interpretation creates two insurmountable problems:
1) It assumes FAITH is intrinsic to man, rather than a GIFT from God as we have determined it to be. Nowhere does the Bible say that God is the object of our FAITH, rather, it says that He is the AUTHOR of our FAITH.
2) It renders FAITH a verb, which it is not. FAITH is not an action, as we determined before, rather, FAITH is a noun, someTHING that is given to us by God.
God is not the object of our FAITH; He is however, the object of our believing. To believe is a verb, and it is what we do with the FAITH that God has given us. Thinking that God is the object of our FAITH is simply a misunderstanding of the difference between FAITH and believing. God is the object of our believing, not the object of our FAITH. Rather, He is the source of our FAITH.
In the light of these facts, OF would be a better addition to the text, however, neither is necessary, as we could easily read the phrase this way:
GOD’S FAITH
This would not require any additional words to be added by the translator, would be a literal translation, and have the added benefit of providing an accurate rendering of the word FAITH in line with its greater contextual biblical definition. There is one translation that I am aware of that renders it in such a manner:
And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God's faith.
-Mark 11:22 (The Bible In Basic English)
My favorite rendering of this phrase was commonly used by Kenneth E. Hagin as:
THE GOD-KIND OF FAITH
This term did not originate with him, Kenneth Hagin claims to have read it in the margin of his Bible at one time, but because he did not elaborate and give us the translation, the publisher, and/or the copy write date, and has since passed away, I am unable to locate the Bible he referenced. Nevertheless, the phrase well illustrated the meaning given by both the immediate context, and the macro contextual definition of faith as found in the scriptures as a whole.
There is a well known and respected Greek Scholar that also used this phrase named A.T. Robertson. From his book:
Here again we must appeal to the root idea of the genitive as the case of genus or kind. The resultant idea is due to the context and one must not suppose that the Greek genitive means all the different English prepositions used to translate the resultant idea. Thus in Mark 11:22 we rightly translate 'have faith in God,' though the genitive does not mean 'in,' but only the god kind of faith. Ref:- A.T. Robertson A Grammer of the Greek New Testament In the Light of Historical Research (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1934)
In other words, the phrase 'have faith in God' is accurate, as long as you are reading it as 'have the faith that is found in God', (because it is the God kind of faith).
What I find to be ironic, is that this is not the only time this phrase is used in the New Testament. It is also used in the verse that we started with:
For what if some did not believe?
shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect?
-Romans 3:22
Again, as in Mark 11:22, this phrase is translated from the Greek words (transliterated) pistis theos; literally FAITH GOD.
pistis (pē'-stēs) faith;
theos (the-o's) God).
The wording of this verse makes it quite evident that God Himself is the subject of the sentence, therefore the faith being mentioned is the faith of God. Again, the most literal translation of this would be GODS FAITH, although the addition of the word OF by the translators gives the same meaning. There is not really any legitimate way around this conclusion, without handling the scriptures deceitfully.
The idea that God doesn’t have FAITH is rather ludicrous on its face, if you really think about it. First of all, how could God give us something that He did not already possess?
Secondly, if God does not possess FAITH, does that mean He possesses unbelief, or doubt? Well, of course not. God possess FAITH by virtue of the fact that He fully expects and believes that every Word which He speaks will come to pass. If you don’t think God believes that His Words will come to pass, you are mistaken:
So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth:
it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please,
and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.
-Isaiah 55:11
To say that God believes His words will come to pass without FAITH would be like saying God drives to the store without a vehicle. Driving requires a vehicle; and believing requires FAITH.
Peace...
