Galatians 3:22 in Greek reads: ἀλλὰ συνέκλεισεν ἡ γραφὴ τὰ πάντα ὑπὸ ἁμαρτίαν, ἵνα ἡ ἐπαγγελία ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ δοθῇ τοῖς πιστεύουσιν.

We can translate this as 'But the Scriptures shut up everything under sin, so that the promise from πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ might be given to those who are faithful.'

The only phrase left untranslated in this sentence has led to a tremendous amount of scholarly sparring, which I myself have taken part in. It is the phrase ἐκ πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ, and the debate is called "the Pistis Christou debate". It centers around how to understand the relationship between the words 'pistis,' usually translated 'faith' or 'faithfulness,' and 'Jesus Christ.'

Most translations translate this as 'faith in Jesus Christ.' This is called the objective genitive position. A significant portion of the scholarly world thinks it should be translated 'faithfulness of Jesus Christ.' This is called the subjective genitive position. Here, Dr. Kevin Grasso argues for a third view, translating the phrase as 'the Jesus-Christ-faith,' where it is the faith or message about Jesus the Christ that is being referred to.

This is a bonus episode for our series on Key Terms in Pauline Theology. In this episode, Kevin dives into Galatians 3:22 to show how the Greek can help us better understand how these terms relate, and ultimately better understand the text. Go to biblingo.org/podcast to learn more and subscribe to the Biblical Languages Podcast.

For a longer, more scholarly treatment of this topic, please see Dr. Kevin Grasso's journal article "A Linguistic Analysis of πίστις χριστοῦ: The Case for the Third View" available for free here: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/0142064X20949385

The Jesus-Christ-Faith: Galatians 3:22 and The Pistis Christou Debate