LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

34 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII
As was true of both Romans 3:21-26 and Galatians 2:16-20, then,
Galatians 3:22 also appears to fit very smoothly into its context when pi,stij
vIhsou/ Cristou/ is understood subjectively as “the faith of Jesus Christ”.
d) Philippians 3:9
The final phrase under consideration is found at the end of Paul’s argument
in Philippians 3:7-9, again as found in the alternate NRSV version.
3 7 Yet whatever gains I had, these I have come to regard as loss because of
Christ [h[ghmai dia. to.n Cristo.n zhmi,an]. 8 More than that, I regard
everything as loss [h`gou/mai pa,nta zhmi,an ei=nai] because of the surpassing
value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord. For his sake I have suffered the loss
of all things, and I regard them as rubbish [h`gou/mai sku,bala], in order that I
may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own
that comes from the law, but one that comes through the faith of Christ, the
righteousness from God based on faith [th.n dia. pi,stewj Cristou/( th.n evk
qeou/ dikaiosu,nhn evpi. th/| pi,stei].
As Morna Hooker points out, here, too, Paul introduces the idea of “the
faith of Christ” in the context of a larger argument about Paul’s own nonexistent
contribution to salvation. In 3:4-6 he lists his privileges as a Jew,
then in 3:7-9 makes it clear by the threefold use of the verb that he regards
(h`ge,omai) them all as nothing compared to what he has received in Christ.
Each time, h`ge,omai echoes back to the programmatic Christological 2:6,
where Christ did not regard (h`gh,sato) equality with God as “something to be
exploited”. Now Paul, too, is following Christ’s example, considering as loss
(zhmi,a) and rubbish (sku,bala) whatever was formerly to his advantage. In all
of these parallels, Hooker thinks, “The echo of Philippians 2 suggests that
this phrase ought to refer to the obedient self-surrender of Christ—that is, to
his faithfulness.” 46
Ian Wallis, too, points out three other possessive genitives in Philippians
that he thinks support this subjective interpretation. In 1:27a he understands
tou/ euvaggeli,ou tou/ Cristou/ as a genitive of apposition (“the Gospel which
is Christ”); in 1:27b he takes th/| pi,stei tou/ euvaggeliou/ as an instrumental
dative followed by a possessive genitive (“by means of the faith belonging to
the Gospel”); and in 3:8 he prefers to see th/j gnw,sewj Cristou/ VIhsou/ tou/
kuri,ou mou subjectively (“the knowledge of Christ Jesus my Lord”, in the
sense of being known by Him) rather than in the more usual objective
manner (“knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord”). In 3:8 especially, Wallis thinks,
it is important for Paul to continue emphasizing God’s initiative, with “the
46 Hooker 332 (emphasis added).