LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW - Concordia Lutheran Seminary

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42 LUTHERAN THEOLOGICAL REVIEW XII unforeseen. Yet this specific way of articulating the universality of grace can easily verge into universalism by dispensing completely with the Christian’s own faith. The fact that several commentators, in the course of recognizing this danger, minimize it, suggests that it should actually be explored with more, not less, attention and precision. 73 6. A PROPOSAL FOR FURTHER INQUIRY What is obviously still needed, then, is a thorough investigation of the theological implications of reading pi,stij Cristou/ subjectively. Of particular interest, as noted above, would be the doctrines of Christology and soteriology. Some of the questions that could be considered in such an inquiry would be these: 1. What would a Christology that paid full(er) attention to “Christ’s faith” look like? In what specific ways might it resemble—or differ from— classical Christologies both orthodox and heterodox? What kind of Jesus would we have if faith were indeed (as Hays, for instance, suggests) His defining characteristic? 2. For that matter, how has the traditionally-objective understanding of this phrase affected the history of Christology? Soteriology? How important was it, for example, to Martin Luther, that Paul should be speaking of “faith in Christ” rather than “the faith of Christ” in these four key clusters? Is there any evidence that Luther considered “the faith of Christ” a viable option when he read these texts? 3. Conversely, it could be asked how unorthodox trends in contemporary Christology and soteriology might also be affecting the interpretation of pi,stij Cristou/. To what extent has the subjective interpretation flourished as a means of undermining orthodox Christology and/or soteriology? 4. What effect would it have on Lutheran theology to adopt a subjective reading of pi,stij Cristou/? At what points—if any—would “the faith of Christ” create conflict with historic Lutheran doctrine? Might the linkage between grace and faith, attested already in Ephesians 2:8-9 and reinforced in Luther’s great “solas” be strengthened through seeing Christ as the single agent by and through whom both great principles are most clearly revealed? Obviously these are complicated questions. The phrase pi,stij Cristou/ is itself so seldom and so ambiguously used that it might well be impossible to draw out of such a small amount of textual raw material the large quantity of 73 Wallis 68-69; Hooker 322; Barth 368-69.
CHAMBERS: PISTIS CRISTOU IN PAUL highly-refined theology which I am seeking. But on the other hand, the volume and intensity of the debate in the last few decades both underscores the significance of these questions and begs for their further exploration. Stephen L. Chambers, a pastor of Lutheran Church–Canada, is a Ph.D. candidate at Wycliffe College, University of Toronto. 43
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