Weekly Newsletter from Christian Vegetarian Association CVA - September 11, 2024
From Christian Vegetarian Association (CVA)

  1. Finding Peace of Mind, Continued: The Faith of Christ
  2. All-Creatures.Org Ministry

1. Finding Peace of Mind, Continued: The Faith of Christ

Many people equate Christianity as having faith in Christ. To be sure, for Christians Jesus is the central human figure of the faith. However, as Rev. Paul Nuechterlein has observed, crucial passages from Paul’s epistles might have been mistranslated.

Many Christians believe that whether a person is “justified,” or is right with God, depends on whether or not that person believes in Jesus as their personal Lord and Savior. In other words, faith, not works, justifies us in the eyes of God. This view largely derives from reading Romans 3:21-22 as follows: “But now the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from law, although the law and the prophets bear witness to it, the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe.” However, the phrase “faith in Christ” could also be translated as “faith of Christ,” and the different translations have profoundly different theological implications.

The Greek in Romans 3:22 is pisteos Christou, which is the genitive construction. It could be translated as either “faith in Christ” or “faith of Christ.” In Romans 4:16, Paul used the genitive construction to describe the faith of Abraham. Obviously, he meant the faith of Abraham rather than faith in Abraham, because neither the Hebrews nor anyone else regarded Abraham as a god. When Paul clearly wished to communicate “in,” he used the Greek word en. In Ephesians 1:15 and Colossians 1:4, en is used for faith in Christ, but neither passage states that faith in Christ is essential for justification. Further, scholars have doubts about Paul’s authorship of these two epistles. Therefore, even though many English Bibles have pisteos Christou translated as faith in Christ, in Paul’s undisputedly authentic letters, specifically Romans 3:22 and 3:26, Galatians 2:16 and 3:22, and Philippians 3:9, faith of Christ seems more appropriate. Translators, when trying to determine the meaning of particular passages, invariably impose their own theology and beliefs onto the text. There is no way for translators to know with certainty what the original writers meant to convey. Translators who believe that we are justified by faith in Christ might have been prompted, perhaps mistakenly, to translate pisteos Christou as “faith in Christ.”

Why is this important? For one thing, if faith in Christ alone justifies us, works seem unimportant. However, on closer inspection, this theology still requires one work – to have faith in Christ. The reason I find this theology problematic for several reasons. For starters, the work required to have faith in Christ is too easy for some people and too hard for others. Those who believe that their faith alone justifies them have little incentive to serve God’s creation or to make meaningful self-sacrifices in service to others. This attitude accords well with contemporary American consumerism and narcissism, but its relative indifference to those who are poor, weak, or vulnerable does not seem to accord with Jesus’ ministry. Conversely, faith in Christ can be exceptionally hard for those who have experienced great loss or profound suffering. They often feel abandoned, and they doubt the existence of a loving God. Such people, regardless of how much they want to believe, often find it impossible to have faith in Christ.

Another problem is that, if only those who have faith in Christ are right with God, then this would seem very unfair to those born before Jesus’ ministry and those raised in non-Christian households where access to and encouragement of Christian faith is generally much less than those raised in Christian households. Would non-Christians who serve God’s creation and manifest compassion and kindness be rejected by God, while those who declare Jesus as their Lord and Savior while making unkind, harmful choices that hurt others find favor with God?

Next, I will explore the implications for human communities and for animal issues of reading Paul as encouraging followers to adopt the “faith of Christ.”

Stephen R. Kaufman, MD

2. From All-Creatures.Org Ministry

All-Creatures.org Newsletter, August 28, 2024

Wolves and Humans can coexist — the dark story of ‘dairy’ — more taxpayer funded dog experiments defunded — horse mik ice cream? — road rules and kindness — trauma in sentient beings — cheese and your brain — timeline for failure of animal experimentation — Actions for Captain Paul Watson’s release — zoonotic disease on fur farms — and more…

All-Creatures.org Newsletter, September 4, 2024

Apache reservation dogs’ realities — Badger cull documentary debunks links to bovine TB — Animal mother-child bonds — how Swedish mink farm was closed — veal sandwich competition axed — actions for Captain Paul Watson — about species awareness days? — why boil Lobsters? — FBI and Animal activists' WMD charges? — SeaQuest mall’s captive, starving Otters — nudges to veganism — tasty bacon or fellow being? — and more…

Do you have things that you would like to see included in future newsletters? Then send it to us at veda@all-creatures.org. 

In the Love of the Lord,
Frank L Hoffman
All-Creatures.org

and

Kindness,
Tams Nicholson
Executive Directress
All-Creatures.org 

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