An Essay-Review of Michael F. Bird and Preston M. Sprinkle, The Faith of Jesus Christ

Much of the discussion of the Pauline expression pistis Christou has been polarized between the options of “faith in Christ” as a personal act of the believer at the beginning of the Christian life, and the “faith of Christ” as a model of Christian discipleship.  This polarization is evident in the collection of essays edited by Michael Bird and Preston Sprinkle, The Faith of Christ (Hendrickson, 2009).  In the course of interacting with the contents of the essays in this volume, we will attempt to break the impasse by suggestion that “the faith of Christ” is an expression Paul uses to describe what happens in Christian liturgy, as Jesus the High Priest leads the congregation to the throne of grace in public worship.  The faith of Christ is literally the way confident access to the presence of the Father is opened up to the mystical body of believers.