Christ’s Faith – A Theological Reading

Christ’s Faith – A Theological Reading May 19, 2013

I have on my desk the book by Michael Allen, The Christ’s Faith: A Dogmatic Account, which I intend to review in the near future. In short, Allen offers a theological reading of the pistis christou passages, a good summary of the book can be found here.

However, for those not wanting to read the whole book, Allen has a good summary of his argument in a recent journal article: Michael Allen, “‘It Is No Longer I Who Live’: Christ’s Faith and Christian Faith,” Journal of Reformed Theology 7 (2013): 3-26. In a nutshell, Allen suggests that Lutheran and Reformed schemes are able to hold together, in their own ways, the anthropological and christological elements of  the “faith of Christ.” I particularly liked this quote:

“An orderly theology of the gospel, then, must take into account the life and faith of the incarnate Son, or else it risks narrowing and throwing off balance the salvation wrought by the Messiah. But a confession of the gospel must also take into account the effects of Jesus’ work: his faithfulness does elicit faith, his session does supply grace, his reign does register sway in the spiritual devotion of his people. And so a theology of the gospel must also move to speak of Jesus as the one who not only believes, but who also demands and elicits faith in others.” (p. 14).


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