>
> Dear Michael,
> Two items:
> 1- How then, would you explain James 2:1 "Do not have the faith of
> Christ with partiality"?
On the other hand, how does one explain "Do not have the faith in Christ
with partiality"? The passage requires interpretation either way,
and so does not serve to distinguish among the genitives.
>
> 2- The context is very important, and it seems that "faithfulness of
> God" can be ruled out in Mark 11:22 because of the repetition of
> "believe" in the verses that follow. The injunction of the passage is
> to believe, not to be faithful.
If one reads the Gospel as requiring a two-way commitment -- first
from God & Jesus toward us, then us in response toward God & Jesus
-- mixing the two in some contexts makes sense (perhaps not here,
but at least in Gal. 2.16).
My personal inclination is to interpret this passage as "Have a
commitment of God's" -- i.e., in the absence of the definite article,
to interpret this as a personal commitment that derives in some
way from God.
Regards,
j.v.