What does "faith in Jesus Christ" mean in Romans 3:22?

Question

"the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe". Romans 3:22. ESV.

1. In this verse is Jesus Christ the source of faith? Christians have faith because they are in Jesus Christ.

Here faith comes from Jesus Christ:

"And the righteousness of God is through faith from Jesus Christ toward all those believing". Romans 3:22 Berean Literal Bible.

2. Or, the object of that faith? e.g. "Abraham believed God". Romans 4:3.

Meaning perhaps that Abraham believed in what God had said or in what God was going to do.

Answer 1

YLT

and the righteousness of God is through the faith of Jesus Christ to all, and upon all those believing, -- for there is no difference,

It is Jesus Christ faith that we are saved by. It was His perfect faith and obedience to God on the cross that saves. If we've been given faith to believe in His work then that righteousness is upon us now.

(" The previous section of Romans found no one just but God himself. No one has been able to attain God's standard by doing good or keeping the law. How then they will become just before God? Only by becoming partakers of His righteousness.

The channel through which we may obtain his righteousness is the faith of Jesus Christ. He alone of all mankind, not only did good and kept the law, but he believed God even when he smote Him. It is out of His faith for our faith. Concordant commentary.)

For in it God's righteousness is being revealed out of faith for faith, according as it is written: "Now the just by faith shall be living. Rom. 1:17

Answer 2

Sherrie gave a fast but excellent answer. Here I'll support her claims with some Greek.

NET Bible

namely, the righteousness of God through the faithfulness of Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction,

through
διὰ (dia)
Preposition
Strong's 1223: A primary preposition denoting the channel of an act; through.

faith
πίστεως (pisteōs)
Noun - Genitive Feminine Singular Strong's 4102: Faith, belief, trust, confidence; fidelity, faithfulness.

Jesus
Ἰησοῦ (Iēsou)
Noun - Genitive Masculine Singular
Strong's 2424: Of Hebrew origin; Jesus, the name of our Lord and two other Israelites.

In the original Greek, there is no preposition between the nouns "faith" and "Jesus". Instead, they are connected by genitives. The preposition actually appears before: through Jesus-faith.

This usage is called genitive of origin or genitive of identification. It shows that the faith belongs to, links to, and is identified with the person of Jesus.

Answer 3

Faith is the means by which we obtain righteousness. This passage is about that righteousness.

Paul made an even clearer presentation of this truth in Romans 9:30-10:9. The Jews were seeking to produce their own righteousness according to their holy actions that conformed to the Law. Paul was speaking of a different type of righteousness–not a human righteousness that was flawed but the perfect righteousness of God Himself.

Through faith in Jesus, we can receive the very righteousness of God as a gift (2 Corinthians 5:21). God’s righteousness is infinitely better in quality and quantity than man’s righteousness (Isaiah 64:6).

People can never be justified in the sight of God based on a righteousness that comes from their own acts of holiness. They must have God’s righteousness, and that only comes through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as Savior. Paul said in Philippians 3:9, “And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith.”

…. This is “the righteousness of God” that Paul was referring to here.

Answer 4

I agree with several of the other answers so i will simply add some greater detail and context.

In Rom 3:22 (and V26) translations like, "faith of Jesus", "faith in Jesus", "faifulness of Jesus", etc are all interpretive translations of the genitive phrase πίστεως Ἰησοῦ Χριστοῦ (pisteos Iesou Christou) which is literally:

• faith belonging to Jesus Christ, or, faith coming from Jesus Christ, faith originating from Jesus Christ, or even faithfulness of Jesus Christ, etc.

Let there be no doubt that there is no room for any idea here that our faith in Jesus is a work we do in order to secure righteousness for several reasons:

• "by the works of the law no flesh shall be justified" (Rom 3:20)
• It is the righteousness of God that Justifies not ours (V21)
• any faith we have comes from God in the first place

We are saved because God is faithful and keeps His promises to love and save us. We are saved because Jesus is faithful and keeps His promises to love and save us. Phil 2:13, John 6:44, Rom 2:4, 5:5, Eph 2:5 all show that salvation and atonement are God’s initiative and that any positive response to God’s invitation is also the work of the Holy Spirit. See also John 15:16, 1 John 4:19.

Here is my attempt at a very literal translation of Rom 3:22 -

And the righteousness of God is through faithfulness of Jesus Christ toward all those trusting. For there is no distinction,

See the appendix below for some further information.

APPENDIX - Faith of/in Jesus

The centrality of faith, or better, trust, in the Christian’s life is best illustrated by examining the use of the phrase “faith of Jesus” which occurs five times. Rom 3:22, 26, Gal 2:16, 3:22, Rev 14:12. In all cases the Greek “pistis Iesou” (note the genitive) can be translated either as:

• “Faith in Jesus” meaning the trust we have in Jesus to save us because we cannot do it ourselves. That is, we allow Him to do for us that which we cannot do for ourselves.
• “Faithfulness of Jesus” (more literally correct) meaning the trustworthiness and faithfulness of Jesus Himself that He exercised on our behalf to save us; and that we imitate in order to receive the merits and benefits of Jesus. See especially 2 Tim 2:13.

In my judgement it is not necessary to decide between these two as both are intended. That is, we trust Jesus to be trustworthy. There is a similar situation with “Faith of God” in Mark 11:22, Rom 3:3.

The New Testament also contains the phrase “faith/trust in Jesus” (“pistis en Iesous”) and in all cases the phrase is used as the basis for the Christian life and/or a cause for celebration and note by others. Gal 3:26, Eph 1:15, Col 1:4, 1 Tim 1:14, 3:13, 2 Tim 1:13, 3:15, Heb 11:6.