The promise is said to be "by faith of Jesus Christ", and given to them "that believe".

There is no tautology here, the "faith of Jesus Christ" means something different from

them "that believe". Had the Apostle intended to teach the idea of our faith in Jesus

Christ, he could have said without ambiguity, and indeed has said so in many of his

Epistles. The "promise" is "by the faith of Jesus Christ", that is the Saviour's Own

personal faith and faithfulness even unto death. His faith, not ours, is the source of this

indefectible promise that nothing can disannul or make void. It becomes effective and

personal to each seeking sinner that "believes".

As many readers will not possess Volume XVIII of the Berean Expositor we believe

the importance of this expression "the faith of Jesus Christ" will justify the re-printing of

the following extract from the exposition of the epistle to the Romans.

WHAT IS THE FAITH OF CHRIST?

The usual interpretation makes the faith of Jesus Christ to mean the believer's faith in

Christ, or the faith which Jesus Christ has enjoined. This would interpret Rom. 3: 21,

22 as:

This has neither good sense nor good doctrine to commend it. It appears that we must

abandon this interpretation and come to the Word afresh. Referring to the structure of

Rom. 3: 21-28 given on page 85 of Volume XVIII, we see that "the faith of Jesus

Christ" (Rom. 3: 22) is balanced by the expression "the faith of Jesus" (Rom. 3: 26), a

phrase translated in the A.V. "believeth in Jesus". The two passages together stand in

relation to the great cause of our justification--"to him which is of the faith of Jesus".

We are not left entirely without guidance on this subject, for the very next chapter takes

up the expression in connexion with Abraham in a way that leaves little room for doubt

as to its true import. In Rom. 4: 12 we read concerning Abraham that he was the father

of those "who also walk in the steps of that faith of our father Abraham". The faith "of"

Abraham cannot mean my faith in him, or faith enjoined by him to me; it simply means

Abraham's own faith. I am enjoined to walk in the steps of that faith. Thus we have

presented here the two aspects that are already found in Rom. 3: 22 and 26.

The apostle Paul, quite apart from the question of inspiration, would not, unless he

were a careless writer, so soon have used the same expression with a totally different

meaning, and that without a word of warning.  Rom. 4:, however, is manifestly an

expansion of the argument of Rom. 3: 21-28 and consequently it seems difficult to

resist the conclusion that the terms "the faith of Jesus Christ" and "the faith of Abraham"

must be interpreted in the same way. In fact the testimony of the law and the prophets

spoken of in Rom. 3: 21 is actually the basis of Rom. 4:, which cites the book of

Genesis and the Psalms on this very point (Rom. 4: 3-8).