FAITH
unbelief
in
tlie
promised
salvation,
coming
through
Jehovah's
humiliated
Servant,
are
charged
upon
her
as
a
fatal
blindness.
Thus
the
cardinal
import
of
faith
Is
marked
at
salient
points
of
Israelite
history,
which
NT
interpreters
seized
with
a
sure
instinct.
At
the
head
of
the
OT
sayings
on
this
subject
stands
Gn
155,
the
text
on
which
St.
Paul
founded
his
doctrine
of
justification
by
faith
(see
Ro
4»-
«,
Gal
3«;
also
Ja
2^)
;
'
and
Abraham
believed
Jehovah,
and
he
counted
it
to
him
for
righteousness'
(JE)
—
a
crucial
passage
in
Jewish
controversy.
St.
Paul
recognized
in
Abraham
the
exemplar
of
personal
religion,
antedating
the
legal
system
—
tlie
faith
of
the
man
who
stands
in
direct
heart-
relationship
to
God.
Gn
15«
supplies
the
key
to
his
character
and
historical
position:
his
heart's
trustful
response
to
Jehovah's
promise
made
Abraham
all
that
he
has
become
to
Israel
and
humanity;
and
'the
men
of
faith'
are
his
children
(Gal
3«-*).
Only
here,
however,
and
in
Hab
2S
along
with
two
or
three
passages
in
the
Psalms
(27"
116'"—
quoted
2
Co
4",
and
possibly
119«=),
does
faith
ipso
nomine
(or
'
believe
'
)
assume
the
personal
value
which
is
of
its
essence
in
the
NT.
The
difference
in
expression
between
the
OT
and
NT
in
this
respect
discloses
a
deep-lying
difference
of
religious
experience.
The
national
redemption
of
Israel
(from
Egypt)
lay
entirely
on
the
plane
of
history,
and
was
therefore
to
be
'remembered';
whereas
the
death
and
rising
of
our
Lord,
while
equally
historical,
belong
to
the
spiritual
and
eternal,
and
are
to
be
'believed.'
Under
the
Old
Covenant
the
people
formed
the
religious
unit;
the
relations
of
the
individual
Israelite
to
Jehovah
were
mediated
through
the
sacred
institutions,
and
the
Law
demanded
outward
obedience
rather
than
inner
faith
—
hearing
the
voice
of
Jehovah,
'keeping
his
statutes,'
'walking
in
his
way';
so
(In
the
language
of
Gal
3^)
the
age
of
faith
was
not
yet.
Besides
this,
the
Israelite
revelation
was
consciously
detective
and
preparatory,
'the
law
made
nothing
perfect';
when
St.
Paul
would
express
to
his
fellow-countrymen
in
a
word
what
was
most
precious
to
himself
and
them,
he
speaks
not
of
'the
faith'
but
'the
hope
of
Israel'
(Ac
282"
etc.),
and
the
writer
of
He
11
defines
the
faith
of
his
OT
heroes
as
'the
assurance
of
things
hoped
for';
accordingly,
Hebrew
terms
giving
to
faith
the
aspect
of
expectation
^trusting,
waiting,
looking
for
Jehovah
—
are
much
commoner
than
those
containing
the
word
'believe.'
Again,
the
fact
that
oppression
and
suffering
entered
so
largely
into
the
lite
of
OT
believers
has
coloured
their
confessions
in
psalm
and
prophecy;
instead
of
believing
in
Jehovah,
they
speak
of
cleamng
to
Him,
taking
refuge
under
His
wings,
making
Him
a
shield,
a
tower,
etc.
In
all
this
the
liveliness
of
Eastern
sentiment
and
imagination
comes
into
play;
and
while
faith
seldom
figures
under
the
bare
abstract
term,
It
is
to
be
recog-nized
in
manifold
concrete
action
and
in
dress
of
varied
hue.
Under
the
Old
Covenant,
as
under
the
New,
faith
'wrought
by
love'
(Dt
6',
Ps
II61
etc.,
Lv
19>8
etc.),
while
it
inspired
hope.
2.
In
NT.
—
The
NT
use
of
pislis,
pisteuS,
is
based
on
that
of
common
Greek,
where
persuasion
is
the
radical
idea
of
the
word.
From
this
sprang
two
principal
notions,
meeting
in
the
NT
conception:
(a)
the
ethical
notion
of
confidence,
trust
in
a
person,
his
word,
promise,
etc.,
and
then
mutual
trust,
or
the
expression
thereof
in
troth
or
pledge
—
a
usage
with
only
a
casual
religious
application
in
non-Biblical
Greek
;
and
(6)
the
intellectual
notion
of
conviction,
belief
(in
distinction
from
knowl-edge),
covering
all
the
shades
of
meaning
from
practical
assurance
down
to
conjecture,
but
always
connoting
sincerity,
a
belief
held
in
good
faith.
The
use
of
'faith'
in
Mt
232»
belongs
to
OT
phraseology
(see
Dt
322",
quoted
above);
also
in
Ro
3^,
Gal
5*",
pistis
is
under-stood
to
mean
good
faith,
fidelity
(RV
'faithfulness'),
as
often
in
classical
Greek.
In
sense
(6)
pistis
came
into
the
language
of
theology,
the
gods
being
referred
(e.g.
by
Plutarch
as
a
religious
philosopher)
to
the
province
FAITH
of
faith,
since
they
are
beyond
the
reach
of
sense-
perception
and
logical
demonstration.
(1)
In
this
way
faith
came
to
signify
the
religious
faculty
In
the
broadest
sense,
—
a
generalization
foreign
to
the
OT.
Philo
Judaeus,
the
philosopher
of
Judaism,
thus
employs
the
term;
quoting
Gn
15«,
he
takes
Abraham
for
the
embodiment
of
faith
so
understood,
viewing
It
as
the
crown
of
human
character,
'
the
queen
of
the
virtues';
tor
faith
is,
with
Philo,
a
steady
intui-tion
of
Divine
things,
transcending
sense
and
logic;
it
Is,
In
fact,
the
highest
knowledge,
the
consummation
of
reason.
This
large
Hellenistic
meaning
is
conspicuous
in
He
IV^-
'■
^
etc.,
and
appears
In
St.
Paul
(2
Co
4"
5'
'by
faith
not
by
appearance').
There
is
nothing
distinctively
Christian
about
faith
understood
in
the
bare
significance
of
'seeing
the
invisible'
—
'the
demons
believe,
and
shudder';
the
belief
that
contains
no
more
is
the
'dead
faith,'
which
condemns
Instead
of
justify-ing
(Ja
2"-2«).
As
St.
James
and
St.
Paul
both
saw
from
different
standpoints,
Abraham,
beyond
the
'belief
that
God
is,'
recognized
what
God
is
and
yielded
Him
a
loyal
trust,
which
carried
the
whole
man
with
it
and
determined
character
and
action;
his
faith
included
sense
(o)
of
pisteud
(which
lies
in
the
Heb.
vb.
'believe')
along
with
(6).
In
this
combination
lies
the
rich
and
powerful
import
of
NT
'believing':
it
is
a
spiritual
apprehension
joined
with
personal
affiance;
the
recog-nition
of
truth
In,
and
the
plighting
of
troth
with,
the
Unseen;
In
this
twofold
sense,
'with
the
heart
(the
entire
inner
self)
man
believeth
unto
righteousness'
(Ro
10'").
Those
penetrated
by
the
spirit
of
the
OT
could
not
use
the
word
pistis
in
relation
to
God
without
attaching
to
It,
besides
the
rational
Idea
of
supersensible
apprehension,
the
warmer
consciousness
of
moroZ
trust
and
fealty
native
to
it
already
in
human
relationships.
(2)
Contact
with
Jesus
Christ
gave
to
the
word
a
greatly
Increased
use
and
heightened
potence.
'Be-lieving'
meant
to
Christ's
disciples
more
than
hitherto,
since
they
had
Him
to
believe
in;
and
'believers,'
'they
that
had
believed,'
became
a
standing
name
for
the
followers
of
Christ
(Ac
2",
Ro
10<,
1
Co
14?^
Mk
16").
A
special
endowment
of
this
power
given
to
some
in
the
Church
seems
to
be
intended
by
the
'
faith
'
of
1
Co
12»
(cf.
Mt
17"'-,
Lk
17").
Faith
was
our
Lord's
chief
and
incessant
demand
from
men;
He
preaches,
He
works
'powers,'
to
elicit
and
direct
it
—
the
'miracle-faith'
attracted
by
'signs
and
wonders'
being
a
stepping-stone
to
faith
in
the
Person
and
doctrine
of
God's
Messenger.
The
bodily
cures
and
spiritual
blessings
Jesus
distributes
are
conditioned
upon
this
one
thing
—
'Only
believe!'
'All
things
are
possible
to
him
that
believeth.'
There
was
a
faith
In
Jesus,
real
so
far
as
it
went
but
not
sufficient
for
true
discipleship,
since
It
attached
itself
to
His
power
and
failed
to
recognize
His
character
and
spiritual
aims
(see
Jn
2"«-
4"
6"2-
7'i
8"«-
11«
12i"'-
14"),
which
Jesus
rejected
and
affronted;
akin
to
this,
in
a
more
active
sense.
Is
the
faith
that
'calls'
Him
'Lord'
and
'removes
mountains'
In
His
name,
but
does
not
In
love
do
the
Father's
will,
which
He
must
disown
(Mt
7"^-,
1
Co
132).
Following
the
Baptist,
Jesus
sets
out
with
the
summons,
'
Repent,
and
believe
the
good
news'
that
'the
kingdom
of
God
is
at
hand'
(Mk
1");
like
Moses,
He
expects
Israel
to
recognize
His
mission
as
from
God,
showing
'signs'
to
prove
this
(see
Jn
2n-
23
p
etc.;
cf.
Ac
2^,
He
4^).
As
His
teaching
advanced,
it
appeared
that
He
required
an
unparalleled
faith
in
Himself
along
with
His
message,
that
the
Kingdom
of
God
He
speaks
of
centres
in
His
Person,
that
in
tact
He
is
'the
word'
ot
God
He
brings,
He
is
the
light
and
life
whose
coming
He
announces,
'
the
bread
from
heaven'
that
He
has
to
give
to
a
famished
world
(Jn
eaa.
812
1126
146
etc.).
For
those
'who
received
him,'
who
'believed
on
his
name'
in
this
complete
sense,
faith
acquired
a
scope
undreamed
of
before;
it
signified
the
unique
attachment
which
gathered
round
the
Person
