the Week of Proper 28 / Ordinary 33
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Bible Dictionaries
Faith (2)
Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament
or FAITH (Heb. אֵמוּנָה, Gr. πίστις).—
1. Introductory.
2. The idea of ‘faith’ in the OT.
3. Later Jewish idea of ‘faith.’
4. ‘Faith’ in the Gospels: (1) in the Synoptics; (2) in the Fourth Gospel.
5. Some characteristics of the Johannine conception of ‘faith.’
6. The Johannine and Pauline conceptions of ‘faith’ contrasted.
7. The place of ‘faith’ in the teaching of Jesus.
Literature.
1. Introductory.—In the NT the term ‘faith’ has two main meanings, which may be distinguished as active and passive senses, viz.: (1) belief, ‘the frame of mind which relies on another,’ and (2) fidelity, ‘the frame of mind which can be relied on.’ Of these the former is the predominant use, and is marked by a rich, copious, and distinctively Christian development.
The two senses—the active and passive—both logically and grammatically pass by an easy transition from one to the other, and are not always clearly distinguishable, or are actually combined (as, e.g., in οἱ τιστοί, ‘the faithful,’ applied to the Christian fellowship). In the OT the quasi-active sense of ‘trust,’ with the meaning ‘exhibit faithfulness or confidence,’ is expressed by the Hiphil הָאֵמין (constr. with פְ = ‘to believe in reliance on in,’ followed by the object or ground of the belief; with לִ in a weaker sense, ‘to believe,’ the object here denoted by לִ being not so much that in which the confidence is reposed, as that on the (attesting) strength of which it is reposed in the absolute object). No noun-derivative from the Hiphil occurs in the OT (denoting ‘faith’ as an active principle). The substantive אָמוּיָה ‘firmness,’ ‘steadfastness,’ ‘fidelity’ (notice the passive form) is the nearest equivalent for ‘faith’; but it always occurs with the passive sense, with the possible exception of Habakkuk 2:4 (‘the just shall live his faith’).* [Note: Targ., however,על קושטהון יחקיימון. Perhaps, as Lightfoot (, p. 148) suggests, the ‘transitional or double sense’ should be recognized in the passage.] In this passage the active principle of trust in God seems to be contrasted sharply with arrogant self-sufficiency.
The Gr. τιστις (τιστεὐω), seems to have followed the reverse order of development (from active to passive). Here the predominant meaning is active ‘faith,’ ‘trust,’ ‘belief’ (in Classical usage, however, with the slightest possible association with religious ideas). The LXX Septuagint use of the word (τιστις = אמוּנָה usually; sometimes אֶמִח and אַמָנָה) probably reacted upon the Hebrew, and on this supposition it is possible to explain the active sense which is certainly present in Rabbinical Hebrew, and which may be seen in the late Hebrew of Sirach (e.g. Sirach 46:15).† [Note: ἑν πίστει αὑτοῦ ἡκριβάσθη προφήτης; Heb. ב(אמונתו נרר)ש הוה (Strack).] In the Aramaic of the Targums the active sense is fixed in a substantive derived from the Aphel, הֵימָנוּחִא (used in Genesis 15:6 of Abraham’s faith). Cf. the Syriac equivalent of πίστις in the NT ܗܝܡܢܘܬܐ
2. The idea of faith in the OT.—Faith as an active religious principle is relatively far less prominent in the OT than in the NT. The solitary instance in which the active meaning certainly emerges in the Heb. substantive אֲמוּנָה has already been referred to. But even the verb (הַאַמִין) is by no means common with a religious connotation. Trust or confidence in God and the unseen are, of course, essential to spiritual religion, and receive manifold expression, especially in the Psalms (note the use in this connexion of (בִ, עַל) בָּמַח א֛ל with God as object). But, as Lightfoot‡ [Note: cit. p. 151] has remarked, ‘it is indeed a characteristic token of the difference between the two covenants, that under the Law the “fear of the Lord” holds very much the same place as “faith in God,” “faith in Christ,” under the Gospel. Awe is the prominent idea in the earlier dispensation, trust in the later.’
The object of ‘faith,’ as expressed (with a religious connotation) by the verb (הַאָמין) in the OT, is sometimes the words or commandments of God, or a particular word or work of God, or the Divine revelation, or the Divine messengers the prophets, or God Himself in His own Person. Of this last usage the examples are the most important (Genesis 15:8, Exodus 14:31, Numbers 14:11; Numbers 20:12, Deuteronomy 1:32, 2 Kings 17:14, 2 Chronicles 20:20, Psalms 78:22, Jonah 3:5).§ [Note: Add to these the cases where it is construed absolutely: Exodus 4:31, Isaiah 7:9; Isaiah 28:16, Psalms 116:10; and Cf. Psalms 27:13.] Here the verb is construed with בּ. The classical instance is, of course, Abraham’s faith (Genesis 15:6), which, with a true instinct, has been recognized, both by Jewish and Christian religious exegesis, as the supreme example of faith in its active exercise as a religious principle.
3. Later Jewish idea of ‘faith.’—In early Rabbinical and other Jewish literature the term for ‘faith,’ besides its Biblical meaning of ‘faithfulness,’ also denotes active trust in God. This as a religious principle is emphatically praised by the Rabbis, and regarded by them as highly meritorious. The classical example is, as has already been stated, the faith of Abraham (Genesis 15:6), which became one of the commonplaces of theological discussion not only in Rabbinical circles but also in the Hellenistic school of Alexandria,* [Note: In Philo the career of Abraham is made the subject of elaborate and frequent comment and allegory. Lightfoot (op. cit.) remarks: ‘If we look only to the individual man, faith with Philo is substantially the same as faith with St. Paul. The lessons drawn from the history of Abraham by the Alexandrian Jew and the Christian Apostle differ very slightly.’] while its occurrence in the NT is, of course, a familiar fact. The most instructive example in Rabbinical literature is to be found in the early Midrashic work the Mekhilta (on Exodus 14:30).† [Note: The original can be seen in Weiss’ ed. of the Mekhilta, 25b, 26. The Mekhilta is a halakhic midrash on part of Exodus, dating in its present form from the first part of the second Christian century, but containing much earlier material. It is invaluable for illustrating early Jewish ideas and religious thoughts of the Apostolic age.] The passage runs as follows:
‘The people feared the Lord. So long as they were in Egypt they did not fear God, but now: the people feared the Lord, and they believed in the Lord and His servant Moses. If they believed in Moses, much more did they believe in the Lord. From this thou mayest learn that whoever believes in the faithful Shepherd is (regarded) as if he believed in the word of Him who spake and the world was.… Great is faith whereby Israel believed in Him who spake and the world was; for because Israel believed in the Lord, the Holy Spirit abode upon them, and they sang the song: for immediately after the words: they believed in the Lord and in Moses His servant, follow the words (Exodus 15:1): Then sang Moses and the children of Israel this song to the Lord. In like manner thou findest that Abraham our Father inherited this world and the world to come only by the merit of faith (אֲמָנָה) whereby he believed in the Lord, as it is said (Genesis 15:6). he believed in the Lord, and He counted it to him for righteousness … R. Nehemiah says: Whoever receives unto himself one precept (of the Law) in true faith (בַאֲמָנָה) is worthy for the Holy Spirit to abide upon him; for so we find in the case of our fathers that because they believed in the Lord they were deemed worthy that the Holy Spirit should abide upon them, and they uttered the song. For it is said: believed in God and in Moses His servant; and (immediately afterwards) it is said: sang Moses and the children of Israel, etc. And so thou findest in the case of Abraham that he inherited this world and the world to come solely by merit of faith (בּוכוּת אֲמָנָה), whereby he believed in the Lord, as it is said (Genesis 15:6): believed, etc. And in the same way we find in the case of Moses, David, and Dehorab that they (by reason of faith) sang a song, and the Holy Spirit abode upon them. And in like manner thou findest that solely by merit of faith was Israel redeemed from Egypt, as it is said: the people believed, etc. And so it is said (Psalms 31:23): Lord preserveth the faithful, making mention of the faith of the fathers.… Of the righteous it is said (Isaiah 26:2): ye the gates that the righteous nation, which keepeth the faith, may enter in. Into this gate all the faithful (בצלי אמונה) enter. David sings (Psalms 92:1): is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to sing praises unto Thy name, O Most High: to show forth Thy loving-kindness in the morning and Thy faithfulness in the nights, with an instrument of ten strings and with the psaltery, with a solemn sound upon the harp. For Thou, O Lord, hast made me glad through Thy works, and in the operation of Thy hand will I exult. What is the cause of his joy here? It is the reward of faith which our fathers showed in this world, wherewith they trusted by day and night. For thus is it said: show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning and thy faithfulness in the nights. And in like manner is it said of Jehoshaphat (2 Chronicles 20:20): they rose early in the morning and went forth into the wilderness of Tekoa; and when they went forth Jehoshaphat stood up and said: Hear ye me, O Judah, and ye inhabitants of Jerusalem! Have faith in the Lord your God, and so shall ye be established; and have faith in His prophets, and so shall ye prosper. And (so) it is written (Jeremiah 5:3): Lord, do not Thine eyes look upon faith? And (Habakkuk 2:4): righteous liveth of his faith. Also (Lamentations 3:23): are new every morning, Thy faithfulness is great. Also thou findest that the (Divine) intercourse is only accorded as the reward of faith, as it is said (Song of Solomon 4:8): with me from Lebanon, my bride (‘’ = Spirit), with me; of faith Shalt Thou be the familiar companion altogether (lit. ‘the head’).‡ [Note: So the words of the original (תּשׁוּרִי מַרֹאשׁ אֲמָנִה) are under stood here. ‘Bride’ (כַלָה) is a mystical designation of the Holy Spirit or Shekinah,] In like manner it is said (Hosea 2:19-20): I will betroth thee unto me for ever; yea, I will betroth thee unto me with faith (בֶּאֱמוּנָה). Great is faith before God, for on account of faith it is that the Holy Spirit abides (upon Israel),’ etc.
In the early Rabbinical literature ‘faith’ wavers in meaning between ‘belief’ and ‘fidelity (to the Law).’ The former is prominent in the Apocalypse of Baruch (1st cent. a.d.) But the latter is characteristic of the later period, ‘faith ‘and ‘works’ being co-ordinated or combined.* [Note: Charles’ note on Apoc. Bar. liv. 21: ‘Faith in the Talmud is in one of its aspects regarded as a work which, as the fulfilment of the Law, produces merit.’] ‘Faith’ (אֵמוּנָה) in the sense of fixed dogmatic belief is quite late in Hebrew literature (mediaeval times).
In Rabbinical Hebrew, besides the nouns אֲמָנָה אָמוּנָה, a Hipbil-substantival form הַאֲמָנָה (= Aram. הימנותא) occurs (Tosefta Baba Bathra v. 8). For the Gospel-expression ὁλιγότιστοι a Heb. parallel occurs in Mekhilta (on Exodus 15:1) אמנה מחוסרי ‘those lacking faith.’ So in the Pal. Targ. (on Numbers 11:32) מחסרי הימנוחא (‘Then rose up those who had lacked faith and gathered the quails,’ etc.); and Gen. Rab. § 32, קְמַנּי אמוּנָה ‘men of little faith’ (an exact parallel). In the Mishna, Sota ix. 12, the decline of the world is ascribed to the disappearance of ‘men of faith’ (אַנְשִׁי אֲמָנָה).
4. ‘Faith’ in the Gospels.—The terms for ‘faith’ and ‘believe’ in contrast with those of the OT are characteristic of the whole NT language, and occur almost entirely with a directly religious connotation. In Philo the religious content of the terms had decidedly been heightened, but suffered from a certain vagueness in the conception of the object of faith, due to his transcendental philosophy. Faith, in Philo’s conception, rests rather upon the abstract Divinity than upon the personal God of grace and salvation, and is rather the fruit and crown of righteousness than its antecedent. In the NT it is all-important to distinguish the different connotations of the terms according as the object is (a) God; (b) the promises of God; (c) Christ; (d) some particular utterance, claim, or promise of God or Christ. ‘The last of these senses is the one most common in the Synoptic Gospels.’† [Note: Sanday-Headlam, Romans, p. 31 f. The passive sense of τίστις (‘faithfulness,’ ‘fidelity’) is very rare in the NT. The only instance in the Gospels seems to be Matthew 23:23 (‘the weightier matters of the Law, judgment and mercy and faithfulness’ [καὶ τὴν τίστιν]).]
(1) In the Synoptics.—In its active sense of ‘faith,’ πίστις usually means here belief or trust in God or God’s power as manifested in Christ (the so-called ‘miracle-faith’).‡ [Note: Nowhere in the NT is it used of man’s faith in man.] The response of faith conditions the granting of relief to those in bodily distress (Mark 5:34 ||, Mark 10:52 ||), the effect being proportionate to the degree of faith exercised (Matthew 9:29 ‘According to your faith [κατἀ τὴν πίστιν ὑμῶν] be it done unto you’; cf. Matthew 15:28, Luke 7:9; Luke 7:50; and for degrees of faith see Matthew 8:10 ||, Luke 17:5 etc.). In this connexion Matthew 13:58 is instructive. We are told that ‘He did not many mighty works there [‘in his own country,’ Nazareth] because of their unbelief’ (‘lack of faith,’ ἀπιστίαν); cf. Mark 6:6. The term ‘faith’ is also applied to the confidence of the disciple that the power conferred upon him will be effective (in the performance of miraculous works), Mark 11:22-24, defined by Christ as ‘faith in God’ (Mark 11:22). Possibly, however, this passage (as has been suggested by Menzies§ [Note: The Earliest Gospel, p. 211.] ) is intended simply to bring home to the disciples the power of faith in accomplishing the seemingly impossible. ‘Jesus summons those who look to Him to have faith in God when they are in great danger, or when they are seeking with all their heart some boon which outward appearances declare to be all but hopeless’; the special and (apparently insurmountable) difficulty here being the insensibility of the Jewish people as a whole to the message of the gospel (symbolized by the withered fig-tree). Cf. the words of Christ to Jairus (Mark 5:36 ‘Fear not, only believe’), to the father of the epileptic (Mark 9:23 ‘If it be possible! All things are possible to him that believeth’), to the disciples in the storm (Mark 4:40 ‘Why are ye fearful? Have ye not faith?’).
The words about the power to remove mountains (Mark 11:23 f. || Matthew 21:21 f.) occur also in a different connexion in Matthew 17:20 (and in the rebuke administered to the disciples for their ‘lack of faith’ in dealing with the epileptic—a case of special difficulty). They have a proverbial ring,* [Note: For the possible interpretation of the words בהר יהוה יראה (Genesis 22:14) as a proverb = ‘In the mountain (.e. when perplexity is at its height) Jahweh will provide,’ see C. J. Ball in note, loc. Cf. Zechariah 4:7.] and may easily have been used by our Lord more than once (cf. Luke 17:6 ‘If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye would say to this sycamine tree, Be thou rooted up,’ etc.).
In one instance ‘faith’ is used in the Synoptic Gospels in a way that suggests the technical sense so frequent in the Epistles, viz. Luke 18:8 (‘When the Son of man comes, shall he find faith on the earth’?) Here ‘faith’ = faith in Himself as Messiah and Redeemer.
In the Acts and Epp. πἱστις, used absolutely, constantly occurs in a soteriological sense = ‘saving faith.’ It rapidly became a Christian technical term, and practically stood as a synonym for Christianity, marking out the new religion as essentially characterized by faith or belief in Jesus as Redeemer. ‘Believers’ becomes the designation of Christians; ‘to believe’ = to become a Christian. As contrasted with this usage, the term in the Synoptics is, to some extent, undeveloped in meaning. Yet how near the soteriological lies to the ‘miracle-faith’ comes out clearly in such a passage as Acts 3:16 (the healing of the lame man at the Gate Beautiful) ‘By faith in his name hath his name made this man strong, whom ye behold and know; yea, the faith that is through him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all’; here ‘faith in the Name’ (of Jesus) is described as ‘faith brought into being by Him’ (ἡ τίστις ἠ διʼ αὑτοῦ),† [Note: also Acts 14:9.] and the same conclusion results from a comparison of the language of Matthew 9:2, Mark 2:5, Luke 5:20 (‘Thy sins are forgiven thee’), as well as from the language of Luke 7:50, Matthew 9:22, Mark 5:24.‡ [Note: also the use of τιστεύειν for saving faith in Christ, in Mark 9:42; Mark 15:32.]
(2) In the Fourth Gospel the absence of the substantive (πίστις)—which does not occur at all—is made up for by the frequent use of the verb (πιστεύειν).
τιστεύειν rarely occurs in the NT in the weakened sense ‘to credit,’ ‘give credence to’; only once apparently of a non-religious act (Matthew 24:23; Matthew 24:26, Mark 13:21—in the warning about false Christs, ‘believe it not’); elsewhere of assent given to some definite act, event, or fact in the religious sphere: of believing prayer (Matthew 21:22 ‘Whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing ye shall receive); of belief in the fact of the resurrection of Christ (John 20:8; John 20:25; John 20:29 bis); in God’s word of promise (Luke 1:45; cf. Acts 26:27), in the declarations of Jesus whether regarding earthly or heavenly things (John 3:12; John 1:50, Luke 22:67); of faith generally in the word of salvation (Luke 8:12 ‘that they may not believe and be saved,’ cf. John 1:7).
The usual sense of the verb in the Fourth Gospel is a soteriological one. It expresses saving faith directed to the Person of Christ. In some instances, it is true, the immediate object of the faith is the wonder-working power of Jesus (the ‘miracle-faith’): John 4:48 (‘Except ye see signs and wonders, ye will in no wise believe’), John 11:40.§ [Note: Matthew 8:13, Mark 5:36; Mark 9:23-24, Luke 8:50.] But here also the same remark applies as to the similar cases in the Synoptics, that the soteriological meaning lies very close to, and is sometimes almost indistinguishable from, the other (cf. John 4:48 with John 4:53 and John 9:38, and John 11:40 with John 11:15 and John 12:39). In the following instances, however, the direct soteriological significance is clear and unmistakable: John 3:15; John 3:18, John 4:41-42; John 4:53, John 5:44, John 6:36; John 6:47; John 6:64, John 9:38, John 10:25-26, John 11:15, John 12:39, John 14:29, John 16:31, John 19:35, John 20:31. Of these passages the two last are particularly instructive: ‘That ye may believe’ (John 19:35), and ‘These are written that ye may believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye may have life in his name’ (John 20:31). Here faith occupies a fundamental place. Its essential object is defined to be the belief that Jesus is ‘the Christ, the Son of God.’
Once again the conclusion is reinforced that the undefined ‘to believe’ is practically a synonym for ‘to be a Christian.’ Indeed, it may be inferred from the NT usage generally of τιστεύειν that before the disciples were called ‘Christians’ (Acts 11:26), they were designated ‘believers’* [Note: οἱ τιστεύσαντε; (= those who had turned to Christ in trustful reliance) is perhaps used as a subst. in such passages as Acts 2:44; Acts 4:32, 2 Thessalonians 1:10, Hebrews 4:3.] (οἱ τιστεύοντες is used as a participle in Mark 9:42, but as a subst. perhaps in Acts 5:14 b ‘And believers were the more added to the Lord’). Sometimes οἱ τιστοι is used in an equivalent sense (e.g. Acts 10:45; 1 Peter 1:21, Revelation 17:14; cf. the use of τιστος in John 1:27), and ἀτιστοι occurs in the opposite sense of ‘unbelievers’ (e.g. 2 Corinthians 4:6; 2 Corinthians 6:14 f.; cf. John 20:27, Matthew 17:17, Mark 9:19, Luke 9:41). Cf. the cognate use of ἀτιστια, ‘unbelief’ (Mark 9:24; Mark 16:14, Matthew 13:58, Mark 6:6; also in the Epp.); ἀτιστέω, ‘disbelieve’ (Mark 16:11; Mark 16:16, Luke 24:11; Luke 24:41, Acts 28:24; 1 Peter 2:7); and ὀλιγότιστος, || ‘of little faith’ (Matthew 6:30; Matthew 8:26; Matthew 14:31; Matthew 16:8, Luke 12:28); ὁλιγοτιστια, ‘little faith,’ occurs Matthew 17:20.
5. Some characteristics of the Johannine conception of ‘faith.’—The fundamental conception of ‘faith’ in the Fourth Gospel coincides with that of the other NT writers; it consists essentially in trustful self-committal to Christ and His salvation. Only it is concerned less than in the Synoptics with the appropriation of directly physical relief; it moves rather in the sphere of spiritual and eternal facts, and directs itself more exclusively to the Person of Christ. Trust in God and in Christ are equated (John 14:1); faith characterizes those who recognize His Divine mission (cf. also John 16:30), and they are described as those ‘who believe in his name.’ The result of faith is an acknowledgment of Christ’s unity with the Father (John 10:38, John 14:10).
Faith (πιστεύειν) and knowledge (γιγνώσκειν) are interchangeable ideas in the Fourth Gospel (cf. John 6:69, John 10:38, John 17:8), or rather they express the same truth looked at from different sides. ‘To know’ (γιγνώσκειν) in the Johannine language expresses the perception of eternal truth; ‘to believe,’ its temporal discovery and appropriation. The former is therefore the fruit of the latter (cf. esp. John 10:38 ‘believe … that ye may know’). The intellectual element is thus the product of a moral act, and is conditioned by it. Faith is not the result of logical operations, but is due to the Divine working (John 6:44 ‘No man can come to me, except the Father which sent me draw him’). Where faith is not attained, this is due to the distraction exercised by lower and earthly ambitions or ideals (‘glory one of another,’ John 5:44), or the deliberate choice of darkness rather than light (John 3:19, cf. v. 21). Trust is also shown to be characteristic of a real faith, which does not need ‘signs,’ and has risen above the necessities of ‘sight’ (John 20:29). The boon which faith appropriates is eternal life (John 5:24).
There is evident in the treatment of faith characteristic of the Fourth Gospel a spirit of protest against the false and exaggerated views of knowledge that were beginning to affect the Church. The subtle and pervasive danger of Gnosticism, with its dangerous glorification of a merely intellectual knowledge, and its contempt for simple faith, had to be met. This was effected in the Fourth Gospel, ‘on the one hand by deepening the idea of knowledge to the knowledge of experience’ (which is the fruit of simple faith), ‘and on the other by insisting upon the immediate entrance of every believer into the possession of salvation.’† [Note: B. Warfield in Hastings’ DB i. 836 (art. ‘Faith’).] The writer of the Fourth Gospel ‘would indeed have believers know what they believe, and who He is in whom they put their trust, and what He has done for them, and is doing, and will do in and through them; but this is not that they may know these things simply as intellectual propositions, but that they may rest on them in faith, and know them in personal experience.‡ [Note: Warfield, ib.] Nothing is more characteristic of the Johannine conception than the insistence on the present experience and participation in eternal life of believers. ‘He that believeth hath eternal life’ (John 3:36, John 5:24, John 6:47; John 6:54; cf. 1 John 3:14-15; 1 John 5:11-13). The inheritance of the true Christian was not merely a future boon,—though the future had in store for him a greater glory than that of the present,—but the simple believer, by the mere act of faith, was already placed on a plane of life to which no knowledge could attain.’
It is worth noting in this connexion that ἁλήθεια (which like τιστις is employed in the LXX Septuagint to translate אֲמוּנָה) seems to be used in the Fourth Gospel in the sense of faithfulness, rightness, rectitude, rather than with the meaning of intellectual truth. In John 1:14; John 1:16 χαρις και ἀληθεια = הָסָך וָאַמֵח or חָסָר וָאֳמוּנָדּ, and by ἀλήθεια is to be understood ‘faithfulness corresponding to certain obligatory relations or to certain promises’ (Wendt* [Note: Teaching of Jesus, i. p. 259 (Eng. tr.). God’s faithfulness to His promises, as shown esp. in blessing His people, is an attribute constantly insisted on in the OT.] ). Cf. also the phrase τοιεϊν την ἀλήθειαν = ‘to do the right,’ i.e. to act conscientiously; also John 8:32; John 8:40; John 8:45-46, John 17:17; John 17:19, and possibly also in John 14:6; John 14:17, John 15:26, John 16:13, John 18:37 f.—in all which passages the connotation seems to be a moral one (‘faithfulness,’ ‘rectitude’) rather than a purely intellectual one (‘truth’).
6. The Johannine and Pauline conceptions of ‘faith’ contrasted.—This is not the place for an extended review of the Pauline view of faith, but one or two salient points of contrast with the Johannine may be briefly indicated. The different method of presentation in each case is explained by the different circumstances under which each was formulated. In the interests of spiritual religion the Apostle of the Gentiles was forced to wage uncompromising war with Jewish legalistic conceptions of religion, and prejudices in favour of their own privileged religious position, which (naturally enough) were ingrained in the Jewish consciousness, and threatened to pass over into the Christian Church.† [Note: As has already been pointed out above, ‘faith’ was regarded in Jewish circles as of the highest religious significance and value; only, in the background of the Jewish mind there always lurked the consciousness of privilege and superiority.] As against Jewish privilege and advantages, St. Paul vindicated and maintained the great principle that in the domain of salvation there is no distinction between Jew and Gentile, and that the Jew has no other righteousness than that which comes through faith in Jesus Christ (Galatians 3:7 f.), being in this respect in exactly the same position as the Gentile (cf. Romans 3:30). From this certain important results follow: (1) That ‘no man is justified by the law’ (Galatians 2:16; Galatians 3:11, Romans 3:20), and (2) that ‘a man is justified by faith alone, apart from works of law.’ This thesis was splendidly developed by St. Paul in his great dialectic. The absolute sufficiency of this saving faith is above all shown in the contemplation of its object. ‘It is because faith lays hold of Jesus Christ, who was delivered up for our trespasses and was raised for our justification (Romans 4:25), and makes us the possessors of the righteousness of God through Him, that there is no room for any righteousness of our own in the ground of our salvation (Romans 10:3, Ephesians 2:8)’ (Warfield). See, further, Justification.
On the other hand, the Johannine presentation is determined by an environment of different circumstances. The false emphasis laid on a merely intellectual knowledge had to be met. Hence the insistence in the Fourth Gospel on the true knowledge of Christian experience which is the fruit of a simple faith. It is regarded as a precious and permanent present possession. Briefly, it may be said that ‘faith with St. John is rather contemplative and philosophic, where with St. Paul it is active and enthusiastic.’‡ [Note: Sanday-Headlam, Romans, p. 32.]
7. The place of ‘faith’ in the teaching of Jesus.—Christ no less than St. Paul combated the prevailing tendency among the Jews to rest in a position of privilege (cf. Matthew 3:9, Romans 2:17). But the dominant characteristic of His teaching, as reported both in the Synoptics and in the Fourth Gospel, is the consistent way in which He strives to draw all faith to Himself. Even when His language is general in character (Mark 11:22, Matthew 21:22, Mark 9:24, Luke 18:8), He speaks in a way that necessarily fixes attention upon His own Person as God’s unique representative on earth. The soteriological significance of the so-called ‘miracle-faith’ has already been pointed out above. This comes out especially in such a passage as Matthew 9:2, where healing of the body is conjoined with the claim to forgive sins. That Christ is the proper object of this soteriological faith is sufficiently attested even in the Synoptic account (Luke 8:12-13; Luke 22:32, Matthew 18:6 [|| Mark 9:42], Luke 7:50; cf. Luke 24:25; Luke 24:45). It is in the Fourth Gospel, however, in the intimate discourses of Jesus which are there preserved, that the fullest account is given of the teaching of our Lord on this subject. Here, as is natural, faith in its higher aspects is consistently and abundantly set forth, as reflected and mirrored in the recollection of the ‘disciple whom Jesus loved.’ In the Fourth Gospel we are confronted with the personal testimony of the disciple who was uniquely fitted both by temperament and by character to receive and assimilate the deepest thoughts of his Master.
The testimony of the Fourth Gospel on this subject cannot be more adequately summed up than in the words of Warfield:* [Note: cit. ib.] —
‘In these discourses, too, Jesus’ primary task is to hind men to Him by faith. The chief difference is that here, consonantly with the nature of the discourses recorded, much more prevailing stress is laid upon the higher aspects of faith, and we see Jesus striving specially to attract to Himself a faith consciously set upon eternal good. In a number of instances we find ourselves in much the same atmosphere as in the Synoptics (John 4:21 f., John 4:48 f., John 9:35); and the method of Jesus is the same throughout. Everywhere He offers Himself as the object of faith, and claims faith in Himself for the highest concerns of the soul. But everywhere He begins at the level at which He finds His hearers, and leads them upward to these higher things. It is so that He deals with Nathanael (John 1:51) and Nicodemus (John 3:12); and it is so that He deals constantly with the Jews, everywhere requiring faith in Himself for eternal life (John 5:24-25; John 5:28, John 6:35; John 6:40; John 6:47, John 7:38, John 8:24, John 10:25; John 10:36, John 12:44; John 12:46), declaring that faith in Him is the certain outcome of faith in their own Scriptures (John 5:46-47), is demanded by the witness borne Him by God in His mighty works (John 10:25; John 10:36-37), is involved in and is indeed identical with faith in God (John 5:25; John 5:38, John 6:40; John 6:45, John 8:47, John 12:44), and is the one thing which God requires of them (John 6:29), and the failure of which will bring them eternal ruin (John 3:18, John 5:38, John 6:64, John 8:24). When dealing with His followers, His primary care was to build up their faith in Him. Witness especially His solicitude for their faith in the last hours of His intercourse with them. For the faith they had reposed in Him He returns thanks to God (John 17:8), but He is still nursing their faith (John 16:31), preparing for its increase through the events to come (John 13:19, John 16:29), and with almost passionate eagerness claiming it at their bands (John 14:1; John 14:10-12). Even after His resurrection we find Him restoring the faith of the waverer (Joh
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Hastings, James. Entry for 'Faith (2)'. Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament. https://www.studylight.org/dictionaries/eng/hdn/f/faith-2.html. 1906-1918.
