ETHICS
ETHICS
787
end as a kind of climax is iyKpireia, self-control. It will not lie justilialile to press too far its position in this catalogue ; but there can be no doubt that it holds an important position in St. Paul's mind. It is one of the qualities required of the bishop (Tit 1') ; it is inculcated by the example of the zealous athlete (1 Co 9^), and it appears in 2 P 1° as a stage in the progress of men in this world. It is in regard to this virtue, probably, that the ethical ideas of the apostolic writers differ most chiracteristically from the views of contemporary Or. writers. The Gr. view of virtue was chiefly that of a condition attained after struggle ; it did not contemplate the persistence of tempta- tion, or of any disposition to yield on the part of the virtuous man. The material side of man was not, 80 to speak, an actual element in virtuous action ; it required suppression, not control : on the other hand, the Cnristian virtue does not pretend to introduce warfare or sef)aration into the organization of man. It recognizes the need of self-control, but the character of the man who manages his physical nature and keejis it in its projier relation to his whole life is selected for commendation. The ^yKparfia of St. Paul is a more real thing than the auippoavfr] of a Gr. philosopher ; and it is not, morally speaking, a lower conception of virtuous life.
(i) We now come to consider three states or con- ditions or virtues which are most of all identified with the Christian point of view. These are the well-known triad, Faitli, Hope, and Love. They are for the most part identified with St. Paul, and found especially in 1 Co 13. But it is not true to suppose that they are limited to that passage. They occur in close connexion, both in St. Peter (l'-2'«), and in the Ep. to the Hebrews (lO--), and in other pa.ssages of St. Paul (1 Th 1-'-' 5", Col 1'°). Indeed their connexion is so remarkable that it has been recently argued that it must have been based on the teaching of Christ Himself.* Without committing ourselves on this point, it is at least worth noticing that the connexion is frequent, and it is natural to infer that it had some delinitely ethical significance. The question then arises. What is implied by the combination of these three virtues? There is practically no doubt as to the meaning of Airij and a.ia.Tn). It is true that Airfs means sometimes a particular state of mind, sometimes the object on which it rests, but there is no serious ambiguity. liut with the third irlffTij this is not the case, ft is ambiguous ( 1 ) becau.se it stands liolh for the temper of the faith- ful person and for the object of his faith ; but (2) more seriously, because the character of the moral temper is not clear. The word means not only trustfulness, but also trustworthiness. And even in those pa-ssages where the context excludes the passive sense, there are further differences in the associations given by various writers to the words. St. James (2'") seems to mean by it little more than an intellectual assent to a [uoposition ; it is a state of mind in which the devils can be said to be. The word in St. Paul has a moral rather than a purely intellectual meaning. It describes the temper of one who, in full view of all that makes the other way, trusts in the character and power of Cod (cf. Ito 4'» UV). And so St. Paul speaks naturally of faith being made active by love (ivtpriov)Uvi\ iC dYdTTTjt, Gal 5'). It is inspired by the love of the person on whom it rests, and therefore does not fail. In the Kp. to the Hebrews we again notice a slight variation in use. The author describes faith in somewhat [irccise fashion as ' the substance of things hoped for, the evidence
• Resell, Airrapha, p. 181 ; ct. Ho\Klt, Die Spriiche Jtmi, n, 24. Both these wurka are in llamock's series of TcxU und Viittr' mchur^jen, ikl. v. i and lid. xiv. 2.
of things not seen' (11'). By this he seems to mean a certainty in the mind of the faithful person that the hopes he has will be realized. The con- fidence is so great that he seems almost to have in his possession the things which are not yet in being. Such a man, like Moses, 'endures as seeing the invisible.'
It is somewhat difFicult to describe succinctly the character in which these three \'irtue3 converge. It must be remembered that, for the apostles, Uie death and resurrection of Christ were the primary and salient facts with which all life had to deal. Hence these determine the primary reference of the faith, hope, and love of the believer. His faith rests upon Christ as risen and ascended ; his hope is in the consummation of God's purpose in the world ; his love is directed to the Father who guided, and the Son who effected, his redemption. The whole atmosphere of the Epistles is full of these facts, and all practical results which flow out from the presence of these virtues are dependent on the truth of these facts. Thus, because the believer holds to the truth of the death and resurrection of Christ, he has certainty, where others doubt, in his view of the history of the world and of himself. His faith is not a blind acceptance of anything that happens. He knows as well as any one the difficulties in life, and the darkness which hangs over human things. He sees things occur which he did not foresee and cannot explain. But he is not in presence of a mere chaos of irrational forces, with a blind belief in the existence of a purpose behind them ; he has a sure confidence in tlie death and resurrection of Christ; that is, he is able to take them as a type of the action of God, and to find in them a ground of anticipation for the future. Because Christ has risen from the dead, instead of being of all men the most miserable he is the person of all others who has a sure hold ujion life. See Faith.