The disparity in the use of the terms 'faith' and ' believe ' in the two Testaments is certainly in a formal aspect very great. In contrast with their extreme rarity in OT, they are both, though some- what unevenly distributetl and varying in relative frequency, distinctly characteristic of the whole NT language, and oddly enough occur about equally often (about 240 times each). The verb is lacking only in Col, Philem, 2 P, 2 and 3 Jn. and the Apocalypse; the noun only in the Gospel of John and 2 and 3 Jn : botli fail only in 2 and 3 Jn. The noun predominates not only in the epistles of St. Paul, where the proportion is about three to one, and in St. James (about five to one), but very markedly in the Epistle to the Hebrews (about sixteen to one). In St. John, on the other hand, the verb is very frequent, while the noun occurs only once in 1 Jn and four times in the Apocalypse. In the other books the proportion between the two is less noteworthy, and may
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fairly be accounted accidental. In OT, again, ' faith ' occurs in the active sense in but a single passage ; in NT it is the pa-ssive sense which is rare. In OT in only about half the instiinces of its occurrence is the verb ' to believe ' used in a religious sense ; in NT it has become so clearly a technical religious t«rm, that it occurs very rarely in any other sense. The transitive usage, in ■nliicli it expresses entrusting something to someone, occurs a few times l)oth in the active (Lk 10", Jn 2-*) and the passive (Rev 3^ 1 Co 9", (ial 2', 1 Th 2*,
1 Ti 1", Tit 1') ; but besides this special case there are very few instances in which the word does not e.xpress religious believing, possibly only the fol- lowing : Jn 9'«, Ac 9=«, 1 Co 11", Mt 24=»- ^, Mk 13",
2 Th 2", cf. Ac 13" 15", Jn f , 1 Jn 4'. The classical construction with the simple dative which prevails in the LXX retires in NT in favour of constructions with prepositions and the absolute use of the verb ; the construction with the dative occurs about forty-five times, while that with prepositions occurs some sixty-three times, and the vert) is used absolutely some ninety-three times.
When construed with the dative, TiorfiKiv in NT prevailingly expresses believing assent, though ordinarily in a somewhat pregnant sense. When its object is a thing, it is usually the spoken (Lk 1» Jn 4«« 5" 12'«, Ro 10", cf. 2 Th 2") or written (Jn 2" 5", Ac 24" 26") word of God ; once it is divine works which should convince the onlooker of the divine mission of the worker (Jn 10"). When its object is a person it is rarely another than God or Jesus (Mt 21=»*', Mk IP', Lk 20*, Jn 5**, Ac S'^, 1 Jn 4'), and more rarely God (Jn 5=*, Ac 16" 27=», Ro42i"i, Gal 3», Tit 3\ Ja 2=. 1 Jn 5'") than Jesus (Jn 4" 5^- '<^ 6»« 8»'- «• « ion. n i4ii_ Ac 17«, 2 Ti 1'^). Among these pas- sajres there are not lacking some, both when the object is a person and w hen it is a thing, in which the higher sense of devoted, believing trust is con- veyed. In 1 Jn 3", for example, we are obviously to translate, not ' believe the name,' but ' believe in the name of his Son, Jesus Christ,' for in this is summed up the whole Godward side of Christian duty. So there is no reason to question that the words of Gn 15' are adduced in Ro 4', Gal 3", Ja Z^ in the deep sense which they bear in OT text ; and this deeper religiou.s faith can scarcely be excluded from the belief in God adverted to in Ac 16^, Tit 3» (cf. Jn 5=^), or from the belief in Jesus adverted to in 2 Ti 1" (cf. Jn 5** B*"), and is obviously the prominent conception in the faith of Crispus declared in Ac 18*. The passive form of this construction occurs only twice — once of believ- ing assent (2 Th 1'°), and once with the higliest implications of confiding trust (1 Ti 3"). The few pa.s.sage8 in which the construction is with the accusative (Jn 11», Ac 13", 1 Co U" 13', 1 Jn 4'") take their natural place along with the commoner usage with the dative, and need not express more than crediting, although over one or two of them there floats a shadow of a deeper implication. The same may be said of the cases of attraction in Ro 4" and 10". And with these weaker constructions must be ranged also the pa.ssages, twenty in all (fourteen of which occur in the wiitings of St. John), in which what is believed is joined to the verb by the conjunction Srt. In a couple of these the matter believed scarcely rises into the religious sphere (Jn 9'", Ac 9") j in a couple more there is specific reference to prayer (Mk 11^-"); in yet a couple more it is general faith in God which is in mind (He 11", Ja 2'»). In the rest, what is believed is of immediately sotcriological import — now the possession by .lesiis of a special power (Mt '.t'-^), now the central fact of His saving work (Ro 10", 1 Th 4"), now the very hingo of tlie Christian hope (Ro 6'), but prevaii-