With much that is similar to the situation implied in Hebrews, that which underlies the Epistles of Peter differs from it in the essential particular that their prevailingly Gentile readers were not in imminent danger of falling back into Judaism. There is, accordingly, much in the asiiect in which faith is presented in these epistles which reminds us of what we find in Hebrews, as, for example, the close connexion into which it is brought with obedience (1 P 1»- " 2' 3' 4"), its pre- vailing reference to what is unseen and future (1 P 1». 7-10. 31)^ ^nd i^g consequent demand for steadfast- ness (5', cf. 1'), and especially for hope (P', cf. 1«. u 3s. 16) Yet there is a noteworthy difference in the whole tone of the commendation of faith, which was rooted, no doubt, in the character of Peter, as the tone of his speeches recorded in Acta shows, but which also grew out of the nature of the task set before him in these letters. There is no hint of despair lying in the near background, but the buoj'ancy of assured hope rings throughout
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FAITH
FAITH
these epistles. Having hearkened to the prophet like unto Moses (Dt 18">- ", Ac 3^- »), Christians are the children of obedience (1 P 1"), and through their precious faith (1 P 1', 2 P 1') possessors of the preciousness of the promises (1 P 2'). As they have obeyed the voice of God and kept His coven- ant, they have become His peculiar treasure, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation (Ex 19', 1 P 2"). Naturally, the duty rests upon them of living, while here below, in accordance with their high liopes (1 P 1", 2 P 1"). But in any event they are but sojourners and pilgrims here (1 P 2" P- "), and have a sure inheritance reserved for them in heaven (1*), unto which they are guarded tlirough faith by the power of God (1°). The reference of faith in Peter is therefore characteristically to the completion rather than to the inception of salvation (I'*' 2*, cf. Ac 15"). Of course this does not imply that he does not share the common biblical conception of faith : he is con- scious of no diflerence of view from that of OT (IP 2*); and, no less than with James, with him faith is the fountain of all good works (1 p 1?. ai 59_ 2 P 1') ; and, no less than with Paul, with him faith lays hold of the righteousness of Christ (2 P 1'). It only means that in the cir- cumstances of his writing he is led to lay special emphasis on the reference of faith to the consum- mated salvation, in order to quicken in his readers that hope which would sustain them in their persecutions, and to keep their eyes set, not on their present trials, but, in accordance with faith's very nature, on the unseen and eternal glory.
In the entirely difFerent circumstances in which he wrote, John wished to lay stress on the very opposite aspect of faith. For what is characteristic of John's treatment of faith is insistence not so much on the certainty and glory of the future in- heritance which it secures, as on the fulness of the present enjoyment of salvation which it brings. There was pressing into the Church a false emphasis on knowledge, which affected to despise simple faith. This John met, on the one hand, by deepening the idea of knowledge to the knowledge of experience, and, on the other, by insisting upon the immediate entrance of every believer into the possession of saWation. It is not to be supposed, of course, that he was ready to neglect or deny that out-reaching of faith to the future on which Peter lays such stress : he is zealous that Christians shall know that they are children of God from the moment of believing, and from that instant possessors of the new life of the Spirit ; but he does not forget the greater glory of the future, and he knows how to use this Christian hope also as an incitement to holy living (1 Jn 3-). Nor are we to suppose that, in his anti-Gnostic insistence on the element of conviction in faith, he would lose sight of that central element of surrendering trust which is the heart of faith in other portions of the Scriptures : he would indeed have believers know what thej believe, and who He is in whom they put their trust, and wliat 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 maj rest on tliem in faith and know them in personal experience. Least of all the NT writers could John confine faith to a merely intellectual act : his whole doctrine of faitli is rather a protest against the intellectualisra of Gnos- ticism. His fundamental conception of faith dilTers in nothing from that of the other NT writers ; with him, too, it is a trustful ai)propria- tion of Christ and surrender of self to His salva- tion. Eternal life has been manifested by Christ (Jn 1*, 1 Jn 1'- ' 5"), and he, and he only, wlio has the Son has the life (1 Jn 5'-'). But in tue conflict