It is worth notim; in this i-onnexion that iAii(/«i« (which like T.o-TK is ciiii.l".!' 1 III 111. i.\x to translate njiDN) seems to be ~ense oi /aith/tUiiess, righlneas, ineanint^ of intellectual truth. :i icn or njlDNl nnn, and by Illness corresponding to certain promises ' ( Wendt •). Cf . also do the right,' i.e. to act consci- '•', and possibly also in 14''- '" lu'es the connotation seems to I purely
:itude ' ) rather t
used in the V '. -1
rectitttde, raiii. 1 .1 In 114.16 ;t«-.
iXy.Huicis to li: .1,1 ! .; • . obligatory n.i ii : n- 1 ■ the phrase t, ,
entiously ; ;il-
16-1i 16'3 IS-i III .il All- be a tnoral one i^' liiitiiniliu 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 jxiints 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 un- compromising war with Jewish legalistic concep- tions of religion, and prejudices in favour of their own privileged religious jMsition, which (naturally enough) were ingiained in the Jewish conscious- ness, and threatened to pass over into the Christian Church.t As against Jewish privilege and advan- tages, St. Paul vindicated and maintained the great principle that in the domain of salvation there is no distinction between .lew and Gentile, and that the Jew has no other 1 i-lit. .m-ness than that which comes through faith in .l.sux Christ (Gal 3"-), being in this respect in exai tly tlie .-.anie position as the Gentile (cf. Ro 3'"). From this certain imi)ortant results follow: (1) That 'no man is justified by the law' (Gal a'" 3", Ko 3™), and (2) that ' a man is justified by faith alone, apart from works of law.' This thesis was splendidly develojied by St. Paul in his great dialectic. The absolute sufficiency of this saving faith is above all shown in tlie contem- plation of its object. ' It is because faith lays liold of Jesus Christ, wlio was delivered up for our tres- passes and was raised for our justification (Ro 4=*), 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 (Ro 10^ Eph 2«) ' (Warfield). See, further, Justification.
On the other hand, the Johannine presentation is determined by an environment of ditl'erent circum- stances. The false emphasis laid on a merely intellectual knowledge had to be met. Hence the insistence in the Fourth Gospel on the true know- ledge of Christian experience which is the fruit of a simple faith. It is regarded as a precious and permanent jnesent jiossession. Bi'iefly, it may be said that ' faith with .St. John is rather contem- plative and philosophi,-, where with St. Paul it is
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
• Teaching of Jeslis, i. p. 259 (En^. tr.). God's faithfulness to His promises, as shown esp. in blessing His people, is an attribute constantly insisted 011 in the OT.
t 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 theconsciousness of privilege and superiority.
t Sanday-Headlain, Romam, p. 32.
FAITH
FALL
571
position of privile-c (cf. Ml »', Rn 2"). But tlie | dominant charartrristio of Tlis tfacliiii-, as icpuitcd both in tiie Synuptiis aii.l in llic Fouilli C.ispi'l, is the consistent way in wliirh lie strives to iliaw all faith to Himself. Even when His language is ' general in character (Mk 1P=, Mt Sl^^, Mk 9^, Lk 18*), He speaks in a way that necessarily fixes attention upon His own Person as God's unique representative on earth. The soteriological signi- ficance of the so-called ' miracle-faith ' has already been pointed out above. This comes out especially in such a passage as Mt 9-, where healing of the body is conjoined with the claim to forgive sins. That Christ is the proper object of this soterio- logical faith is sufficiently attested even in the Synoptic account (Lk 8'=- '^ ^'\ Mt IS" [|| Mk ^^j, Lk 7*" ; cf . Lk iP^- *=). 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 dis- ciple 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 sub- ject cannot be more adequately summed up than in the words of Warfield :* —