This revolutionizing faith is awakened by the preaching of the gospel : ' Belief cometh of hearing, and hearing by the word of Christ ' (Ro 10'''), i.e. by the word concerning Christ, or, as it is called earlier (Ro 10*), ' the word of faith,' i.e. the word that deals with justifying faith. This faith, according to St. Paul, brings salvation. Thus in Eph V^ "the word of the truth' is the medium by which faith comes, and through faith comes salvation. So in Eph 2"* it is said : ' By grace have ye been saved through faith ' {diaTTJs Tr/crrews, not dia t^v rrl<TTiv,i.e. through faith as a means, not on account of faith as a ground of salvation). Hearing and faith are associated in a similar way in the Epistle to the Galatians, as the means by which the gift of the Spirit came. ' Re- ceived ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?' (Gal 3^), and the meaning varies little whether we conceive of faith as the accompaniment of hearing or as its product. It is possible to infer from Eph l'^'- that the gift of the Spirit was received after, not contemporaneously Avith, the act of faith. ' Having also believed, ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.' The sealing with the Spirit is posterior to the act of faith and may be associated with the rite of baptism, which came to be known as a sealing ordinance.
St. Paul dwells frequently upon faith as a definite act in his own life and in the lives of Christian converts. Two instances only need be given. In Gal 2^' he says : ' We believed on Christ Jesus,' where the verb iiriffTeiaafiev denotes one definite act in the past when they turned in faith to (eh) Clirist Jesus. Even more marked is the sentence in Ro 13'^ : ' Now is salvation nearer to us (^ 8re ^7rtc7-rei5(7a/nei')than when we believed,' i.e. tlian when we by a definite act of faith became Christians. In St. Paul's experience and teaching this act of faith leads to a life of faith, so tliat he can write of himself : 'That life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith wliich is in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me' (Gal 2-"). Faith is not a solitary act but a continuous attitude
of the inner life towards Christ Jesus. But this does not imply that either at the beginning or during its course this faith is perfect ; it may be halting even when real, and when living it grows ever stronger • by faith unto faith ' (Ro 1"). Faith is weak in the experience of many, sometimes in opposition to the enticing power of evil when flesh lusts against spirit, sometimes in opposition to law as a ground of salvation, and sometimes in failing to appreciate what Christian truth implies. This last form of weakness is discussed by St. Paul towards the close of the Epistle to the Romans (14), where those weak in faith do not understand the extent of their freedom in Christ, and find themselves bound in conscience by irritating non-Christian customs. St. Paul commends a faith that is stronger and freer, but he declares that none must act in defiance of their faith. They must be clear in mind and conscience before they break even these customs. 'Whatsoeverisnotoffaithissin'(Rol4^). Even when Christians are perfect {riXeioi, Ph 3'^), possessors of a mature faith as well as full knowledge, they have not reached the goal, but they must still press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (v.'*).
For St. Paul faith was an experience that touched the inmost part of his nature, but it had perforce to find outward expression. Faith and profession are necessarily united. The believer in Christ must be a witness for Christ. The state- ment of Ro 10'*> puts succinctly what St. Paul con- stantly implies : ' With the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.' These are not so much independent acts as two sides of the same act. Internally faith in Christ brings a change of heart, externally it implies confession of the Lord. This confession finds its formal expression in baptism, and the Apostle expected that in this way as well as in more homely ways this public confession would be made. In St. Paul's view the believer in Christ must be a professing Christian.
If faith must be associated with such outward testimony it must be even more intimately associ- ated with many Christian graces, and especially with love or charity, St. Paul in his eulogy of love (1 Co 13) declares that among the great abid- ing virtues love is the chief. ' If I have all faith so as to remove moimtains, but have not love, I am nothing' (1 Co 13^). This exalted praise of love is the more remarkable because St. Paul is the champion of faith in the great controversy of which we get his own statement in the Epistles to Galatians and Romans (Gal 2 and 3, Ro 1-5), St. Paul's experience on the way to Damascus when he was convinced of the Messiahship and Lordship of Jesus of Nazareth became the dominant factor in all his life, and led to his abandonment of al- legiance to law and to the strenuous vindication of the place of faith in the religious life. Before his conversion St. Paul had sought justification with God by a religious obedience to the Law, but faith in Jesus Christ changed his whole attitude and revolutionized his whole thought. Faith in Christ was not conceived by him primarily as bringing a new power in attaining the end that he had previously kept in view, for now he be- lieved that justification had been attained at once through faith in Christ by the grace of God. Justification was the beginning of true life, not a blessing to be attained at the end (Gal 2'*).