i. Other NT books. — The remaining NT writings call for little notice. The well-known passage in St. James (1^) speaks of the law of freedom into which the doer of the word looks, as opposed to the careless glance at the reflexion of himself in a mirror, as it were, which is cast by the man who is only a hearer. There is nothing except propin- quity to suggest that St. James is here referring to what a few verses later he calls the royal law : ' thou shalt love thy neighbour as thyself ' (2^) ; and he says nothing further in explanation of a phrase which would have aptly summarized St. Paul's argument. But a metaphor which he had just used (P^), though with no direct reference to freedom, may be referred to at the close of this article, as summing up one aspect of NT teaching : 'of his own will he brought us forth by the word of truth.' The paragraph begins with a call to resist temptation ; it goes on to show the inevitable results of attending to the suggestions of evil ; it ends with the assertion that God brought us forth to be first-fruits, as it were, of His own creation — that is, around man's freedom of choice lies God's pur- pose of blessing and salvation ; and we complete the NT view if we add that the fulfilment of this purpose means a freedom which is no more of choice but of absolute oneness with the great orbital movement of God's love.
5. Apostolic Fathers. — These two views — of St. Paul and St. James — are implied, sometimes more, sometimes less clearly, in the Apostolic Fathers. But they are only implied ; and in general, we find the two opposite convictions, of man's choice and God's omnipotence, held with hardly a suspicion that they might be opposed. Here, as elsewhere, the sub-Apostolic Age is far nearer to the OT, or to the early chapters of Acts, than to the Pauline and Johannine writings. In 1 Clem, the Corinth- ians are said to have conflict for all the brother- hood, that the number of God's elect might be saved (2). We are not justified through ourselves, but through faith (32). None can be found in love, save those to whom God shall vouchsafe it (50). A similar paradox is found in Ignatius, Ep. ad Ephes. 8 : 'let none deceive you, as indeed ye are not deceived, seeing ye belong wholly to God.' Ignatius himself dies of his own free-will (iKiiv), yet as a freedman (dn-eXei'^epos) of Christ ; and he will rise free in Him {ad Bom. 4). So in the Ep. Barn. : 'Before faith, the heart is given up to evil' (16); and even now, accurate knowledge of salvation is necessary lest the Evil One should enter and fling us away from our life (2).
Literature. — For an exposition of the relevant passages, see the Commentaries, especially Sanday-Headlam on Romans {pICC, 1902), and Lightfoot on Galatians (51876). For the theory of Freedom as a part of Christian Ethics, see J. A. Dorner, System o,1 Christian Ethics, Eng. tr., 1S&7, pp. 253-283 ; T. B. Strong, Christian Ethics, 1896, pp. 245-251, pp. 35-46 ;
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FEIENDS, FKIEXDSHIP
FEUIT
G. F. Barbour, A Philosophical Studtl of Christian Ethics, 1911, pp. 326-354. For fuller discussions of the Pauline doc- trine, see J. B. Mozley, A Treatise on the Augustinian Doc- trine of Predestination^, 1878; D. Somervilie, St. Paul's Conception of Christ, 1897 ; F. R. Tennant, The Origin and Propagation of Sin^, 1906 ; E. Weber, Das Problem der Ileilsgesckichte nach Rom. 9-11, 1911 ; see also artt. (in addi- tion to those referred Lo above) on Grace, Law, Liberty, Sin. W. b\ LOFTHOUSE.
FRIENDS, FRIENDSHIP. — The terms them- selves are rarely found in the apostolic writings. ^c lO'-'' mentions the friends of Cornelius, 19^^ the Asiarchs as friendly to St. Paul in an hour of peril at Ephesus, 27^ friends of the same Apostle at Sidon ; 12-" reveals Blastus in the character of ' a friend at court.' Ja 2-^ reminds us that Ahraliam was called the friend of God, and no doubt inculcates the lesson that tiiose who walk in the patriarch's footsteps may attain the patriarch's blessing ; 4* that 'the friendship of the world is enmity with God,' and that ' whosoever would be a friend of the world maketh himself an enemy of God.' The only other reference is 3 -In", 'The friends salute thee. Salute the friends by name.'
It has often been pointed out tliat friendship occupies an apparently much smaller place in the NT than in the OT or than in the writinos of pagan antiquity. But this is only a superhcial view. The name may not be conspicuous, but the reality is there. There are some who hesitate to speak of the relationship of Jesus to the Twelve and to tlie wider circle of disciples which included the household at Bethany, the goodman of Jeru- salem at wliose house the Last Supper was eaten, and the women who so affectionately ministered to the Master, as one of friendship. To do this is to deny the humanity of Jesus — a loss that nothing can compensate. That there were elements in this relationship that transcended friendship as ordinarily conceived and experienced all will admit ; but friendship as we know it was none the less there, and Jesus was not only giver but receiver. When, for examjile, Martha was feverishly busy with domestic cares, Mary Avas with Jesus, not saying mucli perhaps, nor even listening in that hour to parable or precept, but ministering to Him the ' one thing needful ' — the quiet, loving, sympa- thetic response to One who eased a heavy spirit to her as He could not do to His uncomprehending apostles.