What is St. Paul's religious interest in this sharp distinction between faith and works as the rival bases for righteousness ? Why does he distinguish the one from the other as true and false ? The answer depends on an analysis of what he meant by faith in this connexion.
(i. ) At the close of his argument about justi- fication in Ro 3^ he asks, ' Then what becomes of our boasting (^ Kavxv^^)^- It is ruled out ab- solutely. On what principle ? On the principle of doing deeds {tud Ipyai') ? No, on the principle of faith.' 'Boasting' means relying on one's personal merits, the Pharisaic self-consciousness which feels that it is able to bring God something which deserves favourable consideration. We may call it ' Pharisaic,' not because it was characteristic
of all Pharisees in St. Paul's day, nor because it was conlined to them, but because the Pharisaic type of theology, as St. Paul knew it from personal experience ana observation, tended to develop a religious self - consciousness, a self - satisfaction which was inclined, on the score of moral qualities and achievements, to treat with God an<l even claim His favour as more or less a due. Sucli a mood, no doubt, involved faith of a kind, faith in a Divine recompen.se which was just in its awards. But this was not tlie faith of St. Paul. Nor was his ' faith ' the faith which itself amounted to a meritorious 'work,' on which a man might secretly or openly plume liimsclf as if it entjtled him to some credit with God, for his contiileiice, his insight, his dutifulncss, his loyal venture of the soul.* It was to avoid any such misconception that St. Paul defined faith as the opposite of works, and not as a work or action of which man was the author and on which he could pride him- self. There was a place for rai/xijff's in the Chris- tian order, but it was not on faith as an acliieve- ment ; hence the paradoxical use of the term in Ro 5''": 'As we are justified by faith, ... we triumph [Kavxu'lJ-fOa) in the hope of God's glory ;t not only so, but we triumph in our troubles . . . not only so, but we triumph in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we now enjoy otir reconciliation.' Or again, in the proud humility of Ph 3" : ' We are the true circumcision, we who worship God in the spirit, we who pride ourselves (KauxwMfo') on Christ Jesus.' There is a legitimate sense, St. Paul would say, in which we Christians can speak of 'boasting' or 'pride,' but what evokes it is the sheer grace and generosity of God in Jesus Christ — the very revelation of Himself which elicits faith. The Pharisaic boasting w'ent back to the conception of faith as a meritorious work, as, e.g., in the Midrash on Gn 15". which interpreted the words thus : ' Abraham believed God, and it was reckoned to him as a righteous- ness,' a meritorious work. St. Paul took faith as the vital spring of life, set in motion by God Himself. When he substituted faith for works as the basis of righteousness, it might seem as though he only meant to make faith the supreme ' work.' On the strict Pharisaic doctrine of the Divine sovereignty, which St. Paul shared (Ro 9-11), God could do as He pleased. He was not bound to obedi- ence to the Law as the condition of righteousness ; conceivably (see above, p. 379), He might make faith that condition. But St. Paul did not under- stand God as exempt from moral consistency (cf. Ro 3"-). He did not adduce faith as selected arbitrarily by God to be the essential qualification for righteousness. On his view, it was organic to the entire order of the Christian religion from the first, and drawn out fully by the gracious revela- tion in Jesus Christ. Faith is always the correla- tive to revelation, and saving faith is the response of the entire personality to God's reconciling love in Jesus Christ. The initiative is with God. Faith, therefore, is not belief or even fidelity, in the primary sense of the term ; it is not an act or
* Cf. the point of Jn 1516 ; * You did not choose me, it was I who chose you.'
t A characteristically Jewish expression. But St. Paul's basis is not that of contemporary Judaism. * Full recompense does not come until the future world. . . . Then Israel, both as a nation and as individuals, will be rewarded for its loyal fulfil- ment of the Law by a life of untroubled bliss. Good works, like reverence for father and mother, beneficence, peace-making among one's neighbours, and above all study of the Law, are comparable therefore to a capital sura, whose interest is already enjoyed in the present life, while the principal itself remains for the future life. This hope of a future recompense was the main impetus to zeal for the Law. In fact, the entire religious life of the Jewish people during our period moved round the two poles : fulfilment of the Law and hope of future glory ' (Schiirer's GJ V ii.-i [Leipzig, 1907], p. 647 1. J cf. Eng. tr., II. [Edinburgh, 1886] ii. 92 1.).