Ver. 22. βλέπεις ...: as these words are the deduction drawn from what precedes, it is better to take them in the form of a statement, and not as interrogative.—q πίστις συν ήρ yeu: this implies a certain modification, with regard to πίστις, of the earlier position taken up by the writer, for in ver. 21 he says: ‘Was not Abraham our father justified by works?” no mention being made of faith; while here faith is ac- corded an equal place with works; οἷ. Gal. v. 6, πίστις δι’ ἀγάπης ἐνεργου- μένη, concerning which words Lightfoot Says that they ‘‘bridge over the gulf which seems to separate the language of St. Paul and St. James. Both assert a principle of practical energy, as opposed to a barren, inactive theory”. On συν- ἤργει see Test.of the Twelve Patriarchs, Gad., iv. 7, “‘ But the spirit of love worketh together with the law of God...” (Charles), — Kal ἐκ τῶν ἔργων ἣ πίστις ἐτελειώθη: it is obvious that “faith” is used here in the highest sense, not merely as an attitude of mind,
448
w Cf. 1 Thess. i.
3; John λέγουσα: "ἐπίστευσεν δὲ”
vi. 28, 29
xiv.5,Gal.c0y αὐτῷ εἰς δικαιοσύνην," καὶ φίλος” Θεοῦ ἐκλήθη.
iii. 8; x
Tim. v.18;
I Pet. ii. 6. Ζ 2 Chron. xx. 7; Isa. xli. 8; cf. Wisd. vii. 27.
1 ετελειωθη ; Treg. 3 Domino ff.
but as a God-given possession. It must, however, be further remarked that if the Judaism of the Jewish-Christian writer of this part of the Epistle had been some- what less strong, the words under con- sideration would probably have been put a little differently; for accordirg to the purely Christian idea of faith, works, while being an indispensable proof of its existence, could not be said to perfect it, any more than the preaching of the faith could be said to perfect the preacher’s belief; though works are the result and outcome of faith, they belong, never- theless, to a different category.
Ver. 23. There is somellittle looseness in the way the O.T. is used in these verses; in ver. 21 mention is made of the work of offering up Isaac, whereby, it is
said (ver. 22), faith is perfected; then it’
goes straight on (ver. 23) to say that the Scripture was fulfilled which saith, ‘‘ Abra- ham believed.. ”; this reads as though the quotation were intended to refer to the offering up of Isaac,—the proof of perfected faith; but as a matter of fact the quotation refers to Abraham’s belief in Jehovah’s promise to the effect that the seed of Abraham was to be as numerous as the stars of heaven. In the O.T., that is to say, there is no connection between the quotation from Gen. xv. 6 and the offering-up of Isaac. This manipulation of Scripture is strongly characteristic of Jewish methods of exegesis.—é ato τ- ευσεν δὲ "ABpaap...: the Ν.Τ. = Septuagint, which differs from the Hebrew in reading τῷ Θεῷ instead of τῷ κυρίῳ,, and the passive ἐλογίσθη for the active. Faith, according to Jewish teach- ing, was a good deed which was bound to bring its reward; it was one of those things which demanded a reward; the
phrase ΓΝ MSS (“the merit of
faith, z.e., ‘‘ trustfulness ”) occurs in Beresh. Rabba, chap. 74, where it is par- allel to FIM MDs (“the merit of [keeping] the Law”); merit, that is to say, is acquired by trusting God, just as merit is acquired by observing the pre-