Journal: Bibliotheca Sacra
Volume: BSAC 109:436 (Oct 1952)
Article: Paul’s Use of the Word "Faith" Part 4
Author: Martin O. Massinger

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BSac 109:436 (Oct 52) p. 353

Paul’s Use of the Word Faith
Part 4

Martin O. Massinger

(Continued from the July-September Number, 1952)

Faith as an Objective Entity

From a careful exegesis of a number of passages it is quite evident that the expression he pistis (as found in the epistles of Paul) at times designates not the attitude of heart which has been the subject of preceding discussions, but an objective entity, something entirely outside the mind and heart of the individual. When thus used the expression is best rendered in English by “the faith” rather than “faith.” Two distinct aspects of this usage are discernible. According to the first “the faith” is regarded as the content of the divine revelation taken as a unit, according to the second it is regarded as the Christian life taken as a whole.

Concerning the first of these aspects there is some doubt among commentators. Vincent flatly denies that the expression “the faith” is so used. He says: “The great majority of the best modern commentators hold that faith is to be taken as the ‘subjective principle’ of Christian life (though often regarded objectively as a spiritual power), and not as ‘Christian doctrine.’“1 But there soon appears an inconsistency in Vincent when the following paraphrase is offered on 1 Timothy 4:6 and the expression, “in the words of faith”: “The words in which the faith—the contents of belief—find expression.”2

There are indeed a number of passages, in which it would

BSac 109:436 (Oct 52) p. 354

be impossible to prove that the expression he pistis is so used in an objective sense. Ephesians 4:5 is such a case, where the statement runs “one Lord, one faith, one baptism.” Here Lewis Sperry Chafer believes “the thought is, that there is one body of truth committed to them and only one, which body of truth is designated as the faith.”3 Vincent, Alford, Robertson and Salmond, however, espouse the contrary view. According to Vincent again, the Apostle deals with “the principle of faith; not that which is believed—the body of Christian doctrine, which does not promote unity.”

Titus 2:2 is a verse where, on first examination, one might suppose he had really found an example of the objective use of he pistis. The verse reads, “…that aged men be tem...

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