distorted by sin, and sometimes our desires override our perceptions of

truth, but it should be the simplest possible thing to believe God.  That He

is obliged to persuade us, to lure us, to hedge us about, even to afflict us

so that we may flee to Him for refuge is but a testimony to the blinding,

hardening power of sin:

'Without faith it is impossible to please Him: for he that cometh to

God Must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that

diligently seek Him' (Heb. 11:6).

The Faith of Christ.  How are we to understand this expression?  It is

easy to assume that it means nothing more than my faith in Christ, but such

is not the case.

We have continually found help and light upon vexed questions by

following a simple, self -made motto, 'When in doubt, consult the

Septuagint'.  The usage of pistis in the New Testament is somewhat difficult

to define, but seeing that the apostle Paul has practically founded the whole

of his teaching concerning justification by faith (in its threefold aspect,

Rom. 1; Gal. 3 and Heb. 10) upon one verse in the prophet Habakkuk, we feel

compelled to cross the bridge provided by the LXX in order to discover the

underlying meaning of this word translated 'faith' in the Hebrew of the Old

See pages 21-24 for a detailed consideration of Pistis and its usage in

the LXX.

Family.  While the word occurs many times in the Old Testament, it occurs but

once in the New Testament, namely in Ephesians 3:15 where it translates the

Greek word patria.  The English word 'family' is derived from the word

famulus.  Crabb discriminates between family and house, '... that a woman

manages her family; that a man rules his house'.  The race goes back to the

radix, the root, the family is a smaller and more closely knit entity.  The

Greek word does not derive from either the servant or from the children, but

from the word pater, 'father'.  The LXX uses patria for the Hebrew ab,

'father' when it is used for a 'house' as in Exodus 12:3, 'a lamb for an

house'.  This relationship of house and father is seen in Numbers 1:2:

'Take ye the sum of all the congregation of the children of Israel,

after their families (mishpachah), by the house (bayith) of their

fathers (aboth)'.

So, said the apostle:

'I bow my knees unto the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, of Whom the

whole family in heaven and earth is named' (Eph. 3:14,15).

'It is difficult to convey in another language any trace of the deep

connection of pater and patria here expressed.  Had the sentence been,

"The Creator, after Whom every creature in heaven and earth is named"

all would be plain to the English reader' (Alford).

'The whole family' is, in the original, pasa patria, 'every family'.

Some commentators, wishing to preserve the unity of the redeemed, are nervous

about admitting this fact, for fact it is.  The word patria occurs elsewhere

in Luke 2:4 and in Acts 3:25.  Before Acts 28, where Israel is dominant, we