Note 209 — Chapter III
Neil Buchanan translation
Footnote 209:
(return)
The concepts, επαγγελια, γνωσις, νομος, form the Triad on which the later catholic conception of Christianity is based, though it can be proved to have been in existence at an earlier period. That πιστις must everywhere take the lead was undoubted, though we must not think of the Pauline idea of πιστις. When the Apostolic Fathers reflect upon faith, which, however, happens only incidentally, they mean a holding for true of a sum of holy traditions, and obedience to them, along with the hope that their consoling contents will yet be fully revealed. But Ignatius speaks like a Christian who knows what he possesses in faith in Christ, that is, in confidence in him. In Barn. 1, Polyc. Ep. 2, we find "faith, hope, love"; in Ignatius, "faith and love." Tertullian, in an excellent exposition, has shewn how far patience is a temper corresponding to Christian faith (see besides the Epistle of James).