Note 23 — Chapter II
Neil Buchanan translation
Footnote 23:
(return)
See Zahn, Glaubensregel und Taufbekenntniss in der alten Kirche in the Zeitschrift f. Kirchl. Wissensch. u. Kirchl. Leben, 1881, Part 6, p. 302 ff., especially p. 314 ff. In the Epistle of Jude, v. 3, mention is made of the 'απαξ παραδοθεισα τοις 'αγιοις πιστις, and in v. 20 of "building yourselves up in your most holy faith." See Polycarp, ep. III. 2 (also VII. 2; II. 1). In either case the expressions κανων της πιστεως, κανων της αληθειας, or the like, might stand for πιστις, for the faith itself is primarily the canon; but it is the canon only in so far as it is comprehensible and plainly defined. Here lies the transition to a new interpretation of the conception of a standard in its relation to the faith. Voigt has published an excellent investigation of the concept 'ο κανων της αληθειας cum synonymis (Eine verschollene Urkunde des antimont. Kampfes, 1891, pp. 184-205).