Tong2020 said:
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I can get what you mean of faith that its system that it relied on was inadequate. I don’t take as relying on a system or what. Faith is not anything like that. It wasn’t in the time of Abraham, it wasn’t in the time of Moses, it wasn’t in the time of Christ.
Can I have your comment on this?
That the salvation of God was and is by grace through faith.
Sure. My claim is that faith operates in OT and NT through the systems that God has put in place in those respective times. In the OT the Law was in place. In the NT the Law is not in place.
The OT and NT are indeed "systems" through which faith operated. To say the "Law is not of faith" is not to say the Law did not operate through faith. It is only saying that the Law doesn't complete what faith was meant to complete, namely eternal life.
Paul defines "Faith" in lesser and greater senses, as I've been saying. He speaks of faith that operated under the Law, and of faith that Abraham operated in the OT period before the Law. Clearly, this is faith in a sense lesser than in the NT sense of faith having achieve eternal life through Christ.
But Paul also speaks of "faith coming" through Christ. This brings about eternal life for those who put their faith in him. In this sense, "faith has not yet come." Paul is defining "faith" in a unique way that is different from how he applied it to OT saints. You should recognize this, whether you agree with my overall argument that Paul uses "shortcuts" or not.
Again, "Faith," for Paul, is a short term for "faith that leads, through Christ, to eternal life." It is faith that is not short-circuited by the prohibitions and by the condemnation of the Law. Faith is not discouraged, nor disrupted, by the Law any longer once Christ has arrived and has provided his atonement for sins. In this sense, for Paul, "faith has arrived." It was not that faith did not exist prior to Christ, but only that using this greater definition of "faith," Faith, with a capital "F," has arrived.
The Law was a system that operated by faith but which could not complete faith. Faith for what? Faith, in context, was for the purpose of bringing about Israel's eternal promise, through the covenants that God provided.
The Law, as a system, could not provide that, and faith fell short of its goal. But in the NT, faith found its objective through Christ. Eternal life could be had through him. Faith arrived at its zenith through Christ, but not through the Law.