36. People who have separated faith from love do not even know what faith is. When they do entertain an idea about faith, some of them see it only as mere thought, others as thought directed towards the Lord, and a few as the doctrine of faith. But faith involves not only knowledge of all the things that the doctrine of faith embraces and the acknowledgment of them; it is first and foremost obedience to everything that doctrine teaches. The primary point that it teaches for men's obedience is love of the Lord and love of the neighbour. Whoever is devoid of this is devoid of faith, a point which the Lord teaches so plainly in Mark as to leave absolutely no room for doubt,

The first of all the commandments is, Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. Therefore you shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and with all your mind, and with all your strength. This is the first commandment. The second is also like it, You shall love your neighbour as yourself. There is no other commandment greater than these. Mark 11:28-33.

In Matthew, He calls the former 'the first and great commandment', and says 'on these commandments the Law and Prophets depend', Matthew 22:35-40. The Law and the Prophets are the doctrine of faith in its entirety and the whole of the Word.

222. 'Hiding themselves from the face of Jehovah' is being afraid of this dictate, as people conscious of evil normally are. This is clear from their reply in verse 10, 'I heard Your Voice in the garden and I was afraid because I was naked'. 'The face of Jehovah', that is, of the Lord, is mercy, peace, and all good, as is quite clear from the blessing,

Jehovah make His face ¹ shine upon you and be merciful to you. Jehovah lift up His face ¹ upon you and give you peace. Numbers 6:15, 26.

And in David,

God be merciful to us and bless us, and make His face ¹ shine upon us. Psalms 67:1.

And elsewhere in David,

Many are saying, Who will cause us to see good? Lift up the light of Your face ¹ upon us, O Jehovah. Psalms 4:6-7.

The Lord's mercy is for this reason called 'the angel of His face' ¹ in Isaiah,

I will cause the mercies of Jehovah to be remembered. He has rewarded them according to His mercies, and according to the abundance of His mercies; and He became their Saviour. In all their affliction there was no affliction, and the angel of His face ¹ saved them; in His love and in His pity He redeemed them. Isaiah 63:7-9.

Notes de bas de page: