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                                                                                                On Faith, Hope, and Love

1. Properly understood, the whole relation of a human being to God is comprehended by the word "faith," understood as comprising not only the passive moment of trust or confidence in God, but also the active moment of loyalty or fidelity to God. Thus the formula is correct that we are saved by grace through faith; for, as Mr. Wesley rightly observes, "The end is, in one word, salvation; the means to attain it, faith." Or, more sharply still, "Faith is the condition, and the only condition, of sanctification, exactly as it is of justification."

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5. Since hope and love are really moments of faith itself – -- respectively, its passive and active moments – -- they, too, are properly distinguished from the works (or fruit) in which faith perforce finds expression. Otherwise put: the works of faith as such are also the works of hope and love.

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