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In short, faith, hope, and charity are gifts that God gives us when we exercise the 4th Article of Faith: Faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, repentance, baptism, and receiving the Gift of the Holy Ghost. When we exercise the 4th Article of Faith, we are blessed with additional faith, with additional hope, and additional charity – all provided by the Holy Ghost in the process of purifying and sanctifying us. There is one word for all 3 (faith, hope, charity): PEACE – not peace as the world sometimes knows, but the peace that only the Holy Ghost can provide in which we know that we are Christlike in our nature or becoming Christlike in our nature, and thus know that we are ONE with the Father or are progressing to be one with the Father.
Thanks, Lanny!
At note 172, you cite David Calabro on the question of the actual use of the huge bronze laver at the Jewish Temple. Some scholars now argue that temple-goers first bathed themselves in the Pool of Siloam (a mikveh about the size of two football fields), and then ascended the many steps to the Temple Mount. https://www.bridgesforpeace.com/israel-unveils-ancient-pilgrims-road-used-by-jewish-worshipers-to-ascend-second-temple/ .
Amy-Jill Levine and Marc Zvi Brettler connect agape-love with righteous worship (LXX Pss 30:23, 39:16, 68:35, 96:10, 144:20), and derive Paul’s discussion from Isa 56:6. Of the three graces, love is a gift of the Spirit, and is eternal. The Jewish Annotated New Testament: NRSV (Oxford, 2011), 308n, re I Cor 13:1-13.
Hi, Robert. Thanks for these interesting leads! I appreciate, as always, your kindness in sharing them!
—Jeff