It was his own will that we should be born by the Word of the truth, to be a kind of firstfruits among his creatures.

he glances at himself, goes off, and at once forgets what he was like.

When our father Abraham offered his son Isaac on the altar, was he not justified by what he did?

In his case, you see, faith co-operated with deeds, faith was completed by deeds,

and the scripture was fulfilled: Abraham believed God, and this was counted to him as righteousness ??he was called God's friend.

So too with Rahab the harlot. Was she not justified by what she did, when she entertained the scouts and got them away by a different road?

Elijah was a man with a nature just like our own; but he offered prayer that it might not rain, and for three years and six months it did not rain;