Proportion The Greek word ἀ ναλογία is of frequent occurren ce in classical writings, but in the NT it is found only in Romans 12:6, ‘Whether prophecy [let us prophesy] according to the proportion of faith’ (AV_; ‘according to the proportion of our faith’; RVm_ ‘according to the proportion of the faith’). Interpreters are divided as to whether ‘the faith’ is to be taken subjectively (Meyer, Sanday-Headlam) or objectively (Vaughan, Liddon). The first alternative would mean that they who had received the gift of prophecy were to exercise it in consistency with the extent (or limits) of their own faith, the measure of which had been allotted to them (v. 3); the second, in harmony with ‘the faith’ as referring to the gospel as a whole. The latter is very attractive, but the usage of the NT is against it. There is no instance in the Epistles of St. Paul of the use of ἡ πίστις in the sense of ‘the gospel.’ It is, however, found in Jude 1:5, and is one of the i ndications of its late date. The ἀ ναλογία τ ῆ ς πίστεως must be taken as parallel with, and not different from, μέτρον πίστεως (v. 3). (For an elaborate examination of ‘Analogy considered as a guide to Truth’ See the work of J. Buchanan, published under that title, Edinburgh, 1864.)
John Reid.