Perhaps, since you desire it, I should also set out the account of the faith itself—what our faith actually is. I will be sanctified by keeping it continually in mind. This people will benefit, since they delight in words of this kind. And once the truth is brought into the open, you will learn whether we are envied without reason as we match some and surpass others.
Think of deep waters. Some remain completely hidden in the depths. Some, confined in a narrow space, churn and foam. You can hear that an eruption is coming, though it has not happened yet. Others finally burst out. It is much the same with people who think deeply about God—leaving aside those who understand nothing at all. Some keep the true faith entirely hidden within themselves. Others are close to giving birth to it: they avoid what is contrary to true faith but do not speak the truth boldly. Perhaps they are exercising some careful restraint in their teaching; perhaps they are simply retreating into fear. They claim that their own thinking is sound, but they leave their people unsound in faith, as though they had been entrusted only with the care of themselves and not of others.
Still others make their treasure public. They cannot hold back the birth pangs of true faith. Nor do they consider it salvation merely to be saved themselves, unless the good also overflows from them to others. I would count myself among these, together with those who stand with me and have the courage to confess the true faith openly.