[273] And God, admiring this man for his faith (πίστις) in him, gives him a pledge (πίστις) in return, namely, a confirmation by an oath of the gifts which he had promised him; no longer conversing with him as God might with man, but as one friend with another. For he says, "By myself have I sworn," [39] by him that is whose word is an oath, in order that Abraham’s mind may be established still more firmly and immoveably than before.