AN 5.38 appears to be a late construction by the Pali compilers. It does not have an agama parallel.
An excerpt from the sutta.
AN 5.38 refers to the importance of getting rid of passion, aversion, and delusion, and unbinding, but does not point out how it can be done.To him come those without effluent —
free from passion,
free from aversion,
free from delusion —
the field of merit for the world.
They teach him the Dhamma
that dispels all stress.
And when he understands,
he is freed from effluents,
totally unbound.
Can faith be developed without knowing the way to get to Nibbana?
The sutta I mentioned SN 47.42 clearly outlines how to get rid of Passion, aversion and delusion, via an understanding of 4 Noble Truths.
Should not one understand how suffering originates before trying to get rid of suffering? Might not that be how true faith is developed?
With love