Possessive Faith

The love of God, which is in Christ Jesus.” — Rom. viii. 89. He loved me.”’ — GAt. ii, 20.

Pauy’s devotional thought alternated between the universal and the individual. The regular action of his religious life was begotten of a sort of pendulum motion, moving between what God had done for the race and what God had done for him. Or, if I may change the figure, his religious life had the movement of the skylark; it soared to heights of comprehensive vision, ‘an ethereal minstrel pilgrim of the sky,” and it songfully surveyed the redemption of the world. Then it returned to its nest upon the ground, and rested in the assurance that its ground was hallowed ground, the home of redemptive love and grace. No one could ever say that the Apostle Paul forgot the world. The world was his parish; it filled his dreams. He had found the pearl of great price, he had entered into the unsearchable riches of Christ, and he felt himself indebted to everybody on the planet, and the indebtedness sent him trudging along any road, however long, however dangerous, however tedious, that he might persuade someone to share his wealth. “I am become all things to all men.” He certainly had the world view. Truly this man was a citizen of the world.

And yet, I say, he came back to his own nest. He did not lose himself in vague theories in which no soul could find a home. The universal localised itself in a human habitation. That which embraced the uttermost parts of the earth also included him. ““He loved me, and gave Himself for me;”’ ““He called me;” ‘‘ He revealed His Son in me.” All these are home-songs. They are the glad croonings of the individual heart resting upon its own nest. The Apostle has been called the expert master of the preposition, and, indeed, there is a whole literature. of grace in the prepositions of his epistles. But I am not quite sure that he is not just as much a master of the pronoun as he is of the preposition. At any rate, if anyone will carefully study the great Apostle’s use of the pronoun he will find himself in very rich spiritual mines. And I would especially suggest that we study his use of the possessive pronoun, where he draws some universal treasure into his own life. We can watch him, as it were, drawing up his blind, and opening his window, and letting in the splendour of the sunrise in Jesus Christ our Lord. And as the glory breaks into his chamber he sings aloud of “my light!’ He looks out of his window upon the inheritance of grace, and he speaks of ‘“‘ my earnest expectation and hope.’’ He surveys the manifold glory of the gospel of Christ, and then proudly declares, ‘‘ Whereof I was made a minister.” He lets his eyes roam over continents and worlds of divine love, and he rapturously exclaims, ‘‘ He loved me, and gave Himself for me.”’

It is this vital use of the personal pronoun which converts a vague creed into a thrilling life. For instance, let anyone take the Apostles’ Creed, and insert a few personal possessive pronouns, or transpose its phrases so as to suggest individual possession, and he will be amazed at the sharpness of the transformation. Universal — statements, which run over the mind without leaving any impression, issue a very startling challenge if we make them indicate a personal possession. Take this great word from the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the forgiveness of sins.’ A man may say that, as millions do, and the large vagueness of the assertion may leave no deeper mark upon his mind and heart than if a feather from a bird’s wing were to blow across a face of rock. But now insert the possessive pronoun, and mark the change: “I believe in the forgiveness of my sins.” The thing at once becomes alive, and full of challenge. We shrink from the shock of the word. We are pulled up and made to think. We are face to face with reality, and we feel the beating pulse in this limb of the Creed. And what is the worth of a creed unless it can be thus vitalised by a personal faith, which converts assertion into reverent claim and then converts the claim into possession?

Or, take this other great word from the Creed: “I believe in the life everlasting.” That confession may mean something or nothing. The universal may have no grip, and I may say the big thing and remain unmoved. When men talk in millions they are beyond my stride. If they come down to the limits of my income their talk becomes alive. Well, then, let me bring this great credal assertion out of its ineffective range and lay it alongside my own affairs. Let me individualise it by the use of a singular possessive pronoun. ‘“‘I believe that my life is everlasting.’”? Again one feels the challenge of reality. We may recoil from the great word, as indeed we should recoil from it unless it has been given to us by our Lord. But if He has called us into His communion, and we have answered His call, then with joyful pride we may prolaim our faith: “I believe that my life is everlasting.” And with equal joy and assertion we may say to our brother in the faith: ‘I believe that thy life is everlasting.”’ In Christ the personal pronoun unveils our crown.

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