Faith
Matt.
viii. io, 26.
ix. 22, 28,
xi. 6, 28.
xiii. 44, 46.
xiv. 31.
xv. 28.
xvi. 8.
xvii. 17, 20.
xviii. 6.
xxi. 21, 22,
xxm. 23.
xxiv. 13, 23,
26.
Mark i. 15.
iii. 13.
iv. 12, 20, 40.
v. 30, 36.
vi. 6, 50.
viii. 17-21.
ix. 19, 23, 42.
x. 14, 15, 21,
52-
xi. 22-24.
xiii. II.
Luke vi. 47.
vii. 9, 50.
viii. 2, 1.3, 25,
48, 50.
xiv. 17.
xvi. 16.
xvii. 6, 19.
xviii. 8, 22, 42.
xxii. 32, 67.
S has been seen above, the first step upwards,
Xjl out of unrighteousness towards Christian character, is repentance; and now we go on to the second, which is Faith.
In his address at Miletus to the elders of Ephesus, reported in the twentieth chapter of Acts, St. Paul characterized his own activity, extending over three years, in the capital of the province of Asia, by saying that he had testified to both Jews and Greeks “repentance towards God and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” There is no reason to believe that the scope of his preaching was narrowed down to any scrupulously exclusive range of topics; for his writings testify that in this respect his line of conduct was always singularly free and catholic; yet, however widely his preaching ranged, it always returned to two topics, which would be remembered by his hearers when all details were forgotten — repentance and faith. But the repentance preached by St. Paul is expressly characterized by himself as directed “towards God,” and the faith as directed
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
“towards our Lord Jesus Christ.” Christ was, then, the object of faith in the preaching of the Apostle. But the question may be raised, whether Christ was also the object of faith in His own preaching. In his recently published book, The Essence of Chris - tianity, Professor Harnack has maintained that Christ did not enter as an element into His own preaching r He preached faith, indeed, but it was faith towards God, not towards Himself.* Thus there would be a fundamental difference between the testimony of St. Paul and that of the Founder of Christianity; but we must see whether the drawing of such a distinction is justified.
The prominence of faith in the scheme of doctrine proceeding from St. Paul is so manifest that it cannot escape the most careless eye. But faith holds a position hardly less prominent in the teaching of Jesus, although it is introduced in an entirely different way.
Jesus expressed great satisfaction with any unusual exhibition of faith. Thus, when a centurion, who resided at Capernaum, encountered Him at a distance from that town and, in language of singular freshness and force, expressed the conviction that Jesus was able to heal his son with a word, without going to the place where the patient lay, it is reported that Jesus, having heard it, marvelled, and said to those who followed: “V erily, I say unto you, I have not
* “Nicht der Sohn, sondern allein der Vater gehort in das Evangelium, wie es Jesus verkiindigt hat, hinein,” p. 91. found so great faith, no, not in Israel.” Similarly, when the Syrophcenician Woman divined the willing¬ ness of His heart beneath the roughness of His manner, expressing, in terms even more original than those employed by the centurion, her belief that He would not refuse to help her, He exclaimed: “O woman, great is thy faith; be it unto thee even as thou wilt.” Socrates used to say of himself, that he was to his disciples what the midwife is to a woman in labour, delivering them of the births of their own minds; and this maieutic office, which Socrates discharged to knowledge, Jesus may be said to have discharged to faith. As a sympathetic teacher is quick to mark the dawning of talent, and tempts it forth by every kind of artifice, so, wherever Jesus discerned the slightest sign of faith, He trimmed the smoking flax with unfailing assiduity. Thus, when He was on His way with Jairus to the deathbed of his daughter, and a messenger met them with the news that the little maid had actually expired, Jesus turned instantly to the father and, to prevent him from being staggered by the evil tidings, said: “Be not afraid: only believe.” But the most remarkable instance of this kind was that of the father of the demoniac boy, who met Jesus, as He descended from the Mount of Transfiguration, and begged for His compassion. Demoralised by the inability of the apostles to heal his son, the poor man had almost fallen into despair and appealed to
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
Jesus with the unworthy phrase: “If thou canst do anything.” But Jesus at once pulled him up with the rejoinder: “If thou canst: * all things are
possible to him that believeth.” Thus did Jesus draw forth faith almost with violence; but the harsh method was successful; for the man replied, with tears — and never was there a more touching example of faith struggling with unbelief and overcoming it — “Lord, I believe; help Thou mine unbelief.”
If Jesus thus delighted in the display of faith, He was correspondingly disappointed at any conspicuous evidence of the lack of it; and too often it was His fortune to encounter this state of mind. Even among the Twelve faith was ever and anon breaking down in the face of some new emergency; hence a common form of address to them was: “O ye of little faith!” and one of the very last phrases in which He apostrophized them, before leaving them altogether, was: “O fools, and slow of heart to believe!” If this was the case with apostles, it was no wonder that He should meet with irresponsiveness outside the circle of His followers: His fellow-countrymen He called “a faithless generation”; and of His fellow-townsmen at Nazareth it is narrated that He “marvelled” at their unbelief.
While, however, it is true that faith occupies in the teaching of Christ a place so prominent, it cannot be
* Mark ix. 2^. This is one of the gems of the Revised Version. alleged with truth that it has in His teaching the same simple sense as in the epistles of St. Paul. On the contrary, the word “faith,” together with the corresponding verb “believe,” has in the teaching of Christ a remarkable variety of meanings, and it is evident that we can hope to obtain a correct and comprehensive knowledge of His mind on this great subject only by a careful study of them all.
When He says: “Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow: they toil not, neither do they spin: and yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these. Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass ot the field, which to-day is and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall He not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith?” it is evident that the faith recommended is trust in God’s providence — the belief that He means well by all His creatures and will supply the bodily wants of those whom He has allowed to be born into the world. Not dissimilar to this are the frequent utterances in which He recommends believing prayer, as wrhen He says: “And all things whatsoever ye shall ask in prayer, believing, ye shall receive.” No doubt this faith might be carried up to a higher plane than that of the purely natural life: it might relate directly to the kingdom of God and to work for that kingdom; but it seems to begin on the purely natural ground and to be an inference from the general relation of God to all His intelligent creatures.
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
Secondly, faith, in the mouth of Jesus, frequently means belief in His own miraculous powers. When the diseased came seeking to be cured, He would ask: “Believe ye that I am able to do this?” When they had been’ cured, He assured them that it was their faith which had made them whole; and in at least one passage we are told that He could do no mighty works in a certain place because of unbelief. Akin to this was the power of working miracles with which, He promised, faith would endow the disciples: “These signs shall follow them that believe: in My name shall they cast out devils; they shall speak with new tongues; they shall take up serpents; and, if they shall drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them; they shall lay their hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” *
Thirdly, He attributes to faith the forgiveness of sins and the salvation of the soul. Thus, to the Woman who was a Sinner He said: “Thy faith hath saved thee”; and in the parable of the Sower He says of a certain class of hearers, that “the devil cometh and taketh away the word out of their hearts, lest they should believe and be saved.” Sayings of this sort are obviously those most akin to the character¬ istic utterances of St. Paul on the same subject; but it cannot be honestly affirmed that they are numerous among the words of Jesus.
That which is characteristic in the teaching of Jesus
* Reading, however, more than doubtful. on the subject of faith is the variety of senses in which the term is employed; but is there no point of view from which these can be all harmonized? I venture to think there is, and it is a very simple one.
Although faith is a theological term and is of incessant occurrence in the language of religion, it is, nevertheless, in- the first place a purely human act; it is an element in ordinary life, without which the world could not go on for a single day. Every hour we are performing acts, of faith towards our fellow-men, as well as acts of disbelief; and, if we analyze what faith towards man is, we shall obtain a key to the question what faith towards God or Christ is. It is entirely in accord with the mind of Christ to look upon the life of faith toward men as a school in which to acquire a knowledge of faith +£>n a higher level. What, then, is it we do when we put faith in a fellow-creature? Is it not this — that we accept him as he offers himself to us, and act accordingly? Thus, a teacher of any science puts himself forward as an adept in his particular department; and those who wish to acquire that science, if they believe in him, wait on his prelections and accept with confidence the information he conveys. Or, in friendship, when anyone exhibits the signs of affection, to put faith in him is to receive these as not counterfeit, but genuine, and permit our own affection and esteem to go out in return.
Exactly similar is faith in God. Though hidden from our eyes, He has in different forms sent us messages and communications; and to receive these with confidence and act upon them is faith; which may, therefore, be defined as the sympathetic and appreciative response of the human mind and heart to divine revelation, in whatever form it may come. This one idea will be found to include all the different senses in which Jesus speaks of faith.
Thus, in the works of nature God has sent to all mortals a message, which the observant mind cannot mistake. He feeds the ravens and clothes the lilies — what is this but an intimation that He will feed and clothe those who know themselves to be more valuable in the divine eyes than birds or flowers? And, when we receive this message with intelligence and gratitude,* and, therefore, live without carefulness, this is faith.
Again, God has sent us a very full and varied message in His Word, wherein He has signified His own thoughts and wishes about many things that intimately concern us; and, when we turn to the Scriptures for information on these subjects and, having found it, act upon it, we are putting faith in God. “O fools, and slow of heart,” said Jesus, “to believe all that the prophets have written.” Every prophet was, indeed, in his own person, an embodied message from Heaven, and faith was tested by the manner in which he was received. If his appearance was welcomed, if his utterances were attended to with reverence and the reforms he advocated carried out, those so acting displayed faith in God; whereas the opposite mode of action was a manifestation of unbelief. “John,” said Jesus, “came unto you in the way of righteousness, and ye believed him not; but the publicans and harlots believed him; and ye, when ye had seen it, repented not afterwards, that ye might believe him.”
It is only the completion of the same line of reflection to say that Christ Himself was an embodied message from God to the world, His various modes of activity — such as His discourses, His works of healing, and the influence of His character — being the syllables and the sentences of this message, and the whole together forming one grand expression of the mind and heart of God, offering saving help to the children of men; and to attend to this message, to welcome it with gratitude, to place confidence in it and to act on it — this was faith. This is the most vital point in the doctrine of Jesus on this subject; and it shows that faith is, at the core, not the acceptance of beliefs or dogmas, but a relation or bearing towards Christ Himself — a transaction between person and person.*
* “1st uns klar gevvorden, dass das, was Gott uns sagen will am deutlichsten darin ausgedriickt ist, dass uns die Person Jesu gegeben ist, so beginnt unsere Andacht in Ehrfurcht
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
The earthly life of the Son of God was a school of faith, and He was a teacher of the art of faith. His miracles, for example, were intended to evoke not only faith in Him as a wonder-worker, but faith in Him also as a source of higher benefits. While many reasons may be assigned for the working of miracles, the chief must always be this — that the healing of the body illustrated the salvation of the soul. As the bodies of men are afflicted with many varieties of disease, so are their souls with many kinds of sins; and, by grappling with all bodily ills, as these were brought to Him, Jesus signified that He was able with equal success to deal with the maladies of the soul. How exact the parallel was may be learned from the fact that to the Woman who was a Sinner, when He forgave her sins, He said the very same as He used to say to those cured of bodily infirmities: “Thy faith hath made thee whole.” *
In Christ’s school of faith there was what may be called an upper class. Not a few, in the Gospel history, like Jairus and the Syrophcenician Woman,
und gipfelt in Dank, Freude und Friede. Denn vvenn vvir diese Thatsache und unsere ganze durch diese Thatsache gekennzeichnete Lage als den Ausdruck dessen verstehen, was Gott uns sagen will, so fiihlen wir uns von einer Liebe umfangen, die uns vollig demiithigt und uns wunderbarvergiebt [erhebt?]” — From an article on “Andacht,5’ by W, Herrmann, in Hauck’s Reale ncy clop adie.
* ‘H Tii(TTLS crov (reaconeu ere. came to Him seeking help not for themselves, but for their relatives; and it was given in answer to their prayers. In cases of bodily illness the cure seems sometimes to have been given without the co-operation of the faith of the patient. In spiritual healing the latter was naturally essential; but it might be awakened by the antecedent faith of friends. Of this there is a remarkable illustration in the case of the man brought to Jesus by four neighbours and let down through the roof. “Jesus, seeing their faith,” we are told, “said to the sick of the palsy, Son, be of good cheer; thy sins are forgiven thee.” What the four bearers had in view was the bodily restoration of their friend; but their faith, in combination with the hallowed presence into which they had brought him, awakened faith in the paralytic himself not only for the bodily cure, but for the higher blessing as well; whereupon Christ bestowed both. This is a marvellous case; yet it has its analogies in Christian ministries in all ages which, although contemplating bodily effects in the first place, yet may awaken interior instincts and activities by which the soul reaches out to the apprehension of more perfect and enduring benefits.
This reminds us that there was a still more advanced class in the school of Christ, composed of those who were privileged to work miracles in His name. These signs and wonders were wrought by
1 86
faith, and, when they failed, and those who had in vain attempted to work them were put to shame, as in the case of the demoniac boy at the foot of the Mount of Transfiguration, the failure was due to unbelief. But, in performing such acts, the apostles were serving their apprenticeship to the still higher miracle of converting the world; and especially they were learning the lesson that in such work nothing except faith is of any avail. It was to this, and not to physical marvels, that their Master was referring when He affirmed that, if they had faith as a grain of mustard -seed, they could remove mountains. The obstacles in the way of the conversion of the world were great as mountains, but faith could remove them, and faith alone.
There is something bewildering in the statement of Jesus that effects deserving to be described in such terms may be wrought by faith like a grain of mustard-seed. This is a clear proof that the virtue of faith consists not in itself, but in the fact that it gives God His opportunity: it is simply the opening of the soul to admit God, that He may act; and it is by His action that the miracles are performed.
Now we may be able to answer the question raised by Harnack as to whether Christ is an element in His own Gospel — whether He challenged faith towards Himself. In the first place, it may be laid down as certain that He sought no faith for Himself apart from His Father. Whenever Christ is offered, it is the Father who is dealing with those to whom He is offered. The Father is constantly repeating the words He uttered in the days of our Lord’s flesh: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him,” thus commending His Son and pressing Him on the acceptance of sinners. It is with the Father that sinners have primarily to do; and it is He who, in offering salvation, offers it in Christ. This was clearly indicated by Jesus Himself when He said: “He that receiveth Me receiveth Him that sent Me.” But Jesus also offers Himself as Saviour with a relative independence; and He takes no anxious thought to remind us that He is not acting on His own initiative. Of this the most critical examples are found in those cases where He claims to forgive sins, because it is manifest that He who can forgive sins can bestow all the blessings of salvation. Now, on the two most outstanding occasions when He expressly forgave sins — those of the Woman that was a Sinner and of the paralytic borne of four — He was directly challenged as a blasphemer, because none can forgive sins but God only. And what did He reply? Did He explain that He was only the agent of Another? This is the explanation now given for Him by those who allege that He is not the subject of His own preaching; what they
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
say is that He was only emphasizing the forgiving nature of God and, as one intimate with His mind, assuring those who were exercising faith that God had pardoned them. But why did not Jesus state this Himself? A single word to this effect would
have put Him right. Yet He did not utter it, pre-
.. — .. - -*
ferring to die as a blasphemer. It is unnecessary to draw the inference.*
Thus have I endeavoured to analyze the direct statements in which our Lord makes use of the words “faith” and “believe”; the result being, it must be confessed, less definite and simple than that arising from a study of the use of the same words by St. Paul. There is an element of figurativeness, one might almost say of exaggeration, in the language of Jesus on this subject which baffles us; and in His words faith is less frequently pointed straight at the justification of sinners than its connection with this experience in the theology of the Reformation might lead us to expect.f But there is a class
* “Man reads not of forgiveness in the flowers or the stars; nor does he hear of it from the lips of men, or from any creature. And yet forgiveness is what he needs, and is restlessly in search of. There is only One who can give it; and He says, ‘ Come unto Me.’” — Colloquia Peripatetica — one of the new sayings of Rabbi Duncan in the sixth edition of this precious book.
t How far this act of trust involved at the same time, consciously or unconsciously, intellectual belief is a question of great importance, but it does not concern us here. “Der of sayings from the mouth of our Lord, in which the words “faith” and “believe” are not employed, yet the true signification and force of faith are perhaps brought out more clearly and impressively than in the passages where these words do occur Foremost among such sayings stands the great one of Matt. xi. 28-30: “Come unto Me, all ye that labour and are heavy-laden, and I will give you rest.” In sketching the contemporaries of Jesus, we have had occasion to refer to several sorts of which the population of Palestine was composed —
Nachweis,” says Holtzmann {N eutestamentliche Theologie, i. 372), 44 der Continuitat und des Einklangs der messianishen Predigt mit der alttest. Offenbarungsgeschichte war das erste Erforderniss, wenn die Einen ihren Glauben an Jesus festhalten, die Anderen ihm mit voller Uberzeugung zufallen sollten; ihn zu fiihren ist fur die Redner in Jerusalem (Act. vii. 2-53) wie in der Heidenwelt (xiii. 17-23) erste Pflicht und Ausgabe. Alles kommt darauf an, Jesu personliche Geschicke nicht bloss als aus dem offenbarungsgeschichtlich im Voraus festgestellten Rahmen des Messianismus nicht herausfallend, sondern als ihn gegentheils erst recht ausfullend, das in demselben bisher bloss Angedeutete kraftig ausmalend, die leeren Stellen des Bildeserganzend, erscheinen zu lassen. Wer sich von dieser prastabilirten Harmonie des Alten und des Neuen uberzeugt hatte, der war ein 4 Glaubiger ’ nach altestem Stil; er glaubte dass dieser ist der Christ (ix. 22; xvii. 3) oder 4 der Sohn Gottes ’ (ix. 20; cf. xviii. 5, 28), nicht bloss in dem Sinne einer personlichen Entscheidung fur das ihn beriihrende and uberwaitigende Gottliche, sondern zugleich auch in dem Sinne eines Urtheils uber Geschichtsgang und Weltzusammenhang. So war ‘ Glauben ’ und 4 Glauben ’ von Anfang an zweierlei, der Begriff ein von Haus aus amphibolischer, entsprechend der Combination eines historischen und eines idealen Factors im Glaubensgegenstand.”
i qo
THE ETHIC OF JESUS
the publicans and sinners, the scribes and Pharisees, the Sadducees and the high-priests — but we must now devote more ample attention to one class on the members of which Jesus primarily had His eye when He gave this invitation to the labouring and the heavy-laden. In the beginning of the Gospel we obtain glimpses of a section of Jewish society very unlike those whom Jesus comprehensively addressed as His “generation” and of which He gave such a deplorable account. Sprinkled sparsely over the land, there were hidden souls in whom all the discipline of the Old Testament, including the commandments of the Law, the enthusiasm of the Prophets, the preaching of the Baptist, which had so signally failed with the majority, had done its work. There were homes in which the fire of religion was sedulously trimmed, though it had gone out on the public altars. Such a home was that of Jesus Himself. Such was also the home of the Baptist, of whose parents, Zechariah and Elizabeth, it is said that “they were both righteous before God, walking in all the commandments and ordinances of the Lord blameless.” To this class belonged Simeon and Anna, of the former of whom it is said that he was “just and devout, waiting for the consolation of Israel; and the Holy Ghost was upon him,” while of the latter it is remarked that “she spake of Him to all those that looked for redemption in Jerusalem.” The latter words describe the whole class, although there is reason to believe that they were not confined to the capital but scattered over all parts of the land. They might be few, but they were infinitely important; they were the salt of the country in an age of corruption. They knew one another; they spake often one to another, sighing their griefs and whispering their hopes into one another’s ears. Happily there have been preserved to us pretty comprehensive expressions of their sentiments in the Hymn of Mary, the prophecies of Elizabeth and her husband, and the address of Simeon; and in these documents we can see what was the state of their minds. It was a state of trouble: they were filled with shame at the degradation of their country and with grief at the evils of the age. They felt like people sitting in darkness waiting for the dayspring, or prisoners sighing in their cells for liberty. The yoke of the law was on their consciences — that yoke of which St. Peter, truly interpreting their sentiments, said that neither they nor their fathers were able to bear it — and the blood of bulls and goats failed to give them peace. These were the tender consciences on which the scribes in the synagogues laid heavy burdens and grievous to be borne, which, although they tried loyally to be obedient, they were unable to carry. In short, they were labouring and heavy-laden; and, I think we may say, they were exactly in the state of mind into which Jesus attempted to bring others
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by preaching His doctrine of repentance — a state of tender humility and expectant receptivity.
To this class, then, Jesus addressed Himself; and what He said was, “Come unto Me.” This was precisely equivalent to an invitation to believe on Himself or to exercise faith; but the invitation was couched in an untechnical and singularly attractive form. It made faith exceedingly simple. There He was, visible in the flesh; and the. labouring and heavy-laden were invited to go to Him, to talk with Him, to lay Tare to His sympathetic ear the sorrow and anxiety with which they were vexed and burdened. Sometimes He varied the form of the invitation, and, instead of speaking of men coming to Him, requested them to “receive” Him. That is to say, instead of representing His door as open for them to come to, He represented Himself as going to their door and asking to be admitted — an attitude, if possible, even more simple and gracious.
The promise with which this great saying concludes, “And I will give you rest,” must be interpreted in accordance with the meaning put upon the words “labour and are heavy-laden”; for the obvious intention of the Speaker is that those who come to Him are to rest from the labours and burdens indicated in this phrase, whatever these may be. We cannot be wrong in assuming it to mean at least that they shall rest from all that is involved in repentance; and so the statement comes uncommonly near to that of one of the Beatitudes; “Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled.”
The best comment, however, is in Christ’s own words that follow: “Take My yoke upon you, and learn of Me; for I am meek and lowly in heart; and ye shall find rest for your souls; for My yoke is easy, and My burden is light.” The yoke was the commonest sight in Palestine both in town and country. It was a wooden frame, laid on the necks of two oxen and binding them at once to each other and to the burden, with which it was connected by means of a pole extending back between the pair. So that what Jesus promises is to pull in the same yoke with anyone who accepts His invitation. They shall travel forward side by side, and the burden shall be His burden. Whatever the burden be — guilt, duty, care, death itself — He shares it. No wonder He adds that the burden is light. Jesus was not in the habit of speaking of the yoke He imposed as easy or the burden light, as we shall see in a subsequent portion of His doctrine: on the contrary, He represented His yoke as painful and crushing. Both representations are true, but this one contains the profounder truth. St. Augustine has a beautiful illustration of the paradox. How, asks he, can a burden be light? And he answers: Look at the eagle! what mighty pinions has nature affixed to his shoulders! they must be heavy! To any other
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bearer at least they would be an intolerable obstacle and embarrassment. But, fixed where they have been placed by nature, they raise the royal bird and carry it up into the eye of the sun. And so does Christ’s burden; because duty becomes nature when it is inspired by love.