Note I: Faith in God

Every thoughtful person revolts against the idea that eternal blessedness depends upon apprehending aright a certain formula or creed respecting Christ, or upon believing certain facts concerning Him. No one represents this to be the doctrine of Scripture, save those who do so in order to bring Scripture into contempt. But there are many who, in a sense, are lovers of truth, that suppose this to be the view of evangelical Christians, and who, in rejecting it, reject also the teaching of Holy Writ respecting faith. To such, therefore, a plain statement is’ due of what we do in fact deem to be the truth in this matter. And I venture to think, moreover, that among Christians themselves there exists a great deal of confusion of thought, and somewhat perhaps of error too, with respect to it. The gospel will bear the test of the severest metaphysical inquiry, but yet it is addressed to plain people, and not to metaphysicians; and we may be certain that the truth of faith is not a subtle difficulty, but within the reach of all.

Now, as I have sought to show, to solve the difficulty by declaring trust to be the true and only faith recognised by God is utterly wrong. Trust is a necessary fruit of faith in its simplest phase, but not a part of it. Suppose in a money panic I am in fear of ruin, and I receive a letter telling me the bank in which my fortune is invested is absolutely safe, it is faith of the simplest kind to believe that testimony; and, simply believing it, I dismiss my fears. But, it will be answered, such faith, simple though it be, depends entirely on the confidence T repose in my informant. Undoubtedly it does. The words of the letter, as it lies before me, are like counters that may stand for anything or nothing. These counters become gold in my estimation, because I import into them the element of pre-existing trust in the writer. It is clear then that, between man and man, faith, apart from proof, assumes trust, and is inseparable from it.

But is this also true between God and the sinner? Belief of the Bible as a book merely, or even as a book recognised as true, is no doubt governed by the same principle. But when God speaks to the soul, His message is a living word, a word of power, and that quite independently of evidences, or of the condition of the hearer. I+ finds the sinner morally incapable of trust in God, for the essence of his nature is distrust of Him: ‘‘the carnal mind is enmity against God;” and spiritually he is no less incapable of trust, for he is spiritually dead. But the gospel itself brings life to the dead soul, and masters the enmity of the carnal heart. It brought forth fruit among the Colossians, ‘‘from the day they heard it.” By nature man is fallen and apostate: the gospel is itself the instrument for his recovery and conversion; therefore in no sense, and in no degree, does it rely for its acceptance upon any existing quality or condition of the human heart.

Speaking thus, however, we must guard against ue folly of supposing that any set of words in Greek or Hebrew, or their more or less accurate counterparts in English, have inherent power or virtue to bring salvation to the person who believes them. And if the words themselves can work no charm, the belief of them will not help the matter. Nor can I consent to fall back upon distinctions between “faith about Christ” and ‘faith in or on Christ,” as is sometimes done — distinctions which pertain either to etymology or metaphysics. The etymological question is interesting, and I will deal with it for any who have leisure and inclination to follow me. The metaphysical inquiry I must decline to enter on here. As I have said, the gospel is for those who are incapable of such a study; and, moreover, the distinction is based upon the assumption that, of the various sorts of faith, to use the popular expression, one is efficacious, and the other not — thus attaching merit to faith itself, and coming under the almost ironical remonstrance of St. James, ‘‘ Can faith save?”

If by ‘‘faith about Christ” be meant the belief of facts concerning Him, to say that this is not connected with salvation in Scripture is a statement so glaringly false as to need no answer. It is certainly inadequate as adefinition of true faith of the gospel, as 1 will presently explain; butchanging the preposition will in no way supply the defect. The distinction assumes that mioreveu evs (translated in Authorised Version to believe in or on) implies trust in the person who is the object of the faith. But this is quite untenable. In saying I believe in any one, I may mean that I thoroughly rely upon him, or I may merely intend that I acknowledge him to be the person he claims to be. Every one will admit that the expression has this elasticity of meaning in our own language: it needs no schoiarship to ascertain for one’sself that it hag equal scope in Greek, and notably in the writings of St. John. The fact is, the difference between 7. es Twa and w. vw is purely a matter of etymology or of style; and in every case the force of the words depends entirely upon the context. St. John uses them convertibly. See, for instance, John viii. 30, 31, where both are rightly translated ‘‘ believed on Him,” é.e., gave in their adhesion to His Messiahship. The 29th and 30th verses of chap. vi. afford anotherexample. And

again compare 1 John iii. 23 (7. 76 dvduarc) with v. 18 (m. es 7d évoua). Moreover, in John v. 24, Acts xvi. 34, xviii. 8, Rom. iv. 3, and elsewhere, the verb without the preposition denotes “saving faith” beyond all question; and in numerous passages m. es is used where as plainly there is no thought of either salvation or trust. I myself would include John viii. 30, already quoted, in this category, as the context plainly demands; but such passages as vil. 48, xi. 48, are unequivocal instances of it. a. wt does seem to include the idea of confidence or trust; but this is used but seldom, and never by St. John, though the word believe occurs in his writings well nigh as often as in all the rest of the New Testament.’

Having thus cleared the ground of difficulties and distinctions which I think both irrelevant and unworthy of the subject, I fall back upon the main inquiry, What is the element which connects faith with salvation?

It is not owing to any virtue or charm in the text of the message received, nor does it depend on any merit or vitality in faith, in what sense soever faith be understood. Still less is it to be accounted for by some fitness or worth in the recipient. If then it depends neither upon the message, nor yet upon the faith, nor upon the character of the faith, nor upon the condition of him who exercises the faith, there is but one more alternative remaining. And here, as the result of a circuitous inquiry that simple souls might perhaps refuse to follow, I reach once more a point where every true believer will enthusiastically side with me. It is not that the sinner believes, nor yet that he believes the gospel, but that he believes God. The belief of the facts of Christianity, however great and true, or even of the inspired record of them, can never bring life to a dead soul, nor change a sinner’s destiny. But that which makes the gospel a word of power and life to some, and links blessing with the faith

1 7. él occurs Luke xxiv. 25; Acts ix. 42, xi. 17, xvi. 31, xxii, 19;

HOM 1Y,.07 24, 1x, $3, x. 11; 1 Pet. ii. 6. K of it, is that to such it comes as a divine voice by the Holy Ghost now present upon earth to that end. “Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God;” not by the Bible as a volume purchased at a book shop, but by those sacred words when through them a present God speaks to the hearer’s soul.

If it be objected that this is transcendentalism, I answer, It is Christianity. Grace is boundless, but it is sovereign; and. if God has brought salvation within reach of all, it is not by making men independent of Himself, but by giving the Holy Ghost to bear witness to the finished work and glorified person of a Saviour. In apostolic days, the gospel was preached “¢ with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven,” and this is still its only power. It is not as a true record merely, but as a living word from God, that it is indeed ‘ the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”