John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.
John 6:29—“This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent”;cf.Rom. 1:17—“For therein is revealed a righteousness of God from faith unto faith: as it is written, But the righteous shall live by faith”;Rom. 3:28—“We reckon therefore that a man is justified by faith apart from the works of the law”;4:4, 5, 16—“Now to him that worketh, the reward is not reckoned as of grace, but as of debt. But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is reckoned for righteousness.... For this cause it is of faith, that it may be according to grace”;Gal. 5:6—“For in Christ Jesus neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith working through love”;Rom. 1:5—“through whom we received grace and apostleship, unto obedience of faith among all the nations.”
Faith stands as an intermediate factor between the unconscious and undeveloped tendency or disposition toward God inwrought in the soul by God's regenerating act, on the one hand, and the conscious and developed affection toward God which is one of the fruits and evidences of conversion, on the other. Illustrate by the motherly instinct shown in a little girl's care for her doll,—a motherly instinct which becomes a developed mother's love, only when a child of her own is born. This new love of the Christian is an activity of his own soul, and yet it is a“fruit of the Spirit”(Gal. 5:22). To attribute it wholly to himself would be like calling the walking and leaping of the lame man (Acts 3:8) merely a healthy activity of his own. For illustration of the priority of faith to love, see Shedd, Dogm. Theol., 2:533, note; on the relation of faith to love, see Julius Müller, Doct. Sin, 1:116, 117.
The logical order is therefore: 1. Unconscious and undeveloped love; 2. Faith in Christ and his truth; 3. Conscious and developed love; 4. Assurance of faith. Faith[pg 848]and love act and react upon one another. Each advance in the one leads to a corresponding advance in the other. But the source of all is in God. God loves, and therefore he gives love to us as well as receives love from us. The unconscious and undeveloped love which he imparts in regeneration is the root of all Christian faith. The Roman Catholic is right in affirming the priority of love to faith, if he means by love only this unconscious and undeveloped affection. But the Protestant is also right in affirming the priority of faith to love, if he means by love a conscious and developed affection. Stevens, Johannine Theology, 368—“Faith is not a mere passive receptivity. As the acceptance of a divine life, it involves the possession of a new moral energy. Faith works by love. In faith a new life-force is received, and new life-powers stir within the Christian man.”
We must not confound repentance with fruits meet for repentance, nor faith with fruits meet for faith. A. J. Gordon, The First Thing in the World:“Love is the greatest thing in the world, but faith is the first. The tree is greater than the root, but let it not boast:‘if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee’(Rom. 11:18). Love has no power to branch out and bear fruit, except as, through faith, it is rooted in Christ and draws nourishment from him.1 Pet. 1:5—‘who by the power of God are guarded through faith unto a salvation ready to be revealed in the last time’;1 Cor. 13:13—‘now abideth faith, hope, love’;Heb. 10:19-25—‘draw near ... in fulness of faith ... hold fast the confession of our hope ... provoke unto love and good works’;Rom. 5:1-5—‘justified by faith ... rejoice in hope ... love of God hath been shed abroad in our hearts’;1 Thess. 1:1, 2—‘work of faith and labor of love and patience of hope.’Faith is the actinic ray, hope the luminiferous ray, love the calorific ray. But faith contains the principle of the divine likeness, as the life of the parent given to the child contains the principle of likeness to the father, and will insure moral and physical resemblance in due time.”
A. J. Gordon, Ministry of the Spirit, 112—“‘The love of the Spirit’(Rom. 15:30) is the love of the Spirit of Christ, and it is given us for overcoming the world. The divine life is the source of the divine love. Therefore the love of God is‘shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Spirit who is given unto us’(Rom. 5:5). Because we are by nature so wholly without heavenly affection, God, through the indwelling Spirit, gives us his own love with which to love himself.”A. H. Strong, Christ in Creation, 286, 287, points out that in2 Cor. 5:14—“the love of Christ constraineth us”—the love of Christ is“not our love to Christ, for that is a very weak and uncertain thing; nor even Christ's love to us, for that is still something external to us. Each of these leaves a separation between Christ and us, and fails to act as a moving power within.... Not simply our love to Christ, nor simply Christ's love to us, but rather Christ's loveinus, is the love that constrains. This is the thought of the apostle.”The first fruit of this love, in its still unconscious and undeveloped state, is faith.
(f) That faith is susceptible of increase.
This is evident, whether we consider it from the human or from the divine side. As an act of man, it has an intellectual, an emotional, and a voluntary element, each of which is capable of growth. As a work of God in the soul of man, it can receive, through the presentation of the truth and the quickening agency of the Holy Spirit, continually new accessions of knowledge, sensibility, and active energy. Such increase of faith, therefore, we are to seek, both by resolute exercise of our own powers, and above all, by direct application to the source of faith in God (Luke 17:5).
Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.[pg 849]On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.
Luke 17:5—“And the apostles said unto the Lord, Increase our faith.”The adult Christian has more faith than he had when a child,—evidently there has been increase.1 Cor. 12:8, 9—“For to one is given through the Spirit the word of wisdom ... to another faith, in the same Spirit.”In this latter passage, it seems to be intimated that for special exigencies the Holy Spirit gives to his servants special faith, so that they are enabled to lay hold of the general promise of God and make special application of it.Rom. 8:26, 27—“the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity ... maketh intercession for us ... maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God”;1 John 5:14, 15—“And this is the boldness which we have toward him, that, if we ask anything according to his will, he heareth us: and if we know that he heareth us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions which we have asked of him.”Only when we begin to believe, do we appreciate our lack of faith, and the great need of its increase. The little beginning of light makes known the greatness of the surrounding darkness.Mark 9:24—“I believe; help thou mine unbelief”—was the utterance of one who recognized both the need of faith and the true source of supply.
On the general subject of Faith, see Köstlin, Die Lehre von dem Glauben, 13-85, 301-341, and in Jahrbuch f. d. Theol., 4:177sq.; Romaine on Faith, 9-89; Bishop of Ossory, Nature and Effects of Faith, 1-40; Venn, Characteristics of Belief, Introduction; Nitzsch, System of Christ. Doct., 294.