1. IT is the meaning of the Christian revelation that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself; that being infinite in love and sympathy He bears on His heart the sorrow and sin of mankind, and that Christ reveals Him bearing them—reveals the Eternal Passion and Sacrifice. In Christ the Divine Goodness is not only taught, but incarnate. God in Christ is, in truth, Christianity.
How few realize this belief! The average religious man is more Pagan than Christian in his conception of the Divine character and ways. We say we believe in the Deity of Jesus Christ, but do we not miss altogether and fail to realize the vital spiritual truth of the doctrine when we think of the Invisible God as having dispositions toward His creatures and His children that are not Christlike; when we think that God can be less or other than that which the Son reveals Him to be, less than infinite in His compassion and helpfulness, other than the Everlasting Father and Saviour of men? “The love of God in Jesus Christ our Lord” (Rom_8:39) is the heart of the Christian gospel. Do we believe it? It is true that the presence and spirit of Christ in human life quicken and deepen the sense of sin, but it is also true that in the circle of Christ’s influence and in His fellowship, the liveliest and deepest sense of sin can never lead to despair. The man who truly believes in Jesus Christ, the Son of God, believes in redeeming mercy and grace; he is delivered from the fear which weakens and the despair which kills; dark regrets and forebodings are no longer his companions; the gloom and anguish and dread have gone out of his soul; he is more than conqueror, “through him that loved us,” over all the shadows and spectres of evil which once pursued and vexed him.
2. But, further, Jesus called on the world to “believe the good news” (Mar_1:15) of His coming for redemption. This task, marked out by Old Testament prophecy and laid upon Him at His birth and baptism, from an early period of His ministry our Lord connected with His death. The words of Mat_26:28, pronounced at the Last Supper (which must be vindicated in their integrity as original), make it clear that Jesus regarded His death as the culmination of His service to mankind, and in a very specific sense; He is ready to offer His “blood” to seal “the covenant,” under which “forgiveness of sins” will be universally guaranteed. Thus our Lord, having concentrated upon Himself the faith of men, giving to faith thereby a new heart and a boundless energy, finally fastens that faith upon His death; He marks this event for the future as the object of the saving faith, the faith that brings “remission of sins” and covenant-fellowship with God.
St. Paul was the chief exponent of this “word of the cross” (1Co_1:18) which was at the same time “the word of faith” (Rom_10:8); but St. Peter in his First Epistle, St. John in his First Epistle and Apocalypse—or the Elder John, as some say, of the Apocalypse—and the writer to the Hebrews, each in his own fashion, combines with St. Paul to focus the redeeming work of Jesus in the Cross. According to the whole New Testament, the forgiving grace of God confronts sinful man there as nowhere else; the two come to an understanding through the mediation of Jesus Christ—and “in his blood” The faith of the gospel is just the hand reached out to accept God’s gifts of mercy proffered from the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Spenser’s faith (Fidelia), says Ruskin, is spiritual and noble. He quotes these lines—
She was araied all in lilly white,
And in her right hand bore a cup of gold,
With wine and water fild up to the bight,
In which a Serpent did himself enfold,
That horror made to all that did behold;
But she no whitt did change her constant mood:
And in her other hand she fast did hold
A booke, that was both signd and seald with blood;
Wherein darke things were writt, hard to be understood. [Note: Ruskin, The Stones of Venice, vol. ii. ch. viii.]
3. This faith in Christ as Saviour involves Assent and Appropriation—assent to the truths concerning the meaning of His Cross, and appropriation of the salvation found in Him. It has also a vital connexion with Repentance.
That specific act of saving faith which unites to Christ, and is the sole condition and instrument of justification, involves two essential elements:—
(1) Assent to whatever the Scriptures reveal to us as to the person, offices, and work of Christ. (a) The Scriptures expressly say that we are justified by that faith of which Christ is the object. Rom_3:22; Rom_3:25; Gal_2:16; Php_3:9. (b) Rejection of Christ in Scripture is declared to be the ground of reprobation. .Joh_3:18-19; Joh_8:24. Assent includes an intellectual recognition and a cordial embrace of the object at the same time. It is an act of the whole man—intellect, affection, and will—embracing the truth. This special act of faith in Christ, which secures salvation, is constantly paraphrased by such phrases as “coming to Christ,” Joh_6:35; “looking to him,” Isa_45:22; “receiving him,” Joh_1:12; “fleeing to him for refuge,” Heb_6:18 ;—all of which manifestly involve an active assent to and cordial embrace, as well as an intellectual recognition of the truth.
(2) The second element included in that act of faith that saves the soul is trust, or implicit reliance upon Christ, and upon Christ alone, for all that is involved in a complete salvation. (a) The single condition of salvation demanded in the Scriptures is that we should “believe in” or “on” Christ Jesus. And salvation is promised absolutely and certainly if this command is obeyed. Joh_7:38; Act_10:43; Act_16:31; Gal_2:16. To believe in or on a person implies trust as well as credence. (b) We are constantly said to be saved “by faith in” or “on Christ.” Act_26:18; Gal_3:26; 2Ti_3:15. “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” Heb_11:1. Trust rests upon the foundation upon which expectation is based. Hope reaches forward to the object upon which desire and expectation meet. Hope, therefore, rests upon trust, and trust gives birth to hope, and faith must include trust in order to give reality or substance to the things hoped for. (c) The same is proved by what are said to be the effects or fruits of faith. By faith the Christian is said to be “persuaded of the promises”; “to obtain them”; “to embrace them”; “to subdue kingdoms”; “to work righteousness”; “to stop the mouths of lions.” Hebrews 11. All this plainly presupposes that faith is not a bare intellectual conviction of the truth of truths revealed in the Scriptures, but that it includes a hearty embrace of and a confident reliance upon Christ, His meritorious work and His gracious promises. [Note: A. A. Hodge, A Commentary on the Confession of Faith, 206.]
The sum of Christianity is—(1) God manifest in Christ, the God of grace, accessible by every Christian man and woman; and (2) unwavering trust in Him who has given Himself to us in Christ Jesus—unwavering, because Christ with His work has undertaken our cause and made it His. [Note: T. M. Lindsay, History of the Reformation, i. 430.]
