'Say not in thine heart, Who shall ascend into heaven? (that is, to

bring Christ down from above:) or, Who shall descend into the deep?

(that is, to bring up Christ again from the dead.)  But what saith it?

The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is,

the word of faith, which we preach' (Rom. 10:6 -8).

B.  And moreover you will see that even though faith is said to be 'in the

heart', yet it is connected with the preaching of the Word in such a way as

to be to all outward appearance the believing of a report.  You will see that

while the believing of a testimony given by accredited messengers is

stressed, the more secret and supernatural phase, which has evidently

perplexed you, is passed over without reference.  Perhaps you will read the

A.

'How then shall they call on Him in Whom they have not believed? and

how shall they believe in Him of Whom they have not heard? and how

shall they hear without a preacher? and how shall they preach, except

they be sent? ... So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the

word of God' (Rom. 10:14 -17).

B.  You observe that there is no 'still small voice' that is to be heard, but

the Word of God, as preached by one sent, and that the inference is that

without the word to hear, there will be no faith.

A.  I must admit, so far as this passage goes, that it is so, yet I feel a

little disappointed over the discovery.

B.  Are you not a little like Naaman the Syrian who would gladly have done

some great or spectacular thing, but despised the simple process ordained by

God for his cleansing?  Turn to 1 John 5:9 -11 and see how the apostle speaks

of faith.  You might, when you read, observe that 'witness', 'record' and

'testify' are one and the same, and therefore keep the translation to

A.

'If the testimony of men we receive, the testimony of God is greater.

For this is the testimony of God that He has testified concerning His

Son.  (He that believes on the Son of God has the testimony in himself;

he that does not believe God has made Him a liar; because he has not

believed in the testimony which God has testified concerning His Son).

And this is the testimony, that God has given to us aionion life, and

this life is in His Son' (1 John 5:9 -11 author's translation).

B.  The continual iteration (repetition) of testimony and testify,

undoubtedly is not such good English as the variation introduced by the

Authorized Version, but its insistence is striking and beyond dispute.

Faith, here, is belief in a testimony, that testimony being given by God and

concerning His Son.  To believe that testimony is equivalent to believing

'God' (verse 10), the One Who gives the testimony, and believing on the Son,

the One concerning Whom God has testified (verses 9 and 10).

Moreover, the inspired writer has no scruple in comparing the testimony

given by God with that of man, simply urging that if we give credence to

sinful men upon slight evidence, the demand upon us for giving equal credence