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#2. Faith.
Faith is the crediting of a Testimony.
pp. 133 - 135
A.--Your suggestion made to me some time ago that the O.T. conception of faith could
be expressed in some such way as: "Saying Amen to all that God has said", is certainly
simple, but to my mind does not seem impressive enough.
B.--I do not mean to teach that such a statement exhausts the meaning of faith, but I do
believe that it lies very near the foundation.
A.--It seems to me that if man is dead to everything spiritual until the Lord gives him life
and light, then faith must be something more miraculous and wonderful than your
suggestion would lead us to suppose.
B.--Yet, after all, for a man spiritually dead and at enmity with God and His truth to turn
and believe is something very marvelous. On the other hand the Scripture does not seem
to turn our attention so much to the metaphysical side of the question of faith, but lays
before us a more matter of fact and everyday presentation of it. Would you cease to
breathe because you could not satisfactorily resolve the problem as to which comes first,
life or breathing? Why disturb your mind with unprofitable speculations?
Let us see how faith is used in the Scripture. Think of the well known words of
Isa. 53: 1, "Who hath believed our report?" You know what it is to believe, or give
credit to, a testimony or a report, well this aspect of faith is one that is found in Scripture.
This passage from Isa. 53: 1 is quoted by Paul in Rom. 10: where one or two further
thoughts on the nature of faith are to be found. Will you turn to Rom. 10: and tell me
what you discover?
A.--(Reads the passage silently).--The first thing that strikes me upon reading this
chapter is this. Instead of saying, as I have rather thought, that faith is a matter of great
height and depth, Paul quotes the words of Moses, saying:--
"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