IV. FAITH AND LIFE. "And that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and who gave himself up for me."-Gal. ii. 20. Faith and life-so the two are brought together in this vital, vivid Scripture. It is the Scripture of Scriptures concerning faith. This human life lived in faith, which centers in the Son of God-there is faith in its truest and best condition, and there is life strong and satisfying. It is an intense, personal, living faithperson to person, life to life, and faith the medium of the two. This man who lives and believes gathers up all the conviction and all the energy of his being to express the faith of his life. It is not a dreamy mood of which he is speaking, nor the rare visitations of high thoughts, but of his level, every-day existence. "That life which I now live in the flesh," says Paul, declaring how lowly and how real is his experience. "I live in faith," he explicitly confesses, while marking the breadth, the fullness, the energy and intensity, of his experience. The faith which is in the Son of God," so he describes the reality of the object of his faith; again, how real and personal his faith as it rests upon a real, living Person. "Who loved me and gave himself up for me,"-so it is a faith, living, personal, real, broad, full, intense, which first finds this Person Himself living this human life, living in love, suffering for others, a real sacrifice in a history of love and death, in whom faith can securely rest, and of whom faith can sing its gratitude and praise. Faith in a Life, and so a life of faith-here is the perfect idea of the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Every other Scripture of faith will harmonize with this one, the distinct key-note, the sublime climax of them all. A Life in life, for all need and for all good-such is the privilege of faith, as Paul knows and describes the secret of his own most human life. "I have been crucified with Christ "let us listen to his whole burning confession. "I have been crucified with Christ; yet I live; yet no longer I, but Christ liveth in me; and that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself up for me." It is all a supreme emphasis of life, life in its lowliest look, life in its largest energy, this human life in full experience; and Christ the life of it; and faith realizing this life within life, and singing its sweet refrain. I call it the Scripture of Scriptures concerning faith. It is indeed the standard for interpreting the faith of the Gospel. As we know it, it will save us from mistakes about faith. The very spirit and tone of it should rebuke one of our ignorant misuses of faith. We sometimes hear persons talking about a "blind faith." "Oh, I do n't profess to understand it at all; I just believe." "I can't explain the matter; I take it simply on trust." Or sometimes faltering lips sadly confess, "It is all dark to me-not a ray of light. I can only try to hold on to my faith." Not one of these notes is a scriptural note. One may talk complacently about just believing, and another may speak in despair about it all being dark; but neither tone is ever heard in the confessions of faith in the Bible. The word of God knows nothing about a blind faith. It never inculcates an ignorant faith. The record of faith is a record of faith positive and hopeful. The voice of faith, in Old Testament and New, never speaks faintly or despairingly, "I simply believe." That vanishing tone could never express the faith of prophets and martyrs. The healthy, normal faith of the Gospel"The life which I now live in the flesh, I live in faith" -has the light of truth in it, has the ring of energy in it, has the pulse of duty in it. It could never be a faith for life, broad and full as life, if it were blind, or ignorant, or hopeless. "The righteous shall live by faith," teaches the prophet of God. "I live in faith," confesses the child of God. And if we could have heard them both speak with their mouths, the very word faith would have thrilled us with its throbs of life. We should be very careful that we do not misunderstand the Word of God in its teaching on the relation of faith to intelligence and knowledge. It is either a fancy or a paradox when one speaks out, "I believe because it is incredible." Or, we reach the climax of ignorance and absurdity when we teach that we are called upon to believe things contrary to reason. Such a process would be self-stultification from beginning to end, and would yield a harvest of superstitions. Nor is it much better to talk of believing things that are altogether above reason. Perhaps we really mean that certain truths seem to be against or out of the grasp of your or my reasoning. But we must not identify our misjudgments with what is properly called Reason is independent of the fallibleness of any one mind, while it is evermore a standard to which reason. we appeal, with which our minds feel a kinship, which makes itself felt more and more as our minds grow in knowledge and thought, and we see life steadily and see it whole. 'The Word of God never opposes faith to knowledge, but faith to sight. It brings faith and knowledge together in vital relations. abounding in faith and knowledge. It speaks about It joins the unity. Search the of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God. Search the Scriptures, and you will see deep experiences of the spiritual life taught along with faith. Scriptures, and you will find also deep experiences of the spiritual life taught along with knowledge. We may confess, in the noble language of the old creed, “I believe in God the Father Almighty, and in Jesus Christ His only Son, our Lord." We may confess our faith, in all the true humbleness of believing what these mortal eyes have never seen. But we may speak an experience equally real in the light of the Gospel truth: "We know that the Son of God is come, and hath given us an understanding, that we may know him that is true, and we are in him that is true, even in his Son Jesus Christ. This is the true God, and eternal life." The revelation of God anywhere, everywhere, in star, or flower, or setting sun, or the mind of man, or in the person of His only begotten Son, is not a revelation contrary to reason, nor a revelation above reason. It is a revelation for faith, but it is a revelation also of intelligence, for a growth of knowledge in faith, for a strength of faith in knowledge. Faith may receive it, and reason may know it, for its real truth for life and in life; while all the time there is more to believe, and more to know, as man comes more into fellowship with the living God in obedience to the Son of His love. If I |