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Editorial

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Review and Herald Publishing Association · Washington, D. C. · Jan 18, 1906

FromReview and Herald, Vol. 83, No. 3.

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Editorial

By Editor

Faith and Works

THERE has been much theorizing about the relation between faith and works, but the truth is stated in few words through the apostle James, who says: “As the body apart from the spirit is dead, even so faith apart from works is dead.” A faith which does not work is as dead as a body without the spirit, and a dead faith is just as valuable as a dead body. A living faith involves a course of action which is in harmony with the profession of faith. A profession of faith which is not accompanied by such a course of action is utterly vain. A man who professes to believe in the Bible as the Word of God, and then puts forth systematic and earnest efforts to prove to others that the Bible is utterly unreliable, demonstrates by his works that his alleged faith is rank unbelief. Those who loudly and repeatedly advertise their faith in the messages of the spirit of prophecy, but who persistently refuse to obey the plain instruction given through this agency, on the ground that the Testimonies are self-contradictory and unreliable, thereby give evidence that their faith is devoid of the vital element. They are keeping up the forms of faith after the substance has departed. They are juggling with words when they say that they believe the Testimonies. Those who with an honest heart follow the counsels given through the spirit of prophecy feel no necessity of declaring over and over again that they believe the Testimonies. In the fruit-bearing season it would be of little use for a crab-apple tree to exhibit the sign, “This is a peach tree.” The fruit borne is more convincing testimony than any statement which may be out of harmony with it. “Every tree is known by his own fruit.” A genuine faith is shown not only by the fact that works appear, but also by the further fact that the works are in harmony with the profession of faith. “Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven.”