Editorial by Editor

Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · May 6, 1897

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 23, No. 18.

Editorial

By Editor

"Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God." Rom. 10:17.

"Behold, his soul which is lifted up is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith." Hab. 2:4.

"Without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Heb. 11:6.

"For ye are all the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus." Gal. 3:26.

"For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love." Gal. 5:6.

"Hast thou faith? have it to thyself before God." Rom. 14:22.

The Actualities of Faith.—

Genuine faith is the connection which the soul makes with the living God through his living Word. The mere exercise of a belief of itself alone is nothing. It might be exercised toward a cloud, a tree, an idol, a snake; but this would bring no more power, for there is no power in these objects that does not exist in higher form in man. But belief exercised toward God, believing God's Word, yielding completely and absolutely to what that Word says in precept or promise, submitting to let that Word work in us the will of Him who gave it,—this is faith.

Faith Not an Emotion.—

Faith is not, therefore, an emotion or imagination. Sometimes when the child of God rejoices that he has the Spirit of God, that he has the life of God, eternal life, that he has Christ dwelling in him, that he is redeemed and saved, he is met by the cold remark that he does not have these actually, but by faith. We are not now considering as to whether we may lose them, but inquiring, Do we have them truly, actually? Do we not actually have what we have by faith? Or are we deceived into believing that we possess certain things which we do not possess that sometime when we are good enough we will have them, but not now; "for now we only have them by faith."

All in Christ.—

But all these things are in Christ; for "it pleased the Father that in him should all fulness dwell." If, therefore, we have Christ, we have all things in him. We may not be able to grasp them all, but they are ours, bestowed in actuality, sufficient for our needs, and according to our faith. At the close of a record of the wonderful words and miracles and life of Jesus, John writes: "These are written, that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life through his name." John 20:31. Now is this life actual that comes in the believing?—Yea, verily, as actual as the signs and miracles which Jesus wrought.

Real Things through Faith.—

Jesus spoke to the leper, "Be thou clean;" faith grasped the words, and the leper was actually healed of the dread plague. He said to the blind, "Receive thy sight," and the faith of the sightless formed a channel for the power in the words to bring seeing.

In our illustration is pictured the impotent (powerless) man, at the Beautiful gate of the temple. For forty years he had had no power to walk. But God spoke the word through his apostle; the man's faith received the word in himself, and the life of God made him whole. Was not the healing actual, real? Why, the man leaped up, "stood, and walked, and entered with them into the temple, walking, and leaping, and praising God." Acts 3:8. And the Spirit of God said through Peter: "Be it known unto you all, and to all the people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth . . . doth this man stand here before you whole?" "And his name through faith in his name hath made this man strong, whom ye see and know; yea, the faith which is by him hath given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all." Acts 4:10; 3:16.

For You.—

Reader, such faith may be yours. By faith in the Word of God you may be cleansed from sin (John 15:3; 1 John 1:9); you, powerless in yourself, so that you can not do the things that you would, may find all power in Jesus Christ (Col. 1:11); you may have the righteousness of God and the Spirit of God (Rom. 3:22; 8:9, 10); and having the Spirit of God, you have the life of God, eternal life (2 Cor. 4:10, 11; 1 John 5:11-13); and having faith in his Word, you may know that he "hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling" (2 Tim. 1:9); and "hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of the Son of his love" (Col. 1:13, margin). All this we may know and have by faith in the Word of God, actually, really have them. If Christ is not ours now, when will he be? We can only live in the now. If we are not saved now, what assurance have we that we will ever be? If the

spotless robe of righteousness is not ours now, by living faith, yes, actually, when will it be? If we have not eternal life now, the life of the "eternal Spirit," what assurance have we that we will ever have it? True, we have not reached heaven; we are not made immortal; we are not beyond the confines of danger and trial and conflict; of this the Word assures us, and tells us that the heavenly home and immortality will come, and the trial will be over, at the appearing of our blessed Lord. But these other blessings, God gives them to us now that we may reap the larger, fuller, riper blessings by and by. We do not have them absolutely, but we have them by faith as actually as the impotent man had healing, as the leper cleansing, as Bartimeus sight. Let not unbelief cheat us of the riches of God's grace which he with open hands holds out to us. Let simple faith say, "They are mine."