Check Your Panoply
Chapter Eleven
Faith in the Words of Faith
THE TERM faith occurs 244 times in the whole “New Testament,” and 142 times in Paul’s writings alone. Even more striking is the fact that there are forty occurrences in Romans, exactly the same number as in Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, and Acts together. That which the apostle explains in the first half of his epistle to the Romans, pertains to individual believers. As we have seen earlier in this series, he does not intend to comment on each one’s individual faith; for the faith of the Roman believers at that time was well known in the whole world around the Mediterranean. But there were still deficiencies as to the range of their faith which had to be adjusted. Hence, in the first eight chapters of the letter to the Romans, Paul deals exhaustively with individual justification, individual conciliation, and God’s sovereignty as it pertains to the individual believer. Then the same three topics, though in reverse order, are taken up in the second half of the epistle, but now the scope is national; here Israel and the nations as such are in view. Out of the forty occurrences of the term faith in Romans, only thirteen are found in chapters 9 through 16. We shall now discuss what kind of faith is meant in Romans 10.
SALVATION BY INVOKING
Chapter
10 of Romans pertains to Israel, which, as a nation, will be saved when they see Him Whom
they pierced, and recognize Him as their Righteousness. “For Christ is the
consummation of the law for righteousness to everyone who is believing” (10:4). In
that day, the declarations of Christ will be presented to them for their belief.
“Consequently faith is out of tidings, yet the tidings through a declaration of
Christ” (10:17). When divine vengeance sweeps the earth, the only shelter will be the
name of the Lord. In addition to heart belief, oral confession will be mandatory in that
day. “Near you is the declaration, in your mouth and in your heart, that is the
declaration of faith which we are heralding that, if you should ever be avowing with your
mouth the declaration that Jesus is Lord, and should be believing in your heart that God
rouses Him from among the dead, you shall be saved. For with the heart it is believed for
righteousness, yet with the mouth it is avowed for salvation” (Rom.10:8-10). Then
everyone in Israel and elsewhere, whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord,
shall be saved. There will be no distinction between Jew and gentile (or Greek);
everyone who is believing on Him, shall not be disgraced; for the same One is Lord of all,
being rich for all who are invoking Him (verses 11-13).
JOEL IS QUOTED BY BOTH PETER AND PAUL
The
short quotation from Joel in Romans 10:13 reminds us of the longer one from the same
prophet as given by Peter in his Pentecostal proclamation (Acts 2:17-21). God had said
through Joel (2:28-32) that in the last days He will pour out from His spirit on
all flesh, there will be miracles in heaven above and signs on the earth below, blood and
fire and smoke, and the sun will be dark and the moon like blood, ere the coming of the
day of the Lord, the great and advent day. At that time “it shall be that everyone,
whoever should be invoking the name of the Lord, shall be saved.”
The elders of the group to
which I belonged when I was a teenager, believed that Romans 10 pertains to us today.
Their idea of salvation amounted to the following: The requirement of faith is that if you
confess with your mouth that Jesus is your Lord Who died for you at Calvary’s cross,
and believe this in your heart, you shall be saved; if your faith is real, it will be
evidenced by oral confession. The elders also pointed to 2 Timothy 2:12 and Matthew 10:33
and claimed that both passages meant the same, i.e. “If we deny Jesus before men, He
also will deny us before His Father Who is in heaven.”
I wanted to comply with the
elders’ wishes, so made it a point to talk to at least one unbeliever every day,
telling him that I was saved, through the blood of Jesus which He shed for me. Filling my
daily quota became difficult after some time when I was through with my teachers and
fellow students in school and others of my acquaintance. Then I tried hard to bring the
message of Calvary’s cross to strangers, not individually, but giving testimony at
street corners, together with other teenagers. This took less courage, even though more
people were reached. I even talked to youngsters at revival meetings when I had an
audience of a thousand or more until I became hesitant to offer salvation freely when it
could apparently be revoked any time if the believer failed to evidence his faith by
regular oral confession.
We did not see then that
faith is a ceasing of self effort, and remains calm even amid human failures. Content in
the light of God’s goal, faith is always looking Godward, not manward, since it is
based on His Word alone. There are no conflicting passages if we leave to Israel that
which is written to Israel. What our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 10:33, fits the situation
as described in Romans 10 where oral confession is mandatory.
DISOWNING THE DISPOSITION OF CHRIST JESUS
Paul
does not talk of mouth avowal in 2 Timothy 2:12. When the Authorized Version says,
“If we deny Him . . . “, the word “Him” is printed in italics
so as to indicate that it is not in the Greek. Here the Concordant Version reads,
“If we are disowning, He also will be disowning us.” This is not a matter of
denying our Lord Jesus before men, but rather of disowning the disposition of Christ
Jesus and of failing to show true humility, i.e. deeming one another superior to
one’s self, not each noting that which is his own, but that of others also
(Phil.2:1-8). Any failure in imitating Christ’s disposition is bad practice and will
be dealt with in front of the dais (2 Cor.5:10) as we shall see later in our study.
The love of God which has
been poured out into our hearts is the only powerful stimulus we have to tell others of
the grace in which we stand. Failing to do so will never jeopardize our salvation but will
rather curtail the present enjoyment of our status of grace, whenever we keep it a secret.
THE RANGE OF FAITH ROUNDED OUT
We have
gathered from Ephesians 6:14,15 that our full cooperation is needed in girding our loins
with truth, in putting on the cuirass of righteousness, and the sandals of
readiness for the evangel of peace. There can be no doubt but that each of the
three steps requires individual faith in God and His Word. The knowledge of the
truth, the pursuit of righteousness, and the appropriation of peace are empty phrases,
apart from faith which is not out of us, but rather out of God (Eph.2:8).
Individual faith, as
we have seen, is only one aspect and concerns the functioning of faith in the
believer’s heart and renewed mind. In order to widen this function, Paul provided the
ecclesia with one precious truth after another as the Lord revealed it to him. While thus
rounding out the range of faith, the apostle of the nations presented the special
faith of ours (in Ephesians), i.e., the special truth for us today, who are
members of Christ’s body. D.V., we shall go into more detail at a later date. But
first, let us make sure we understand the distinguishing characteristics of Ephesians and
Colossians as they were discussed in UNSEARCHABLE RICHES, volume 31,
beginning with page 37.
HIS HONORS AND OUR BLESSINGS
“Christ
and His highest honors come before us in Colossians, even as the saints and their
celestial blessings are the theme of Ephesians. In Ephesians the transcendent truths of
the present secret administration are set forth as they affect the believers among the
nations, who become peers of an election out of Israel in spiritual, supernal dignities.
In Colossians these tremendous truths are a halo on the brow of Christ. His glories
as the Messiah of Israel on the earth are magnified to universal dimensions. All is
created in Him in the beginning, and all is reconciled to Him at the consummation
(Col.1:16-20). On earth, at the present, He is not confined to Israel in flesh, but, in
spirit, is found among the nations. This is the basis of their future bliss (1:27).
“Colossians and
Ephesians are very similar, for they teach the same truth, though from different
standpoints. To fully appreciate and enjoy these epistles, which are two of the most
precious portions of God’s revelation for us in this secret administration, it is
necessary that we clearly grasp the distinctive view presented in each. Even as
Philippians can only be understood in the light of service, so Colossians can only
be clear to those who see that it deals with Christ’s relation to the present,
even as Ephesians is especially concerned with the place of the saints, especially
the Uncircumcision.
“In reference to the
body of Christ, the two epistles are complementary. In Ephesians, the emphasis is on the members
of the body, while Colossians presses Christ’s headship over the ecclesia.
Ephesians elaborates the relation of the members to God and to one another, as well as to
Christ Himself. Colossians is largely confined to our connection with Him alone.
“In Ephesians, the
bulk of the epistle is concerned with an orderly and positive presentation of the truth.
Colossians, however, devotes the corresponding space to the correction of departures from
it.
“Ephesians is general,
with no local allusions. Colossians is concerned with a special situation, and a
particular ecclesia.
“In Ephesians, the
secret consists of the joint-enjoyment of the allotment among the celestials, the joint-membership
in the body, and joint-participation in the promises by the saints among the
nations. In Colossians the same truth is expressed by putting Christ among the
nations, instead of in Israel, to whom He has hitherto been confined (Col.1:27).
“The secret of Christ,
that He is to head up the entire universe (Eph.1:10) had been partially made known to the
prophets of old, though not in its fullness, ‘as it was now revealed’ (Eph.3:5).
That part of this secret which they made known, His messiahship to Israel, is used as a
background in Colossians. His future kingdom in the new earth is used to figure His
present spiritual dominion, ‘the kingdom of the Son of His love’ (Col.1: 14).
The secret of Christ comprises the creation of all in Him at the
commencement, and the reconciliation of all through Him at the consummation
(Col.1:14-20).
THE SPECIAL FAITH OF OURS
“In
Colossians 1:4, we read of ‘your faith in Christ Jesus and the love which you
have for all the saints,’ which is very simple and readily understood. Why then, in
Ephesians 1:15, should we find ‘the according-to ye faith . . . also
the [faith] for all the saints?’ The latter epistle is devoted to setting forth the special
faith which concerns us in this administration as distinct from the truth for other
times, and, besides, it seems to have no bearing on any particular group of saints. If all
the saints in Christ Jesus are before us, and the apostle refers to that body of faith
which is especially theirs, then this particular wording, ‘the according-to ye
faith’ is not only fitting but necessary to express this thought. (What is in view
here, is not the individual faith of the believer, but rather the whole range of faith
for all the saints who have now a joint expectation and hence one faith [Eph.4:5]).
“In Ephesians 1:15,
most manuscripts add the words ‘the love.’ Hence the Authorized Version
translates: ‘your faith in the Lord Jesus, and love unto all the saints.’ But
the most ancient manuscripts, the three used in compiling the Concordant Version, did not
have these words. They were added by a later editor in Sinaiticus. On many occasions the
additions of this editor are of great value. But in Ephesians 1:15 he seems to be
recording the attempts of early expositors to make this epistle understandable after its
message was lost and more than three centuries had passed since Paul’s days.
“The thought that we
have a special faith is so foreign to theology that this passage has caused much
perplexity to translators. The American Standard Version added the words ye show,
thus: ‘the faith . . . which is among you, and which [ye show] toward all the
saints.’ But how can we show faith to the saints? If this were the individual faith
of the believers rather than that which they believe, how could we have faith in the
saints? This passage can hardly be understood or translated as long as the faith exercised
by each one is in view. But once we see that this rare and peculiar expression is used to
indicate the things to be believed by Paul’s readers alone, just as the law was to be
obeyed by Israel alone, and in each case was in accord with their peculiar place in
God’s purpose, all is clear.
“With this beginning
of the apostle’s prayer the following petitions, for a spirit of wisdom and
revelation, possess much more point. He prays, in fact, that they may be enabled to
comprehend what he writes to them in this epistle. That this is most appropriate is
evidenced by the fact that, even if it was understood by its first recipients, there is
very little to show that it has ever been apprehended since by any considerable number of
saints. It has seldom been accorded its proper place by teachers of the Word. The apostasy
from Paul started in his lifetime and has continued ever since.”
FAITH IN THE WORDS OF FAITH
Taking
up the large shield of faith is an activity which can be described as widening the
function of our individual faith. This is done by appropriating the Pauline truths that
make up the whole range of faith for the ecclesia which is His body. Thus our individual
faith is being nourished by means of the words of faith and of the ideal
teaching. Without regular and sufficient spiritual nourishment as provided in the Pauline
letters, there would never have been an ideal servant (2 Tim.4:6).
As a matter of fact, every
believer is a servant, and all of us are offering divine service in the spirit of God and
are glorying in Christ Jesus and have no confidence in the flesh (Phil.3:3). Hence we are
willing to present our bodies as a living and holy sacrifice, well pleasing to God, which
is our logical divine service (Rom.12:1).
The ideal servant is one
who does pursue faith in faith obedience; this being a figure of speech in which
the obedience to God’s law is displaced by faith in His Word. The more our
individual faith is being vivified by means of divine declarations (which are words of
faith), the better will we be able to please God and earn His applause Whose mighty
strength is operating in us and Who, at the dais, will rectify our failings.
The following paragraphs on
our logical divine service and the requital at the dais are taken from UNSEARCHABLE
RICHES, volume 31, pages 205 and 208.
OBEDIENCE TO FAITH IS OUR DIVINE SERVICE
“Saints,
though blessed of God, continue to live in the world (1 Cor.5:10); they are not exempt
from the ordinary relations and duties to other humans; in fact, their faith really makes all
their living a divine service. Here we touch the aspect which is little
appreciated, for we have a distinct tendency to regard divine service as applying only to
those engaging specifically in the labor of pastors, teachers and evangelists (Eph.4:11).
Such are certainly rendering service to God and His saints, yet it is special, being a
distinct gift from God (1 Cor.9:17). In the initial consideration, divine service consists
in our obedience to the faith; it is our practical living of the evangel in regard
to our fellow saints, to our enemies, to humans in general, and to the state.
GOD IS ABLE WHERE WE HAVE FAILED
“Is
it not our delight to understand that our God, in Christ Jesus, has removed every
possibility of condemnation from us? He has made our salvation sure and secure, yet He
arranged to set right all the acts of His saints. For those acts in our accounts which are
proper in His sight, we shall have the compensation of our allotment. But what is
detrimental in our conduct, that will be requited also (2 Cor.4:10). And would we, as His
saints, have it otherwise? Surely the evangel brings to us the spirit which leads us to
desire and intend that every thought, word and deed be in subjection to Him as our Lord (2
Cor.10:5). If we have in the slightest degree failed to achieve that which corresponds to
the righteousness of the new life, then we surely wish such failings rectified, even
though it may bring us loss. And, for even this, we shall thank Him and rejoice that He is
able where we have failed.
“Let us welcome the
fact that God has made provisions for any debits of our accounting to be discharged by His
righteousness and ability (1 Cor.4:5). Only thus may we properly and confidently look
forward to the applause of our great God and Saviour in regard to our divine service.
Meanwhile, may we make full use of His enabling grace!”
