Let us think of our intelligent plain man mentioned in chapter six coming for the first time to the reading of the Scriptures1. He approaches the Bible without any previous knowledge of what it contains. He is wholly without prejudice; he has nothing to prove and nothing to defend.
Such a man will not have read long until his mind begins to observe certain truths standing2 out from the page. They are the spiritual principles behind the record of God's dealings with men, and woven into the writings of holy men as they "were moved by the Holy Ghost." As he reads on he might want to number these truths as they become clear to him and make a brief summary under each number. These summaries will be the tenets of his Biblical[Pg 86] creed3. Further reading will not affect these points except to enlarge and strengthen them. Our man is finding out what the Bible actually teaches.
High up on the list of things which the Bible teaches will be the doctrine4 of faith. The place of weighty importance which the Bible gives to faith will be too plain for him to miss. He will very likely conclude: Faith is all-important in the life of the soul. Without faith it is impossible to please God. Faith will get me anything, take me anywhere in the Kingdom of God, but without faith there can be no approach to God, no forgiveness, no deliverance, no salvation5, no communion, no spiritual life at all.
By the time our friend has reached the eleventh chapter of Hebrews the eloquent6 encomium7 which is there pronounced upon faith will not seem strange to him. He will have read Paul's powerful defense8 of faith in his Roman and Galatian epistles. Later if he goes on to study church history he will understand the amazing power in the teachings of the Reformers as they showed the central place of faith in the Christian9 religion.
Now if faith is so vitally important, if it is an indispensable must in our pursuit of God, it is perfectly10 natural that we should be deeply concerned over whether or not we possess this most precious gift. And our minds being what they are, it is inevitable11 that sooner or later we should get around to inquiring[Pg 87] after the nature of faith. What is faith? would lie close to the question, Do I have faith? and would demand an answer if it were anywhere to be found.
Almost all who preach or write on the subject of faith have much the same things to say concerning it. They tell us that it is believing a promise, that it is taking God at His word, that it is reckoning the Bible to be true and stepping out upon it. The rest of the book or sermon is usually taken up with stories of persons who have had their prayers answered as a result of their faith. These answers are mostly direct gifts of a practical and temporal nature such as health, money, physical protection or success in business. Or if the teacher is of a philosophic12 turn of mind he may take another course and lose us in a welter of metaphysics or snow us under with psychological jargon13 as he defines and re-defines, paring the slender hair of faith thinner and thinner till it disappears in gossamer14 shavings at last. When he is finished we get up disappointed and go out "by that same door where in we went." Surely there must be something better than this.
In the Scriptures there is practically no effort made to define faith. Outside of a brief fourteen-word definition in Hebrews 11:1, I know of no Biblical definition, and even there faith is defined functionally15, not philosophically16; that is, it is a statement of what faith is in operation, not what it is in essence. It assumes[Pg 88] the presence of faith and shows what it results in, rather than what it is. We will be wise to go just that far and attempt to go no further. We are told from whence it comes and by what means: "Faith is a gift of God," and "Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God." This much is clear, and, to paraphrase17 Thomas à Kempis, "I had rather exercise faith than know the definition thereof."
From here on, when the words "faith is" or their equivalent occur in this chapter I ask that they be understood to refer to what faith is in operation as exercised by a believing man. Right here we drop the notion of definition and think about faith as it may be experienced in action. The complexion18 of our thoughts will be practical, not theoretical.
In a dramatic story in the Book of Numbers faith is seen in action. Israel became discouraged and spoke19 against God, and the Lord sent fiery20 serpents among them. "And they bit the people; and much people of Israel died." Then Moses sought the Lord for them and He heard and gave them a remedy against the bite of the serpents. He commanded Moses to make a serpent of brass21 and put it upon a pole in sight of all the people, "and it shall come to pass, that everyone that is bitten, when he looketh upon it, shall live." Moses obeyed, "and it came to pass, that if a serpent had bitten any man, when he beheld22 the serpent of brass, he lived" (Num. 21:4-9).
[Pg 89] In the New Testament23 this important bit of history is interpreted for us by no less an authority than our Lord Jesus Christ Himself. He is explaining to His hearers how they may be saved. He tells them that it is by believing. Then to make it clear He refers to this incident in the Book of Numbers. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness24, even so must the Son of man be lifted up: that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:14-15).
Our plain man in reading this would make an important discovery. He would notice that "look" and "believe" were synonymous terms. "Looking" on the Old Testament serpent is identical with "believing" on the New Testament Christ. That is, the looking and the believing are the same thing. And he would understand that while Israel looked with their external eyes, believing is done with the heart. I think he would conclude that faith is the gaze of a soul upon a saving God.
When he had seen this he would remember passages he had read before, and their meaning would come flooding over him. "They looked unto him, and were lightened: and their faces were not ashamed" (Psa. 34:5). "Unto thee lift I up mine eyes, O thou that dwellest in the heavens. Behold25, as the eyes of servants look unto the hand of their masters, and as the eyes of a maiden26 unto the hand of her mistress; so[Pg 90] our eyes wait upon the Lord our God, until that he have mercy upon us" (Psa. 123:1-2). Here the man seeking mercy looks straight at the God of mercy and never takes his eyes away from Him till mercy is granted. And our Lord Himself looked always at God. "Looking up to heaven, he blessed, and brake, and gave the bread to his disciples27" (Matt. 14:19). Indeed Jesus taught that He wrought28 His works by always keeping His inward eyes upon His Father. His power lay in His continuous look at God (John 5:19-21).
In full accord with the few texts we have quoted is the whole tenor29 of the inspired Word. It is summed up for us in the Hebrew epistle when we are instructed to run life's race "looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith." From all this we learn that faith is not a once-done act, but a continuous gaze of the heart at the Triune God.
Believing, then, is directing the heart's attention to Jesus. It is lifting the mind to "behold the Lamb of God," and never ceasing that beholding30 for the rest of our lives. At first this may be difficult, but it becomes easier as we look steadily31 at His wondrous32 Person, quietly and without strain. Distractions33 may hinder, but once the heart is committed to Him, after each brief excursion away from Him the attention will return again and rest upon Him like a wandering bird coming back to its window.
I would emphasize this one committal, this one[Pg 91] great volitional34 act which establishes the heart's intention to gaze forever upon Jesus. God takes this intention for our choice and makes what allowances He must for the thousand distractions which beset35 us in this evil world. He knows that we have set the direction of our hearts toward Jesus, and we can know it too, and comfort ourselves with the knowledge that a habit of soul is forming which will become after a while a sort of spiritual reflex requiring no more conscious effort on our part.
Faith is the least self-regarding of the virtues36. It is by its very nature scarcely conscious of its own existence. Like the eye which sees everything in front of it and never sees itself, faith is occupied with the Object upon which it rests and pays no attention to itself at all. While we are looking at God we do not see ourselves—blessed riddance. The man who has struggled to purify himself and has had nothing but repeated failures will experience real relief when he stops tinkering with his soul and looks away to the perfect One. While he looks at Christ the very things he has so long been trying to do will be getting done within him. It will be God working in him to will and to do.
Faith is not in itself a meritorious37 act; the merit is in the One toward Whom it is directed. Faith is a redirecting of our sight, a getting out of the focus of our own vision and getting God into focus. Sin has[Pg 92] twisted our vision inward and made it self-regarding. Unbelief has put self where God should be, and is perilously38 close to the sin of Lucifer who said, "I will set my throne above the throne of God." Faith looks out instead of in and the whole life falls into line.
All this may seem too simple. But we have no apology to make. To those who would seek to climb into heaven after help or descend39 into hell God says, "The word is nigh thee, even the word of faith." The word induces us to lift up our eyes unto the Lord and the blessed work of faith begins.
When we lift our inward eyes to gaze upon God we are sure to meet friendly eyes gazing back at us, for it is written that the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout all the earth. The sweet language of experience is "Thou God seest me." When the eyes of the soul looking out meet the eyes of God looking in, heaven has begun right here on this earth.
"When all my endeavour is turned toward Thee because all Thy endeavour is turned toward me; when I look unto Thee alone with all my attention, nor ever turn aside the eyes of my mind, because Thou dost enfold me with Thy constant regard; when I direct my love toward Thee alone because Thou, who art Love's self hast turned Thee toward me alone. And what, Lord, is my life, save that embrace wherein Thy delightsome sweetness doth so lovingly enfold me?"[1] So wrote Nicholas of Cusa four hundred years ago.
[Pg 93] I should like to say more about this old man of God. He is not much known today anywhere among Christian believers, and among current Fundamentalists he is known not at all. I feel that we could gain much from a little acquaintance with men of his spiritual flavor and the school of Christian thought which they represent. Christian literature, to be accepted and approved by the evangelical leaders of our times, must follow very closely the same train of thought, a kind of "party line" from which it is scarcely safe to depart. A half-century of this in America has made us smug and content. We imitate each other with slavish devotion and our most strenuous40 efforts are put forth41 to try to say the same thing that everyone around us is saying—and yet to find an excuse for saying it, some little safe variation on the approved theme or, if no more, at least a new illustration.
Nicholas was a true follower42 of Christ, a lover of the Lord, radiant and shining in his devotion to the Person of Jesus. His theology was orthodox, but fragrant43 and sweet as everything about Jesus might properly be expected to be. His conception of eternal life, for instance, is beautiful in itself and, if I mistake not, is nearer in spirit to John 17:3 than that which is current among us today. Life eternal, says Nicholas,[Pg 94] is "nought44 other than that blessed regard wherewith Thou never ceasest to behold me, yea, even the secret places of my soul. With Thee, to behold is to give life; 'tis unceasingly to impart sweetest love of Thee; 'tis to inflame45 me to love of Thee by love's imparting, and to feed me by inflaming46, and by feeding to kindle47 my yearning48, and by kindling49 to make me drink of the dew of gladness, and by drinking to infuse in me a fountain of life, and by infusing to make it increase and endure."[2]
Now, if faith is the gaze of the heart at God, and if this gaze is but the raising of the inward eyes to meet the all-seeing eyes of God, then it follows that it is one of the easiest things possible to do. It would be like God to make the most vital thing easy and place it within the range of possibility for the weakest and poorest of us.
Several conclusions may fairly be drawn50 from all this. The simplicity51 of it, for instance. Since believing is looking, it can be done without special equipment or religious paraphernalia52. God has seen to it that the one life-and-death essential can never be subject to the caprice of accident. Equipment can break down or get lost, water can leak away, records can be destroyed by fire, the minister can be delayed or the church burn down. All these are external to the soul and are subject[Pg 95] to accident or mechanical failure: but looking is of the heart and can be done successfully by any man standing up or kneeling down or lying in his last agony a thousand miles from any church.
Since believing is looking it can be done any time. No season is superior to another season for this sweetest of all acts. God never made salvation depend upon new moons nor holy days or sabbaths. A man is not nearer to Christ on Easter Sunday than he is, say, on Saturday, August 3, or Monday, October 4. As long as Christ sits on the mediatorial throne every day is a good day and all days are days of salvation.
Neither does place matter in this blessed work of believing God. Lift your heart and let it rest upon Jesus and you are instantly in a sanctuary53 though it be a Pullman berth54 or a factory or a kitchen. You can see God from anywhere if your mind is set to love and obey Him.
Now, someone may ask, "Is not this of which you speak for special persons such as monks55 or ministers who have by the nature of their calling more time to devote to quiet meditation56? I am a busy worker and have little time to spend alone." I am happy to say that the life I describe is for everyone of God's children regardless of calling. It is, in fact, happily practiced every day by many hard working persons and is beyond the reach of none.
Many have found the secret of which I[Pg 96] speak and, without giving much thought to what is going on within them, constantly practice this habit of inwardly gazing upon God. They know that something inside their hearts sees God. Even when they are compelled to withdraw their conscious attention in order to engage in earthly affairs there is within them a secret communion always going on. Let their attention but be released for a moment from necessary business and it flies at once to God again. This has been the testimony57 of many Christians58, so many that even as I state it thus I have a feeling that I am quoting, though from whom or from how many I cannot possibly know.
I do not want to leave the impression that the ordinary means of grace have no value. They most assuredly have. Private prayer should be practiced by every Christian. Long periods of Bible meditation will purify our gaze and direct it; church attendance will enlarge our outlook and increase our love for others. Service and work and activity; all are good and should be engaged in by every Christian. But at the bottom of all these things, giving meaning to them, will be the inward habit of beholding God. A new set of eyes (so to speak) will develop within us enabling us to be looking at God while our outward eyes are seeing the scenes of this passing world.
Someone may fear that we are magnifying private religion out of all proportion, that the "us" of the New[Pg 97] Testament is being displaced by a selfish "I." Has it ever occurred to you that one hundred pianos all tuned59 to the same fork are automatically tuned to each other? They are of one accord by being tuned, not to each other, but to another standard to which each one must individually bow. So one hundred worshippers met together, each one looking away to Christ, are in heart nearer to each other than they could possibly be were they to become "unity60" conscious and turn their eyes away from God to strive for closer fellowship. Social religion is perfected when private religion is purified. The body becomes stronger as its members become healthier. The whole Church of God gains when the members that compose it begin to seek a better and a higher life.
All the foregoing presupposes true repentance61 and a full committal of the life to God. It is hardly necessary to mention this, for only persons who have made such a committal will have read this far.
When the habit of inwardly gazing Godward becomes fixed62 within us we shall be ushered63 onto a new level of spiritual life more in keeping with the promises of God and the mood of the New Testament. The Triune God will be our dwelling64 place even while our feet walk the low road of simple duty here among men. We will have found life's summum bonum indeed. "There is the source of all delights that can be desired; not only can nought better be thought out by[Pg 98] men and angels, but nought better can exist in mode of being! For it is the absolute maximum of every rational desire, than which a greater cannot be."[3]
O Lord, I have heard a good word inviting65 me to look away to Thee and be satisfied. My heart longs to respond, but sin has clouded my vision till I see Thee but dimly. Be pleased to cleanse66 me in Thine own precious blood, and make me inwardly pure, so that I may with unveiled eyes gaze upon Thee all the days of my earthly pilgrimage. Then shall I be prepared to behold Thee in full splendor67 in the day when Thou shalt appear to be glorified68 in Thy saints and admired in all them that believe. Amen.
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1
scriptures
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| 经文，圣典( scripture的名词复数 )； 经典 | |
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standing
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| n.持续，地位；adj.永久的，不动的，直立的，不流动的 | |
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creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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doctrine
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| n.教义；主义；学说 | |
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salvation
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| n.（尤指基督）救世，超度，拯救，解困 | |
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eloquent
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| adj.雄辩的，口才流利的；明白显示出的 | |
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encomium
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| n.赞颂；颂词 | |
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defense
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| n.防御，保卫；[pl.]防务工事；辩护，答辩 | |
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Christian
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| adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒 | |
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perfectly
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| adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地 | |
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inevitable
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| adj.不可避免的，必然发生的 | |
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philosophic
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| adj.哲学的，贤明的 | |
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jargon
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| n.术语，行话 | |
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gossamer
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| n.薄纱，游丝 | |
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functionally
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| adv.机能上地，官能地 | |
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philosophically
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| adv.哲学上；富有哲理性地；贤明地；冷静地 | |
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paraphrase
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| vt.将…释义，改写；n.释义，意义 | |
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complexion
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| n.肤色；情况，局面；气质，性格 | |
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spoke
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| n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说 | |
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fiery
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| adj.燃烧着的，火红的；暴躁的；激烈的 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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beheld
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| v.看，注视( behold的过去式和过去分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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testament
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| n.遗嘱；证明 | |
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wilderness
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| n.杳无人烟的一片陆地、水等，荒漠 | |
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behold
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| v.看，注视，看到 | |
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maiden
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| n.少女，处女；adj.未婚的，纯洁的，无经验的 | |
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disciples
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| n.信徒( disciple的名词复数 )；门徒；耶稣的信徒；（尤指）耶稣十二门徒之一 | |
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wrought
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| v.引起；以…原料制作；运转；adj.制造的 | |
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tenor
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| n.男高音（歌手），次中音（乐器），要旨，大意 | |
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beholding
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| v.看，注视( behold的现在分词 )；瞧；看呀；（叙述中用于引出某人意外的出现）哎哟 | |
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steadily
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| adv.稳定地；不变地；持续地 | |
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wondrous
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| adj.令人惊奇的，奇妙的；adv.惊人地；异乎寻常地；令人惊叹地 | |
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distractions
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| n.使人分心的事[人]( distraction的名词复数 )；娱乐，消遣；心烦意乱；精神错乱 | |
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volitional
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| adj.意志的，凭意志的，有意志的 | |
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beset
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| v.镶嵌；困扰，包围 | |
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virtues
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| 美德( virtue的名词复数 )； 德行； 优点； 长处 | |
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meritorious
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| adj.值得赞赏的 | |
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perilously
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| adv.充满危险地，危机四伏地 | |
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descend
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| vt./vi.传下来，下来，下降 | |
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strenuous
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| adj.奋发的，使劲的；紧张的；热烈的，狂热的 | |
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forth
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| adv.向前；向外，往外 | |
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follower
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| n.跟随者；随员；门徒；信徒 | |
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fragrant
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| adj.芬香的，馥郁的，愉快的 | |
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nought
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| n.／adj.无，零 | |
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inflame
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| v.使燃烧；使极度激动；使发炎 | |
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inflaming
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| v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的现在分词 ) | |
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kindle
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| v.点燃，着火 | |
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yearning
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| a.渴望的；向往的；怀念的 | |
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kindling
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| n. 点火, 可燃物 动词kindle的现在分词形式 | |
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drawn
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| v.拖，拉，拔出；adj.憔悴的，紧张的 | |
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simplicity
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| n.简单，简易；朴素；直率，单纯 | |
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paraphernalia
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| n.装备；随身用品 | |
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sanctuary
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| n.圣所，圣堂，寺庙；禁猎区，保护区 | |
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berth
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| n.卧铺，停泊地，锚位；v.使停泊 | |
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monks
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| n.修道士，僧侣( monk的名词复数 ) | |
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meditation
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| n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录 | |
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testimony
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| n.证词；见证，证明 | |
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Christians
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| n.基督教徒( Christian的名词复数 ) | |
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tuned
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| adj.调谐的，已调谐的v.调音( tune的过去式和过去分词 )；调整；（给收音机、电视等）调谐；使协调 | |
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unity
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| n.团结，联合，统一；和睦，协调 | |
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repentance
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| n.懊悔 | |
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fixed
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| adj.固定的，不变的，准备好的；(计算机)固定的 | |
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63
ushered
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| v.引，领，陪同( usher的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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64
dwelling
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| n.住宅，住所，寓所 | |
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inviting
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| adj.诱人的，引人注目的 | |
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66
cleanse
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| vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗 | |
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67
splendor
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| n.光彩；壮丽，华丽；显赫，辉煌 | |
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68
glorified
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| 美其名的，变荣耀的 | |
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