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repentance is called conversion (¿ñιoτpopń). We observe that the exhortation of Acts iii, 19, is "Repent ye therefore, and turn ye (éniorρépaтe, be ye converted), that your sins may be blotted out." The conversion of men to Christ by the ministry of the apostles is called a "turning unto the Lord" (Acts ix, 35; xi, 21; xv, 19). The preaching of Paul, both to Jews and Gentiles was "to open their eyes and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God, that they might receive remission of sins." His declaration was "that they should repent and turn to God, doing works worthy of repentance" (Acts xxvi, 18-20). "The conversion of the Gentiles" (Acts xv, 3) means their turning away from their former habits of life, from the sins and immoralities to which they had been addicted, and from the service of idols, to the adoption of a new and better life (comp. 1 Thess. i, 9; Eph. ii, 11-13; iv, 17-25; v, 8; Col. i, 21). Thus conversion, in the full Christian sense, involves repentance and a turning from sin to the service of the living God.

6. Requires Coöperation of God and Man. In Rom. ii, 4, Paul speaks of the goodness of God as leading (ayw, in the sense of moving and directing) unto repentance, and in Acts v, 31; xi, 18; 2 Tim. ii, 25, repentance is referred to as a gift of God. But if it be a gift of God, some one will ask why, then, man should be called on to repent and turn to God. The matter explains itself when we keep in mind the doctrine of conviction of sin as already described. There can be no genuine repentance in the soul without an antecedent conviction of sin by the revealing law and Spirit of God. In thinking of repentance as God's gift we have in mind the indispensable gracious conditions which lead to repentance. God first flashes light upon the darkened understanding; he reveals the knowledge of sin, and by the working of his Holy Spirit begets a longing for deliverance from sin. All this is the necessary preliminary to a godly sorrow for sin, and may well be spoken of as the gift of God. But when all this work of conviction is wrought in the heart it yet remains for the conscious soul with its own freedom of will to respond to such calls to repentance as we find in Matt. iii, 2, 8; iv, 17; Mark i, 15; Luke xiii, 3, 5; Acts ii, 38; iii, 19; viii, 22. After this manner we also see both the self-consistency and the significance of such apparently contradictory statements as those of Jesus in John vi, 44, and v, 40: "No man can come to me, except the Father draw him," and "Ye will not come to me that ye may have life." It is the part of God first to draw and lead by the convicting operations of his Spirit; and after this is done, or rather in connection with it, the penitent sinner must himself repent and turn unto God.

CHAPTER II

THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH

1. Faith Defined. The word faith means, in religious experience, an absolute conviction of the reality of unseen things. Faith in God is confidence in God; not a mere belief or acknowledgment that there is a God, but rather a personal self-commitment to his care, and a loving confidence in his grace and truth. Faith also includes an element of mystic fervor; for when a human soul commits itself through deep conviction to a power and personality unseen, but believed to be all-wise and good, there is wont to arise a warmth of emotion like the passion of love. In this way faith in Jesus Christ implies a strong, intelligent, fervid conviction of his grace and power and a loving trust in him as the divine Teacher and Saviour of men. Faith thus becomes a living test of one's hold on spiritual things.. It is the response of the human heart to the impressions of the Spirit of God.

2. Doctrine of Paul. There is a doctrine of faith peculiar to the writings of Paul. We read in Eph. ii, 8, "By grace have ye been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves; God's is the gift." Some interpreters here understand the demonstrative TOUTO, that, to refer to the word faith immediately preceding; but in that case we surely should have had the feminine aurn to correspond with Tioris, which is always feminine. The pronoun refers rather to the idea of being saved (the oeowoμévov elva) by grace which is made emphatic in the preceding clause. The foregoing context shows that this gracious gift of salvation is a quickening and raising up into spiritual life of those who were "dead through trespasses and sins." The merit and glory of it all are ascribed to the mercy, love, kindness, and grace of God in Jesus Christ. This way of salvation is spoken of in Eph. iii, 10-12, as an exhibition of "the manifold wisdom of God, according to a purpose of the ages which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord, in whom we have boldness and access in confidence through our faith in him.” Repentance leads unto this great salvation, but the saving grace must, according to Paul, be appropriated by an act of faith in God. "Repent ye, and believe in the gospel," says Jesus (Mark i, 15). Hence it is obviously improper to call faith a gift of God when the word is used in reference to a responsible act and attitude

of an individual.' Faith that appropriates the saving grace of God and leads to salvation is a free act of the soul. Man is called upon to "have faith in God," to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ," and the belief required is not merely an assent of the mind to that which is good, nor the exercise of reason and judgment in approving wholesome doctrines. It is a conscious willing surrender of the heart to the righteous claims of God, and a throwing oneself, so to speak, in full confidence on the divine Saviour. In the highest and holiest sense, faith is TRUST.'

3. Theme of the Epistle to the Romans. The great theme of the epistle to the Romans is the doctrine that the gospel "is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes." Having shown that the whole world is fallen under the condemning judgment of God, the apostle announces as a fundamental truth that "now, apart from the law, a righteousness of God has been manifested, being witnessed by the law and the prophets; even the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ unto all them that believe" (iii, 21, 22). Here is presented in substance the whole Pauline idea of the attainment of personal righteousness. It is not by the performance of the works of the law; it comes not by way of merit from anything which fallen man can do; it comes solely by an act of faith in the efficacy of "the redemption that is in Jesus Christ, whom God set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his blood." The faith which is here contemplated is a sort of means and condition of receiving the benefit of redemption. It is an act and also a subjective state or attitude of the soul for which the person hoping to be saved is held responsible.

4. Example of Abraham in Romans iv. In the fourth chapter of Romans this idea of saving faith is illustrated in a number of points by the example of Abraham. It is pointed out (1) that the patriarch's trust in God "was reckoned unto him for righteous

1 The different concepts and shades of meaning which attach to the word niOTIC in the New Testament are worthy of notice. In some passages it may connote the antecedents and consequences of the act of saving faith, and be spoken of as a divine possession (1 Cor. xii, 9; James ii, 1, 14); in others it seems to be used as meaning the substance of the gospel itself (Gal. i, 23; Eph. iv, 13; Jude, vers. 3 and 20; and perhaps 1 Tim. i, 19; iv, i; v, 8); in others it suggests the idea of fidelity (Titus îì, 10; Gal. v, 22). These secondary and modified meanings of the word have no necessary connection with the Pauline doctrine of faith as means and condition of salvation. See Lightfoot's dissertation on "The Words Denoting Faith" in his Epistle to the Galatians, pp. 154-158. London, 1890.

The term faith can scarcely be said to occur at all in the Hebrew scriptures of the Old Testament. It is indeed a characteristic token of the difference between the two covenants, that under the law the 'fear of the Lord' holds very much the same place as 'faith in God,' 'faith in Christ,' under the gospel. Awe is the prominent idea in the earlier dispensation, trust in the later. At the same time, though the word itself is not found in the Old Testament, the idea is not absent; for, indeed, a trust in the Infinite and Unseen, subordinating thereto all interests that are finite and transitory, is the very essence of the higher spiritual life.-Lightfoot, Epistle to the Galatians, p. 159.

ness." It was, accordingly, not by works, but by an act of faith, that he was accounted righteous before God, and his subjective relation to the judgment of God was clearly a faith-righteousness (vers. 1-5). (2) A confirmation of this doctrine is also found in David's words (Psa. xxxii, 1, 2), where they are pronounced blessed "whose sins are covered," and "to whom the Lord will not reckon sin" (6-8). (3) The apostle next shows that this blessedness came to Abraham before he had received the sign and seal of circumcision, and must therefore be independent of such outward rites (9-12). (4) For the same reason this righteousness of faith is also apart from works of law, for it cannot be attained through that which works wrath by its fearful revelation of the damning guilt of sin (13-17). (5) Abraham's faith, moreover, was an example of unwavering confidence in God's word. "Believing in hope against hope," and having his heart set on God's promise, "he wavered not through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, giving glory to God, and being fully assured that what he had promised he was able also to perform" (18-22). Finally, (6) he alleges that this sublime example of faith in God stands written in the Scriptures as a monumental witness for all believers in Jesus Christ (23-25). This example of Abraham is also adduced in the epistle to the Galatians (iii, 6-29), and is there made to establish the same doctrine of faith as the means of justification.

5. Doctrine of James. But in the epistle of James (ii, 21-23) the faith of Abraham as shown in his readiness to offer Isaac upon the altar is brought forward to prove that faith is not only essential to initiate the believer in righteousness, but also to carry forward the new life of devotion to God. In this later example written in the history of Abraham it is seen "that the faith wrought with his works, and (as a result issuing) from the works the faith was made perfect." The substance of doctrine in both Paul and James is certainly in accord with the fundamental truth that any and every soul of man who has been convicted of sin, and repents and turns unto God in faith, must also "do works worthy of repentance" (Acts xxvi, 20; comp. Matt. iii, 8; Luke iii, 8). Paul makes it very emphatic that one who becomes dead to sin cannot any longer live therein (Rom. vi, 1). It is not, therefore, in any fundamental way that James and Paul differ in their teaching about faith and justification before God. But they do differ, and each writer is to be studied and estimated by a careful attention to his peculiar point of view. James wishes to give strong testimony against such as are forgetful hearers and not actual doers of the word of truth (i, 22-25), and he insists rightly that the

only faith which is genuine and profitable is that which is shown by good works (ii, 14-18). This is an aspect of faith which Paul, according to Gal. v, 6, could certainly not oppose.

6. Doctrine of the Epistle to the Hebrews. Still another concept of faith is set forth in the epistle to the Hebrews, and definitely described as the "substance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen" (xi, 1). As the etymology of the Greek word translated substance (vñóσraois) suggests, faith is here conceived as the underlying basis of the believer's hopes, and at the same time as a profound inward conviction (ěλeyxos, proof) of the reality of things not seen by fleshly eyes. This conception of faith, as illustrated by the examples of ancient worthies mentioned in this chapter, contemplates that holy trust in God which leads to active and loving obedience. It is, perhaps, more closely related to the doctrine of James than to the Pauline idea of a faith apart from the works of the law. Nevertheless, the faith by which we apprehend the work of God in creation (ver. 3) is essentially the same as that by which we apprehend the grace of God in Jesus Christ. The faith of Abel is conceived as the means "through which he had witness borne to him that he was righteous" (ver. 4). And all the godly acts and heavenly hopes of the long list of worthies were inspired by a conviction and assurance of invisible realities akin to what the repentant sinner realizes when he accepts the redemption of Christ. In every case "the one who comes to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that seek after him" (ver. 6). Such faith ever tends "to a preserving of the soul" (els neρiñoinow чvxñs, Heb. x, 39). Whether exercised by the penitent sinner or by the hopeful saint, it unites the confiding soul with God.

7. Doctrine of Faith in the Gospels. The doctrine of faith occupies a prominent place in the teaching of Jesus. His earliest preaching was, "Repent ye, and believe in the gospel" (Mark i, 15); and his latest commission, according to Mark xvi, 16, “He that believeth and is baptized shall be saved; but he that disbelieveth shall be condemned." Here faith is obviously an act and responsible attitude of trust, and is made a condition of salvation. A corresponding passage in John's gospel (iii, 36) is in noticeable harmony with the main elements of the Pauline doctrine: "He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him." In his works of healing Jesus made much of the faith in him which was exercised by those who sought his help. "O woman, great is thy faith!" he exclaimed before the Canaanitish woman who besought him for her daughter (Matt. xv, 28; comp. viii, 10;

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