02.08.10
The Faith of Christ
One of the greatest Bible truths to be grasped in establishing one’s assurance is that of the faith of Christ, the perfect, divine faith of God’s own Son which is imputed to us when we exercise our own feeble, human faith in His finished work (Rom 3:22). I have many times dealt with those who through personal sin, or a feeble mind, or an overactive conscience, though trusting in Christ alone, begin to struggle with the simplicity which is in Christ with questions as to whether they had the right kind of faith or enough faith in order to be saved. The doctrine of “the faith of Christ” is generally the blessed truth that diffuses such doubts. Personal faith is a necessity in the new birth (John 3:15-18). The Lord Jesus Christ is the Savior of the whole world (1 John 2:1), but His saving virtue must be individually appropriated by personal faith in the gospel (Rom 3:26). But thank God, though our faith is often weak and beggarly, the wavering and failure of our faith does not result in the condemnation of our souls (1 Tim 2:13), because we have been justified by “the faith of Jesus Christ” (Gal 2:16). Have you ever considered who the first person to believe the gospel was? It was the Lord Jesus Christ (Matt 12:39-40, Matt 16:21). Thus He is the author of our faith. And praise be to God, He is likewise the finisher of our faith, for his faith is unfailing (Heb 12:2). Christ’s faith was God’s gift to us (Eph 2:8) when we believed. And now we can look toward eternity with the very same confidence as the great apostle Paul, not having our own righteousness… but that which is through the faith of Christ (Phil 3:9).
