nition cannot be improved. Believing with the head is a part of saving faith, but that kind of faith alone cannot save. You remember that even the demons believed and trembled (Jas. 2:19). There are thousands of unregenerate men and women who believe intellectually in Christ, but they have no saving faith. To believe with the heart involves the affections. That is where the word “ love” comes in. The Holy Spirit, through Paul, said, “ For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness” (Rom. 10:10). The expression, “ affiance of the life,” shows that faith always includes action. It is not a dead intellectual thing, but it is a living, pulsing, acting, expressive affair. Paul and James agree thoroughly. James said, “ Faith without works is dead” (Jas. 2:20), but a living faith that issues in works is the only kind of faith that Paul ever preached. We fear that there are multiplied thousands in the churches today who have been taken in on a mere assent of the mind. The old Testament word for faith is trust. Be cause the word faith has been profaned by misuse, it is often helpful to use the word trust. In Jude I read “ Keep yourselves in the love of God.” This is important, but how can a mere mortal do it? We keep ourselves in the love of God by obedience. This is clearly shown in John 15:10: “ If ye keep my command ments, ye shall abide in my love; even as I have kept my Father’s commandments, and abide in his love.” The command ment the Lord Jesus refers to here is that we “ love one another.” Many be lievers, because they harbor malice, re sentment, and ill will toward other believers, miss fellowship with Christ, and lose a consciousness of His presence. How this command needs to be pressed upon the conscience of Christians today! To keep ourselves in the love of God, also includes Bible study, prayer, the stewardship of life and possessions—our whole Christian testimony. Why do you not baptize infants and very young children? Because it is my firm conviction that baptism follows conversion. I am happy to dedicate infants and young children to the Lord for it seems to me that every Christian parent should dedicate his child to God, both as an act of devo tion to Him, and as a safeguard to the child. But dedication is not baptism. Ded ication is the act of the parent, in which he presents his child to God and assumes responsibility for the training of that child for Him. Baptism, however, is the
act of the believer himself, in which he confesses faith in the Lord Jesus, who died for our sins and rose again for our justification. What form did God take when He walked in the Garden of Eden? The appearances of God in Old Testa ment times were pre-incarnate manifes tations of our Lord Jesus Christ. God’s appearance in the Garden of Eden was one of these revelations. Sometimes these theophanies reveal the appearance of God in the form of an angel. However, when He is described as “ the angel of the Lord,” or “ the angel of the cove nant,” it must be remembered that this “angel” is entirely distinct from the created angels. We read that when God talked to Ab raham, “ three men stood by him” (Gen. 18:2); and we learn from verse 1 of this chapter that one of the “men” was the Lord. Again He appeared to Joshua as the “ captain of the host of the Lord” (Josh. 5:14); He walked with the three Hebrew men in the fiery furnace as the One “ like the Son of God” (Dan. 3:25); He was “ the angel of the Lord,” before whom “Joshua the high priest” stood, Satan also “ standing at his right hand to resist him” (Zech. 3:1). From the context of these Scriptures, we note that in several of these appearances of our Lord, the descriptive terms are either “men,” “man,” or another which is sug gestive of human form. However, in the light of the fact that our Lord did not receive His human body until he “was made flesh” (John 1:14) in Bethlehem’s manger, we conclude that His appear ances in the Old Testament period prob ably were in angelic form. GEORGE WASHINGTON'S PRAYER “Almighty God: We make our earnest prayer that Thou wilt keep the United States in Thy holy protection; that Thou wilt incline the hearts of the citizens to cultivate a spirit of subordination and obedience to government, and entertain a brotherly affection and love for one another and for their fellow citizens of the United States at large. “And, finally, that Thou wilt most graciously be pleased to dispose us all to do justice, to love mercy, and to de mean ourselves with that charity, humil ity and pacific temper of mind which were the characteristics of the Divine Author of our blessed religion, and with out a humble imitation of whose ex ample in these things we can never hope to be a happy nation. “ Grant our supplication, we beseech Thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord: Amen.” June 8, 1788.
Dr. Louis T. Talbot Can you tell me of any case in the Bible where man changed the mind of God? You inquire as to there being any cases in the Bible in which a man chang ed the mind of God. When one mentions “ changing the mind of God,” the ques tion immediately is asked, is it possible for the finite (human) to change the infinite (God)? We shall not enter into a discussion on this point except to say that since God knows all things from the beginning to the end, He is omniscient. His plans are never frustrated, and His thoughts and purposes are “ fixed” to provide the best for mankind. Some one has said that the product is never great er than the producer. This is true in man’s relationship to God. He cannot change God by any thought or act. Nevertheless, in His plan, God has made provision whereby His children may make appeal to His grace and mercy. We find one of the most striking ex amples of this fact in the case of Abra ham’s plea to the Lord for the saving of Lot and his family from the destruction of Sodom: Genesis 18:1-33. Because of the wickedness of the inhabitants, the city was to be destroyed by the Lord. However, Abraham entreated the Lord for the righteous citizens, and in honor of this plea the Lord saved Lot and his wife. This did not involve a change of God’s mind; it was a gracious act of mercy in keeping with the words found in Proverbs 15:29: “ . . . he heareth the prayer of the righteous.” The incident bears out the truth found in James 5:16: “ The effectual fervent prayer of a right eous man availeth much.” Please explain the difference between believing with the head and with the heart. The theologians of old used to say that faith is composed of three things: First, the acknowledgment of the head; sec ond, the assent of the heart; and third, the affiance of the life. I think this defi
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