"I LIVE BY THE FAITH OF THE SON OF GOD"
By MERRILL F. UNGER, Th.D., Ph.D. Professor of Old Testament, Dallas Theological Seminary
T HE Apostle Paul was just as sure that he was living the Christian life by faith as he was that he had begun the Christian life by faith. If we are to live the Christian life as it ought to be lived, we must be equally certain that the life we now live in the flesh we “ live by the faith of the Son of God,” who loved us and gave Himself for us (Gal. 2:20). Yet faith in the Son of God, which brings victory and blessing into Christian living, is all too rare among %the people of God. Is there any other way to liVe the Christian life than by faith? If our own puny efforts and con taminated works are unable to save us, can they possibly be of any more avail to help us live a life acceptable and well pleasing to God? Certainly not. It is just as impossible to live the Christian life acceptably on any other basis than faith as it is to begin the Christian life on any other principle. Christian living is made possible by faith, and by faith alone. Out of whose innermost being are the “ rivers of living water” to flow? Out of him who strives, works, and struggles? Nay. “ He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his . . . [in nermost being] shall flow rivers of living water” (John 7:38). But are we not to rely upon ourselves, our strength, our will power, our human morality and eth ics? Nay, says the Apostle. “ The life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God.” Fcrith in the Son oL God Furnishes The Key of Access to Fullness of Life. Do you stand amidst grief and disap pointment? Are you hedged in and hin dered on every hand by defeat and fail ure? Is your Christian experience joy less and unvictorious? Do you stand as it were with Martha of old at the grave of Lazarus, hopeless and helpless? Can you not hear the Saviour, who conquered sin and death for you, calling across the centuries to triumph in His triumph, to rejoice in His victory? “ Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?” (John 11:40). Would you see the glory of God? Would you unlock the mystic treasures of that resplendent truth “ Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Col. 1:27)? Would you strike the inexhausti ble spring that will flow out into a river of blessing? The key is faith. You must believe. You must believe on Christ “ as the scripture hath said.” M A Y , 1 9 4 9
Why the great disparity between what we are in Christ, and what we claim and appropriate as our possessions here and now? The answer: We refuse to be lieve God’s Word! We refuse to believe we are what we are in Christ and to act upon that position! We hesitate to go up and possess the land of spiritual conquest. We refuse to possess our pos sessions in Christ. If ever the benefits Christ purchased for me are to be en joyed here and now, I must believe they are mine, and take them as mine. I must believe in my identification with Christ in death and resurrection. I must be lieve apart from my feelings, fears, struggles, failures, and confusion—the old way of self and the flesh. I must count on Him! Grasping what our position in Christ really means, and by faith appropriat ing what our participation in Christ implies, will be a gateway to a whole unexplored continent of spiritual privi lege and power, a portal to such hap piness as we never dreamed possible this side of heaven. Faith not only fur nishes the key of access but 1. I Must Believe That Christ Died For Me. “ Christ died for our sins ac cording to the scriptures” (1 Cor. 15:3). First and foremost for my welfare this is what the scripture hath said concern ing Christ. He died for me! He bore my sins “ in his own body on the tree” (1 Pet. 2:24). He justifies me freely “by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus” (Rom. 3:24). He is de clared to be “just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus” (Rom. 3:26). Believing this testimony of God concerning His Son, I have access into eternal life. 2. I Must Believe That I Died In ’ Christ. I must believe that when I trust ed Christ as my Saviour, I believed “ into Him.” “ He that believeth . . . [into Him, into vital union with Him] as the scrip ture hath said” (John 7:38) shall have the rivers of blessing welling up in his heart. Saving faith is believing into Christ—a state of vital union with Him and all other believers in Him. It is not a mere intellectual belief in a historical Christ. It is not merely believing that Christ died, but that He died for me, and that I died in Him. When He died, I died! “ God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son that whoso ever believeth . . . [mto] Him should not perish, but have everlasting life” (John 3:16). “He that believeth into Him is
Dr. Unger
not condemned” (v. 18), but he “that believeth not is condemned already, be cause he hath not believed into the name of the only begotten Son of God” (orig. tr. fr. Gk.). 3. I Must Believe That I Arose In Christ. Believing into a position of vital union with Him, we become one with Him not only in death, but in resurrec tion as well. The new creation is life in union with Christ Jesus. If the Head shares life, shall not the body also? Our positional death to sin and self and to all that we were in fallen Adam, is the gateway to a larger, fuller life in Christ. Having signed the death warrant to the “ old life” and having consigned it to the grave, for we are sharers of Christ’s tomb (Rom. 6 :4), we discover that we are recipients of a life infinitely more wonderful—the life of the ages. “ God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us . . . hath quick ened us together with Christ . . . and . . . raised us up together” (Eph. 2 :5,6). Christ’s resurrection my resurrection! God hath raised me up together with Him. Here is something for my deepest need! Life! Power! Blessing! This ex ceeding greatness of His power becomes available “to us-ward who believe, ac cording to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead” (Eph. 1:19, 20). Page Seven
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