Section I. Faith necessary in order to salvation. The nature of saving Faith.
HOWEVER abundant and suitable may be the provision which God has made for the salvation of men, there are many who fail of attaining eternal life. There are those whom Christ shall profit nothing. Nay, there are those whose condemnation will be greatly aggravated, because they have known and rejected the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. It is, therefore, not less necessary that we should know what we must do in order to secure an interest in the redemption of Christ, than that we should understand what he has done for our salvation.
If God has revealed a plan of salvation for sinners, they must, in order to be saved, acquiesce in its provisions. By whatever name it may be called, the thing to be done, is to approve and accept of the terms of salvation presented in the gospel. As the plan of redemption is designed for sinners, the reception of that plan on our part, implies an acknowledgment that we are sinners, and justly exposed to the displeasure of God. To those who have no such sense of guilt, it must appear foolishness and an offence. As it proceeds upon the assumption of the insufficiency of any obedience of our own to satisfy the demands of the law, acquiescence in it, involves the renunciation of all dependence upon our own righteousness as the ground of our acceptance with God. If salvation is of grace, it must be received as such. To introduce our own merit, in any form or to any degree, is to reject it; because grace and works are essentially opposed; in trusting to the one we renounce the other.
As justification is pardon and acceptance dispensed on the ground of the righteousness of Christ, acquiesence in the plan of salvation involves the recognition and acceptance of the work of Christ as the only ground of justification before God. However much the child of God may be perplexed with anxious doubts, and vain endeavours, he is brought at last to see and admire the perfect simplicity of the plan of mercy; he finds that it requires nothing on his part but the acceptance of what is freely offered; the acceptance of it as free and unmerited. It is under the consciousness of ill-desert and helplessness that the soul embraces Jesus Christ as he is presented in the gospel. This it is that God requires of us in order to our justification. As soon as this is done, we are united to Christ; he assumes our responsibilities; he pleads our cause; he secures our pardon and acceptance on the ground of what he has done; so that there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus.
The nature of the duty required of us in order to our justification, is made, if possible, still more plain by the account which the Bible gives of those who are condemned. They are described as those who reject Christ, who go about to establish their own righteousness, and refuse to submit to the righteousness of God; as those who look to the law or their own works, instead of relying on the work of Christ. They are those who reject the counsel of God against themselves, who, ignorant of their character and of the requirements of God, refuse to be saved by grace through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus.
The word by which this acceptance of Christ is commonly expressed in the Bible, is FAITH. God so loved the world that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him might not perish but have eternal life. He that believeth on him is not condemned; but he that believeth not is condemned already. He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life; he that believeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him. Verily, verily, I say unto you, he that believeth on me hath everlasting life. Go ye into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature; he that believeth and is baptized shall be saved, he that believeth not shall be damned. Sirs, what must I do to be saved? and they said, Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be saved. God is just and the justifier of him that believeth in Jesus. The Gentiles have attained righteousness, even the righteousness which is by faith; but Israel hath not attained it, because they sought it not by faith. Knowing that a man is not justified by works of the law, but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ and not by the works of the law. By grace are ye saved through faith, and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God. This is his commandment, That we should believe on his son Jesus Christ. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself.