Search
Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:17; Gal. 2:20; John 14:19; 2 Pet. 1:1; Rom. 12:3; Eph. 2:8; Rom. 1:12; 1 Cor. 13:13
III. The faith of the believers:
XVIII. The linking faith:
1. “The righteous shall have life and live by faith” — Rom. 1:17.
2. “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God” — Gal. 2:20.
3. “I live, you also shall live” — John 14:19.
XIX. The God-allotted faith — 2 Pet. 1:1:
1. “Equally precious” (in quality, not in quantity) to all the believers.
2. “In the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ.”
XX. “Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith” — Rom. 12:3.
XXI. “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God” (both salvation and faith are the gift of God) — Eph. 2:8.
XXII. “I with you may be encouraged among you through the faith which is in one another, both yours and mine” — Rom. 1:12.
XXIII. “Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three” (faith ranks first) — 1 Cor. 13:13.
In this chapter we want to see six more crucial points related to the crystallization of the faith of the believers.
The first crucial point is the linking faith. We have spoken about this to a certain extent, but we want to go into more depth here. Actually, faith has different stages. In the first section of our crystallization-study on faith, we saw that faith comes from the hearing of the word (Rom. 10:17). That is the initial stage of faith. When we were sinners, one day under God’s sovereignty we heard the preaching of the gospel, that is, the word of Christ. Through that hearing of the word, faith came into us. This faith brought us into a life union with Christ. This union is a kind of linking.
The electricity in a building is a very good illustration of linking. The installment of electricity into a building is the first stage. Then from that day, installed electricity continues in the building. In like manner, when we heard the gospel, we repented, and something happened to us. That was the installation of the Spirit. We had the Spirit installed into us through the hearing of the word. We all received the Spirit in this way. Now this Spirit, or this faith, which has been installed into us, stays within us and grows.
After electricity has been installed into a certain building, there is a current going on. You can either stop it or use it all the time. Also, when we were saved, the linking faith entered into us, and it remains in us. The faith through which we were saved became a linking faith within us. This is not just in the initial stage but also in the progressing stage. In a building in which electricity has been installed in the initial stage, there is a current of electricity going on in the progressing stage. We are like the building. We have the faith, the initial faith, produced in us. It remains in us and goes on all the time, unless we stop it.
Romans 1:17 says, “The righteous shall have life and live by faith.” We not only have life but also live by faith. To live is a matter of continuation. Romans 1:17 is Paul’s quotation of Habakkuk 2:4, which is also referred to by Paul in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. The Christian life is not just a matter of having life by faith. You have to live by faith for your whole life. We are not believers for just a small amount of time. We are believers for eternity. We not only have life but also live by what we have. We live by faith. This is the linking faith that continues with us in our living.
Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” Many among us know this verse, but actually Galatians 2:20 is difficult to understand. If I am crucified without Christ, that is pitiful, but I have been crucified with Christ. He takes care of the matter. He bears the responsibility. Christ does not live by Himself alone. Christ lives “in me.” We should circle the words in me in our Bible. If we saw that Christ lives in us, we would be excited.
You were crucified. It is no longer you, yet Christ still lives in you. You say “no longer,” but something is still going on. So Galatians 2:20 continues by saying, “And the life which I now live in the flesh.” Christ lives in me, and I now live a life in the flesh. I live this life in faith. It is no longer I who live, but still I live. The “I” who no longer lives is the old creation. The “I” who now lives is the new creation. We all have two statuses: the old creation and the new creation, the old man and the new man. As to the old creation, the old man, it is no longer I who live. But I have another status — the new creation, the new man. As to the new creation, the new man, I still live. I live this life in faith. This means that faith is going on. In Romans 1:17 to have life by faith is the initiation. But here Paul says, “I live in faith.” Faith is going on.
I live by faith, and this faith is not my faith. This faith is the faith of the Son of God. These three items — God, the Son of God, and faith — are one. When you heard the gospel, you heard the word, and faith came into you. That faith is God Himself. Now you live by that faith, and this faith is the faith of the Son of God. Initially, you received the faith, which was God coming into you. But now you still live by this faith, yet in the second stage. In the second stage it is the faith of the Son of God. So when you live this life by faith, you do not live by anything of yourself. You live this life by faith, which is the faith of the Son of God. Thus, you have life by the faith of God, and you live this life by the faith of the Son of God. Faith, God, and the Son of God are one. Faith links God and the Son of God with us. If you have faith, faith links you to God. If you have faith, faith links you to the Son of God.
The initial faith in the initial stage came to you through the hearing of the word of God. But faith in the second stage, the stage of living Christ, comes mostly not by hearing the word. Faith in this stage comes into you by your contacting God in Christ. So you have to contact the Triune God all the time. All the time you should contact the Son. Then you will also touch the Father and the Spirit. Faith in the second stage comes to us through our contacting the Triune God. It is not just hearing the word. In the second stage of faith, hearing the word does not work much.
In this stage, faith comes into you increasingly like the electrical current in a building. You can tell that a “current” in you is going on. The more you say, “O Lord Jesus,” the more the current is going on. The more you pray, the more the current is going on. This is why we are told to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). This current should not be stopped. This is the linking stage of faith. This faith within us is God Himself in Christ.
The electricity in a building links the building with the power plant, even though the power plant may be a hundred miles away. The electricity in a building also links all the lamps together. There are many lamps but only one electricity, and this one electricity is the linking factor that links all the lamps and the entire building with the power plant. Check with your experience. If you do not pray for one day, you feel that you are cut off from the divine power plant. If you do not pray for two days, you feel that you are not only cut off from God but also cut off from all the saints.
In John 14:19 the Lord said, “Because I live, you also shall live.” It may seem that He lives alone, and we also live alone. But the following verse says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” (v. 20). The Lord does not live alone. He lives in us, and we live in Him. This is coinhering. Here we can also see the linking. Faith links us to the Triune God.
According to 2 Peter 1:1, such a linking faith is the God-allotted faith. No doubt, Peter said this in light of the Old Testament type of the good land. In the Old Testament, when the children of Israel entered into the good land, Joshua allotted the good land under God’s leading (Josh. 13:6). One lot was designated to one person, and another lot was designated to another person. God allotted the good land to each of the Israelites. That is a type. Now in the New Testament God has allotted faith to us. The good land in the Old Testament typifies Christ. Christ is our good land. But here 2 Peter 1:1 says that God allotted faith to us. This is because faith, God, and Christ are one. God’s allotting faith to us means that He allotted Himself to us. It also means that He allotted Christ to us. Colossians 1:12 says that Christ is the God-allotted portion, the lot, allotted to us by God. Christ is our lot, and faith is also our lot. It seems that God has allotted to us two things: faith and Christ. But faith and Christ are one thing.
To say that God has allotted Christ to us is somewhat shallow. Even the new beginners can know this. But to say that God has allotted faith to us is deeper. To say that God has allotted Christ to us is a kind of objective teaching, without experience. But God’s allotting faith to us is not just an objective teaching but a subjective experience. This God-allotted faith links us with Christ. So when you have faith, you have Christ. This is why such a faith is the faith of Jesus Christ the Son of God. Jesus the Son of God becomes the Author and Perfecter of this faith (Heb. 12:2).
To say that faith is Christ Himself may be an objective doctrine. No experience is needed. But to say that faith is allotted by God to us implies that this faith right now links you to the allotted Christ. So these two things are one. In 2 Peter 1:1 we are told that God has allotted to us such a faith. Then verse 3 says that the divine power has granted to us all things which relate to life and godliness. Faith as God’s lot to us is all the things that relate to life and godliness.
We realize that we need to grow in life, but how can we grow in life? We grow by faith linking us to Christ. We can have the linking faith not just by hearing the word but by contacting the very Triune God who is faith to us. This faith is not the faith in the initial stage but the faith in the second, linking stage. Today’s revival and the new revival is just to stir people up to contact the Triune God so that this faith in the second stage may work in the linking way. When you contact the living God, right away you are revived. This is the effectiveness of the linking faith.
God has allotted to us equally precious faith. It is equally precious to all the believers. Let us again use the illustration of electricity. Electricity is allotted to this building, and it links all the lamps together. This electricity in all the lamps is the same in quality and in quantity because the size of the lamps is the same. But the very faith in us, while being the same in quality, is not the same in quantity. We cannot compare with the apostle Paul. His linking faith may be like a big mountain, while ours may be like a small stone. But you have to realize that the stone grows! In the Bible the stones are living (1 Pet. 2:5). If you contact God, faith grows in you. This means that God increases in you. When God increases in you, faith in the second stage grows in you to get bigger and bigger. We all have the same faith in quality, but the quantity of faith we have depends upon how much we contact the living God so that we may have Him increased in us. When God increases in you, this faith in the second stage also grows in you.
God has allotted to us such a faith “in the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ” (2 Pet. 1:1). God allotted this equally precious faith to us according to His righteousness, in a judicial way. Suppose God had not become our Savior, and we did not have a Redeemer. How could God have allotted faith to us? Because God became a man and died on the cross to be our Savior judicially, He can allot Himself into our being as the linking faith.
Romans 12:3 says, “Not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith.” If you think you are bigger than Paul in the quantity of faith, you are crazy. You are not sober-minded. If you are really sober-minded, you will say, “Brother Paul was a big mountain. I am just a small stone.” Some of the saints may think that they are bigger than the elders. This is not sober-minded. At least the elders are “two inches” bigger than you. They are at least a little bigger, a little older spiritually, than you. To think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think without a sober mind is to annul the proper order of the Body life.
In Romans 12 Paul deals with the practice of the Body life. In the crystallization of the Body there is one crucial point, that is, not to think more highly of ourselves than we ought to think, but to think so as to be sober-minded, as God has apportioned to each a measure of faith. God has not only allotted but also apportioned faith to us. He gave us the same faith in quality but not in quantity. The matter of quantity depends upon how you grow. If you grow today as the apostle Paul grew, the portion of faith you receive will be greatly enlarged. God first allotted faith to us in quality, and then He apportioned it in quantity. What kind of faith you have depends upon God’s allotment. How much faith you have depends upon God’s apportioning. God’s apportioning depends upon your attitude. If you are not sober-minded, God would not increase His apportioning of faith to you, and He probably would even decrease it.
Ephesians 2:8 says, “By grace you have been saved through faith, and this not of yourselves; it is the gift of God.” Both salvation and faith are the gift of God. God gave us salvation freely. He also gives us faith freely so that we may receive His free salvation. Both are God’s gift.
In Romans 1:12 Paul says, “I with you may be encouraged among you through the faith which is in one another, both yours and mine.” This is the mutual faith in one another. When you meet an unbeliever, right away you can realize that you have something he does not have. This is like the lamps in a building all being bright except one that is dark. The electricity is not in that one. Sometimes you may meet some brothers who really respond to your fellowship concerning Christ. This is because they are in the apportioning of faith as you are, so you can react to one another. But you may meet some other brothers who are dull or who do not care much for Christ. They have faith, but they are short of the apportioning of faith. The only way to have this apportioning is by contacting the Lord.
Christianity has made itself in every way and in every thing a religion without the real contact with the Lord. They say that they worship God, but actually, they do not have the real worship. Their worship is only a kind of formality. In the Catholic Church they perform many rituals, but what the Bible shows us is a living Spirit. God is Spirit (John 4:24), and the last person of the Godhead is Spirit (Matt. 28:19). The second person of the Godhead became a man (John 1:14). Eventually, He was also pneumatized to become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Thus, God is Spirit, the third person is Spirit, and the second person is pneumatized. So the Triune God is totally experienced and enjoyed through the Spirit. We must contact the Spirit day by day.
In these days the Lord has shown us the high peak of His revelation. But if we only see this high peak and do not touch the very God, the Triune, as the consummated Spirit, we are in doctrine. So day and night, every day, we have to contact the consummated Triune God as the compound, all-inclusive, indwelling Spirit. We must contact Him. When we contact Him, He is overflowing within us, and there is a mutuality of faith among us. Sometimes when we are enjoying the Lord in a meeting, we sing crazily in a living way. We sing this way because we have tasted and touched the living Lord. The religious people like to maintain their formality with everything in good order, but everyone who meets God becomes “crazy.” When the Lord Jesus entered into Jerusalem for the last time, the people became crazy in their praising, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David! Blessed is He who comes in the name of the Lord! Hosanna in the highest!” (Matt. 21:9). When the chief priests and scribes heard this, they were indignant. “They said to Him, Do you hear what these are saying? And Jesus said to them, Yes. Have you never read, ‘Out of the mouth of infants and sucklings You have perfected praise’?” (v. 16). This shows that when we contact God, we will be excited and joyful in the Spirit in a living way. About thirty years ago, I saw an electrical toy boy that jumped when the electricity was turned on. Without the current of electricity, this toy was still, but when it was turned on, it became active. We should be such “jumping toys,” who are enjoying the divine electricity.
First Corinthians 13:13 says, “Now there abide faith, hope, love, these three.” The top spiritual virtues are faith, hope, and love. Paul says that the greatest one is love, but the first one is faith.
