Article of Faith 4
We believe that the first
principles and ordinances of the Gospel are: first, Faith in the Lord Jesus
Christ; second, Repentance; third, Baptism by immersion for the remission of
sins; fourth, Laying on of hands for the gift of the Holy Ghost.
This is
the first essay about the first principles and ordinances of the Gospel of
Jesus Christ. This week’s discussion will use the words of Elder James E.
Talmage to discuss the nature of faith and the difference between belief,
faith, and knowledge (Articles of Faith [1913], 96-100).
Nature of Faith – The predominating sense in which the term faith is
used throughout the scriptures is that of full confidence and trust in the
being, purposes, and words of God. Such trust, if implicit, will remove all
doubt concerning things accomplished or promised of God, even though such
things be not apparent to or explicable by the ordinary senses of mortality;
hence arises the definition of faith given by Paul: “Now faith is the substance
[i.e., confidence, or assurance] of things hoped for, the evidence [i.e., the
demonstration or proof] of things not seen” (Hebrews 11:1). It is plain that
such a feeling of trust may exist in different persons in varying degrees;
indeed, faith may manifest itself from the incipient state which is little more
than feeble belief, scarcely free from hesitation and fear, to the strength of
abiding confidence that sets doubt and sophistry at defiance.
Belief, Faith, and Knowledge – The terms faith and belief are
sometimes regarded as synonyms; nevertheless each of them has a specific
meaning in our language, although in earlier usage there was little distinction
between them, and therefore the words are used interchangeably in many
scriptural passages. Belief, in one of its accepted senses, may consist in a
merely intellectual assent, while faith implies such confidence and conviction
as will impel to action. Dictionary authority justifies us in drawing a
distinction between the two, according to present usage in English; and this
authority defines belief as a mental assent to the truth or actuality of anything,
excluding, however, the moral element of responsibility through such assent,
which responsibility is included by faith. Belief is in a sense passive, an
agreement or acceptance only; faith is active and positive, embracing such
reliance and confidence as will lead to works. Faith in Christ comprises
belief in Him, combined with trust in Him. One cannot have faith without
belief; yet he may believe and still lack faith. Faith is vivified, vitalized,
living belief.
Certainly
there is great difference in degree, even if no essential distinction in kind
be admitted between the two. As shall be presently demonstrated, faith in the
Godhead is requisite to salvation; it is indeed a saving power, leading its
possessor in the paths of godliness, whereas mere belief in the existence and
attributes of Deity is no such power.
…
Again, an unclean spirit in the synagogue at Jerusalem implored Christ not to
use His power, crying in fear and agony: “I know thee, who thou art, the Holy
One of God” (Mark 1:24). Christ was once followed by a multitude made up of
people from Idumaea and Jerusalem, from Tyre and Sidon; among them were many
who were possessed of evil spirits, and these, when they saw Him, fell down in
the attitude of worship, exclaiming: “Thou art the Son of God” (Mark 3:8-11).
Was there ever mortal believer who confessed more unreservedly a knowledge of
God and His Son Jesus Christ than did these servants of Satan? Satan knows God
and Christ; remembers, perchance, somewhat concerning the position which he
himself one occupied as a Son of the Morning; yet with all such knowledge he is
Satan still. Neither belief nor its superior, actual knowledge, is efficient to
save; for neither of these is faith. If belief be a product of the mind, faith
is of the heart; belief is founded on reason, faith largely on intuition.
We
frequently hear it said that faith is imperfect knowledge; that the first
disappears as the second takes its place; that now we walk by faith but some
day we shall walk by the sure light of knowledge. In a sense this is true; yet
it must be remembered that knowledge may be as dead and unproductive in good
works as is faithless belief. Those
confessions of the devils, that Christ was the Son of God were based on
knowledge; yet the great truth, which they knew, did not change their evil
natures. How different was their acknowledgment of the Savior from that of
Peter, who, to the Master’s question “Whom say ye that I am?” replied in
practically the words used by the unclean spirits before cited: “Thou art the
Christ, the Son of the living God” (Matthew 16:15, 16). Peter’s faith had
already shown its vitalizing power; it had caused him to forsake much that had
been dear, to follow his Lord through persecution and suffering, and to put
away worldliness with its fascinations for the sacrificing godliness which his
faith made so desirable. His knowledge of God as the Father, and of the Son as
the Redeemer, was perhaps no greater than that of the unclean spirits; but
while to them that knowledge was but an added cause of condemnation to him it
was a means of salvation.
The mere possession of knowledge gives no assurance of
benefit therefrom.
It is said that during an epidemic of cholera in a great city, a scientific man
proved to his own satisfaction, by chemical and microscopical tests, that the water
supply was infected, and that through it contagion was being spread. He
proclaimed the fact throughout the city, and warned all against the use of
unboiled water. Many of the people, although incapable of comprehending his
methods of investigation, far less of repeating such for themselves, had faith
in his warning words, followed his instructions, and escaped the death to which
their careless and unbelieving fellows succumbed. Their faith was a saving one.
To the man himself, the truth by which so many lives had been spared was a
matter of knowledge. He had actually perceived, under the microscope, proof of
the existence of death-dealing germs in the water; he had demonstrated their
virulence; he knew of what he spoke. Nevertheless, in a moment of forgetfulness
he drank of the unsterilized water, and soon thereafter died, a victim to the
plague. His knowledge did not save him, convincing though it was; yet others,
whose reliance was only that of confidence or faith in the truth that he
declared, escaped the threatening destruction. He had knowledge; but, was he
wise? Knowledge is to wisdom what belief is to faith, one an abstract
principle, the other a living application. Not possession merely, but the proper
use of knowledge constitutes wisdom.
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