IN GOD’S PLAN THE DOCTRINE OF FAITH IS CENTRAL
“Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our LORD Jesus Christ” (ROMANS 5:1).
In the divine scheme of salvation, the doctrine of faith is central, so that every benefit flowing from the atonement of Christ comes to the individual through the gateway of faith!
Forgiveness, cleansing, regeneration, the Holy Spirit, all answers to prayer, are given to faith and received by faith. There is no other way! This is common evangelical doctrine and is accepted wherever the cross of Christ is understood.
Faith, as the Bible knows it, is confidence in God and His Son Jesus Christ; it is the response of the soul to the divine character as revealed in the Scriptures; and even this response is impossible apart from the prior inworking of the Holy Spirit.
Faith is a gift of God to a penitent soul and has nothing whatsoever to do with the senses or the data they afford.
Faith is a miracle; it is the ability God gives to trust His Son, and anything that does not result in action in accord with the will of God is not faith, but something else short of it!
Faith and morals are two sides of the same coin. Indeed, the very essence of faith is moral. Any professed faith in Christ as personal Saviour that does not bring the life under plenary obedience to Christ as Lord is inadequate and must betray its victim at the last!
A. W. Tozer
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