Editorial March 2, 1907 Issue

THE CONCEPT OF FAITH

John B. Willis

Truth's ministry always begins at the point of human need; it is considerate of conditions, waits patiently for the right time and opportunity, and knows how to be no less wise than uncompromising. The life of Christ Jesus was a continuous illustration of all these things. At the time of his appearing the Jewish people were expecting the fulfilment of the Messianic prophecies, and their most clearly defined anticipation was that of a great dominating personality, a princely leader who would stand for the kingly splendor and authority of David's line. Jesus understood this, and consequently emphasized the necessity and importance of belief in him as the one to whom the prophets referred. He thus consented to the centering of an early faith in his personality, indeed he reproved them for not believing in him; but little by little he lifted and enlarged their thought. He said that of himself he could do nothing, that his works were in manifestation of the presence and activity of another, even his Father, the God of Abraham and of Moses, and that for the works' sake they should believe, though they could not yet see in him the fulfilment of the prophetic promise. The thought of faith was being advanced from belief in personality and dependence upon it to the realization of the Christ, God present to will and to do. Later he said they should be filled with the Holy Ghost, know the things that were of God, express Truth through apprehension, and become identified therewith. As "the morning drinks the morning star," so their faith in him was to be lost in the possession of his faith, the spiritual understanding which is man's at-one-ment with God.

The effectiveness of the early disciples, their multiplied demonstrations over the asserted powers of material law, witness to their continued realization of this divine idea, that the faith of Christ Jesus was their faith, and that his understanding of Truth and Truth's invariable law. was to be the inheritance of the saints, so that all Truth-seekers might indeed become "the children of God," realize the Master's exaltation and do his works, for the same reason and by the same means that he did them. This is the distinctive teaching of Christian Science, which declares that "until belief becomes faith, and faith becomes spiritual understanding, human thought has little relation to the actual or divine" (Science and Health, p. 297).

The difference in nature and influence between the concept of faith held by the great of Christian believers and this teaching of Christian Science can but appeal to all. The present immature state of general thought regarding faith is the inevitable fruitage of a substitutionary idea of the atonement which has made it seem unnecessary for men to have the Master's faith, and a sense of the nature of Christ Jesus which has made it seem impossible for men to share his perception and point of view. "Back to Christ" has of late years become the shibboleth of a new Christian enthusiasm, and yet to a multitude of Christians it brings no suggestion of the possibility or need of acquiring that understanding of Truth which made the character of the Nazarene so Godlike, his ministry so eventful.

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