A Christian is a person who has received Christ and His great salvation. How does one receive Him and His accomplished work? This question may appear difficult, yet the answer is very simple. There is only one way to receive Christ, and that is by faith. In fact, to receive is just to believe.
One hundred fifty times
Someone counted the word “faith” in the New Testament. It appears one hundred fifty times. Thirty-five of these times, the word is used as a noun; the rest as a verb. When used as a verb, it is translated “believe.” The reason this word is mentioned and emphasized repeatedly is because faith is the unique and crucial way of receiving Christ.
The place that faith occupies in the Christian belief is paramount. No other religion emphasizes faith in the way Christianity does. Sakya Muni never said, “Believe in me.” Nor have you heard this from Confucius. Neither can you find anything of this nature from the writings of Lao-tze, Chuan-tze, or any other sages. But among the Christians, faith is constantly reiterated. The Bible repeats itself one hundred fifty times that we have to believe in Christ. There is no other way but by believing. The New Testament does mention other things such as repentance, baptism, the kingdom of the heavens, behavior, etc. However, they appear much less frequently than faith. The Bible has to repeat and stress this point because it involves our receiving of Christ and His salvation. When one believes, he receives. Otherwise, he is empty.
The definition of faith
Let us first examine the meaning of faith. We will try to find a definition for this word.
It is remarkable that although the word “faith” has been used one hundred fifty times in the New Testament and more in the Old Testament, its definition is given only once. Only in one verse is the word explained. We have to look carefully into this one place. Let us turn to Hebrews 11:1. Here it gives us a unique explanation of faith. “Faith is assurance of things hoped for, a conviction of things not seen” (ASV, 1901).
What is assurance
If we read through this verse casually, we may think that we understand the definition of faith. Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. But when we think about this definition carefully, we will find that it does not lead us much of anywhere. I have to confess that I have personally spent a number of years on this word “assurance.” I pondered over it again and again. I could not arrive at any intelligent interpretation.
I have spent much time to compare different English translations of this verse. After examining at least a dozen different versions, I concluded that the word is best translated as substance. The verse would then read, “Faith is the substance of things hoped for.” However, this rendering does not carry the full force of the word.
Substantiating
I then spent quite some time studying the Greek language. Finally, I was able to grasp the full impact of the word. Yet I could not find a suitable translation for it. To me the implication was clear. But I could not think of a proper word to express it.
Finally, I found the right word from J.N. Darby’s translation. Mr. Darby was a renowned British authority in Bible exposition. He translated the word as “substantiating.” The word substance is easily understood. We all know that the substance of this table is wood, and the substance of this metal is iron. But what is substantiating? We have to spend some time to explain this word.
I believe that substantiating is the ability which enables us to realize a substance. For example, when we see a table, we have the realization that its substance is wood. Or consider the covering of the table. After looking at it, we are able to tell that the substance of this cover is metal. This very ability is the substantiating power.
The function of the five senses
The world around us is composed of myriads of objects of various colors and shapes. There is also a host of images and objects inside of us. They form a world all their own. Between this inside world and the outside world, there is a constant communication back and forth. The impulses of the outside world are transmitted to the inside world, and the inside world reacts and projects to the outside world. The intermediate organs that relate to the two worlds are known primarily as the five senses. Through these five senses, the impulses of the outside world are transmitted into us to produce certain perceptions, and through the same five faculties, we communicate whatever is inside of us to the outside world.
If a man were deprived of his five senses, it would be extremely difficult for anything of the outside world to come into him. There is a whole spectrum of colors in the world around us. But if a man is blind, he cannot receive these colors into him. He cannot appreciate the beauty in them, for he lacks the ability to substantiate the colors. If you tell him that snow is beautiful, he will ask you, “Why is it so beautiful?” If you answer that the whiteness is what makes it attractive, he will say, “What is white anyway?” And if you say that white is the opposite of black, he will answer, “I do not know what black is like.” There are all kinds of colors in the world. But they can only come into us through the substantiating ability of the eyes. Those without sight do not have such an ability. The world inside them is void of any color.
There are some things which require our hearing ability. We receive those things through our hearing organ. If we are deaf, sound has no effect on us. There are some things which call for our tasting or smelling faculties. The function of our five senses is to transfer all the objective items into us to become our subjective experience. If we do not have these five senses, all of the outside objects will remain outside of us; they will never be able to come into us. There will forever be a barrier between the two sides. The work that the five senses does is a work of substantiating.
Transfer in
Let me explain this a little further. I shall again use the example of color. Blue is a substance. It is there all the time. But when you take a look at it, your eyes begin to transfer the blue into you. This is what is meant by substantiation. Now you can say that you have substantiated the blue into you. You know now that there is such a color called blue.
In fact, every one of us is daily substantiating. Now I can see Mr. Chang sitting here and Mr. Lee there. There is a lamp above me and a road in front of me. All these are substantiated by my eyes. Daily I am substantiating millions of objects into me through my substantiating organs. In this way, we are brought into contact with the outside world. In the same sense, we say that faith is the substantiating of things hoped for. I cannot find a better translation than this word.
Faith in spiritual things
God uses the word “substantiating” to show us what faith means. The Bible tells us of many things, some of which we have mentioned previously. These things were hitherto unrelated to us; they existed independently outside of us. We call these spiritual matters. How can these spiritual matters be substantiated into us? Here faith comes into action.
Let me say a little more about the function of the five senses, after which we will come to the function of faith. This afternoon a few of us went for a sightseeing tour in Pali-tai. It was indeed a scenic place, and we absorbed the scenery. Mr. Jan told us that when the plum tree blossoms in a few days, the view will be even more spectacular. Another commented that the snow that was present a few days ago also made quite an impressive sight. All these lovely scenes can only be transmitted into us through our seeing ability. To a blind man, all these beauties are nonexistent.
Here is a most fragrant flower. When you put your nose close to it, you can detect its aroma, but if you were without a nose or had a cold, you would not have the smelling ability. You would not know how fragrant the flower is. Fragrance as a substance would be nonexistent to you. Here is a piano. It produces beautiful music. The player is skillful and expressive. But none of these melodious tunes come to a deaf person. To him, music is nonexistent because he lacks the hearing ability.
The substantiating faith
The reason I have taken all the trouble to explain these things to you is so that you would understand what the Bible means by faith. It is a very important matter. As the eye is to seeing, the ear to hearing, and the nose to smelling, so faith is the organ whereby we substantiate everything spiritual into us. Without faith, every spiritual matter is a nonentity to us. This is why the Bible calls faith the substantiation of things hoped for.
Beyond the five senses
Are spiritual matters real or not? You cannot ascertain them by your five senses. God has put us into Christ; we are crucified with Him. All our sins were borne by Him. Today Christ is resurrected and is in the Holy Spirit. But can we substantiate any of these with our five senses? They are useless in this respect. When it comes to these matters, the eyes are blind, the ears deaf, the nose numb, the tongue flat, and all the senses dull. If we merely exercise our five senses, we have to conclude that God does not exist, that there is no Christ, and that neither forgiveness of sins nor redemption of sinners is substantial, that there is no such thing as a new life, and that all spiritual matters are mere fantasies. The fact is that the substance is there, but the substantiating ability is absent.
Suppose a blind man stands up and proclaims, “There is no such thing as color. All the beautiful sights and scenes that people talk about are illusionary. All these descriptions of pictures as lively and vivid are merely abstract nonentities.” You will not be surprised at hearing such words. You realize that he lacks the ability of seeing. To him all those things are genuinely nonexistent. His theory is the theory of the blind. Only the blind approve it and justify it.
The lack of a substantiating sense
You may think that this is a joke. But there are those who would criticize others, saying, “Listen to all this talk about spiritual matters, about forgiveness of sins by Christ, resurrection, and the receiving of a new life. They are just a collection of empty words.” The fact is that spiritual matters do exist, but these people lack something. They are blind in regard to spiritual matters. What they lack is what they should have but do not have; it is that sense which substantiates all spiritual matters. Without that sense, everything spiritual is darkness to them. This sense is faith. Faith makes everything real and clear spiritually.
The material universe is real. So is the spiritual world. However, you need a special faculty to see and hear the spiritual world. This faculty or sense is the faith that we mentioned. Faith is the substantiation of things hoped for, and the conviction of things not seen. Though they are unseen, they are manifested to us in a tangible way. How can a seemingly abstract spiritual item be substantiated in us? It is by no other way than faith. Do we have this faith? If we do, all these will become real to us.
Undeniable and certain
The five senses substantiate everything in the physical world to us. Faith is the faculty which substantiates everything in the spiritual world to us. It is a sense in addition to our other five senses. The question is whether or not we are exercising it. Mr. Chang is sitting in front of me. He becomes real to me through my eyes. However, I can testify to you that the Christ within me is more real than Mr. Chang. Not only is His indwelling a reality; His redemption, His crucifixion of my old man, and my resurrection with Him are also real. I am more sure of them than of Mr. Chang. Within me there is an organ which enables me to perceive all of these. They are undeniable and certain. Not only I, but countless other Christians also have seen them. They are being made real through the unique organ of faith.
Faith is receiving
God has prepared and accomplished everything in Christ. He has also put Christ into the Holy Spirit so that everyone can henceforth enjoy Him anywhere and anytime. All that it takes is for man to receive Him. But how does one go about receiving Him? It is by faith. Faith is the receiving. When man believes, he receives everything of Christ into him.
Actually, the five senses also receive. The ears receive sound through hearing, and the eyes receive color through seeing. By constant contact with the outside world, the five senses receive everything into the inside world.
Faith then is an act of receiving. Christ has shed His blood to take away our sins. When we believe in this, we receive the same into us. God has put us into the death of Christ. By faith this solution of the old man is received into us. Other facts such as His resurrection and the initiation of a new life are all received by faith. I do not know how these items get into us. But I do know that when we believe in God’s word and works, they come into us. This is the function of faith.
Faith is not agreement
I have to mention an important point: faith and agreement are two different matters. Faith is living, while agreement is an exercise of the mind. Only faith will inherit all the things in the spiritual world. Mental consent has no part in it. To perceive spiritual things through mental consent is like using the eyes to see sound or using the tongue to taste color. You will never receive anything that way.
For example, everyone agrees that Hwang Mountain is a very scenic place. It says so in books, and we see it in pictures. We give our consent and agree that it is very scenic. But Hwang Mountain has never been received into us. None of the beauties there are real to us. The receiving of spiritual matters is not a matter of consent but of faith. We need faith in the words of God. We have to mix His words with our faith. Do not doubt or argue against the words of God. Rather, we should identify ourselves with them and be saved.
If you have this living faith, you can be saved whether you are at home or in the church, in the wilderness or anywhere. Today Christ is in the Holy Spirit. He is omnipresent. Wherever you may be, you can be saved simply by touching Him by faith. Just as the electricity in this room is fully installed and will light up at your touch of the switch, so salvation will be immediately realized when you exercise your faith to receive Him.
Confess
Perhaps you have heard about the doctrines of Christ for more than ten years. But all the time you have simply stored them up in your mind. This is merely a mental consent. Up till today, you are still a fallen man. Your consent has done you no good. You must confess that you believe. You must proclaim, “I believe that Jesus of Nazareth is the Son of God. I believe that He is now in the Holy Spirit. I also believe that on the cross He has taken away my sins and that He has crucified my old man and given me a new life.” With this faith, you will be brought face to face with God. You will touch Him, and salvation will be accomplished in you. It is a matter of faith and not of agreement.
Old seventy
A few years ago, an Italian warship was anchored off Gibraltar. In the evening all the sailors went on shore to gamble, drink, and cause trouble. Among them was one called Old Seventy. He was always the head of the band.
That night while he was roaming around the pier, he saw a house, inside which were a few ladies playing the piano, singing hymns, and preaching. He had never been to a place like this. Out of curiosity, he went in. A woman preacher came up and began to preach to him. She did not care whether he was drunk or not, but started to tell him about Christ’s death for sinners, His forgiveness of sins, and His bestowing of a new life. At the end she told him that all he needed to do to be saved was believe. Old Seventy was very touched. He prayed to the Lord Jesus, believed in Him, and accepted Him as his Savior.
Afterwards, he went back to the ship. He was about to go to bed but felt that he should pray again, so he knelt down before his bunk. There were more than twenty other sailors in the room. When they saw what he did, they started to shout, “Hurrah, something new! Old Seventy has a new trick! My! He really acts like he’s praying. That’s great. You can sit up now.” But Old Seventy was still praying.
The crowd began to throw boots at him. But he paid no attention to the boots. After his prayer, he stood up and solemnly declared to everyone that he had believed in Christ. At that word everyone roared and applauded for his excellent show.
Not the same
The next morning, while he was scrubbing the deck, an older sailor came to him and told him that he also was a Christian. He asked Old Seventy whether he felt a distinctive joy and peace within him or not. If there was not, he was afraid that it was not genuine. Old Seventy replied, “The Americans only told me that when I believe in Christ, my sins will be forgiven. They did not tell me anything about peace and joy. I have to find this out from them.” He took leave and went on shore to ask the ladies why it was that he did not have peace and joy after conversion, and whether his faith was a hoax.
An elderly lady sat him down and said, “Don’t worry about how you feel. Let me just ask you one question. Are you different from how you were before?” Old Seventy replied, “I am altogether not the same as before.” After a pause, he repeated loudly, “No, I am not the same. I was the most rowdy and mischievous among my company. When it came to wickedness, I was always the first. After last night, I cannot utter filthy words anymore. When I heard the others using foul language, not only was I unable to join them, I was even ashamed of them. Last night they threw boots at me. Formerly, I would have risen up and given each one of them a good beating. But I felt as if nothing had happened. I didn’t even want to beat them. I am definitely not the same as before! No, I can’t be!” At this word, he turned around and ran back to the ship.
The effect of Christ
If a man has not believed in Christ, nothing will happen to him. But once he believes, everything in Christ will come into him. Even if he does not feel different, in reality he is not the same. Some say that this is the effect of emotion. This is not the effect of emotion. It is the effect of Christ!
When I was in Kaifeng, I met the chief of a department in the government. Formerly, he was a mere consenter of Christianity. This time, he believed in Christ. He told me, “I used to think that there was not much difference between believing and agreeing. But a recent incident showed me that I am not the same person I used to be. I have been given charge of a clubhouse with a tennis court to which high government officials regularly attend. It is not infrequent for these people to leave sums of money in the club for the furnishing of tennis equipment. Recently, due to an order from the government, many officers were transferred. They left quite a bit of money and belongings in the club.
“Since they have left and no one knows where they are, the money and belongings naturally would become my possession. They will never come back for them, and no one will ever quibble about them. But somehow I felt that I could not claim those items. I had to take the trouble of looking up each one of their addresses and sending the items back to them. This kind of thing would never have happened to me before. I am definitely changed.”
Power in faith
A man who has met Christ in faith is different. Only those who have touched Christ have His power manifested through them. All the filthy and binding sins are shaken off from us when we touch Christ. The minute we believe in Him, His resurrection life comes into us. By faith all these become real in us.
Not only are our lives changed by faith, but there is a very great power within this faith which motivates thousands to become missionaries and martyrs. This great power within is irrepressible and unlimited. It makes man willing to suffer for the Lord, ride through danger, and eventually be martyred. All these abilities come from faith. When we touch Christ, everything of Him will be transmitted into us.