[ Faith, said the Puritans, begins in the mind, with belief of the truth of gospel message. It results from spiritual illumination. In illumination, the Spirit both enlightens the mind, making it capable of receiving spiritual things, and impresses on the mind the objective reality of those things of which the word of GOD bears witness. The knowledge of spiritual realities thus given is as immediate and direct in its way as is the knowledge of the material things which we gain by sense, and it bring with it a quality of immediate conviction analogous to that which sense-perception brings. Scripture refers to the process in terms borrowed from the senses—seeing, hearing, tasting (John 6:40; Ephesians 4:21; Hebrew 6:5 )—and tells us that it yields full assurance of understanding ( Colossians 2:2). This spiritual appreciation of spiritual things is mediated to man, as a thinking being, by reasoned exposition of Scripture and rational reflection upon it. Man cannot come to know any spiritual object except through the use of his mind; but spiritual knowledge goes beyond reason. … Faith is, of course, more than mental enlightenment. It extends from the head to the heart, and expresses itself in what Richard Baxter calls ‘practical trust’ in GOD through Christ. Man turn from self-reliance and sin to rest his soul on Christ and promises. Hereby he both expresses and establishes the habit of faith in his soul; and faith, once established, asserts itself as the dynamic of a new life. It begets hope; it works by love; it steels itself to patience; it lays itself out in well-doing; it causes joy and peace naturally and spontaneously in the heart. ‘Faith is the master-wheel; it sets all other graces running.’ ‘Faith is the spring in the watch that sets all the golden wheels of love, joy, comfort and peace a-going.’ Faith is thus regarded as containing a measure of assurance within itself from the outset; the believer hopes, loves, serves and rejoices because he believes that GOD has had mercy on him. ] ( Taken from by J.I. Packer )
Posted on: Mon, 29 Dec 2014 14:15:06 +0000
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