BASIC WORD LINKING FAITH

  The Linking Faith

Scripture Reading: Rom. 1:17 ; Gal. 2:20 ; John 14:19 ; 2 Pet. 1:1 ; Rom. 12:3 ; Eph. 2:8 ; Rom. 1:12 ; 1 Cor. 13:13

The first crucial point is the linking faith. We have spoken about this to a certain extent, but we want to go into more depth here. Actually, faith has different stages. In the first section of our crystallization-study on faith, we saw that faith comes from the hearing of the word (Rom. 10:17). That is the initial stage of faith. When we were sinners, one day under God’s sovereignty we heard the preaching of the gospel, that is, the word of Christ. Through that hearing of the word, faith came into us. This faith brought us into a life union with Christ. This union is a kind of linking.

The electricity in a building is a very good illustration of linking. The installment of electricity into a building is the first stage. Then from that day, installed electricity continues in the building. In like manner, when we heard the gospel, we repented, and something happened to us. That was the installation of the Spirit. We had the Spirit installed into us through the hearing of the word. We all received the Spirit in this way.

Now this Spirit, or this faith, which has been installed into us, stays within us and grows.

After electricity has been installed into a certain building, there is a current going on. You can either stop it or use it all the time. Also, when we were saved, the linking faith entered into us, and it remains in us. The faith through which we were saved became a linking faith within us. This is not just in the initial stage but also in the progressing stage. In a building in which electricity has been installed in the initial stage, there is a current of electricity going on in the progressing stage. We are like the building. We have the faith, the initial faith, produced in us. It remains in us and goes on all the time, unless we stop it.

                                                     Having Life and Living by Faith

Romans 1:17 says, “The righteous shall have life and live by faith.” We not only have life but also live by faith. To live is a matter of continuation. Romans 1:17 is Paul’s quotation of Habakkuk 2:4, which is also referred to by Paul in Galatians 3:11 and Hebrews 10:38. The Christian life is not just a matter of having life by faith. You have to live by faith for your whole life. We are not believers for just [308] a small amount of time. We are believers for eternity. We not only have life but also live by what we have. We live by faith. This is the linking faith that continues with us in our living.

Living in Faith, the Faith of the Son of God

Galatians 2:20 says, “I am crucified with Christ; and it is no longer I who live, but it is Christ who lives in me; and the life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith, the faith of the Son of God.” Many among us know this verse, but actually Galatians 2:20 is difficult to understand. If I am crucified without Christ, that is pitiful, but I have been crucified with Christ. He takes care of the matter. He bears the responsibility. Christ does not live by Himself alone. Christ lives “in me.” We should circle the words in me in our Bible. If we saw that Christ lives in us, we would be excited.

You were crucified. It is no longer you, yet Christ still lives in you. You say “no longer,” but something is still going on. So Galatians 2:20 continues by saying, “And the life which I now live in the flesh.” Christ lives in me, and I now live a life in the flesh. I live this life in faith. It is no longer I who live, but still I live. The “I” who no longer lives is the old creation. The “I” who now lives is the new creation. We all have two statuses: the old creation and the new creation, the old man and the new man. As to the old creation, the old man, it is no longer I who live. But I have another status—the new creation, the new man. As to the new creation, the new man, I still live. I live this life in faith. This means that faith is going on. In Romans 1:17 to have life by faith is the initiation. But here Paul says, “I live in faith.” Faith is going on.

I live by faith, and this faith is not my faith. This faith is the faith of the Son of God. These three items—God, the Son of God, and faith—are one. When you heard the gospel, you heard the word, and faith came into you. That faith is God Himself. Now you live by that faith, and this faith is the faith of the Son of God. Initially, you received the faith, which was God coming into you. But now you still live by this faith, yet in the second stage. In the second stage it is the faith of the Son of God. So when you live this life by faith, you do not live by anything of yourself. You live this life by faith, which is the faith of the Son of God. Thus, you have life by the faith of God, and you live this life by the faith of the Son of God. Faith, God, and the Son of God are one. Faith links God and the Son of God with us.  If you have faith, faith links you to God. If you have faith, faith links you to the Son of God.

The initial faith in the initial stage came to you through the hearing of the word of God. But faith in the second stage, the stage of living Christ, comes mostly not by hearing the word. Faith in this stage comes into you by your contacting God in Christ. So you have to contact the Triune God all the time. All the time you should contact the Son. Then you will also touch the Father and the Spirit. Faith in the second stage comes to us through our contacting the Triune God. It is not just hearing the word. In the second stage of faith, hearing the word does not work much.

In this stage, faith comes into you increasingly like the electrical current in a building. You can tell that a “current” in you is going on. The more you say, “O Lord Jesus,” the more the current is going on. The more you pray, the more the current is going on. This is why we are told to pray unceasingly (1 Thes. 5:17). This current should not be stopped. This is the linking stage of faith. This faith within us is God Himself in Christ.

The electricity in a building links the building with the power plant, even though the power plant may be a hundred miles away. The electricity in a building also links all the lamps together. There are many lamps but only one electricity, and this one electricity is the linking factor that links all the lamps and the entire building with the power plant. Check with your experience. If you do not pray for one day, you feel that you are cut off from the divine power plant. If you do not pray for two days, you feel that you are not only cut off from God but also cut off from all the saints.

                                                        Living Because He Lives in Us

In John 14:19 the Lord said, “Because I live, you also shall live.” It may seem that He lives alone, and we also live alone. But the following verse says, “In that day you will know that I am in My Father, and you in Me, and I in you” ( v. 20 ). The Lord does not live alone. He lives in us, and we live in Him. This is coinhering. Here we can also see the linking. Faith links us to the Triune God.