The Triumph Of Faith
by Pastor Cornelius R. Stam
“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith” (I John 5:4).
There are many who look upon faith as an abstract sort of thing. Some suppose faith is merely looking on the bright side of things; to others it is will-power; still others confuse it with a person’s view-point.
In the Bible, faith is simply believing God. “Faith” is the noun and “believe” the verb. This is seen in Romans 4:5, where the Apostle Paul declares:
“To him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”
The above passage from I John 5 also makes this plain, when seen in its context:
“This is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.
“Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God” (Vers. 4,5).
It is, then, the believer in Christ, and only the believer in Christ, who can overcome the world. Unbelievers are swept away by the attractions and the pretentions of this world- system, but the believer in Christ need not be.
Apostle Paul declared by divine inspiration that unbelievers follow “the course of this world,” directed by Satan, “the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience” (Ephesians 2:2).
We do not mean to imply that believers are not often tempted to follow “the course of this world.” Indeed the world would sometimes entice or intimidate us, but “this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.”
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