Faith and unbelief

When one speaks of the facts concerning repentance it is impossible to discuss the subject without also considering the concept of faith.  In some ways repentance is the negative side in which se see our sin and turn from that while taking a different view of it as from God’s perspective.  That would then make faith or belief the positive side of regeneration.  We live in a generation where the definition of faith is hardly what it was when the Bible was penned around two thousand years ago.  The faith of our day is more of a mental acknowledgment of the facts rather than what is truly meant by faith,  “….repentance toward (into) God and faith toward (into) our Lord Jesus Christ.”  In this chapter we will be discussing:

1. What is not considered to be faith

2. Defining true faith

3. The implications of faith

4. What is not considered to be unbelief

5. Defining unbelief

6. The implications of unbelief

7. Conditions that exist in both faith and unbelief

8. Natural and governmental consequences of faith

What is not considered to be faith

Though the Bible at times describes faith as intellectual assent to some truth or cause,  it is really not the true intent of what faith is.  So many times we think of faith as an undoubting persuasion, a firm conviction, or an unhesitating intellectual assent.  This is not the Bible or evangelical sense of what is being said.  Nothing could be mere intellect if it is considered virtue, because virtue is not indicated by one’s intellectual state of mind.  God could never command faith as a condition of salvation with the threat of eternal death to any who will not believe if it were nothing more than a passive state of the mind.  There is a distinct difference in the Bible when discussing the contrast of intellectual with saving faith.  Devils have intellectual faith, they believe and tremble as it says in the book of James and yet devils have no virtue.  They don not act upon their faith.  They believe that there is a God but they work overtime to contend with Him and to bring people to the hell that will be their eventual home one day.  No one in their right mind would consider the faith of devils to be a solemn duty, the failure of which would mean certain death in hell.  They are going to hell believing in God.  They have an intellectual conviction, but they don’t have saving faith.

James 2:17-26 “Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone.  (18) Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works.  (19) Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils also believe, and tremble.  (20) But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?  (21) Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar?  (22) Seest thou how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?  (23) And the scripture was fulfilled which saith, Abraham believed God, and it was imputed unto him for righteousness: and he was called the Friend of God.  (24) Ye see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only.  (25) Likewise also was not Rahab the harlot justified by works, when she had received the messengers, and had sent them out another way?  (26) For as the body without the spirit is dead, so faith without works is dead also.”

We can see a clear difference between intellectual faith and saving faith.  Intellectual faith does not produce spiritual growth that manifests itself in actions of the will and a showing of good works to the world.  Intellectual faith does not love God with all the heart and soul and mind.  Devils do not love God with all the heart and soul and mind.  Yet the Bible says that they believe.  They do not have saving faith and neither does anyone else that has the kind of faith that produces no more fruit than a demon from hell.

Not only can we say that faith is not intellectual belief, but we can also say that faith is not some form of sensibility, some form of emotions, passive states of the mind themselves, that are really totally involuntary.  It cannot be faith unless it produces virtue or unless the choice itself is considered to be virtue.  The virtue that we define as faith is a virtue that consists of “works of love” and produces obedience because of that love for God who sent His Son Jesus to die for our sins.  We are sanctified by the faith that is in Christ Jesus..  This kind of faith is the whole foundation of the Christian life and it is true faith that causes one to desire to live holy.

Defining true faith

Faith as the Bible defines it is a phenomenon of the will and that is why it is considered to be virtue.  We are not trying to say that there is no emotion or intellect involved, but true Bible faith is something more; it is that state of the will which most efficiently embraces the truth with the heart in such a way that the will is forever changed in favor of God.  The man that finds the only true love of his life, not only has passion and intellect in understanding and feeling toward his true love, but when he is willing to make a decision that he will spend the rest of his life with that true love, then his passion and intellect have moved with his will to make a life changing decision.  Oh, by the way it is not a hard decision, it is not as if someone had a bull whip and were forcing him to do something against his will.  He is so much in love that being pressured never enters his mind.  Rather he gladly decides that she is the one for him.  This is the way with true saving faith.  When we see God and his glory and then when we see Jesus, the Holy Son of God who loves us and gave himself for us, our emotions are stirred and our intellect says that we believe, but it is not until we make the decision that this is the God that we will spend the rest of our lives knowing and fellowshipping with as we receive his wonderful salvation, only then do we truly believe.  Also, it is not virtue in the sense that we have done some type of “work” that pleases God, but it is virtue in the sense that we have seen that the intrinsic value of knowing God and his love is worth yielding our lives to his protection and control.  It is opening up the heart to the Holy Spirit and allowing  Jesus Christ Himself to come in to indwell the life, thus becoming the Lord of Lords in our lives.  It becomes a love relationship where we love Him because He first loved us.  It becomes a situation where we say how can we do less than give Him our best and live for Him completely after all he has done for us.  We don’t feel any pressure against our will because our will is now only too happy to find out what God’s will is and obey that will simply because it is the will of God, without question.  Now we confide in him and we accept all that is revealed about him because we sense that his love is so great that He would never ask anything of us that is not wholly and totally for our best end in life and for the Glory of God, the God of love..  This kind of faith puts complete confidence in the Word of God and in the moving of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the Love of God.

This kind of faith is not afraid of the word, “commit.”  In fact the Greek word that is translated “faith” in other parts of the New Testament, is translated “commit” in the book of Luke:

John 2:24 “But Jesus did not commit (have faith) himself unto them, because he knew all men,”

Luke 16:11 “If therefore ye have not been faithful in the unrighteous mammon, who will commit (have faith) to your trust the true riches?”

It is easy to see that if there is no confiding in God and in Christ as the Bible reveals truth to a person in his spirit so that a person receives Jesus Christ as He is represented to be with a full and unqualified surrender of not only the will, but the whole being to Jesus Christ, then there is no real saving faith.  True saving faith has so much confidence in God that there is nothing that will be withheld as long as it is for the purpose of having a close fellowship and a with our loving God and Savior, Jesus Christ.  True love surrenders all.

The implications of saving faith.

When we speak of the implications of saving faith, we must not focus on these implications as if they are what cause saving faith, but we must realize that they are certainly in evidence when a person has truly become born again.  The truth is that the Bible says that being born again is many times as mysterious as knowing where the wind comes from or where it goes.  One of my favorite writers, Watchman Nee, talks about becoming a believer in his book, What Shall This Man Do.  In it he says that the actual thing that changes a person is not repentance, a decision, prayer, crying, reformation of life, or any number of things that one could point to in an effort to explain the mystery of Salvation.  He makes a profound statement that is worth considering.  He says that the thing that changes a man or woman forever is when they truly meet God and he describes it as the human spirit touching the Holy Spirit in such a way that the person is forever changed.  Truly, as we have been saying, it is not a physical change, but we can say without hesitation that there is a definite spiritual change in anyone that is born of the Spirit of God.  The problem comes when someone testifies of saving faith and then there is no evidence of regeneration or repentance in their life.  For that reason, we need to look at the implications of saving faith in order to search the heart and discover whether what one claims to be faith is really the genuine article or not.  Understand, that to make an attempt to make a showing of the things that we will discuss here without having truly met God is only a form of works and has nothing to do with true faith.  On the other hand, finding these things missing from the life of a “believer” would indicate that there are some serious problems and the profession may not be real.  The Bible cautions us to make our calling and election sure.  It says to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling.  We stand before the feet of a Holy God, and thought he has given all for us, we must not trifle with his love or with his salvation.  As the book of Hebrews says, we should fear lest we fall after the same example of unbelief in turning away from the “so Great Salvation” of the Bible.  I found an interesting definition when studying the Greek grammar regarding the preposition “in” in the phrase “whosoever believeth in Him…” where the Greek word eis is actually translated “into” as we have discussed previously.  The summary of the whole thing was that to believe in or to be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ means to renounce one’s self and to become a life-time servant of Jesus Christ.  Again, we must not concentrate on the result, becoming a life-time servant of Jesus Christ as if that were some form of works for Salvation.  We must ask ourselves, what was it that caused this reaction so that a person was willing to renounce self and all of its activities and become a life-time servant of Jesus.  If you have read anything at all in this book thus far you would have to realize that the intrinsic value of knowing God and desiring the best end for God and all living beings would cause such a reaction.  As Watchman Nee puts it, touching Jesus is what gives us life.  It is what motivates believers to such drastic changes in their lives.  We don’t change in order to become a Christian but we change because we have found One who is more valuable than any treasure in the world and because of our desire to have a life-long relationship with Jesus Christ, we abandon all other ambitions in order to maintain that close relation with the Lover of our Souls.  So as we look deep down into the heart and life of a man or woman there are some things that are implied in the concept of belief that cannot be denied.

1. First and foremost faith implies that there was some intellectual and spiritual understanding of the facts and truths that were believed.  There is no argument that a person cannot believe in something that he does not understand.  There is no way to believe in something that the mind has not seen or perceived and this perception must also go deep into the spirit of a man.  This is what is called light in our earlier discussions of the conditions of obligation.  I believe very strongly that there is a gross misunderstanding of many of the facts concerning God and salvation or more people would be saved.  In fact, that is one reason I am re-writing this work by Charles Finney and adding my own thoughts in the work.  I feel that what we are saying here needs to be read by the masses, especially the intellectuals of our day.  Once there is an intellectual understanding of the facts, then the only excuse a person would have for being a fool in turning from God is that they have willingly made a decision to make self-gratification the ultimate end of their life rather than the Lord who loved them and bought them with His own blood.  Basic understanding is not difficult but it is necessary.  That is, in fact, the very reason that the miracle of tongues was present on the day of Pentecost.  It was so that the masses could hear and understand the message in their own language wherein they were born.  We have misunderstood the whole purpose of tongues as if it were some means of showing  the spiritual prowess of a Christian rather than to make the message available to someone who speaks another language.  That is precisely what missions is all about, isn’t it?  To get the Gospel to those who have never heard.  So to get back to the subject matter here, a foreign person would need to understand what you say or they could not have faith.  Right?  But once a person understands fully what is being said, they can either accept it or reject it.  Faith does not require understanding all the depths regarding spiritual truth, only believing the facts.  We may not understand how God could love sinners and give his Son to die for them, but we can believe the facts and accept them on that basis.  We may not understand how Jesus can be both God and man but because the Bible states it as fact, we can accept it by faith because we comprehend the facts as stated and our spirits confirm that those facts are true.  Faith does not require that we understand how these things became true, only that we accept them on face value and trust that if God says it then it must be true.  This is also why we believe in the trinity, Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.  We see the facts, Jesus being baptized, the Holy Spirit descending on him in the form of a dove, and the Father speaking from heave.  We don’t understand how that could be but we see the testimony and we accept the facts by faith.  That is what is implied when one speaks of faith, or saving faith.  We have some understanding of the concept enough to cause us to believe even though we don’t understand how.  That is faith.
2. Not only does saving faith imply that there is an understanding of the facts in mind, soul, and spirit, but also that there is an appropriation of the truths that were understood.  When a person sees the intrinsic value of Jesus Christ, they don’t just see him as the Savior without a full vision of what the Bible says, that Jesus is wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption.  Now we don’t imply that someone sees and understands these exact words, but that they see Jesus Christ as the greatest thing that has happened to their life since they were born.  They see Him as being someone to which they can come when they need wisdom to make a decision,  They see Jesus as the fountain of all that is good and righteous.  They see Jesus as the only one that can make them more holy.  They also see Jesus Christ as the only one that can save their soul and take them to heaven when they die.  They have, thus, appropriated all that Jesus is to themselves as an integral part of their new life.  Along with this is the acceptance in the deity of Christ, the belief in the death and resurrection and ascension to heaven, and in the eminent return of Jesus back to earth to take us home to heaven. The believer may not know how all these things happened, but he has confidence that there is such a God that can do, has done, and will do what he says. Again the truth is understood and then appropriated to the heart and life of the individual in such a way that it provides further evidence that there is faith existing in the heart of the believer.  It is, as it were, evidence of faith.  Again the Greek has a word that typifies what is being said here.  The word is epikalesotai in the verse in Romans 10:13, “Whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.”  Call upon means to appropriate, it means to put all one’s weight on that truth.  It means 100%.  There is no more relying upon self but total trust and relying upon God for the best end of all existence.
3. This brings to a further development of  what we have just said.  Faith implies the unreserved yielding up of the mind to Christ in all the relations that we see in the Gospel.  Faith is a state of commitment to Christ based upon the view of the intrinsic value of such a relationship to the good of God and of the universe.   He has so much value that the soul has no reservation about yielding completely and unreservedly to him in each relation between God and the soul and spirit of a man as revealed to our spirit by the Holy Spirit.  The yielding is not so much the thought, “I must yield all to God….”, as it is just a desire to be close to this one that loved us and offers us so much forgiveness and companionship that we willingly yield as friend to friend.  True close friends do not hold back from each other.  Jesus gave all when he came to offer his own life for us.  We respond by offering our all in an act of friendship to him.
4. Saving faith further implies a different life style.  If faith were only a mental knowledge without the appropriation and yielding of the mind, soul, and spirit to God, then there would be no change in the life.  The Bible says that devils believe and tremble.  Theirs is an intellectual type of belief with no appropriating their knowledge of God or yielding to him.  In fact, they rebelled and that is why they were cast out of heaven with Satan.  As we have discussed in earlier chapters, the moral law with regeneration and repentance imply the surrender of the will go God.  When that happens the life will follow the direction of the will.  This is why those who are seasoned in the faith have strong doubts about anyone who expresses faith but does not display it in the life.  When a musician says, “Why should the devil have all the good music,”  the life that makes such a statement casts strong doubt concerning the level of commitment to God and turning from self-gratification to that of glorifying God in every way.  How could singing the devil’s music glorify God?  It can’t!  That is why this writer feels that all CCM is not of God and surely many who have subscribed to it are not true believers.
5. Saving faith certainly implies repentance toward God.  We seem to live in a generation where some Christians have an extreme case of fear when it comes to the use of the word Repentance.  It is as they think that God made a mistake in the Bible.  They strongly try to imply that repentance is some form of works when it is quite the opposite.  As we have seen previously, repentance occurs when a person meets Christ and decides that turning from a life of self-gratification to one of a relationship with God is the new ultimate choice of the will and consequentially the life as well.  Repentance “toward” God means repentance “into” God.  We lose our life and association with the world and the life of self-gratification when we move from self to God as an act of receiving Christ.  No one can accept the gospel and reject repentance.  No one can embrace the Son, Jesus, but reject the Father and the Holy Spirit.
6. Saving faith implies the abandonment of self-righteousness.  No one who comes to know God can possibly do so with a mind set that they have righteousness enough to merit salvation.  The very fact that they have come to God implies an awareness of their own sinfulness in the light of God’s perfect holiness.  This is, in fact, one of the things that makes God of so much intrinsic value because without his holiness and the sacrifice of His Son Jesus on the cross, there could be no salvation.  In this vein saving faith also implies abandonment of self works or works of the law as well since they are only another form of self-righteousness.  The beauty of God’s salvation is that in spite of all our efforts and failures, Christ came to save the ungodly and bring them to Himself.  The truth is that without abandoning self-righteousness and self works a person could never be seen to have saving faith.
7. Still further, saving faith implies that the sinner has renounced the spirit of self-justification.  There would be no abiding urgency to be saved had the sinner not seen his lost estate without God and without Jesus Christ.  In such a state, the sinner has been convinced of his sin and of the uselessness of making any attempt to excuse self.  He sees that as long as he can justify himself he could never justify God or the plan of salvation.  It is imperative, therefore, that a sinner condemn self and justify God as an act of saving faith.
8. Saving faith also implies disinterested benevolence, a state of good-will to being, a sympathy with God to the great end to which God has His heart set, to which He lives, love.  That end has such intrinsic value that all other ends pale in comparison.  In fact, it is when the light shines in the heart of a sinner who sees that God only wants the very best for him and all mankind by providing such a great salvation, that the soul becomes eternally committed to that same purpose as it embraces so great a salvation.
9. Saving faith implies that our sensibilities are profoundly affected by our new found faith.  Our desire to be loved as we are loved affects every part of our being.  Our emotions are no less affected than our mind and will.  We can never base our lives completely upon the attributes of the soul, the emotions that flow naturally from the various states of our lives, but having saving faith without a corresponding affection for that which motivates God would certainly cast doubt as to the true nature of faith.

10.  One of the strongest implications of faith is the peace of mind that Jesus gives.  I have thought long and hard about what it is about the love of God that has such deep intrinsic value and it is some words by Jesus in answer to questions of his disciples.

(Matthew 18:21-22)  “Then came Peter to him, and said, Lord, how oft shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? till seven times?  (22)  Jesus saith unto him, I say not unto thee, Until seven times: but, Until seventy times seven.”

(Luke 17:4)  “And if he trespass against thee seven times in a day, and seven times in a day turn again to thee, saying, I repent; thou shalt forgive him.”

The thing that impresses me about this is that Jesus is teaching them to do just what God in his love does for us.  He loves unconditionally and he forgives with no limitations.  The thing that keeps us from forsaking God even though we may have moments of weakness is that we know that God will never abandon us and that no matter how many times we sin against him, we can, as Jesus taught his disciples, be forgiven if we will only come to him and confess our sins.

(1 John 1:7-10)  “But if we walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin.  (8)  If we say that we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not in us.  (9)  If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.  (10)  If we say that we have not sinned, we make him a liar, and his word is not in us.”

The greatest peace that a person has is the fact that no matter how far we stray, like the prodigal son, he will always receive us with open arms.  How many times?  I tell you far more than a life time of seven times per day.  We only need to do as we have said in previous writing.  We need to confess and repent of our sins.  He is waiting there to forgive and to give us our peace back once again.  That, my friend, is worth giving up all the life times of pleasure and joys in this world.  That is worth selling all that a person has to buy the treasure in the field.  That is worth selling all to give to the poor.  It is the knowledge that God will never leave us no matter how many times we disappoint Him.  His love is unconditional.  It is truly disinterested benevolence.  That one thing, more than any other, gives peace that the world cannot comprehend.

11.  Saving faith also implies hope like no other hope in the whole world.  The Bible puts it so clearly in describing our hope.

(Titus 1:2)  “In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised before the world began;”

(Titus 2:13)  “Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ;”

(Titus 3:5-7) “ Not by works of righteousness which we have done, but according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;  (6)  Which he shed on us abundantly through Jesus Christ our Saviour;  (7)  That being justified by his grace, we should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal life.”

(Hebrews 6:18-20)  “That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us:  (19)  Which hope we have as an anchor of the soul, both sure and stedfast, and which entereth into that within the veil;  (20)  Whither the forerunner is for us entered, even Jesus, made an high priest for ever after the order of Melchisedec.”

(1 Peter 1:3-5)  “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which according to his abundant mercy hath begotten us again unto a lively hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead,  (4)  To an inheritance incorruptible, and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,  (5)  Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.”

(1 Peter 1:18-23)  “Forasmuch as ye know that ye were not redeemed with corruptible things, as silver and gold, from your vain conversation received by tradition from your fathers;  (19)  But with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and without spot:  (20)  Who verily was foreordained before the foundation of the world, but was manifest in these last times for you,  (21)  Who by him do believe in God, that raised him up from the dead, and gave him glory; that your faith and hope might be in God.  (22)  Seeing ye have purified your souls in obeying the truth through the Spirit unto unfeigned love of the brethren, see that ye love one another with a pure heart fervently:  (23)  Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by the word of God, which liveth and abideth for ever.”

(1 John 3:2-3)  “Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when he shall appear, we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is.  (3)  And every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure.”

What a hope, that we can have eternal life and that God will be there for us even unto the end.  Can anything be a greater motivation than that?  This is possibly the greatest implication of saving faith.

12.  Saving faith implies a joy in knowing God and in having Christ as our friend and confidant.  This close relation is what keeps us pure and ultimately prepares us for heaven.  Listen to what Peter says:

(1 Peter 1:5-9)  “Who are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation ready to be revealed in the last time.  (6)  Wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season, if need be, ye are in heaviness through manifold temptations:  (7)  That the trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold that perisheth, though it be tried with fire, might be found unto praise and honour and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ:  (8)  Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory:  (9)  Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls.”

13.  Saving faith implies a zeal for the cause of Christ.  Who can doubt that one who has this peace and hope and joy will desire to share it with all the world if possible?  Those who have received hope of eternal life have a zeal for the same cause for which Jesus gave his life, the salvation of the souls of men?

14.  Saving faith implies general sympathy with Christ, his affairs, and his government.  Who would not sympathize with God’s view of sin and holiness, knowing what is the end of those who will not obey the truth.  Who would not also have a deep affection for the interests of the salvation of souls and of the affairs of God’s people.

15.  Saving faith implies that one will consecrate his heart, time, substance and any possible asset or possession to the great end for which the gospel stands.

16.  Saving faith implies that the virtues of a walk with God will be manifested in the life of the believer as he yields himself up more and more to the will of God for his life.  As this process takes place, those looking in from the outside will begin to sin more and more of the traits which a Christian has in his walk with the Holy spirit.  There is a show of the fruits of the Spirit and of the disinterested benevolence that we have discussed throughout this book.  God’s love for us becomes our love toward others.

17.  Saving faith also implies a state of living without sin.  Well, you may say, how can anyone live without sin?  Remember that moral law is a law of love and a Christian now has the love of God abiding in his heart which will never leave him.  In the flesh we may have tribulation and we may have moments of weakness which lead to temporary sin and yet we are never without the love of God and thus we are never truly sinners any more.  As I John says, he is writing unto us that we sin not, but if we do, we still have an advocate, Jesus Christ the righteous.  The will of the former sinner has been slain by the love of God and the fact that God will always forgive “until seventy times seven.”  This is probably the greatest motivation to live a holy life.  Having such love bestowed upon us completely destroys our desire to live for self, especially in light of Jesus giving up his own self for our sins.  The heart and mind of the saint is constantly reminded that it was our sins that nailed Jesus to the cross.  That makes any sin most undesirable and the fact that God is so willing to forgive makes the committing of any offense repulsive at best.  Living without sin is living without a bondage to self-gratification and that is exactly what a saving faith implies.  It implies a life of commitment of the whole will and being to God through Jesus Christ.  It implies present obedience to Christ.  It implies all virtue.  It implies entire and presentment sanctification, being set apart unto God.  In such a state, the existence of sin is most foreign and must be expunged completely from the life.  This faith is an attitude of the will that has ho hint of rebellion against God or against Jesus Christ.  The truth is that God does not see us as sinners any more.  Just being looked at as righteous by God has strong implications toward righteous living.  Saving faith will result in a life of righteous living or there is a doubt that there was true faith after all.

18.  Lastly, saving faith implies that the Christian is completely receptive to all know or perceived truth because it is truth and because truth comes from God, the lover of our souls.  No one can accept only part of the truth and then reject the rest.  This is what separated false cults and religions from the true faith in Christ.  Any religion that accepts only part of the truth regarding God and Jesus Christ does not really accept any of the truth.  Accepting any part of the truth of the Bible implies accepting all of the truth of the Bible.  As an example, to say that one believe in Jesus Christ and yet they do not accept his deity is to accept nothing about Jesus Christ because he is Deity.  He is God in the flesh.  Islam, Mormons, JW’s, and many other false religions all accept parts of the Bible but they deny the Deity of Jesus Christ.  Thus, we say that they don’t have saving faith.  They either accept all the truth or they accept none of it.  The very fact of the Deity of Jesus Christ is what makes believing in him has so much intrinsic value and it is what promotes the best end of all the universe.  Without that, moral law has only become good advise as we have said earlier.