233 FAITH BUILT ON ICNOWLEDGB. tDISC. I. Who is this great Friend of St. Paul's, whom he had believed., and of whose ability hewas so well persuaded? These words can be properly applied to none §o well as to Jesus Christ, the Son of God, the Mediator ; and that for these reasons. It is he that is spoken of in the context; ver. 10. Who has abolished death and brought life and imnior- tality to light through the gospel : And it is this gospel of Christ for which Paul is not ashamed to suffer, in the words just before the text. It is Christ who is recommended' as, the proper object of belief or trust in,the New Testarpent, as God the Fa- ther was under the Old : So our Lord himself declares ; John xiv. 1. Ye believe in God : believe also in me. This was the great duty that all the first preachers of the gospel pressed upon their hearers, even a belief onJesus Christ. This was the perpetual subject of St. Paul's exhortations, the matter of his practice, and the ground of his hope, the instances are so numerous, that it is needless and endless to collect them. It is Jesus Christ into whose hands the Father has put all his saints and children, and committed them to his care, that he may keep them. John. xvii. 6, 9, 12. Thine they were, and thou gayest them to me out of the world ; and I have kept them through thy name. And therefore into the sane hands a child of God most natu- rally commits himself. II. What does the word believe signifyhere ? By believing we are here to understand an assent to the revelation that Jesus Christ had made of himself, as sent from the Father to save sinners, an& a trust in him for this salvation : For the word 7:7rLssvx0%,in the greek, natu- rally- includes both, and the following part of the verse confirms this sense ; which will be made more corn= pletely evident in the improvement of this discourse. IIere let it be remarked, from the bold and pathetic manner of speaking, that the apostle appears as. a strong believer, as one that had much acquaintance with Christ, and long trusted in hire, and every day gained further confirmation of his faith.. Observe the expression, I know whom-I have believed, and am come to a confident persuasion in myself, that he is able, &c. It is a faith rising to divine joy ; for he mentions it as his support against shame and suffering.
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