A faith that merely says “Christ died” is little or nothing. A faith that says “Christ died for me” (and says nothing more) is good, but still embraces only part of the Truth, and so will keep life in the member, but not a healthy vigorous life. A faith that says — Christ died for me and rose again, and has His Body here on earth, of which I am a member, in which He Himself is, and, therefore, He is in union with me and I with Him, and through Him with every other member of His Body — his is the faith that the Apostle delivered, when he preached to the Colossians “Christ in you, the Hope of Glory” (1:27). And he preached it with no narrow view, looking to or hoping for the salvation of a few at the best, but “warning every man, and teaching every man, in all wisdom, that he might present every man perfect in Christ Jesus” (1:28).
So there is required personal faith; but we demand faith not only in part, but in all that the Son has revealed of the mystery of the Father’s Will; and so the death of Christ, though indeed the foundation, the beginning of our faith, is not its only object; with that we begin, but we do not stop there. That is the foundation, but on it the superstructure must be erected — that is cause of the existence, the first calling into being of the Church, as Christ’s abiding presence is the cause of Her Life.
As we are able to gain a clearer conception of this blessed Truth, we see more and more how full of meaning are the following words, “Christ in you, the hope of glory.” No doubt, their full meaning must have come with special force to men who, for the first time, heard the sound of the Gospel, after having long lived in heathen darkness. Just imagine what a wonderful change it must have made in all their feelings. As they grew up to consciousness, they would find themselves in this world, but why they live here, whence they had come, or whither they were going, they had no idea; they felt within themselves a need for more than this world gave them; but where that was to be found which they wanted, nay, what it was, they scarcely knew.
Virtue they would see as something hard to be practised, often getting them into trouble and difficulty; sin was easy, tempting, within reach; yet it had a sharp sting. And then at any hour they might cease to live, and then — they knew not what came. Thus bewildered by the strange unaccountable mystery of life, feeling an unsatisfied want, but despairing of having it supplied, they either waited in sullen despair for what they hoped or feared would be the end, or else gave a loose rein to all sinful passions and “worked all uncleanness with greediness.”
To men in this condition, one came bearing what were indeed glad tidings of great joy, for he told them they were not here by chance, but that they were children of a loving Father who had placed them in this world to prepare them for a better. He told them the story of the Cross, and of the love of Him who had hung there, and of His intention “to gather together in one all things in Himself;” to take the men, the women, the children of the world to make them His Church, His Temple, to come and dwell among them and be in them. He told them that this connection commenced here should never, never end; but that throughout all eternity they should abide in Christ and Christ in them. How changed their lives, their thoughts have been; there had come to them “the hope of glory.” No longer now could there be indifference, despair or carelessness, for now they know whence they are, what they shall be; no longer sinful, unholy livers, for their “bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost” — Christ is in them. We can hardly realize what such a change must have been to them. — Rev. G.W. Hodgson, 1867.
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