Now, in order that salvation should be by grace, the only medium for its reception that could claim no merit, was

`Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed' (Rom.

Faith, pistis, means credit given to a report or testimony:

`If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater' (1 John 5:9).

`Faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God' (Rom. 10:17).

We cannot, however, merely `have faith'; we must believe something or someone:

`Apart from the testimony believed, faith has no existence. In other words, belief can have no subsistence apart

from what is believed. Saving or justifying faith is the belief of that which justifies.

`The difference between our belief in human testimony, and our belief in divine testimony, consists not in the act

of believing, but in the difference of the thing believed' (Dewar).

Faith is a comprehending belief in the testimony which God has given concerning His Son (Rom. 10:14). Faith

is the reception of Christ as Sacrifice, Saviour and Mediator (John 1:12). Faith is a trust in God with respect to all

His promises made in Christ and the gospel; `The just shall live by faith'.

Sanctification.- Sin falls under two heads. It is looked upon as a crime to which a penalty is attached. Its

background is a court of law, and its remedy justification. Sin, however, is also a defilement; it is the very opposite

of holiness. In this respect, it is not looked upon so much as a crime to be dealt with in a court of law, as a pollution

that needs cleansing in relation to the service and worship of tabernacle or temple. The remedy is sanctification.

Like justification, sanctification is ours through Christ and by grace. It is `through the offering of the body of

Jesus Christ' (Heb. 10:10), and is complete (Heb. 10:14). Christ has been `made unto us' sanctification in exactly

the same way that He has been made unto us righteousness (1 Cor. 1:30). Sanctification is not only complete and

unalterable, by grace; it is also progressive and experimental:

`He that hath been bathed (complete and unalterable) needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit'

(John 13:10).

These aspects of sanctification are set forth in the law of the leper in the day of his cleansing (Lev. 14).

First, we read, `He shall pronounce him clean' (Lev. 14:7). This cleansing is by `blood'. In this aspect of the

work the leper was passive. This is the basic aspect.

Secondly, `He shall be clean' (Lev. 14:9). This second pronouncement follows the personal cleansing of the

leper in `water'. Here is symbolized the `washing of the water by the Word'. This has to do with experimental

sanctification; `clothes'.

Thirdly, `He shall be clean' (Lev. 14:20). This typifies the personal consecration of the cleansed leper to the

Lord's service, `oil' being used `upon the blood', showing the true place of sanctification by the Spirit.

Consequently, holiness can be `perfected' (2 Cor. 7:1) or, as the word `perfected' indicates, `taken to its logical

conclusion'.

Lastly, in this summary of a great subject, we observe that there is a fourfold aspect of the saving work of Christ

that needs to be considered:

He died.

He shed His blood.

He endured the cross.

He rose from the dead.

To go to the `man in the street' and preach `Jesus Christ and Him crucified' may be blessed of God, but it is not

at first usually recognized as a divinely appointed instrument for salvation. To preach the cross thus is to present to

sinners an aspect of the sacrificial work of Christ which the apostle presented to believers, and, as an examination of