There are two considerations which require the preaching of these truths…. The second reason is this; faith’s object is things not seen. That there may be room for faith, therefore, all that is believed must be hidden. Yet it is not hidden more deeply than under a contrary appearance of sight, sense, and experience. Thus, when God quickens, He does so by killing; when He justifies, He does so by pronouncing guilty; when He carries up to heaven, He does so by bringing down to hell…Thus God conceals His eternal mercy and loving kindness beneath eternal wrath, His righteousness beneath unrighteousness. Now the highest degree of faith is to believe that He is merciful, though He saves so few and damns so many; to believe that He is just, though of His own will He makes us perforce proper subjects for damnation. (Martin Luther, The Bondage of the Will)
The above insight into faith by Luther is taken directly from Scripture. For example, Hebrews 11:1 tells us that “faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.” If we look at this as the biblical definition of faith, then we can see that true faith involves things that are hoped for and yet not seen. True faith, then, has to do with things that the physical eye cannot see. Another way to put it would be to think of faith as the senses of the soul that operates in the spiritual realm and that realm is unseen to the physical eyes. Jesus spoke to those who had hears to hear, but clearly He was speaking to those who could hear spiritual truths. God judges people by bringing blindness to them, but once again that is a spiritual blindness. Faith, then, has to do with spiritual things. Saving faith or spiritual faith is a faith or belief that operates and functions in the spiritual realm.
The truth that Luther brings out here is something that should inform evangelism and sanctification. Evangelism is practiced in the modern day as if people could be saved by bringing truth for the mind and they could simply make a choice for it. But that is far from the truth. Salvation comes to souls that have new hearts and minds and so people have a belief or faith in the spiritual realm. One example can be seen in the miracles of Jesus. It is hard to deny a miracle, though some did. But among those that saw miracles and believed in the physical miracle were many of those that were not truly converted. Those who were converted had eyes to see into the spiritual realm and see the hand of God there. The unconverted would see someone healed and they would have a faith of sorts that was limited to the physical realm. But those who were converted saw the glory of God shining in the spiritual realm. We also have truth that is spiritual and cannot be seen by physical eyes.
Hebrews 11:3 goes on to say that it is “By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.” This describes for us the real issue with the differences between evolution and creation. The real issue is faith. The unbeliever, whether a professing believer or not, has not capacity for sight beyond what his or her eyes can see. But the world was created out of things which are not visible. It is possible for those without spiritual eyes to have a sense of design from looking at or studying creation but that is not the same thing as having a sense of God and of His glory in creation. A person can believe in creation but not be truly converted.
Luther’s point, however, has to do with why we must preach to men and teach them that they are enslaved to sin and utterly dependant on the sovereign grace of God to save them. Luther says that this is because of the nature of faith. This is such an insightful point that it deserves to have a book written on it. Faith does not come to sinners because they are smart and they respond to an intellectual approach in giving them the facts. True faith is something that must come from God by grace and grace alone. True faith is able to see spiritual things and to hear spiritual things. But spiritual things are the things of the Spirit of Christ and only come to the soul by grace alone. This teaches us another reason why the soul must be deeply humbled in order to receive grace. It is because there can be no faith apart from grace because faith only comes by the sovereign grace of God.
The enslaved will must be taught to men so that they will reach an end of themselves in the natural realm and even their own ability to believe. Apart from men reaching the point of understanding themselves to be dead to spiritual things they will not become dead to their own abilities to see spiritual things. But faith operates in the spiritual realm and does not rely on the physical senses. Faith rests in God and God alone. While it is easier for men to hear information that they are able to deal with in their natural man, they must be brought to an end of that natural man so that they can look to grace alone to give them the ability of faith to operate in the spiritual realm. Apart from teaching men that their wills are enslaved, we will not teach them the way of true faith. It is that important.
God Loves... Himself 
Leave a comment