The former clause set forth in one great name all the objective elements
of the Church's oneness; this clause sets forth, with equally
all-comprehending simplicity, the subjective element which makes a
Christian. The one Lord, in the fulness of His nature and the
perfectness of His work, is the all-inclusive object of faith. He, in
His own living person, and not any dogmas about Him, is regarded as the
strong support round which the tendrils of faith cling and twine and
grow. True, He is made known to us as possessing certain attributes and
as doing certain things which, when stated in words, become doctrines,
and a Christ without these will never be the object of faith. The
antithesis which is so often drawn between Christ's person and Christian
doctrines is by no means sound, though the warning not to substitute the
latter for the former is only too necessary at all times.
The subjective act which lays hold of Christ is faith, which in our text
has its usual meaning of saving trust, and is entirely misconceived if
it is taken, as it sometimes is, to mean the whole body of beliefs which
make up the Christian creed. That which unites us to Jesus Christ is an
infinitely deeper thing than the acceptance of any creed. A man may
believe thirty-nine or thirty-nine hundred articles without having any
real or vital connection with the one Lord. The faith which saves is the
outgoing of the whole self towards Christ. In it the understanding, the
emotions, and the will are all in action. The New Testament _faith_ is
absolutely identical with the Old Testament _trust_, and the prophet who
exhorted Israel, 'Trust ye in the Lord for ever, for in the Lord Jehovah
is everlasting strength,' was preaching the very same message as the
Apostle who cried, 'Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and thou shalt be
saved.'
That 'saving faith' is the same in all Christians, however different
they may be in condition and character and general outlook and opinion
upon many points of Christian knowledge. The things on which they differ
are on the surface, and sometimes by reason of their divergencies
Christians stand like frowning cliffs that look threateningly at one
another across a narrow gorge, but deep below ground they are continuous
and the rock is unbroken. In many and melancholy ways 'the unity of
faith and knowledge' is contradicted in the existing organisations of
the Church, and we are tempted to postpone its coming to the day of the
new Jerusalem which is compact together; but the clarion note of this
great text may encourage us to hope, and to labour in our measure for
the fulfilment of the hope, that all, who by one faith have been joined
to the one Lord, may yet know themselves to be one in Him, and present
to the world the fair picture of one body animated by one spirit.