Demonstration 1: On Faith

I have received your letter, my beloved, and when I read it, it made me very glad that you have turned your thoughts to these inquiries. What you have asked of me will be freely given, for it was freely received. Whoever has something and wants to keep it back from the one who asks for it, whatever he keeps back will be taken away from him. Whoever receives by free grace ought also to give by free grace. And so, my beloved, as far as my small ability has grasped it, I will write to you about what you have asked of me. And whatever you have not asked of me, I will also explain to you, calling on God. Hear then, my beloved, and open to me the inward ears of your heart, and the spiritual perceptions of your mind to what I say to you. [a]

Faith is made up of many things, and it is brought to perfection by many kinds of them. It is like a building that is built up from many pieces of work, and so the structure rises to the top. Know, my beloved, that stones are laid in the foundations of the building, and resting on stones the whole structure rises until it is complete. In the same way the true Stone, our Lord Jesus Christ, is the foundation of all our faith. On him, on this Stone, faith is based, and resting on faith the whole structure rises until it is finished. For the foundation is the beginning of the whole building. When anyone is brought near to faith, it is laid for him on the Stone, that is, our Lord Jesus Christ. His building cannot be shaken by the waves, nor harmed by the winds. It does not fall in the stormy blasts, because its structure is raised on the rock of the true Stone. And in calling Christ the Stone, I have not spoken from my own thought; the prophets called him the Stone long before. This I will make clear to you. Now hear about faith that is based on the Stone, and about the structure that is raised on the Stone. First a man believes, and when he believes, he loves. When he loves, he hopes. When he hopes, he is counted righteous. When he is counted righteous, he is made perfect. When he is made perfect, he is brought to completion. And when his whole structure has been raised up, completed and made perfect, he becomes a house and a temple, a dwelling place for Christ. As Jeremiah the prophet said, “The temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord, the temple of the Lord are you, if you amend your ways and your works.” And again God said through the prophet, “I will dwell in them and walk in them.” The blessed apostle also said this: “You are the temple of God, and the Spirit of Christ dwells in you.” And our Lord too said this to his disciples: “You are in me and I am in you.” [b]

When the house has become a dwelling place, the man begins to take care for what is needed for the one who dwells in the building. It is as if a king, or an honored man who bears a royal name, were to lodge in the house: everything that belongs to royalty, and all the service needed for the king’s honor, would be required for him. A king will not lodge in a house empty of all good things, nor stay in it. Everything finest in the house is required for the king, and nothing in it may be lacking. And if anything is lacking in the house where the king lodges, the keeper of the house is handed over to death, because he did not prepare the service for the king. So too the man who becomes a house, indeed a dwelling place, for Christ must pay attention to what is needed for the service of Christ, who lodges in him, and to the things by which he may please him. First he builds his building on the Stone, which is Christ. On him, on the Stone, faith is based, and on faith the whole structure is raised. The dwelling of the house requires pure fasting, and it is made firm by faith. It also needs pure prayer, and through faith that prayer is accepted. Love too is necessary for it, and love is joined together with faith. Alms are needed as well, and through faith they are given. He demands meekness too, and by faith it is adorned. He chooses virginity too, and by faith it is loved. He joins holiness to himself, and in faith it is planted. He cares for wisdom too, and through faith it is gained. He desires hospitality too, and by faith it abounds. Simplicity is required for him too, and it is mingled with faith. He demands endurance too, and by faith it is made perfect. He has regard for patience too, and through faith it is gained. He loves mourning too, and through faith it is shown. He looks for purity too, and by faith it is kept. All these things are demanded by the faith that is based on the rock of the true Stone, that is, Christ. These works are required for Christ the King, who dwells in people who are built up in these works. [c]

And perhaps you will say, “If Christ is laid as the foundation, how does Christ also dwell in the building when it is finished?” The blessed apostle said both these things. He said, “I, as a wise architect, have laid the foundation.” And there he defined the foundation and made it clear, for he said this: “No one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” That Christ also dwells in that building is shown by the word written above, the word of Jeremiah, who called people temples and said of God that he dwelt in them. And the apostle said, “The Spirit of Christ dwells in you.” And our Lord said, “I and my Father are one.” So that word is fulfilled, that Christ dwells in people, that is, in those who believe in him; and he is the foundation on which the whole building is raised. [d]

But I must go back to what I said before, that Christ is called the Stone in the prophets. Long ago David said about him, “The stone that the builders rejected has become the head of the building.” And how did the builders reject this Stone, which is Christ? How else than by rejecting him before Pilate and saying, “This man will not be king over us”? And again, in the parable our Lord told, a certain nobleman went away to receive royal power and to return and rule over them, and they sent envoys after him saying, “This man will not be king over us.” By these things they rejected the Stone, which is Christ. And how did it become the head of the building? How else than by being set up over the building of the Gentiles, so that their whole building is raised on it? And who are the builders? Who but the priests and the Pharisees, who did not build a sure building, but kept pulling down everything he was building, as is written in Ezekiel the prophet: “He was building a dividing wall, but they were shaking it, so that it would fall.” And again it is written: “I looked among them for a man who would close up the fence and stand in the breach before the face of the land, so that I would not destroy it, and I did not find one.” Isaiah too prophesied long before about this stone. He said, “Thus says the Lord: Look, I am laying in Zion a chosen stone in the precious corner, the heart of the wall of the foundation.” And he said again there, “Everyone who believes in it will not fear.” And “whoever falls on that stone will be broken, and anyone on whom it falls, it will crush.” For the people of the house of Israel fell on him, and he became their destruction forever. And again, it will fall on the image and crush it. And the Gentiles believed in it and do not fear. [e] So he shows about that stone that it was laid both as the head of the wall and as the foundation. But if that stone was laid as the foundation, how did it also become the head of the wall? How else than that when our Lord came, he laid his faith in the earth like a foundation, and it rose above all the heavens like the head of the wall, and the whole building was finished with the stones, from the bottom to the top. And about the faith that I said he laid in the earth, David proclaimed this long before about Christ: “Faith will spring up from the earth.” And that it is also above, he said: “Righteousness looked down from the heavens.” [f]

Daniel too spoke about this stone, which is Christ. He said, “The stone was cut out from the mountain, not by hands, and it struck the image, and the whole earth was filled with it.” By this he showed beforehand about Christ that the whole earth will be filled with him. For look! All the ends of the earth are filled by the faith of Christ, as David said, “The sound of the gospel of Christ has gone out into all the earth.” And again, when he sent out his apostles, he said this to them: “Go out, make disciples of all nations, and they will believe in me.” And again, the prophet Zechariah also prophesied about that stone, which is Christ. He said, “I saw a chief stone of equality and of love.” Why did he say “chief”? Surely because he was with his Father from the beginning. And he spoke of love because, when he came into the world, he said this to his disciples: “This is my commandment, that you love one another.” And again he said, “I have called you my friends.” And the blessed apostle said this: “God loved us in the love of his Son.” Truly Christ loved us and gave himself for us. [g] And he showed this plainly about this stone: “Look, on this stone I will open seven eyes.” What, then, are the seven eyes that were opened on the stone? Clearly the Spirit of God, which rested on Christ with seven workings, as Isaiah the prophet said: “The Spirit of God will rest and dwell on him, a spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and of courage, of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.” These were the seven eyes that were opened on the Stone, and these are the seven eyes of the Lord that look on all the earth. [j]

This too was said about Christ, for it was said that he was given as a light to all the Gentiles, as the prophet Isaiah said: “I have given you as a light to all the Gentiles, so that you may be my redemption to the ends of the earth.” And David too said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” And the word and speech of the Lord is Christ, as is written at the beginning of the Gospel of our Savior: “In the beginning was the Word.” And about the light he bore witness there again: “The light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it.” What, then, does this mean: “The light was shining in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it”? Clearly it is Christ, whose light shone among the people of the house of Israel; and the people of the house of Israel did not comprehend the light of Christ, in that they did not believe in him, as it is written: “He came to his own, and his own did not receive him.” Our Lord Jesus also called them darkness, for he said to his disciples, “Whatever I say to you in the darkness, speak it in the light”; that is, let your light shine among the Gentiles, because they received the light of Christ, who is the light of the Gentiles. And again he said to his apostles, “You are the light of the world.” And again he said to them, “Let your light shine before people, so that they may see your good works and glorify your Father who is in heaven.” And again he showed about himself that he is the light, for he said to his disciples, “Walk while the light is with you, before the darkness overtakes you.” And again he said to them, “Believe in the light, so that you may be children of light.” And again he said, “I am the light of the world.” And again he said, “No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel or under a bed, or puts it in a hidden place, but he puts it on the lampstand so that everyone may see the light of the lamp.” And the shining lamp is Christ, as David said, “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my paths.” [k]

And the prophet Hosea also said, “Light a lamp for yourselves and seek the Lord.” And our Lord Jesus Christ said, “What woman who has ten drachmas and loses one of them will not light a lamp and sweep the house and look for the drachma she lost?” What, then, does this woman stand for? Clearly the congregation of the house of Israel, to which the ten commandments were given. They lost the first commandment, the one in which he warned them, “I am the Lord your God, who brought you up out of the land of Egypt.” And once they had lost this first commandment, they could not keep the nine that come after it either, because the nine depend on the first. It was impossible for them to keep the nine commandments while they were worshiping Baal. They lost the first commandment, like that woman who lost one drachma out of ten. So the prophet cried out to them, “Light a lamp for yourselves and seek the Lord.” And the prophet Isaiah also said, “Seek the Lord, and when you have found him, call on him; and when he is near, let the sinner abandon his way and the wicked man his thought.” For that lamp shone, and they did not seek the Lord their God by it. Its light shone in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it. The lamp was set up on the lampstand, and those who were in the house did not see its light. What, then, does it mean that the lamp was set up on the lampstand? Clearly, his being raised up on the cross. And by this the whole house was made dark over them. For when they crucified him, the light was darkened from them and shone among the Gentiles, because from the sixth hour of the day, when they crucified him, until the ninth hour, there was darkness over all the land of Israel. The sun set at midday, and the land was darkened in the bright daytime, as is written in Zechariah the prophet: “It will come to pass on that day, says the Lord, that I will make the sun set at midday, and I will darken the land in the bright daytime.” [l]

Now I must go back to my earlier subject, faith, and how all the good works of the building are raised on it. And in what I said about the building, I did not speak in any strange way; the blessed apostle wrote in the first letter to the Corinthians, “I, as a wise master builder, have laid the foundation, but everyone builds on it.” One builds with silver and gold and fine stones; another builds with reed and straw and stubble. On the last day that building will be tested by fire. The gold and silver and fine stones will be kept safe in the middle of the fire, because they are a firm building. But the fire will have power over the straw and reed and stubble, and they will be burned. What, then, are the gold and silver and fine stones by which the building is raised? Clearly the good deeds of faith, which will be kept safe in the middle of the fire, because Christ dwells in that secure building, and he is its keeper from the fire. Let us consider and understand this from the example God has given us under the old covenant too, because the promises of that covenant will remain sure for us. Let us understand it, then, from those three righteous men who were thrown into the middle of the fire and were not burned, namely Hananiah, Azariah and Mishael. The fire had no power over them, because they built a secure building, rejected the command of Nebuchadnezzar the king, and did not worship the image he made. But as for those who broke the commandment of God, the fire at once overpowered them and burned them, and they were burned without mercy. The people of Sodom were burned like straw and reed and stubble. Nadab and Abihu, who broke the commandment of God, were burned. Two hundred and fifty men who were offering incense were burned. Again, two commanders and the hundred men who were with them were burned, because they came up to the mountain where Elijah was sitting, Elijah who went up to heaven in a chariot of fire. The slanderers too were burned, because they dug a pit for righteous men. So, beloved, the righteous will be tested by the fire, like gold and silver and fine stones, and the wicked will be burned in the fire like straw and reed and stubble; the fire will have power over them, and they will be burned. As the prophet Isaiah said, “By fire the Lord will judge, and by it he will test all flesh.” And again he said, “You will go out and see the corpses of the men who sinned against me, whose worm will not die and whose fire will not be quenched, and they will be a sight that appalls all flesh.” [n]

The apostle has also explained this building and this foundation for us, for he said this: “No one can lay any other foundation than the one that is laid, which is Jesus Christ.” The apostle also said of faith that it is joined with hope and love, for he said this: “These are the three that will remain: faith and hope and love.” And he showed of faith that it is first laid on a sure foundation. [p] Because of his faith, Abel’s offering was accepted. Enoch, because he was well pleasing through his faith, was taken away from death. Noah, because he believed, was kept safe from the flood. Abraham through his faith received a blessing, and it was counted to him as righteousness. Isaac, because he believed, was loved. Jacob, because of his faith, was kept safe. Joseph, because of his faith, was tested at the waters of contention and was delivered from his trial, and his Lord established a witness in him, as David said, “He established a witness in Joseph.” Moses too did many wonderful works of power by his faith. By his faith he destroyed the Egyptians with ten plagues. By faith he divided the sea, brought his people across, and sank the Egyptians in the middle of it. By faith he threw the wood into the bitter waters, and they became sweet. By faith he brought down manna and gave his people their fill. By faith he spread out his hands and defeated Amalek, as is written: “His hands remained in faith until the sun went down.” By faith too he went up Mount Sinai, when he twice fasted for forty days. Again, by faith he defeated Sihon and Og, the kings of the Amorites. [q]

This is a wonder, my beloved, a great marvel that Moses did at the Red Sea, when the waters were divided by faith and stood up high like mountains or like mighty cliffs. They were held back and stood still at the command. They were shut up as if in vessels, bound fast in the heights as in the depths. Their flowing did not run over the boundary; instead they changed the nature they were created with. Creatures without reason became obedient. The waves grew rigid and waited for the vengeance, for the moment when the people had crossed. It was wonderful how the waves stood still and waited for the command and the vengeance. The foundations hidden since the first ages of the world were laid bare, and what had been liquid from the beginning suddenly became dry. The gates lifted up their heads, and the everlasting gates were lifted up. The pillar of fire went in and lit up the whole camp. The people crossed over by faith. And the judgment of righteousness was carried out on Pharaoh, on his army, and on his chariots. [r] In the same way Joshua the son of Nun divided the Jordan by his faith, and the children of Israel crossed over as in the days of Moses. But know, my beloved, that this crossing of the Jordan was opened three times by the river’s being divided: first by Joshua the son of Nun, second by Elijah, and then by Elisha. The word of Scripture shows that it was opposite this crossing at Jericho that Elijah was taken up to heaven. For when Elisha turned back from following him, divided the Jordan and crossed over, the sons of the prophets from Jericho came out to meet Elisha and said, “The spirit of Elijah rests on Elisha.” And when the people crossed over in the days of Joshua the son of Nun, it was there too, for it is written, “The people crossed over opposite Jericho.” Joshua the son of Nun also threw down the walls of Jericho by faith, and they fell without difficulty. Again, by faith he destroyed thirty-one kings and gave the children of Israel the land as their inheritance. And by his faith he spread out his hands toward heaven and stopped the sun in Gibeon and the moon in the valley of Aijalon, and they were stopped and stood still in their courses. But enough! All the righteous, our fathers, were victorious through faith in everything they did, as the blessed apostle also testified about all of them: “By faith they prevailed.” Solomon too said, “Many men are called merciful, but a faithful man, who can find?” And Job said this: “My integrity will not pass from me, and in my righteousness I will persist.” [s]

Our Savior too used to say this to everyone who came to him to be healed: “Let it be to you according to your faith.” When the blind man came to him, he said to him, “Do you believe that I am able to heal you?” The blind man said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” And his faith opened his eyes. To the man whose son was sick he said, “Believe, and your son will live.” He said to him, “I believe, Lord; help my weak faith.” And by his faith his son was healed. When the nobleman came to him, his boy was healed by his faith, when he said to our Lord, “Speak the word, and my servant will be cured.” Our Lord was astonished at his faith, and it happened to him according to his faith. When the ruler of the synagogue asked him about his daughter, he said this to him: “Only believe firmly, and your daughter will live.” So he believed, and his daughter lived and got up. When Lazarus died, our Lord said to Martha, “If you believe, your brother will rise.” Martha said to him, “Yes, Lord, I believe.” And he raised him after four days. Simon too, who was called Cephas, was called the firm rock because of his faith. Again, when our Lord gave the sacrament of baptism to his apostles, he said this to them: “Whoever believes and is baptized will live, and whoever does not believe will be condemned.” Again he said to his apostles, “If you believe and do not doubt, there is nothing you will not be able to do.” For when our Lord walked on the waves of the sea, Simon too walked with him by his faith; but when he doubted in his faith and began to sink, our Lord called him “you of little faith.” And when the apostles made a request of our Lord, they asked nothing of him but this: “Increase our faith.” He said to them, “If there were faith in you, even a mountain would move away from before you.” And he said to them, “Do not doubt, or you will sink down in the middle of the world, just as Simon, when he doubted, began to sink in the middle of the sea.” And again he said this: “This will be the sign for those who believe: they will speak with new tongues and will cast out demons, and they will lay their hands on the sick, and the sick will be made well.” [t]

Let us draw near to faith, then, my beloved, since its powers are so many. Faith raised Enoch up to heaven and overcame the flood. It made the barren bear children. It delivered from the sword. It raised up from the pit. It made the poor rich. It set the captives free. It delivered the persecuted. It brought down the fire. It divided the sea. It split the rock and gave water to the thirsty to drink. It fed the hungry. It raised the dead and brought them up from Sheol. It stilled the waves. It healed the sick. It overcame armies. It threw down walls. It shut the mouths of lions and quenched the flame of fire. It humbled the proud and brought the humble to honor. All these mighty works were done by faith. [w]

Now this is faith: that a man believes in God, the Lord of all, who made the heavens and the earth and the seas and all that is in them; who made Adam in his image; who gave the law to Moses; who sent of his Spirit on the prophets; who also sent his Christ into the world. And further, that a man should believe in the resurrection of the dead, and should also believe in the sacrament of baptism. This is the faith of the church of God. And a man must separate himself from the observance of hours and Sabbaths and moons and seasons, from divinations and sorceries and Chaldean arts and magic, from sexual immorality and from festive music, from empty doctrines, which are instruments of the Evil One, from the flattery of honeyed words, from blasphemy and from adultery. And a man must not bear false witness, and a man must not speak with a double tongue. These, then, are the works of the faith that is based on the true Stone, which is Christ, on whom the whole building is raised. [x] There is much more about faith in the Holy Books, my beloved. But I have written these few things out of the many to bring them to the mind of your love, so that you may know and make known, and believe and also be believed; so that, when you have read and learned the works of faith, you may be like the tilled ground on which the good seed fell and produced fruit a hundredfold and sixtyfold and thirtyfold; and so that, when you come to your Lord, he may call you a good servant, prudent and faithful, who because of his faith, which abounded, is to enter the kingdom of his Lord. [y]