Will you then take from me my faith,” a man might ask, “and help me to no other?” His faith! God forbid. His theory is not his faith, nor anything like it. His faith is his obedience; his theory I know not what. Yes, I will gladly leave him without any of what he calls faith. Trust in God. Obey the word—every word of the Master. That is faith; and so believing, your opinion will grow out of your true life, and be worthy of it. Peter says the Lord gives the spirit to them that obey him: the spirit of the Master, and that alone, can guide you to any theory that will be of use to you to hold. A theory arrived at any other way is not worth the time spent on it. Jesus is the creating and saving lord of our intellects as well as of our more precious hearts; nothing that he does not think, is worth thinking; no man can think as he thinks, except he be pure like him; no man can be pure like him, except he go with him and learn from him. To put off obeying him till we find a credible theory concerning him, is to set aside the potion we know it our duty to drink, for the study of the various schools of therapy. You know what Christ requires of you is right: do it. If you do not do what you know of the truth, I do not wonder that you seek it intellectually, for that kind of search may well be, as Milton represents it, a solace even to the fallen angels. How can you, not caring to be true, judge concerning him whose life was to do for very love the things you confess your duty, yet do them not? Obey the truth, and let theory wait. Theory may spring from life, but never life from theory.

Commentary

by Earle Canty

Through the centuries, the church, believing in Christ, split into a number of denominations.  Each of these denominations had interpretations of who Christ was, why He was sent to man, and how those who believed in Him were to live.  With regard to these three fundamental points, McDonald took the view that each denomination had a theory.  McDonald rightfully saw the Scriptures as the inerrant Word of God, and in reading and understanding the Scriptures, he saw that these theories did not always reflect the Word of God.  These theories were (and continue to be construed) as one’s faith.  McDonald understood that this concept was incorrect relative to the biblical meaning of faith as defined and described in the Scriptures. {Rom 10:17}

Faith is believing that Christ is the Son of the Father deliberately sent by the Father to reconcile man to the Father.  Christ clearly and unequivocally told those to whom He came and taught that faith was believing who He was, why He was sent to man, and how those who believed in Him were to live.  This teaching was recorded in the Gospels, often more than one Gospel.  He told them that faith was believing in Him and living a life in obedience to His teachings and the will of God.  The conundrum was not believing in Him; it was living a life in obedience to His teachings and the will of God.  Since the Fall in the Garden of Eden, the great struggle of man has been idolatry in the form of viewing himself as god.  While the Word of God told man how to live and warned man regarding idolatry, man rebelled and sought to intellectually defend his rebellion.  Christ, the Son of God, while walking this earth as a man, showed that obedience was actually very simple.  Live in obedience to the Scriptures; they are truth.  A life lived in that obedience speaks volumes to those who will be impacted by seeing such a life, and they are the ones for whom we must be concerned.

The hymn, I Am Not Skilled to Understand, is one of the great hymns of the Christian faith.