“I[1] still do not know what others or we mean by faith. In fact, the more we might say or write about it, the less able we would be to grasp hold of this quicksilver. sat prata biberunt, the wise have drunk enough. Faith is not every man’s thing, nor is it communicable. We cannot offer or exchange faith as if it were a piece of merchandise. Faith is the Kingdom of Heaven and hell in us. To believe God exists and to believe no God exists is an identical contradiction. If I have cut the ribbon of nature in two, then there is as little connection between being and faith as there is between cause and effect. incredibile sed verum – incredible but true.”
A man cannot catch faith like a cold or a thief. We cannot produce faith. We cannot give faith away. Only God understands man. “Do you believe this?” Man alone trusts God. “Do you believe this?” No matter how accurate factually, any claim to know risk-free truth is subjectively false. The soul possessed of certainty of its own making by having met its own required specifications self-mandated as grounds for being persuaded is in greater danger than the soul suffering the agonies of doubt. Nevertheless, whatever is not of faith is sin.
Be still, and know that I am God; I will be exalted among the nations, I will be exalted in the earth (Psalm 46:10). “Do you believe this?”
Jesus said unto the twelve, “Will ye also go away?” Then Simon Peter answered him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life. And we believe and are sure that thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God (John 6:67-69).”
Jesus said unto her, “I am the resurrection, and the life; he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live. And whosoever liveth and believeth in me shall never die. Believest thou this?” She saith unto him, “Yea, Lord; I believe that thou art the Christ, the Son of God, who should come into the world (John 11:25-27).”
Since anything settled must be paid in full, from whence our assurance of those things for which we hope? What convincing argument? What demonstration of sufficient evidence for proof? What source for the proving, what benchmark put to the test? The promises and instructions of God, the Scriptures, given by inspiration of God, spoken in the analytical inflections of life: fact, wish and command.
Those who have an ear, let them hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Matthew 13:44.
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[1] Johann Georg Hamann, “An Friedrich Heinrich Jacobi, 4/27/1787,” in Johann Georg Hamann, Eine Auswahl aus seinen Schriften, Entkleidung und Verklärung, ed. by Martin Seils (Wuppertal: R. Brockhaus Verlag, 1987), p. 492. Translated by the montage listener.
