“I say, through the grace given to me, to everyone who is among you,…think soberly, as God has dealt to each one a measure of faith” (Rom. 12:3)
There is comfort in all God’s exhortations and commandments, since He does not expect us to act in our own strength but in His. When He utters a command, it is but the statement of what He will do in and for us, if we yield to His power. When He reproves, He is simply showing to us our need, which He can abundantly supply.
Pride is the enemy of faith. The two cannot live together. A man can think soberly and humbly only as the result of the faith that God gives. “Behold the proud, his soul is not upright in him; but the just shall live by his faith” (Hab. 2:4). The one who has confidence in his own strength and wisdom will not depend upon another. Trust in the wisdom and power of God comes only when we recognize and acknowledge our own weakness and ignorance.
That faith which God deals to us is indicated in Rev. 14: 12: “Here is the patience of the saints; here are those who keep the commandments of God and the faith of Jesus.” God does not give faith to the saints only, any more than He gives the commandments to them alone; but the saints keep the faith, and other do not. The faith which they keep is the faith of Jesus; therefore it is the faith of Jesus that is given to us.
“Man is not justified by the works of the law but by the faith in Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by faith in Christ” (Gal. 2:16).
Waggoner, Waggoner on Romans, pp. 178-179
Are You Afraid You Have No Faith?
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