What must I Believe? - Chambers, Oswald
What must i believe to be a christian, December 6, 1916, to British commonwealth troops at Sidi Gaber camp, near Alexandria, Egypt
Now if any man have not the spirit of Christ, he is none of his. (Romans 8:9)
There are two domains of fact: common-sense facts and revelation facts. It is impossible to prove a fact; a fact must be accepted. We accept common-sense facts on the ground of our senses, and we accept rev- elation facts on the ground of our faith in god.
A theory is the way we explain facts, an intellectual explanation of the facts we have got, and the explanation is right if there are only those facts. Your theoretical explanation wont work if you have an end to serve. The christian science theory says there are no such facts as pain or suffering or death, they are all imaginations; it has forgotten that there are bad facts as well as good. An hypothesis takes only those facts that agree with your theory, it works like a searchlight and life becomes amazingly simple. It is always easier to read a mans book about life than to live your life, because he only takes facts that agree with his view, but when you get pitchforked into the confusion of circumstances, where is your fine theory of explanation? You have come in con- tact with a hundred and one facts that the hypothesis had not taken into account. For the same reason, if you are religious, it is easier to read some pious book than the bible. The bible treats you like human life doesroughly. There are two ways of dealing with facts one is to shut your eyes and say that they are not there, the other is to open your eyes and look at them and let them mould you. We begin our religious life by believing our beliefs, we accept what we are taught without questioning; but when we come up against things we begin to be critical, and find out that the beliefs, however right, are not right for us because we have not bought them by suffering. What we take for granted is never ours until we have bought it by pain. A thing is worth just what it costs. When we go through the suffering of experience we seem to lose everything, but bit by bit we get it back.
It is absurd to tell a man he must believe this and that; in the meantime he cant! Scepticism is produced by telling men what to believe. We are in danger of putting the cart before the horse and saying a man must believe certain things before he can be a christian; his beliefs are the effect of his being a christian, not the cause of it. Our lords word believe does not refer to an intellectual act, but to a moral act. With him to believe means to commit. Commit your- self to me, he says, and it takes a man all he is worth to believe in jesus christ. The man who has been through a crisis is more likely to commit himself to a person, he sees more clearly; before the crisis comes we are certain, because we are shallow.
According to the apostle Paul the essential ingredient in being a christian is that a man has the spirit of christ, no matter what his tag may be. Human strength and earnestness cannot make a man a christian any more than they can make him an angel; he must receive something from god, and that is what jesus christ calls being born from above ( john 3:3 rv mg; see Luke 11:13). The supreme test of a christian is that he has the spirit of jesus christ in his actual life.
The fact of the bible and the theory of inspiration
The bible is a world of revelation facts, and when you explain the bible, take into account all the record of it. The bible nowhere says we have to believe it is the word of god before we can be christians. The bible is not the word of god to me unless i come at it through what jesus christ says, it is of no use to me unless i know him. The key to my understanding of the bible is not my intelligence, but personal relationship to jesus christ. I begin my theories after i have got on the inside. You may believe the bible is the word of god from genesis to revelation and not be a christian at all.
(a) The mystery of the bible
Holy men of god spake as they were moved by the holy ghost. (2 peter 1:21)
what does the bible say about itself ? That it is inspired of the holy ghost, but through men, not through mechanisms. It is not that the holy ghost took up men in a miraculous way and used them as channels; the chief item is the man, and each book bears the stamp of the man. The mystery of the bible is that its inspiration was direct from god, not ver- bally inspired, but the inspired word of godthe final word of god; not that god is not saying any- thing now, but he is not saying anything different from the final word, jesus christ. All god says is expounding that word. The final word and the only word are very different. Be reverent with the bible explanation of itself.
(b) the message of the bible
And they are they which testify of me. ( john 5:39) Jesus Christ says the message of the bible is about himselfwe cannot interpret it according to any other key . . . . . . No prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation. We can prove anything we choose from the bible once we forget the mes- sage jesus says it contains. The test that you know the bible is that you understand what it is driving at, it is expounding me, giving the exposition of what i am after.
(c) The meaning of the bible
all scripture is given by inspiration of god. (2 timothy 3:16)
The bible instructs us in righteousness, in the right- ness of practical living; its meaning is to keep us living right. Most people like to use the bible for anything other than that, for a kind of jugglery to prove special doctrines.
The fact of christ and the dogma of the trinity
Dogma means the things we say in the creed, systematised theology. There is no dogma of the trinity in the bible. I am not asked to believe this and that about jesus christ, his birth and resurrection, before i am a christian, but when i am a christian i begin to try and expound to myself who jesus christ is, and to do that i must take into consideration the new testament explanation of him. The deity of jesus christ does not come to a mans intellect first, but to his heart and life. Nowhere in the new testament are you asked to believe these facts before you are a chris- tian. They are christian doctrines, and the bible is the illustration of the christian faith. The new tes- tament is not written to prove that jesus christ was the son of god, but written for those who believe he is. There are no problems in the new testament.
(a) His condition
And all bare him witness, and wondered at the gracious words which proceeded out of his mouth. (Luke 4:22)
The condition in which Jesus christ lived was a remarkably ordinary one, and every time people got startled in listening to him, they came back to practical realitieshe is extraordinary, but is not this josephs son? Dont we know all about him? Our lords first public sermon is an instance of how it is possible to choke the witness of the heart by the prejudice of the head.
(b) His character
A man approved of god among you by miracles and wonders and signs. (acts 2:22; see john 18:20; acts 10:38)
The character of Jesus Christ is exhibited in the new testament, and it appeals to us all. He lived his life straight down in the ordinary amalgam of human life, and he claims that the character he manifested is possible for any man if he will come in by the door he provides (see Luke 11:13).
(c) His claims
He that hath seen me hath seen the father. ( john 14:9)
Is the philosophic explanation i have been given of Jesus Christ the right one? Is the essential nature of deity omniscience, omnipotence and omnipresence? The essential nature of deity is holiness, and the power of god is proved in his becoming a baby. That is the staggering proposition the bible gives god became the weakest thing we know. What does jesus christ say about himself ? He claims to be equal with godhe that hath seen me hath seen the father. The christian revelation is not that jesus christ represents god to me, but that he is god. If jesus christ is not god, then we have no god. I am an agnostic; that is why i am a christian. I could not find out anything about god, all i know about him i accepted in the revelation given by Jesus Christ. I know no other god than jesus christ. Jesus christ is a fact; he is the most honourable and the holiest man, and two things necessarily follow first, he is the least likely to be deceived about himself, second, he is least likely to deceive anyone else. He said, god will give the very disposition that is mine to you, if you ask him. Had he any right to say itto say god would give me the disposition that ruled him if i asked? If i say i have nothing in me to prove that jesus christ is real, am i willing to ask for the holy spirit? If i refuse to try a line jesus christ points out because i do not like it, my mouth is shut as an honest doubter. Let me try it and see if it works. An intellectualist never pushes an issue of will. God comes to any man instanter when he is willing to ask, and he will notice a difference in his actual experience, in his attitude to things, and he will be amazed at the change that has been wrought.
If you feel yourself being riddled and say i dont know what to believe, go to god on the authority of jesus christ and ask him to give you the holy spirit, and experience what the new testament means by regeneration. It means receiving a new heredity. Jesus christ never asks anyone to define his position or to Understand a creed, butwho am i to you? Has jesus christ made any difference at all to me in my actual life? Jesus christ makes the whole of human destiny depend on a mans relationship to himself. The fact of the creed and the doctrines of the church a creed means the ordered exposition of the chris- tian faith, an attempt to explain the faith you have, not the thing that gives you the christian faith. It is the most mature effort of the human intellect on the inside, not on the outside. The churches make the blunder when they put the creed as the test on the outside, and they produce parrots who mimic the thing. You must believe a creed! A man says, i can- not, and if it is essential, then i cannot be a chris- tian. A creed is necessary, but it is not essential. If i am a devotee of a creed, i cannot see god unless he comes along that line.
(a) The gift of instructors
and he gave some, apostles; . . . And some, pastors and teachers. (Ephesians 4:11)
The test of an instructor in the christian church is that he is able to build me up in my intimacy with jesus christ, not that he gives me new ideas, but i come away feeling i know a bit more about jesus christ. To-day the preacher is tested, not by the build- ing up of saints but on the ground of his personality.
(b) The growth of institutions (acts 6:14)
The institutions of churchianity are not christianity. An institution is a good thing if it is second; immediately an institution recognises itself it becomes the dominating factor. When the war14 struck us in civilised britain we were members of certain churches and institutions, and were called christians because we held certain doctrines and creeds. The bedrock of membership of the christian church is that we know who jesus christ is by a personal revelation of him by the spirit of god. The essence of christianity is not a creed or a doctrine, but an illumination that emancipates mei see who jesus christ is. It is always a surprise, never an intellectual conception.
(c) The grasp of intellect
Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope that is in you with meekness and fear. (1 peter 3:15)
Peter does not say give an explanation, but a rea- son of the hope that is in yoube ready to say what you base your hope on. Faith is deliberate confi- dence in the character of god whose ways you can- not understand at the time. I dont know why god allows what he does, but i will stick to my faith in his character no matter how contradictory things look. Faith is not a conscious thing, it springs from a personal relationship and is the unconscious result of believing someone. My faith is manifested in what i do, and i am able to explain slowly where i put my confidence. The faith that swallows is not faith, but credulity or fatalism. I have to get a grasp of the thing in my intellect, but that is second, not first. Paul puts everything down to the words of Jesus Christ; if he is not what he claims, there is nothing in religion, it is pure fiction. If, however, Jesus Christ is not a humbug, and not a dreamer, but what he claims to be, then Christianity is the grandest fact that ever was introduced to any man.