Ray's Blog

The very essence of authentic Christianity

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Though you have not seen him, you love him.  Though you do not now see him, you believe in him and rejoice with joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory.  1 Peter 1:8

“When we come to verse 8 we find Peter describing for us what remains of Christian faith that has passed through the furnace of afflictions.  In other words, verse 8 describes the end product of persecution and pain.  It describes Christian faith in its rawest and purest form, the most holy essence of faith.  This is ‘grade-A’ faith, faith that is as free as it can be, this side of heaven, of sinful additives and preservatives!  Here is faith as it has never been seen before.  Here is faith with the peripheral elements pared off, its spurious and superficial and hypocritical dregs drained away.  In sum, verse 8 describes the very essence of authentic Christianity.”

Sam Storms, Signs of the Spirit: An Interpretation of Jonathan Edwards’ Religious Affections(Wheaton, 2007), pages 38-39.