379. (i) There is only one true faith, and this is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ, and is possessed by those who believe Him to be the Son of God, the God of heaven and earth, and one with the Father.

There is only one true faith, because faith is truth, and truth cannot be shattered and carved up, so that one part verges to the left, and one part to the right, and still remain its own truth. Faith as generally understood is composed of countless truths, for it is a collection of truths. But all these countless truths make up, as it were, a single body, to which the truths as its parts belong. Some make up the parts which are attached to the chest, such as arms and hands, some those which are attached to the hips, as the feet and soles. But the more inward truths make up the head, and those which are most nearly dependent upon them make up the sense organs in the face. The reason the more inward truths make up the head is that when what is more inward is mentioned, what is higher is also understood, for in the spiritual world everything more inward is also higher. So it is with the three heavens there. The soul and life of this body and all its parts is the Lord God the Saviour. This is why Paul calls the church the body of Christ, and people belonging to the church make up its parts depending upon their states of charity and faith. Paul also teaches that there is only one faith in these words:

There is one body and one spirit, one Lord, one faith, one baptism, one God. He gave the task of ministry for the building of the body of Christ, until we all attain to oneness of faith and knowledge of the Son of God, and the perfect man ¹ measured by the full stature of Christ, Ephesians 4:4-6, 12-13.

It has been shown fully above (337-339) that the one true faith is in the Lord God the Saviour Jesus Christ.

[2] The reason, however, why true faith is in the possession of those who believe the Lord to be the Son of God, is that they also believe that He is God, and faith if not in God is no faith at all. This is the leading tenet of all the truths which enter into faith and form it, as is clear from the Lord's words to Peter, when he said:

You are the Christ, the Son of the living God. You are blessed, Simon; I tell you, on this rock shall I build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it, Matthew 16:16-18.

Rock here, as in other parts of the Word, means the Lord in respect of Divine truth, and also the Divine truth received from the Lord. This truth is pre-eminent, and is like a crown upon the head and like a sceptre in the hand of the body of Christ, as is clear from the Lord's saying that on that rock He would build His church and the gates of hell would not prevail against it. The following passage of John also proves that this is the nature of this tenet of faith:

If anyone shall confess that Jesus is the Son of God, God remains in him, and he in God.1 John 4:15.

[3] Besides this mark, that they are in possession of the true and only faith, there is another, their belief that the Lord is the God of heaven and earth; this follows from the former point, that He is the Son of God, and from these passages:

In Him is all the fulness of the Godhead, Colossians 2:9

He is the God of heaven and earth, Matthew 28:18.

All things of the Father's are His, John 3:35; 16:15.

The third indication that those who believe in the Lord are inwardly in possession of faith in Him, and so of the one true faith, is their belief that the Lord is one with God the Father. This fact, that He is one with God the Father and is the Father Himself present in the Human, was fully shown in the chapter on the Lord and Redemption, and is obvious from the sayings of the Lord Himself, that He and the Father are one (John 10:30); that the Father is in Him, and He is in the Father (John 10:38; 14:10-11); that He said to the disciples that from that time on they had seen and known the Father, and that He looked at Philip and said that he then saw and knew the Father (John 14:7ff).

[4] The reason why these three things are the characteristic evidences of being in possession of faith in the Lord, and so in the one true faith, is that not all those who approach the Lord have faith in Him; for true faith is simultaneously internal and external. Those who possess these three treasures of faith are in possession of both its internals and its externals, so that it forms not only a treasury in their heart, but a jewel in their mouth. The case is different with those who do not acknowledge Him as God of heaven and earth, nor as one with the Father. These people also inwardly regard other gods as possessing similar power, which, however, is to be exercised by the Son, either regarded as a substitute or one who on account of His redeeming act has deserved to reign over those He has redeemed. But these people shatter the true faith by splitting the oneness of God; and when it is shattered it is no longer faith, but only the ghost of faith, which to the natural view may be some sort of image of faith, but to the spiritual view is a chimaera. Can anyone deny that true faith consists in belief in one God, who is the God of heaven and earth, and consequently in God the Father within a human form, that is, the Lord?

[5] Those three marks, witnesses and indicators, that faith in the Lord is faith itself, are like touchstones by which gold and silver are identified; or like stones or sign-posts by the roadside showing the way to a church, where the one, true God is worshipped; or like lighthouses on rocks at sea, which allow sailors to know their position at night, and how to shape their course. The first mark of faith, that the Lord is the Son of the living God, is like the morning star to all who come into His church.

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