Faith is one of the most precious treasures a man can possibly possess. It is a pity that so few understand what the Bible teaches about it.

Faith is often confused with presumption, optimism, determination, superstition and imagination. Actually it is simply believing. This is why we read in Rom. 4:5:

“But to him that worketh not, but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.”

Obviously, faith honors God, while doubting His Word must insult and displease Him. The Apostle John wrote:

“If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater…. He that believeth not God hath made Him a liar; because he believeth not the record that God gave of His Son.

“And this is the record: that God hath given to us eternal life, and this life is in His Son” (I John 5:9-11).

Little wonder that we read in Heb. 11:6:

“Without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that cometh to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of them that diligently seek Him.”

But why did God give the law, if salvation can be obtained by simple faith? St. Paul answers:

“The law was our schoolmaster, to bring us unto Christ, that we might be justified by faith” (Gal. 3:24).

“Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law”
(Rom. 3:31).

How grateful we all should be that God, in the Bible, has told us about redemption through Christ and how we may be saved by faith in Him!

“[Christ] was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our justification. Therefore, being justified by faith we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ” (Rom. 4:25; 5:1).

To the Reader:

Some of our Two Minutes articles were written many years ago by Pastor C. R. Stam for publication in newspapers. When many of these articles were later compiled in book form, Pastor Stam wrote this word of explanation in the Preface:

"It should be borne in mind that the newspaper column, Two Minutes With the Bible, has now been published for many years, so that local, national and international events are discussed as if they occurred only recently. Rather than rewrite or date such articles, we have left them just as they were when first published. This, we felt, would add to the interest, especially since our readers understand that they first appeared as newspaper articles."

To this we would add that the same is true for the articles written by others that we continue to add, on a regular basis, to the Two Minutes library. We hope that you'll agree that while some of the references in these articles are dated, the spiritual truths taught therein are timeless.