And in the same Gospel, “I went out from the Father and came into the
world; again I am leaving the world and am going to the Father” (John
16 : 28 ). And also by this: “We know that the Son of God came and gave
us understanding so that we would know the truth. And we are in the
truth in the Son of God, Jesus Christ. He is the true God and eternal
life” ( 1 John 5 : 20 ). From all this it is clear that if the Lord had not come
into the world no one could have been saved.
The situation today is similar. Therefore if the Lord does not come
into the world again in the form of divine truth, which is the Word, no
one can be saved.
[ 2 ] For our part, the specifics of faith are these: ( 1 ) There is one God,
the divine Trinity exists within him, and he is the Lord God the Savior
Jesus Christ. ( 2 ) Believing in him is a faith that saves. ( 3 ) We must not do
things that are evil—they belong to the Devil and come from the Devil.
( 4 ) We must do things that are good—they belong to God and come
from God. ( 5 ) We must do these things as if we ourselves were doing
them, but we must believe that they come from the Lord working with
us and through us.
The first two points have to do with faith, the second two have to do
with goodwill; and the fifth has to do with the partnership between
goodwill and faith, the partnership between the Lord and us.Chapter 1
God the Creator
4
S
INCE the time of the Lord, the Christian church has passed through
various ages; it has gone from infancy to extreme old age. Its infancy
occurred when the apostles were alive and were preaching two things
throughout the whole world: repentanceand faith in the Lord God the
Savior,as one can see from these words in the Acts of the Apostles: “To
both Jews and Greeks Paul proclaimed repentance before God and faith
in our Lord Jesus Christ” (Acts 20 : 21 ).§4 god the creator & creation 5