After that, armies of heretical movements invaded the church—the
Donatists, the Photinians, the Acatians or Semi-Arians, the Eunomians,
the Macedonians, the Nestorians, the Predestinarians, the Papists, the
Zwinglians, the Anabaptists, the Schwenkfeldians, the Synergists, the
Socinians, the Antitrinitarians, the Quakers, the Herrnhuters, and many
others.
At length Luther, Melanchthon, and Calvin prevailed over them all.
Their teachings are dominant today.
[ 3 ] There are three main reasons why there were so many disputes
and rebellions in the church: ( 1 ) the divine Trinity was misunderstood;
( 2 ) there was no just concept of the Lord; ( 3 ) the suffering on the cross
was taken to be redemption itself.
The truth about these three things is essential to the faith the church
is based on, the faith from which it is called a church. If people did not
know the truth about these three things, it was inevitable that everything
about the church would be dragged first off course and finally in the
opposite direction. It was also inevitable that when the church arrived at
that stage it would still believe that it had a true faith in God and a belief
in all God’s truths.
This situation among these people in the church is like people who put
a blindfold over their eyes and believe they are walking in a straight line,
although step after step they are actually veering off course and eventually
heading in the opposite direction, where there is a pit into which they fall.
The only way the wandering people of the church can be redirected
onto the road of truth is by their knowing what true faith is, what illegit-
imate faith is, and what hypocritical faith is. Therefore this will be
demonstrated.
a. There is only one true faith; it is faith in the Lord God our Savior Jesus
Christ. It exists in people who believe that he is the Son of God, that
he is the God of heaven and earth, and that he is one with the Father.
b. Illegitimate faith is all faith that departs from the one and only true
faith. Illegitimate faith exists in people who climb up some other
way and view the Lord not as God but only as a human being.
c. Hypocritical faith is no faith at all.379 (a) There is only one true faith; it is faith in the Lord God our Savior
Jesus Christ. It exists in people who believe that he is the Son of God, that he
is the God of heaven and earth, and that he is one with the Father.There is
only one true faith, because faith is truth. Truth cannot be split or cut in