ELDER DIRKES ON "FAITH TO FAITH"...

[ed. This article was taken from brother Tom Adam's website and republished here.]

“From faith to faith".

Please elaborate a little on the biblical expression, “From faith to faith.” Does that refer to the Faith OF Christ transmitted to the believer, which then becomes the believer’s faith IN Christ?

This is not two different faiths but rather the same faith. The faith of Messiah is the faith of His bride. She believes because of His faith and She is faithful because He was faithful in all things. This is the “same mind” and “speak the same thing” that identifies the children. It is the tongue which no man can learn, the wisdom and the song of Zion. The Spirit communicate the things of God, who is Spirit and they that worship Him do so in Spirit and truth (Christ said “I am the way, the truth and the life”) to a common point of reference, which is faith. By His faith, His people live, move and have their being. By His faith the Spirit grants all wisdom and spiritual understanding. These things cannot be seen for that which is seen is temporal. The natural man cannot receive them and he cannot know them.

When God created Adam and spoke to him in the garden, his bride was in him. She did not need to be spoken to separate from him and she could do nothing without him. When God separated them they were incomplete without each other yet they still both spoke the same language and had the same understanding. Now this is a type and limited to the boundaries set by the Creator but in Christ is His Bride. When God created man He created them in His image, male and female. The eternal image of God is male and female, thus, in Christ, is neither male nor female. The Bride has always been in Christ and though for a brief time She becomes a partaker of flesh and blood, She is forever, bone of His bone and flesh of His flesh. When She cries ‘Abba Father’ she does so by faith in the Spirit and when the creature groans within himself it is not with carnal words or audible petitions. It is with groanings and utterances which cannot be heard by the natural man.

Man does not have faith. Jesus told the disciples that if they had faith they could move mountains and cause trees to be up-rooted and planted in the sea. Since the mountains are not relocating to new and exciting exotic locations and the oceans of the world have not become the new Florida orange groves, it must be evident that Adam has NO faith. “All men have not faith”.

Righteousness and faithfulness are inseparable. The Bride has been granted to be arrayed in fine linens pure and white, which is the imputed righteousness of He whose name is Faithful and True.

I hope this ramble is of benefit and by His grace, edifying.

Your servant in Christ,
Chet

August 2012