βThis is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faithβ (I John 5:4).
There are many who look upon faith as an abstract sort of thing. Some suppose faith is merely looking on the bright side of things; to others it is will-power; still others confuse it with a personβs view-point.
In the Bible, faith is simply believing God. βFaithβ is the noun and βbelieveβ the verb. This is seen in Rom. 4:5, where the Apostle Paul declares:
βTo him that worketh not but believeth on Him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness.β
The following passage from I John 5 also makes this plain, when seen in its context:
βThis is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of Godβ (I John 5:4,5).
It is, then, the believer in Christ, and only the believer in Christ, who can overcome the world. Unbelievers are swept away by the attractions and the pretensions of this world, but the believer in Christ need not be.
St. Paul declared by divine inspiration that unbelievers follow βthe course of this world,β directed by Satan, βthe spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedienceβ (Eph. 2:2).
We do not mean to imply that believers are not often tempted to follow βthe course of this world.β Indeed the world would sometimes entice or intimidate us, but βthis is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith.β source
