THE VICTORY OF FAITH
1 John 5:1-12
Ted Schroder, November 16, 2014
Hanging on the wall in my office beside my desk is the shield of arms of my
college in the University of Durham: St. John’s College, where I did my post-graduate studies in
theology. Below the shield is the motto of the college in Latin: FIDES NOSTRA VICTORIA,
Our Faith is our Victory, which comes from 1 John 5:4 “For everyone born of God overcomes
the world. This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith. Who is he who
overcomes the world? Only he who believes that Jesus is the Son of God.”
The English words, “Overcomes” and “Victory” are both derived from the Greek “Nike”
the goddess of Victory. Nike flew around battlefields rewarding the victors with glory and fame,
symbolized by a wreath of Laurel leaves.
The inference John is making is that life is a battlefield. The world in which we live is a
society that is opposed to God - a world that is temporal and will pass away - a world which
seeks to seduce us with its passions and pride - a world which tries to beat us down, degrade us,
defeat us and destroy us. Life is portrayed in the Bible in terms of warfare and struggle where
good must combat with evil. The Bible is realistic about the world, about the nature of life as a
struggle in which there is much pain and suffering to be endured. “Man born of woman is of few
days and full of trouble.” (Job 14:1)
How do you survive and overcome in this battle of life? St. John tells that our greatest
weapon is our faith: “This is the victory that has overcome the world, even our faith.” That faith
is in Jesus, the Son of God. He has won the victory, and we share in his victory as we trust in
him. “He gives us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.” (1 Cor.15:57)
How do you define faith? As a noun it denotes the faith of Christ. As a verb it denotes
how we live out our beliefs in life – to believe what you know to be true but cannot presently
see: “Faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we don’t see” (Hebrews 11:1).
It is trust in the person of Christ as the way, the truth and the life.
There have been many great battles in the history of the world. This past week in
Veterans’ Day we remembered the Armistice that ended the frightful battles of the First World
War. There have been many victories that have been celebrated. But even the best of them are
passing. Alexander the Great wept for no more worlds to conquer and then died an early death.
He could not conquer his last enemy. But Jesus did. “Where, O death is your victory?” (1
Cor.15:55)
How does the man or woman who has faith in Christ overcome the world? How do we
win this life-long war in which we are engaged? When wars are begun the optimists think that
they will be over in a few months, but they find that years go by and they are far from an end.
They under-estimate the enemy and over-estimate their own strength. We are involved in a war
which will not cease until our resurrection. It is a battle for the mind, a contest of the heart, a
struggle of the spirit, a strife of the soul.
First, we have to overcome the world by our faith when we take up arms against the
culture that seeks to influence us to compromise our beliefs in order to conform to its standards.
We are told to leave our religion at home or at church and not bring it into our business or office.
But our faith will not be compartmentalized or muzzled for the sake of accommodating the
world.
Second, we have to overcome the world when we are pressured to go along with others in
order to avoid criticism, slander, persecution, affliction or mockery. Life in the world can injure
us, deal us hurtful blows, can wound us and seek to destroy us. In the midst of such
discouragement and in the face of despair we put our faith in the Cross of Christ and seek his
power to endure and to overcome.
Third, we have to overcome by our faith when we are rewarded by success in the world.
Opportunities beckon us to prosper. We are admired and flattered and become popular. All
people speak well of us. Fortune smiles on us. The money rolls in. We can become intoxicated
with our prosperity and think that we deserve it. But our faith in Christ protects us from such
illusions. “The true child of God is as safe when the world smiles, as when it frowns. He cares as
little for her praise as for her dispraise. If he is praised and it is true, he says, ‘My deeds deserve
praise, but I refer all honor to my God.’” (Spurgeon) “This is the victory that overcomes the
world.”
Fourth, we have to overcome the world by our faith when the world turns upon us.
Affliction and sorrow attacks us until life becomes a prison and the world its jailer. We find how
firm is our faith when life sends us losses and griefs that we find hard to endure. Money becomes
scarce, friends become few, sympathy is lacking, and the prospect seems dire. In this testing time
we are tempted to curse God and lose our faith. But we know that Jesus was tempted as we are
and yet did not sin. We call upon him to strengthen us as he cried out in the Garden of
Gethsemane with “loud cries and much tears to the one who could save him from death, and he
was heard because of his reverent submission.” (Hebrews 5:9)
We can only overcome and be victorious in the battle of life by our faith. We do not
triumph over the world by our reason, or common sense, or education, or social advantages. All
these things are important and valuable, but they will not of themselves give us the victory. Who
wins the battles in this world? The person who has faith that they can win, that they can achieve,
that they can persevere and do the hard work necessary to be victorious. Men and women with
faith achieve far more than those who are fearful of failing.
“Faith is the monarch of the realms of the mind. There is no being superior to its strength, no
creature which will not bow to its Divine prowess. The lack of faith makes a man
despicable, it shrivels him up so small that he might live in a nutshell. Give him faith and he
is a leviathan that can dive into the depths of the sea. He is a warhorse that cries aha! Aha!
In the battle. He is a giant that takes nations and crumbles them in his hand, who encounters
hosts and at a sword they vanish. He binds up sheaves of scepters and gathers up all the
crowns as his own. There is nothing like faith. Faith makes you almost as Omnipotent as
God, by the borrowed might of its Divinity! Give us faith and we can do all things!” (C.H.
Spurgeon)
Our faith is in Christ, the Son of God. He gives us his companionship to endure suffering.
He gives us his resurrection hope to sustain us. He gives us his sacrificial love to comfort and
strengthen us. He gives us his Spirit to empower us to overcome. But we need to be born of God
if we are to overcome the world. We need a new heart and a new spirit which can only come
through faith in Christ. There must be a change of heart. You need the gift of faith. “For by grace
you are saved through faith – and this not from yourselves, it is the gift of God.” Seek this faith.