implies.
For there are other beliefs which the world calls faith. The Jews, the
Turks, the Papists, claim they also believe in God who created heaven
and earth. That such belief is not the true faith, however, is proved
by the fact of its ineffectiveness. It does not contend and overcome,
and it permits the believer to remain as he is, in his natural birth
and under the power of the devil and sin.

But the faith which believes Jesus is the Son of God is the true,
triumphant sort. It is an invincible power wrought in the hearts of
Christians by the Holy Spirit. It is a sure knowledge, that does not
gaze and vacillate hither and thither according to its own thoughts.
It apprehends God in Christ the Son sent from heaven, through whom God
reveals his will and his love and transfers us from sin to grace, from
death to a new and eternal life; a refuge and trust that relies not
upon its own merit or worthiness, but upon Christ the Son of God, and
in his might and power battles against the world and the devil.
Therefore, the Christian faith is not the cold, ineffective, empty,
lifeless conception which Papists and others imagine it to be; no, it
is a living, active power, ever followed by victories and other
appropriate fruits. Where such fruits are lacking, faith and the new
birth are not there.

THE SOURCE OF FAITH.

18. Thus we have the first part of our sermon on the new birth and
faith. For the second part, John shows whence and by what means comes
the faith productive of victory; he says: "This is he that came by
water and blood, even Jesus Christ; not with the water only, but with
the water and with the blood. And it is the Spirit that beareth
witness, because the Spirit is the truth. For there are three who bear
witness [in earth], the Spirit, and the water, and the blood," etc.

19. John speaks of Christ's kingdom, and of the office the Holy Spirit
bears outwardly and visibly in the Christian Church, represented in
the ministerial office and the sacraments. He says: "There are three
who bear witness [in earth]." John, as usual, employs the word
"witness" in connection with the thought of preaching; it is a word he
frequently uses. For instance, in the beginning of his gospel, where
he speaks of John the Baptist, he says (ch. 1, 7): "The same came for
a witness, that he might bear witness of the light." So, in his use of
the phrase "witness" or "bearing witness," we are to understand simply
the public preaching