Romans 4:24

24. If we believe on him If we believe God now as Abraham did then. God promised the seed, and Abraham believed; God has now given the seed, and we must likewise believe. Both beliefs in their root are one, namely, faith in God. True justifying faith is trusting in God just so far as God has in faith and to faith revealed.

This is a true and great principle. The illustrious catalogue of heroes of the faith in Hebrews 11:0, Abel, Enoch, Noah, and others, knew not definitely of the atoning Christ. And yet their justifying faith was identical in nature with Christian faith, for it was a true faith in the holy God. It was faith in whatever God presented as object of faith; and had Christ been definitely presented, Christ would have been explicitly believed. Hence millions who never knew Christ have had true Christian faith. Even in Christian lands we may cherish a degree of trembling hope for those who seem to exhibit the Christian spirit yet fail to understand Christ as he truly is, while we feel it to be a most dubious ground to stand upon. There possibly may be in them “the spirit of faith” where there is an invincible ignorance of the true object of faith. (See the chapter on “Equation of Probational Advantages” in our work on the Will.) (See note on Romans 2:6; Romans 3:22, and introductory note to 6.)