Music Mondays: Songs that Teach us Stuff

A couple weeks ago, our worship team led us in singing the popular hymn, "Faith is the Victory".  It matched well with the message from Galatians 2 about how we are freed through our faith in Christ. It is a tune that is very typical of hymns of previous generations. It has a slow pace to it, mixed with notes that I don't find all that easy to sing. Yet it has a theme that is repeated consistently throughout - that we find victory through our faith in Christ.

Reading 1 John 5 in my devotions this morning, I was reminded of the clear biblical basis behind this classic.

"For everyone who has been born of God overcomes the world. And this is the victory has overcome the world - our faith. Who is it that overcomes the world except the one who believes that Jesus is the Son of God?"  1 John 5:4-5

I like what Glen Barker says about this verse in his commentary:

"Our being born of God is God's act on our behalf, the event through which he moves to overcome the world...By faith we now have access to what was once accomplished by and through the appearance of Jesus on earth."

Gaebelein, Frank E., J. D. Douglas, Walter C. Kaiser, Leon Morris, Donald W. Burdick, Edwin Blum, Glenn W. Barker, Edwin Blum, and Alan F. Johnson. The Expositor's Bible Commentary. With the New International Version of the Holy Bible, Hebrews--Revelation Volume 12 Volume 12. Grand Rapids, Mich: Zondervan Pub. House, 1981. pg. 349.

We can experience God's victory over sin, death, and evil through our faith in Jesus Christ. "O, glorious victory that overcomes the world!"