What is a Christian Testimony?

The Spirit of God, the Comforter, is here that this may be so. "And when the Comforter is come … the Spirit of TRUTH … He shall testify of Me" (John 15:26). He, then, is our only sufficiency for this holy business. He is still with us and in us. Miracles have gone, but He remains, and with Him remains the ability of the simplest and weakest believer to rightly testify of Christ.

Life first, then lip. That is the order. The character of Christ written upon the inner man of the heart, godly behaviour flowing therefrom, and then faithful adherence to the whole truth of Christ as enshrined in Scripture, and courageous proclamation of the truth publicly and privately — these are the things which go to make up a true testimony to Him.

On earth today there is a company whom the Holy Spirit indwells, and in them the testimony to the living and glorified Christ flows out. It is a living testimony and is the manifestation of the divine life, the eternal life, that they have received from the Son of God. This is not only preaching, though it will surely come out in word as well as in deed; it is primarily what is seen of Christ in all the details of the lives of His own, that which has brought refreshment and blessing to their own hearts, and that which will bring divine blessing to those who accept their testimony to the Son of God.

Again, let us remember, that it is what we are, not simply what we say, that is the witness before men. The apostle could say. "For me to live is Christ." It is the life that is the true and most impressive witness to Christ. At the birth of Christ the religious leaders in Jerusalem had a very correct knowledge of Scripture, and could direct the wise men from the East to Christ, but they had no heart for Christ, and never took the way themselves. Their words witnessed to Christ but not their lives. Alas! it is possible to become a mere finger post that for ever points the way but never takes the path.

There is no sermon so powerful as that which is drawn from experience. “One fact is worth a bushel of theories.” If I speak what my soul knows, and not that which I have merely heard from others, I speak in power. If we use the truth we have, more will be given; but, for an effective testimony, I should speak what I know. Hence, if you know but the forgiveness of sins, bear witness to that; if justification, or sonship, or whatever truth you have made your own, tell it out faithfully, distinctly, by lip and life, so that the blessed Saviour may obtain praise for the salvation He has given.

But there are lessons for all believers, inasmuch as all are witnesses in their own circles, if not in a public way. Let us then all learn that we cannot study the Bible, or writings upon the Scriptures, or printed ministry, in the way that human subjects are studied. Until what we read or hear is made good in and verified by the soul, we do not really possess it. There are only two channels of testimony - the lip and the life, and the lip should be but the expression of what has first been produced in the life. Thus Paul, after speaking of the gospel which he had preached among the Thessalonians, says: "Ye know what manner of men we were among you for your sake." This, then, is what we should all desire, intense reality, to be possessed and controlled by the truth we profess to hold, and thus to shun the use of phrases and sentences which we have never eaten, digested, and found true in our souls.

(2) They were to preserve, on the one hand, the character which belonged to them, and on the other, to hold forth that word of life which was their public testimony in the world. The one must have the other as an accompaniment, if it was to be a testimony for, instead of against the One they heralded. Solemn it is to realize that as witnesses for Christ there can by no possibility be a negative position for us. We have the responsibility of witnesses; and if we are not that, so as to commend Christ to others, we cannot help but dishonor Him.

It is a testimony with the lips as in the life, in the life as with the lips, the truth uttered never to be divorced from the truth embodied in practice. The former without the latter would be empty words; the latter without the former (if such a thing indeed were possible) an enigma never to be solved, a lost hieroglyph. The two together fulfill our Lord's precept, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." This combined testimony alone places our good works in the light, in which when seen they glorify the Father.

In 1 John 4:14, by virtue of the indwelling Spirit our testimony goes out to the world. "We," must not be confined to the gifted only (see Acts 8:4). It is indeed a great wrong to the unsaved to make evangelizing the work of a few. Neither office, nor gift is indispensable for this, but the Holy Spirit. There are gifts (Eph. 4:11) but all who are saved, and thus know the Saviour, are (each in his or her sphere) to bear testimony — "that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world." The principle is expressed in 2 Cor. 4:13, "We believe, and therefore speak."

In the midst of such a scene the Spirit appears, and raises the testimony to Christ. He identifies Himself with it, and with the disciples who were standing for Him. It is to be remarked that when it is a question of testifying unto Jesus, the words are added, "which proceeds from the Father," that is, that while He is sent by the Son from the Father, He comes voluntarily and as an act of His own. Gladly does He come even into this uncongenial scene if it be to render tribute to the honour of Jesus, and to keep alive the light for His Name. "He shall testify of Me" Thus is summed up in one clause the whole of the Christian witness. It is to be here for Christ. But it involves much. It involves the displacement of self, it means warfare, defensive and offensive. It costs, it hurts; yet neither hurt nor cost can be for a moment deterrent if only Christ be precious as the Spirit would make Him precious.

The divine plan for this dispensation may then be stated in few words. God is sending forth the gospel amongst all nations, to gather out of all a people for the name of Christ, i.e. "the church."

But what about the process by which this end is to be reached? This is simplicity itself. Amongst all nations, said the Lord, "ye shall be witnesses to Me." No elaborate arrangements were made. No cumbrous machinery was instituted. Christ and all that He stands for is to be the subject of testimony, and every disciple according to his or her measure is to be a witness-bearer. In thus way the plan will be put into execution.