Victory by Faith

In considering the Power or Effects of faith in the regulation of Man’s Inward Nature, our attention is... directed to a striking passage in the writings of John. “Whatsoever is born of God,” says the Apostle John, Second Epistle 5:4, “OVERCOMETH THE WORLD. And this is the victory, that overcometh the world, even our faith.” The term world, as it is employed by the Apostle in this passage, is obviously of wide import; including the world inward, as well as the world outward; the human heart, as well as the objects around us, to which the inward state gives their character and their power. 

 And, accordingly, the victory over the world, whatever else the expressions may be supposed to indicate, includes especially and emphatically the victory over ourselves. Perhaps we ought to say, it is the victory over whatever sin has rendered inordinate and evil in ourselves. In other words, and still more definitely, it is the victory over SELFISHNESS; a victory, which places us in such a position, that the world, in the variety of its enticements and temptations both inward and outward, cannot reach us and touch us to our hurt. And this victory is by faith.

— The Life of Faith, Part 2, Chapter 3.