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GRACE LEAFLETS No. 3
What is Faith?
Faith is right at the very basis of Christian truth, and yet it is so misunderstood. The world may think of “the faith”, or even a kind of optimism that hopes for the best; there are Christians who regard it as a sort of good work that gains favours from God and almost manipulates Him in to doing our will. Biblical faith is none of these things. It is primarily the quality of our relationship with God.
The Faith to be Saved.
The Bible is clear that faith is important in the process of our coming to God. Faith is never simply something we have or do. It is God at work in us. We were dead spiritually, and unable to respond to God, but He gave faith as His gift to enable us to receive the grace that saved us (Ephesians 2: 1, 8), so that everything is God’s doing. It is not that our faith has any ability to please God and earn His favour; faith cannot save us; we are saved totally because of Jesus (Romans 3: 24, 25).
This is well illustrated in the story of Abraham. God had promised him a son, but that son was not born until it had long been impossible for his wife Sarah to have children – and his own natural chances were dramatically reduced by the age of 100! Abraham simply trusted God to fulfil His promise, and at this point Isaac was born. Faith is by very nature the very opposite of “I can do something about this”. It is the opposite of self- dependence. It is the nature of faith to trust and depend on God entirely (Romans 4:16, 20, 21).
God has offered a single way of salvation that is based on what Jesus did in His death and resurrection. He won forgiveness for us; we are accepted by the Father because of His work, not our faith. There is nothing we can do by working or keeping the law to save ourselves; we are to be “justified” (declared righteous by God) on the basis of what Jesus has done. We receive this “justification” by faith (Galatians 4: 16; Romans 5:1).
The Elements of Faith
What is it then on our part that defines faith? There are three essential ingredients to the mix!
1. Intellectual. The Gospel does depend on key facts. Paul sets this out in 1 Corinthians 15:3. Christ died for our sins and He was raised again. The Gospel is contained in these saving events. His death dealt with the penalty and guilt of our sins; His resurrection declared that we are justified and accepted by the Father. We have no other way of salvation.
2. Emotional. There is a personal acceptance and dependence on these facts. God’s power and grace shown in the death and resurrection of Jesus is sufficient for me. I do not need any back-up system; I do not need to do good works – I am totally saved through what Jesus has done. I completely and exclusively depend on Jesus, and I love Him because He is my only Saviour.
3. Willing. I come to Him and find that faith requires of me an act of the surrender of my will. This is where I must leave my pride and self-sufficiency. Saving faith leads to a giving of myself to a Saviour who gave Himself for me (Galatians 2:20).
Living by Faith
Faith in the Bible is never just how we begin living the Christian life. It is what we live by (Romans 1: 17; Galatians 3: 11). Paul points out to the Galatians the foolishness of beginning with faith and trying to continue by human effort (Galatians 3:3). At no point in the Christian life does effort and living by law take over. We live by faith from first to last.
Nowhere is this made clearer than in Hebrews 11 where we find a great catalogue of men who lived by faith. They were “sure of what they hoped for and certain of what they did not see”. They had promises and trusted God to keep them. Their faith was based in the word and character of God, not in their own hopes and desires. This is where much modern “faith” teaching goes wrong. Faith does not focus on what we want, but on God. Faith is in God, not the outcome of faith. Here were men who suffered and did not always find deliverance; “none of them received what was promised,” because God’s timing deferred it, so that “only with us would they be made perfect” (Hebrews 11: 39, 40).
Faith does not mean that everything will work out well, that we will always receive healing just when we want it, or have our material needs met just as we expect. Even the Author of our faith “endured the cross, despising its shame” (Hebrews 12: 2). If faith were a guarantee that God would do whatever we wanted, where would be His sovereignty? As it is God given faith trusts Him in all His ways – even when they do not suit us!
The Basis of Faith
True faith is not optimism, but it is based in the word and character of God Himself.
God sent Elijah to a widow at the foreign city of Zarephath to be fed. He made a miraculous provision for Elijah, the widow and her son, but later the boy died. A huge issue confronted Elijah. Never before in recorded history had anyone been raised from the dead. Should he now give up hope? But he had a conviction about the word and nature of God that forced him to pray earnestly for the boy, until God raised Him to life. That is real faith (1 Kings 17).
Faith never puts God under obligation to us, as some of the “word and faith” teachers have suggested (one even wrote “faith makes God our slave!”). God is not committed to our material prosperity and wealth, but He is committed to His purpose in us and to our good (Romans 8:28), and faith says that we can always trust His wise and loving purpose and His power to work for our ultimate good.
Receiving by Faith
We live in a world of great cynicism. We do not expect anything from anyone. We need to look after ourselves. Faith is the opposite of both cynicism and self-sufficiency. That is why Jesus so often referred to the faith of the people He healed. It is not complicated – it is simple, - like a seed which is about potential not actuality. But faith like that receives from God and brings His power into our circumstances. “Big faith” is so often a reflection of arrogance; “mustard seed faith” is receiving humbly and almost fearfully from God, and proving Him.
DerekReynolds © Grace Church2002
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