It really should be sufficient to say "You must believe" or "You must have faith". The only problem is that the biblical concept of faith has been so distorted and so surrounded with misconceptions that we can't just leave it at that.
I want to make the point strongly up front that we are saved "by grace through faith, ... not of works, lest anyone should boast" (Eph 2:8,9). We need to understand that our salvation is a gift of God. It is a gift that none of us deserve. There is no way that we could earn it by anything that we do. God gives us this grace on the basis of our faith in Jesus Christ. The work of salvation was done by Jesus Christ and all glory goes to Him. Our part is simply the choice of accepting that grace through faith or rejecting it through unbelief.
But what is faith? Specifically, we need to understand what the New Testament writers meant when they talked about faith.
Faith is conviction
In Hebrews 11:1 the writer says "Faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen" (NKJV). Perhaps the NIV words it more clearly, "Now faith is being sure of what we hope for and certain of what we do not see." One who has faith regards something he cannot see as though he could see it. He regards the thing he cannot touch as though he held it in his hands. In fact, he is more sure of those things that he cannot see, but believes in, than he is of those things he can see (2 Corinthians 4:16-18). How else could Christians throughout the ages have faced certain death to obtain an invisible, yet imperishable crown?
This conviction is not based on fantasy, or wishful thinking, but upon the solid evidences God has provided in His word. Christ proved Himself to be the Son of God through many "infallible proofs" (Acts 1:3; 2:22). So faith is conviction, based on evidence, of the truth of things we cannot directly see or feel. Hebrews 11:6 says, "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he that comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him."
Faith is trust
Biblical faith is not just the conviction of the truth of facts, but it is trust in a person. It is one thing to believe that Jesus is the Son of God, it is another to put your faith in Him (John 12:42-43). James 2:19 says, "Even the demons believe -- and tremble!" Paul expresses this trust well in 2 Timothy 1:12, "For I know whom I have believed and am persuaded that He is able to keep what I have committed to Him until that Day."
Faith requires a change of life
We can talk about skydiving in the comfort of my living room all day. But nothing answers the question, "Do you trust the parachute?" like jumping out of a plane at 10,000 feet. If you don't trust that your parachute was properly packed, or if you don't think your sky diving instructor know what he is doing, you won't jump. The same thing is true about your faith in Christ Jesus. We talk about believing in Christ, about trusting in Him, and about making Him Lord. But when it comes to daily living, do we "jump" or do we stay in the plane?
Christ said, "But why do you call me 'Lord, Lord,' and not do the things that I say?" James put it this way, "Thus also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead" (James 2:17). Later he says of Abraham's faith, "Do you see that faith was working together with his works, and by works faith was made perfect?" (James 2:22).
Some may object that I'm contradicting myself. On the one hand we are not saved by works, yet on the other we we must work! If time permits, I'll address this issue in more detail in a later post. For now I'll just note two things. First, I'm saying no more or less than what scripture says. Ephesians 2 clearly states we are saved by grace not by our works, yet James 2 says we cannot be saved by faith without works. The second point is that I don't believe these passages are contradictory. I believe Ephesians is pointing out we cannot earn our salvation on our own. James is pointing out that we cannot profess faith without the accompanying change of life.
Biblical faith is life-changing. Conversion to Christ isn't something you do one weekend, and then go on with the rest of your life. Conversion to Christ becomes your life. Too often we decouple faith from godly living. Too commonly we decouple our hearts from our actions. How can we say we have faith if we continue to live in sin? How can we say "I'm not perfect, but God knows my heart" when we make no effort to change? It is like the man who claims to be a skydiver who has never gone up in the plane! We cannot give God our hearts without giving him our lives. We cannot put our faith in Jesus, yet continue to live for ourselves.
--PG
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Great article Patrick!
ReplyDeleteTo pick up on your last point (I can't copy and past for some reason) . . .
"We cannot give God our hearts without giving him our lives. We cannot put our faith in Jesus, yet contiue to live for ourselves"
In Matthew 16:24 Jesus says to His disciples, "If anyone would come after me let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me".
That deny in the greek is total renunciation of oneself, a refusal to associate with yourself any longer. And "take up your cross" to that audience (first century, Jews, under Roman occupation) meant one thing. Death, crucifiction, execution. We must put ourselves (our desires, personal pursuits, etc . . .) to death to be a disciple of Christ.
Verse 25. "For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake will find it."
If you want to keep your life, forget being a disciple of Christ.
In Gal. 2:20 Paul said it is no longer he who was living but Christ who lived in him. He also said in Gal 6:14 that he was crucified to the world and the world was cricified to him.
I just read a great illustration of the belief, trust concept. There was a tight rope walker who pushed a wheelbarrow with 150 pounds of potatoes in it across two high rise buildings. When he came down he asked the crowd, "do you believe I can push a man sitting in the wheelbarrow across the rope?" The crowd screamed "Yes!" Then the the performer asked, "Who will be my first volunteer?". Total silence from the crowd. They all believed he could do it, but no one would trust him with their life to climb into that wheelbarrow.
And that "climbing into the wheelbarrow" is an action, it is doing something. Trust requires action. The question is what does God require of us as an action in regards to trusting in His son?
Yes!
ReplyDeleteI guess its like Mr. White says when he talked about giving. If God really has your heart, then He will have your wallet, and by extension everything else that is yours too, including your obedience.
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