The Faith OF Christ

What kind of faith does God expect you to have? Most people think that they must “work up” faith through human effort. They see it as something from within that they can WILL themselves into possessing. This is terribly wrong and the Bible plainly says so. Do you realize that you can have the exact same faith that Christ possessed? You not only can—you MUST!

Notice: “Knowing that a man is not justified…but by the faith OF Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith OF Christ” (Gal. 2:16). This is an extremely important verse. It differentiates two vital points. First, it states that “we believe[d] in Jesus Christ”—this is something we do. Second, it is the faith OF Christ—Christ’s actual faith in us—that justifies us (makes us righteous). Most people never get this understanding straight. Faith starts with human belief, but must quickly move to the real faith OF Christ, which enters a person at the moment of baptism and conversion with the receiving of God’s Holy Spirit.

The Bible describes a certain temporary human faith that many people have. In the New Testament, when Christ healed people, none of them were converted. Yet, He sometimes told them, “your faith has made you whole” (Matt. 9:22) or “according to your faith be it unto you” (Mt 9:29). These people lacked God’s Spirit but they did have a temporary human faith that allowed Christ to heal them.

It is this growth FROM human faith TO the faith of Christ that Paul referred to when he said, “the righteousness of God is revealed from faith [human] to faith [of Christ in us]” (Rom. 1:17). If there was not human faith and the faith of Christ in us, how else could people go “from faith to faith”? If one is in a room, that person cannot go to a different room and still be in the same room. Do you see this point? It is the same with faith. Human faith is like a small room, which true Christians must leave to enter the great room of Christ’s faith working in them.

Human faith wavers continually and goes up and down according to how one feels at any given moment in time. It is much like a rollercoaster. When events seem positive or look good, human faith is up. When things look bad and the outcome of a matter appears gloomy, human faith disappears in an instant. God’s faith is permanent and does not waver. He requires that all who come to Him in prayer, with requests, do “not waver.” He considers all who waver to be unstable in everything they do, and says that they will receive nothing from Him (James. 1:6-8).

The Bible Contains Promises

Every time you demonstrate faith in God, it involves a specific promise. A promise can involve healing, answers to prayer, receiving blessings (James. 1:4-8), deliverance in a trial, guidance in a difficult decision and, most importantly, receiving salvation. In every instance, faith involves claiming a specific promise made by God. We will see the importance of searching His Word to find those promises.

Consider! Paul recorded, “Above all, taking the SHIELD of faith, wherewith you shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked” (Eph. 6:16). Now notice: “Every word of God is pure: He is a SHIELD unto them that put their trust in Him. Add you not unto His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar” (Prov. 30:5-6).

When put together, these two verses show that God, through faith, becomes a shield to all who trust in exactly what the Bible says. To doubt His Word, or to alter it in any way, is to call God a LIAR! That is serious! Understand. When God makes a promise, He keeps it. Human beings may break their promises, but God does not. If He tells you that He will do something for you, if you meet certain conditions, He will perform His promise. You have faith as an assurance that He will. So, browbeating yourself into faith is silly. It suggests that you doubt God will do His part after you have done yours. Faith is relaxed. It is calm. It is sure. Where most people might have great doubt, the person led by faith is confident that God is guiding the final outcome of matters.

When you claim a promise, expect it to be carried out by God. Do not try to figure out when or how He will do it. I have learned two things about answered prayer. First, God always answers my prayers, if I seek His Will, but second, He almost never answers them in the way that I expect. This is why walking by faith cannot include sight. “Looking” for God to answer prayer a certain way or in a certain timeframe is a waste of energy. Besides, it is far more important that God answers our prayers and fulfils His promises, than HOW He does it! And He always knows the best time and way to do it anyway.

Always Seek God’s Will

No promise of God can be claimed unless you have learned what the promise is. God promises some things and does not promise others. Therefore, the only way to know whether He has made a particular promise or not is to continually study His Word.

In any matter, always ask yourself, “What does the Bible say?”

Paul wrote, “Prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God” (Rom. 12:2). Proving involves study. Study involves effort. Then, knowledge of God’s promises brings confidence to those who pray about them. God is eager to bless people, but He cannot do this if people are ignorant of what He is willing to do. Paul also wrote, “Wherefore be you not unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is” (Eph. 5:17). Let’s face it. It is terribly “unwise” for people to live in ignorance of God’s promises. Why?

Because they cut themselves off from so much that He is willing to do for them! Therefore, you do not have to wonder about God’s will. His Word tells you His will on every single important aspect of life. (Take a moment to read II Timothy 3:14-17.) But this is not the only condition regarding faith.

Faith Has Other Conditions

As we have seen, most people believe that the only kind of “faith” needed for salvation is to “just believe.” It is popular to recite, “if you shall confess with your mouth…and believe in your heart…you shall be saved” and “for whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved” (Rom. 10:9, 13). But is this all there is to receiving salvation? Can it really be this easy? If so, then the Bible should be two verses long. The rest of it becomes unnecessary and can be thrown out!

It is amazing how millions of people are content to accept outright twisting of the Bible in order to practice a “Christianity” of their own devising. Peter wrote, “no prophecy of the scripture is of any private interpretation” (II Pet. 1:20), and this is true of every other Bible doctrine (Isa. 28:9-10). All the scriptures pertaining to any matter must be taken together in order to have the complete picture. Seizing “pet verses,” and taking them out of context, leads to deception, confusion and outright ignorance.

What about law, sin, grace, faith and works? How do these work together? Do they bring any requirements to those who practice true faith? Is faith alone sufficient for everything? Or do Christians have to obey God? Are there any works attached to salvation? Most people believe the answers to the last two questions are “no.” They want to believe that Christ “died for their sins,” and that they are saved by “faith alone” without doing anything about sin in their lives. Human nature does not want to obey God (Rom. 8:7). Yet Paul taught, “Not the HEARERS of the law are just before God, but the DOERS of the law shall be justified” (Rom. 2:13).

If the law is done away, then nobody can be guilty of sin. But Romans 3:23 states, “For all have sinned…” How is this possible if there is no law to be kept? Several things must be carefully considered. I John 3:4 states, “sin is the transgression of the law.” All professing Christians are certainly willing to acknowledge that Christ “died for their sins,” but they continue with the assumption that, because Christ died for past sins, they no longer need to worry about future ones. This is a ridiculous argument. Yet it has effectively swallowed hundreds of millions of professing Christians for nearly 2,000 years.

Now consider Ephesians 2:8-9: “For by grace are you saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast.” People love to quote this verse. It is also common for people to quote Romans 3:20: “Therefore by the deeds of the law there shall no flesh be justified in His sight…” Few are willing to read the very next phrase in Romans, which says, “for by the law is the knowledge of sin.” We could ask: What would be the purpose of having any law except for keeping it? Would its only purpose be to demonstrate that people may freely break it without worrying because Christ “died for their sins?”

The purpose of the law has never been to forgive sin or bring justification. (No law could do this.) This is what the blood of Christ is for—and it is why mankind needs a Saviour. The purpose of the law is to point out sin!

Consider the prison systems in most countries of the world. Convicted criminals are sometimes pardoned or their sentences are commuted. Others are released from prison early through what’s called “shock probation.” Are these people pardoned and released with the idea that they can re-enter society and repeat the EXACT SAME CRIMES that put them in prison? Of course not!

The very idea is absurd. The police would simply re-arrest them and incarcerate them again—probably with a stronger sentence! How is it that Christians can believe that the judgment of the great God of the universe then somehow requires less justice with His Law than do physical, civil authorities with theirs? It insults God to suggest that He would give His Son for people’s spiritual crimes (sins), only to see them continue in the very things that required Christ’s death.

What pitiful human logic!

To believe the deception that forgiveness, through Christ’s blood, permits people to freely break the law is hypocrisy. It not only insults God, and the intelligence of His Master Plan, it ignores the following extensive series of verses in James 2:1-26. These plain verses explain how law, sin, faith and works fit together.

Consider this longer passage carefully: “What does it profit, my brethren, though a man say he has faith, and have not works? Can faith save him?…Even so faith, if it has not works, is dead, being alone…I will show you my faith by my works. You believe that there is one God; you do well: the devils [demons] also believe, and tremble. But will you know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead? Was not Abraham our father justified by works, when he had offered Isaac his son upon the altar? See you how faith wrought with his works, and by works was faith made perfect?…You see then how that by works a man is justified, and not by faith only” (James 2:14, 17-22, 24).

Like the demons, many people do believe God exists. However, most of these same people donot tremble at the existence of God—which even demons do!

Remember, we must never “add to God’s Word,” because “every word of it is pure.” God says what He means and means what He says. The above verses do not teach that works save us. They do teach that faith must be accompanied by works. This is what Paul meant when he asked, “What then? Shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? GOD FORBID” (Rom. 6:15).

What about grace, faith and works? How do they work together? Notice again: “Shall we continue in sin [transgressing the law], that grace may abound? GOD FORBID. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?” (Rom. 6:1-2). The answer to Paul’s rhetorical question is obvious. We cannot. Finally, notice how the Bible asks, “Do we then make void the law through faith?” It answers its own question.

“GOD FORBID: yes, we ESTABLISH THE LAW” (Rom. 3:31). The ministers of this world may permit people to break God’s Law—usually because they want their congregation to pay them a salary—but GOD FORBIDS law-breaking!

The devil will not obey God’s Law because he hates it. Neither will “his ministers” (II Cor. 11:13-15). They deliberately ignore these verses and many others. They deceive people who seem to willingly accept their shallow arguments—arguments that are ignorant of the PLAIN TRUTH of Scripture.

Paul taught that God’s Law is holy, just, good and spiritual (Rom. 7:12, 14). It endures forever (Psa. 111:7-8) and is perfect (Psa. 19:7). James calls the Ten Commandments “the royal law…of liberty” (James. 2:8-12). Christ said it will never be done away (Matt. 5:17-19). Deceiving impostors teach that Christians must focus on “just having love,” while ignoring plain scriptures like Romans 13:10, which says, “Love is the fulfilling of the law.” (Also see I John 5:1-3.) No wonder the apostle John said that any who claim to “know Him [Christ], and keeps not the commandments, is a LIAR, and the truth is not in him” (I John 2:4).

Strong words! I have known many people who claimed to know Christ but did not keep the commandments. We now see how God views them.

It takes faith in Christ for the Christian to be able to keep God’s Law. Recall that Christ said that He could of His own self do “nothing,” and that the Father did the works in Him. Christ kept the Law perfectly, and a Christian “follow[s] His steps” (I Pet. 2:21).