What Is Faith?.

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I don't suppose there is a word used more often than "faith," in the Christian religion. The Protestant Reformation seems to have left us with the saying, "the righteous shall live by faith." Perhaps we have come to believe that living by faith has something especially to do with the new covenant, the Christian salvation. It doesn't! The expression itself came from the Old Testament, while people were under the Law of Moses.

(5/29/2006) What is faith? A good question. We have several different answers today, some of which are not scriptural.

We speak of the "Baptist faith" or the "Pentecostal faith." Perhaps "persuasion" would be a more acceptable term. A denomination may draw up a "Statement of Faith." Perhaps "theological position" would be a more fitting description.

Ordinarily when we speak of "our faith," or "we are saved by faith," we are referring to our belief system, not to what the Bible means by saving faith.

Sometimes faith is used as a kind of magic. If we had enough faith we could work miracles. It is as though if we would apply ourselves with enough determination we could make changes in the physical world by believing our desires into existence.

Did Jesus say, "If we had faith we could speak to a mountain and it would obey us"?

Yes, He did. But this is not an invitation to presumption. Jesus was marvelling at how far we have fallen from the heavenly romance that was true in Eden—the blending of the physical and spirit realms.

There is a fairly recent trend involving "faith" to gain wealth. This is comparable to Satan advising Jesus to make bread from stones.

Then we have "speaking the creating word," imaging, "name it and claim it," getting what we want now. This is an adventure into the metaphysical realm. It is faith in faith, not faith in Christ. In the last days this approach will develop into the False Prophet, mentioned in the Book of Revelation, if I am hearing the Lord correctly.

The most destructive error of all is the contemporary notion that God accepts "faith" as an alternative to righteous behavior. We are saved by "faith" rather than by works, meaning that if we believe the theological facts concerning the Lord Jesus Christ it is not critically necessary that we become a new creation of righteous behaviour, revealing in our personality the Character of Christ. Can you imagine! We are making belief in Christ a substitute for moral transformation. This is totally destructive of God's intention in giving us the new covenant.

In the eleventh chapter of the Book of Hebrews, which is a long definition of "the righteous shall live by faith," we find that belief in doctrine is not mentioned. This chapter is an account of works—not works to earn the favor of God, but works of obedience coming from the faith that proceeds from a righteous conscience, or from the will of God revealed to the individual. "In the past God spoke to our forefathers through the prophets at many times and in various ways, (Hebrews 1:1)

Furthermore, all the examples, found in Hebrews, Eleven, are from the Old Testament, going back to Abel. We learn what saving faith is from people of previous covenants.

If we would take all the examples mentioned in this chapter we could induce a scriptural definition of what the Bible means by "we are saved by faith."

The eleventh chapter of Hebrews begins with a definition of faith. Four aspects are set forth:

Faith is a substance.

Faith is the substance of things hoped for.

Faith believes that God exists.

Faith is persuaded that God rewards those who seek Him fervently.

We notice immediately that faith is much more than belief in the theological facts concerning the Lord Jesus. It becomes apparent that faith is a way of life, a continual seeking of the Lord. The righteous live by faith. This is how they live, not just what they believe.

We would suggest there are many ingredients that go to make up biblical faith:

A strong love for God probably is the most important part of faith.

Obedience to God's commandments in the New Testament and His specific will revealed to us personally is such an essential part of true faith that obedience may be considered a synonym of faith.

Confidence in God is part of faith.

Trust in God's faithful Character enables us to survive when our outlook is grim.

Courage is a necessary ingredient of faith. When people fear Satan they incur the displeasure of Christ. He is a King and He is Jealous!

The wholesome fear of God is included in faith. Noah prepared an ark because he feared God. The individual who does not fear the result of disobeying God is ignorant and foolish. True faith in God reminds us that God is able to bring us into exceedingly great pain. Better to pluck out our eye than to be cast into the fire, Jesus warned.

Humility is an important aspect of faith. The just live by humble faith rather than by their pride and self-confidence.

Optimism is a part of faith. The continually pessimistic, negative individual reveals his lack of faith in the goodness and power of God.

Patience is an ingredient in the compound of faith. Patience has its perfect work as we wait patiently and confidently for the Lord.

Perseverance also is important. If we would enter the rest of God we must keep on turning away from our own ambitions and plans and look to Christ for every decision we make. There can be no turning back from this.

Related to perseverance is a willingness to keep making our requests known to the Lord until we "pray through." Of course, all such importunity is tempered with, "Not my will but Yours be done." The modern approach of the presumptuous believer is not to say, "Your will be done." By this position he reveals his ignorance of true faith—that it moves solely in God's will, not in the will of the individual.

Faith is a gift from God, as we learn in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Romans.

There is a time for boldness, when we know we are performing the work with which we have been charged by the Lord. How then shall we sum up "faith"? What is its heart?

I would venture that the above ingredients are best summed up in the concept of communion with the Lord; abiding in Christ.

Without faith no individual can please God. Enoch, Noah, Job, and Daniel pleased God. Therefore they had faith. We understand from this that faith is not some new and magical theological formula by which we please God apart from walking with Him and obeying Him sternly and completely.

How did Enoch please God? By walking with God.

How did Noah please God? By being a righteous man in his conduct, and then by obeying God in the matter of the Ark. How did Job please God? First, by being a thoroughly righteous man. Second, by humbly repenting when he realized he did not know the Lord as well as he thought.

How did Daniel please God? By setting himself apart from Babylon by continual prayer and a holy life. Daniel's faith brought him into the lions' den, and then out again safely.

We see, then, that Bible faith, the faith by which we are saved, is not a light head-believe in the facts concerning Jesus Christ. If the four men mentioned above knew Christ, it certainly is not mentioned in the text of the Bible.

What role, then, does Christ play in our faith? God told us to hear His Son, Jesus Christ, and we would be saved from wrath and brought into the Presence of God. When Enoch, Noah, Job, and Daniel, having died and now living in the spirit world, were told of God's edict concerning Christ, we can be certain they believed and obeyed. This they always did and always shall do. They are men of faith.

The weak, silly belief system that is advanced today is not faith. In many instances it does not produce Enochs, or Noahs, or Jobs, or Daniels. It has little in common with these heroes of faith. Rather immature, self-cantered babies fill the Christian churches, claiming God is required to bring them to Heaven in a "rapture" so they will not be inconvenienced by Antichrist or the Great Tribulation.

I have just described a pathetic condition—one that is largely ignorant of the bloody footprints left in the snow by God's true saints. It indeed is a pitiful condition. What shall God have to do if the worldly, self-seeking "Christians" of our day are to see the necessity for denying themselves, taking up their cross, and following Christ throughout the age of moral and physical horrors that is on the horizon?

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