FAITH
Faith is a word with many meanings. It can mean faithfulness (Matthew 24:45). It can mean absolute trust, as shown by some of the people who came to Jesus for healing (Luke 7:2-10). It can mean confident hope (Hebrews 11:1). Or, as James points out, it can even mean a barren belief that does not result in good works (James 2:14-26). What does Paul mean when, in Romans, he speaks of saving faith?
We must be very careful to understand faith as Paul uses the word, because he ties faith so closely to salvation. It is not something we must do in order to earn salvation--if that were true, then faith would be just one more work, and Paul clearly states that human works can never save us (Galatians 2:16). Instead, faith is a gift God gives us because he is saving us (Ephesians 2:8). It is God's grace, not our faith, that saves us. In his mercy, however, when he saves us he gives us faith--a relationship with his Son that helps us become like him. Through the faith he gives us, he carries us from death into life (John 5:24).
Even in Old Testament times grace, not works, was the basis of salvation. As Hebrews point out, "it is not possible for the blood of bulls and goats really to take away sins" (10:4). God intended for his people to look beyond the animal sacrifices to him, but all too often they, instead, put their confidence in fulfilling the requirements of the law--that is, performing the required sacrifices. When Jesus triumphed over death, he cancelled the charges against us and opened the way to the Father (Colossians 2:12-15). Because he is merciful, he offers us faith. How tragic is we turn faith into a work and try to develop it on our own! We can never come to God through our own faith, any more than his Old Testament people could come through their own sacrifices. Instead, we must accept his gracious offer with thanksgiving and allow him to plant the seed of faith within us.
Matthew 24:45 "Are you a wise and faithful servant of the Lord? Have I given you the task of managing my household, to feed my children day by day? "
Luke 7:2-10 Just at that time the highly prized slave of a Roman army captain was sick and near death. When the captain heard about Jesus, he sent some respected Jewish elders to ask him to come and heal his slave. So they began pleading earnestly with Jesus to come with them and help the man. They told him what a wonderful person the captain was. "If anyone deserves your help, it is he," they said, "for he loves the Jews and even paid personally to build us a synagogue!" Jesus went with them; but just before arriving at the house, the captain sent some friends to say, "Sir, don't inconvenience yourself by coming to my home, for I am not worry of any such honor or even to come and meet you. Just speak a word from where you are, and my servant boy will be healed! I know, because I am under the authority of my superior officers, and I have authority over my men. I only need to say, `Go!' and they go; or `Come!' and they come; and to my slave, `Do this or that,' and he does it. So just say, `Be healed!' and my servant will be well again!" Jesus was amazed. Turning to the crowd he said, "Never among all the Jews in Israel have I met a man with faith like this." And when the captain's friends returned to his house, they found the slave completely healed.
John 5:24 "I say emphatically that anyone who listens to my message and believes in God who sent me has eternal live, and will never be damned for his sins, but has already passed out of death into life.
Galatians 2:16 ...and yet we Jewish Christians know very well that we cannot become right with God by obeying our Jewish laws, buy only by faith in Jesus Christ take away our sins. And so we, too, have trusted Jesus Christ, that we might be accepted by God because of faith--and not because we have obeyed the Jewish laws. For no one will ever by saved by obeying them."
Ephesians 2:8 Because of his kindness you have been saved through trusting Christ. And even trusting is not of yourselves; it too is a gift from God.
Colossians 2:12-15 For in baptism you see how your old, evil nature died with him and was buried with him; and then you came up out of death with him into a new life because you trusted the Word of the mighty God who raised Christ from the dead. You were dead in sins, and your sinful desires were not yet cut away. Then he gave you a share in the very life of Christ, for he forgave all your sins, and blotted out the charges proved against you, the list of his commandments which you had not obeyed. He took this list of sins and destroyed it by nailing it to Christ's cross. In this way God took away Satan's power to accuse you of sin, and God openly displayed to the whole world Christ's triumph at the cross where your sins were all taken away.
Hebrews 11:1 What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainly that what we hope for is waiting for us, even through we cannot see it up ahead.
James 2:14-26 Dear brothers, what's the use of saying that you have faith and are Christians if you aren't proving it by helping others? Will that kind of faith save anyone? If you have a friend who is in need of food and clothing, and you say to him, "Well, good-bye and God bless you; stay warm and eat hearty," and then don't give him clothes or food, what good does that do? So you see, it isn't enough just to have it. Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all--it is dead and useless. But someone may well argue, "You say the way to God is by faith alone, plus nothing; well, I day that good works are important too, for without good works you can't prove whether you have faith or not; but anyone can see that I have faith by the way I act." Are there still some among you who hold that "only believing" is enough? Believing in one God? Well, remember that the demons believe this too--so strongly that they tremble in terror! Fool! When will you ever learn that "believing" is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds in not real faith. Don't you remember that even our father Abraham was declared good because of what he did, when he was willing to obey God, even if it meant offering his son Issac to die on the altar? You see, he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made compete by what he did, by his actions, his good deeds. And so it happened just as the Scriptures say, that Abraham trusted God, and the Lord declared him good in God's sight, and he was even called "the friend of God." So you see, a man is saved by what he does, as well as by what he believes. Rahab, the prostitute, in another example of this. She was saved because of what she did when she hid those messengers and sent them safely away by a different road. Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds.
SOME BIBLE VERSES RELATING TO FAITH
...Abram believed God; then God considered him righteous on account of his faith.
Genesis 15:6
Is anything too hard for God?
Genesis 18:14
The Lord said to Moses, "When did I become weak?
Numbers 11:23
"Trust the Lord and sincerely worship him; think of all the tremendous things he has done for you.
1 Samuel 12:24
...when trouble strikes, you faint and are broken. At such a time as this should not trust in God still be your confidence? Shouldn't you believe that God will care for those who are good?
Job 4:5,6
If you are attacked and knocked down, you will know that there is someone who will lift you up again.
Job 22:29
Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it and he will.
Psalm 37:5
...we are not worried about what will happen to us. If we are thrown into the flaming furnace, our God is able to deliver us; and he will deliver us out of your hand.
Daniel 3:16,17
...`Blessed are those who don't doubt me."
Matthew 11:6
"Anything is possible if you have faith."
Mark 9:23
No one has ever actually seen God, but, of course, his only Son has, for he is the companion of the Father and has told us all about him.
John 1:18
...blessed are those who haven't seen me and believe anyway."
John 20:29
...God makes us ready for heaven--makes us right in God's sight--when we put our faith and trust in Christ to save us. This is accomplished from start to finish by faith. As the Scripture says it, "The man who finds life will find it through trusting God."
Romans 1:17
...the more we know of God's laws, the clearer it becomes that we aren't obeying them; his laws serve only to make us see that we are sinners. But now God has shown us a different way to heaven--not by "being good enough" and trying to keep his laws, but by a new way (though not new, really, for the Scriptures told about it long ago). Now God says he will accept and acquit us--declare us "not guilty"--if we trust Jesus Christ to take away our sins. And we can be saved in this same way, by coming to Christ, no matter who we are or what we have been like. Yes, all have sinned; all fall short of God's glorious ideal; yet now God declares us "not
guilty" of offending him if we trust in Jesus Christ, who in his kindness freely takes away our sins. For God sent Christ Jesus to take the punishment for our sins and to end all God's anger against us.
Romans 3:20-25
...what can we boast about doing, to earn our salvation? Nothing at all. Why? Because our acquittal is not based on our good deeds; it is based on what Christ has done and our faith in him. So it is that we are saved by faith in Christ and not by the good things we do.
Romans 3:27,28
God treats us all the same; all, whether Jew or Gentiles, are acquitted if they have faith. Well then, if we are saved by faith, does this mean that we no longer need obey God's laws? Just the opposite! In fact, only when we trust Jesus can we truly obey him.
Romans 3:30,31
...God declares sinners to be good in his sight if they have faith in Christ to save them from God's wrath.
Romans 4:5
The only way we can keep from breaking laws is not to have any to break! So God's blessings are given to us by faith, as a free gift;...
Romans 4:15,16
God will accept all people in every nation who trust God as Abraham did. And this promise is from God himself, who makes the dead live again and speaks of future events with as much certainty as through they were already past.
Romans 4:17
...since we have been made right in God's sight by faith in his promises, we can have real peace with him because of what Jesus Christ our Lord has done for us. For because of our faith, he has brought us into his place of highest privilege where we now stand, and we confidently and joyfully look forward to actually becoming all that God has had in mind for us to be. We can rejoice, too, when we run into problems and trials for we know that they are good for us--they help us learn to be patient. And patience develops strength of character in us and helps us trust God more each time we use it until finally our hope and faith are strong and steady. Then, when that happens, we are able to hold our heads high no matter what happens and know that all is well, for we know how dearly God loves us, and we feel this warm love everywhere within us because God has given us the Holy Spirit to fill our hearts with his love.
Romans 5:1-4
We are saved by trusting. And trusting means looking forward to getting something we don't yet have--for a man who already has something doesn't need to hope and trust that he will get it. But if we must keep trusting God for something that hasn't happened yet, it teaches us to wait patiently and confidently.
Romans 8:24,25
...faith comes from listening to this Good News--the Good News about Christ.
Romans 10:17
...we beg you, as through Christ himself were here pleading with you, receive the love he offers you--be reconciled to God.
2 Corinthians 5:20
...we cannot become right with God by obeying our Jewish laws, but only by faith in Jesus Christ to take away our sins.
Galatians 2:16
...acceptance with God comes by believing in Christ.
Galatians 2:19
...God has said that the only way we can be right in his sight is by faith.
Galatians 3:11
The only way out is through faith in Jesus Christ; the way of escape is open to all who believe him.
Galatians 3:22
...we are all children of God through faith in Jesus Christ,
Galatians 3:26
...all we need is faith working through love.
Galatians 5:6
In every battle you will need faith as your shield to stop the fiery arrows aimed at you by Satan.
Ephesians 6:16
...become one with him, no longer counting on being saved by being good enough or by obeying God's laws, but by trusting Christ to save me; for God's way of making us right with himself depends on faith--counting on Christ alone.
Philippians 3:9
What is faith? It is the confident assurance that something we want is going to happen. It is the certainly that what we hope for is waiting for us, even through we cannot see it up ahead.
Hebrews 11:1
By faith--by believing God--we know that the world and the stars--in fact, all things--were made at God's command; and that they were all made from things that can't be seen.
Hebrews 11:3
You can never please God without faith, without depending on him. Anyone who wants to come to God must believe that there is a God and that he rewards those who sincerely look for him.
Hebrews 11:6
...because of his faith he became one of those God has accepted.
Hebrews 11:7
Stay away from the love of money; be satisfied with what you have. For God has said, "I will never, never fail you nor forsake you." That is why we can say without any doubt or fear, "The Lord is my Helper and I am not afraid of anything that mere man can do to me."
Hebrews 13:5,6
If you want to know what God wants you to do, ask him, and he will gladly tell you, for he is always ready to give a bountiful supply of wisdom to all who ask him; he will not resent it. But when you ask him, be sure that you really expect him to tell you, for a doubtful mind will be as unsettled as a wave of the sea and is driven and tossed by the wind; and every decision you then make will be uncertain, as you turn first this way, and then that. If you don't ask with faith, don't expect the Lord to give you any solid answer.
James 1:5-9
...it isn't enough just to have faith. You must also do good to prove that you have it. Faith that doesn't show itself by good works is no faith at all--it is dead and useless.
James 2:17
...without good works you can't prove whether you have faith or not;...
James 2:18
Fool! When will you ever learn that "believing" is useless without doing what God wants you to? Faith that does not result in good deeds is not real faith.
James 2:20
...he was trusting God so much that he was willing to do whatever God told him to; his faith was made complete by what the did, by his actions, his good deeds.
James 2:22
Just as the body is dead when there is no spirit in it, so faith is dead if it is not the kind that results in good deeds.
James 2:26
You love him even though you have never seen him; though not seeing him, you trust him; and even now you are happy with the inexpressible joy that comes from heaven itself.
1 Peter 1:8
Loving God means doing what he tells us to do, and really, that isn't hard at all; for every child of God can obey him, defeating sin and evil pleasure by trusting Christ to help him.
1 John 5:3,4
verses referenced
Genesis 15:6 18:14
Numbers 11:23
1 Samuel 12:24
Job 4:5,6 22:29
Psalm 37:5
Daniel 3:16,17
Matthew 11:6
Mark 9:23
John 1:18 20:29
Romans 1:17 3:20-25,27,28,30,31 4:5,15-17 5:1-4 8:24,25 10:17
2 Corinthians 5:20
Galatians 2:16,19 3:11,22,26 5:6
Ephesians 6:16
Philippians 3:9
Hebrews 11:1,3,6,7 13:5,6
James 1:5-9 2:17,18,2022,26
1 Peter 1:8
1 John 5:3,4
Scriptural reference:
The Living Bible