4a. Faith Towards God

Having come to an understanding of GRACE, we now need to come to an understanding of another key Christian concept which is closely related, and that is FAITH.

We could say that grace and faith are two sides of a coin, because the one is only effective while the other is in play.

The relationship between them is expressed well by Paul in the following passage:

In the article on grace we considered a fictitious event to illustrate the difference between JUSTICE, MERCY, and GRACE. Let’s go back to that story and think for a minute about how the poor boy might react to the offer of help.

The boy in the story might well say, “But, I don’t deserve this; I should be punished for what I’ve done.” Or he might say, “I can’t accept this, because I can’t afford to pay you back”.

In both cases he’s thinking in terms of justice, and in terms of justice he is quite right – he does not deserve it and he cannot pay it back.

However, in terms of grace it is because he does not deserve it and because he cannot pay it back that the offer is being made.

So what does the lad need to do? He needs simply to believe that the offer that is being made is genuine and to receive it with gratitude.

In Biblical terms, he needs to receive it by FAITH.

So, What is Faith?

A common misconception is that faith means believing something despite the fact that either (a) there is no evidence for it, or (b) the available evidence contradicts it. This would mean that anyone who lived by faith was very foolish. This is clearly not the case, as there are many very intelligent people who base their lives on faith in Christ.

On the other hand, there are many who do live their lives believing what cannot be proven – some of them are Christians, but many of them are of some other persuasion. For instance, there is a vast number of people who believe that life appeared on the earth without any help from God – and are unable to prove it (except, of course, to say that God could not have been involved because there is no God – which they are also unable to prove).

We do not normally consider such people to be people of faith.

The word 'faith' is used in a number of different ways in the scriptures, but before we consider these we will look at the New Testament Greek word that is normally translated by our English word 'faith'.

The Greek word is 'pistis' (number G4102 in Strong's Concordance), which comes from the verb 'pitho' (number G3982) which means 'to convince (by argument)'.

'Pistis' literally means 'persuasion', and is translated not only as 'faith' but also as 'assurance' (Acts 17:31), 'belief' (2 Thessalonians 2:13), and 'fidelity' (Titus 2:10).

The verb derived from 'pistis' is 'pisteuo' (number G4100), which is normally translated 'believe'. It means to have faith in, to trust, or to entrust oneself to.

So when Paul instructs the Philippian jailer to "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved" (Acts 16:31), he does not mean, "give verbal assent to the assertion that Jesus Christ exists".

What he does mean is, "entrust your own life and the lives of those of your household to the Lord Jesus Christ and rely upon His authority and power to save you, and He will save you because He is faithful to His promises, He is totally reliable, and He will never let you down".

(It's a lot easier to say "believe" than to say all that, especially when you're in a hurry, as Paul was that night!)

Clearly, if 'faith' is the result of 'persuasion', then before you can come to the place of faith, or belief, there must be something said or done to persuade you.

Throughout the Bible, both Old Testament and New, we see that God employs two methods of persuasion: words and wonders. With Abraham He used words (e.g. Genesis chapter 15), but with Moses He used wonders (e.g. Exodus 4:1-17). In the ministries of Jesus and the Apostles, both were used (e.g. John 5:36; 10:38; 14:11; 2 Corinthians 5:11).

There is never any expectation or requirement in the Scriptures that anyone should believe something without having either a convincing argument presented to them, or clear evidence demonstrated to them, or the assurance given that the person bringing the message is a credible and reliable witness.

Our faith is not based on myth and fable, but on sound reason and incontestable proof

In fact, there are two stages to faith.

The first stage brings us to the recognition and acceptance of the existence of God, of His supremacy in all things, of His total trustworthiness and reliability, and the total trustworthiness and reliability of the Bible as the revealed word of God.

The second stage of faith is moving on from there to base our lives upon the revealed will of God rather than upon our own ambitions or desires. In this second stage we believe not because of evidence or proof, but we believe because we have total confidence in God and in His word. As someone has said, "God said it; I believe it; that settles it".

The writer of the letter to the Hebrews gives us a definition of faith in Hebrews 11:1. Here it is in five different translations from the Greek:

• “Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.” (KJV)
• “Now faith is confidence in what we hope for and assurance about what we do not see.” (NIV)
• “To have faith is to be sure of the things we hope for, to be certain of the things we cannot see.” (Good News Bible)
• “The fundamental fact of existence is that this trust in God, this faith, is the firm foundation under everything that makes life worth living. It's our handle on what we can't see.” (The Message)
• “NOW FAITH is the assurance (the confirmation, the title deed) of the things [we] hope for, being the proof of things [we] do not see and the conviction of their reality [faith perceiving as real fact what is not revealed to the senses].” (AMP)

The Christian life is not all about here and now, but neither is it all about pie in the sky.

A businessman invests money time and effort into a project that he hopes will provide him with a profit after maybe five or ten years. If he was not confident of a healthy return, he would never invest.

A Christian is someone who invests money time and effort into a life that he hopes will provide him with not a material benefit but a spiritual benefit at some future time, he does not know when. If he did not believe that in the end he would be better off, he would never have committed himself to following Christ.

The businessman knows exactly what he expects as a return. He has it written into his business plan. But for the Christian it is not so clear:

We do not yet see; we do not yet know; and yet we are confident that whatever we are to become “we shall be like him”. This is the Christian’s highest aspiration and greatest hope. And it is not an empty or forlorn hope, because we have faith that God, who said that it would be so, will make it so. And so this faith is the confidence and assurance that what we hope for but cannot see will, for certain, become the reality in its appointed time.

Why do I need faith?

The answer to this question is given very simply in Hebrews 11:6:

Let’s review for a moment what was said in Hebrews 6:1 about the two foundational doctrines: repentance from dead works and faith toward God.

This letter was written to people who had been brought up under the Law of Moses and who had learned that if they wanted to approach God, they had to do so in a clearly prescribed manner. There was a temple, there were priests, there was an altar, and there were sacrifices. Everything had to be done according to the strict letter of the ceremonial law.

However, this ritual observance did not draw the people into the close and intimate relationship with God that He wanted them to have.

In fact, if anything, the law had the effect of keeping people at a distance from God. He was hidden inside a temple that no-one but the priests could enter, and inside the Holy of Holies, the inner sanctuary, that no-one but the High Priest was allowed to enter, and then only once per year on the Day of Atonement, and he had to have a cloud of incense before his face so that he might not see the glory of God.

The ceremonial law, with all of its rituals, did not bring life to the people – it actually brought death. This is what the writer to the Hebrews means when he refers to repentance from “dead works” – that is, empty rituals and religious observances that keep you at a distance from God instead of bringing you closer to Him. He is telling the people that they have to abandon the old legalism and embrace a new way of approaching God – the way of faith.

And yet, the way of faith is not a new way. Throughout the Old Testament we are introduced to men and women who walked with God in a life of faith. Hebrews chapter 11 lists a number of them, and there were many more.

What is new is that since Jesus came to the earth, the way of faith is now the only way that we have of approaching God and relating to Him.

Why is this so? Why is faith the only way to approach God?

Go back to the illustration of the boy caught stealing food from the kitchen. The only way that he can receive forgiveness for what he has done is to repent, as has already been explained fully in the previous article.

But if he does not steal, how is he ever going to be able to feed himself? He has no money, he has no job, and no-one would employ him because he is in no fit state to work. What can he do?

He has only one option – he has to accept grace. And if he is going to accept grace, he has to trust the person who is reaching out and offering it to him. If he does not trust, he will not receive.

If you say to him, “Eat as much as you want!” and he does not trust you, but thinks you are trying to trick him or trap him, he will not eat a morsel. Instead, he will be looking for an opportunity to escape from you.

However, if he decides to trust you and take you at your word, he will sit down and eat until he bursts.

This is how it is between us and God.

Spiritually we are destitute, like the boy in the kitchen. We are totally unable to do anything for ourselves. We are totally dependent upon the grace of God. All of our “good works” that we might try to do to win God’s favour are nothing but “dead works”. The only hope that we have is to have faith in God and to receive the grace that He offers us.

In Galatians 5:11, Paul talks about the offence of the cross? What does he mean by this? Why is the cross an offence?

The message of the cross is that you and I, of ourselves, are totally helpless and unable to do anything to save ourselves. We can do good works, discipline ourselves, give away all of our money, deny ourselves every earthly pleasure, and fast until we drop, but we will be no further forward. The only hope that we have is His grace working through our faith.

Our nature is such that we want always to be independent, self-sufficient, paying our own way, in control of our own destiny, captain of our own ship (and maybe someone else’s as well!)

The message of the cross is a message that offends our pride by telling us that we are helpless and hopeless.

Our nature rises up and we try to prove ourselves, to justify ourselves, to make an impression.

Before God we will always fail, because, as Hebrews 11:6 tells us, there is only one way to please God – You have to have faith in Him.

How do I get faith?

The American evangelist Dwight L. Moody said, “I prayed for faith and thought it would come down and strike me like lightning, but faith didn’t seem to come. Then one day I read in the tenth chapter of Romans that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. I closed my Bible and prayed for faith. Then I opened my Bible and began to study – and faith has been growing ever since.”

There are two Greek words which are both translated into English as 'word'. One is logos (G3056 in Strong’s) and the other is rhema (G4487 in Strong’s), and in both cases the translation 'word' does not quite do the Greek word justice. The traditional Christian understanding of these words is:

• LOGOS refers to the general message of the Gospel as we find it in the Scriptures, which applies equally in all times and seasons. “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven” (Psalm 119:89)
• RHEMA refers to a specific message, which applies to a particular time, place, person, or circumstance

Moody experienced both of these 'words' in his pursuit of faith.

Logos – A saying, a speech, a message, an explanation; something which leads toward understanding, and which must be thought about or studied.

Logos as the word, or the message, of God is well illustrated in the Parable of the Sower (found in Matthew 13:19-23 and Luke 8:11-15. Compare Matthew 13:19 to Luke 8:12, then compare Matthew 13:23 to Luke 8:15.)

Matthew tells us that the key to the logos of God being effective in our lives and developing faith within us is understanding. The logos is only effective when the heart is “honest and good” (Luke 8:15 KJV). Moody discovered that as he opened his heart to the word of God through study, meditation, and prayer, faith grew and blossomed over time. This is why Jesus cries out on many occasions, “he who has ears to hear let him hear!” (Matthew 11:15; 13:9; 13:43; Mark 4:9; 4:23; 7:16; Luke 8:8; 14:35)

Rhema – A command (Hebrews 11:3), an instruction (Luke 5:5), or a specific piece of information (Matthew 26:75) which demands a response.

If you read Romans 10:5-17, you will find the words that spoke to Moody: “faith comes through hearing, and hearing through the word of God” (v 17 KJV) - the 'rhema' of God. In verses 8, 9, 10, and 13 you will also find the responses that the rhema of God demands of us.

Moody had no doubt read this passage many times, but on this occasion the words, as we sometimes say, “stood out from the page” and convicted his heart. The logos by itself is not enough to bring you to faith; you also need the rhema to challenge your heart and stir you to action.

As a point of interest, certain Greek philosophers, and some first century Jewish philosophers, used the term logos to refer to an unknown and unknowable 'something' which mediates between the spiritual world and the material world. Apostle John adopts this idea and tells us that this 'logos' is, in fact, the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ (John 1:1, 14), who is the one mediator between God and man (1 Timothy 2:5). However, in Hebrews 1:3 his “word of power”, which upholds the universe, is rhema.

When God speaks, His purpose is to impart something of value to you. He does not talk for the sake of talking, and does not indulge in idle conversation. It may be encouragement, comfort, or edification; it may be knowledge, understanding, or wisdom; it may be guidance or direction; it may be reproof or praise.

Whatever it is that God says to you, and by whatever means he says it (through a scripture reading, through a preacher, through someone’s prayer, through the counsel of a friend, or by speaking directly into your heart), it is the meaning that is important, and the effect that it has upon your life, and not the method used to convey the message, or even the chosen messenger.

When God speaks to you, the message comes with a certain persuasiveness, a certain weight. Paul says to the Corinthians, “Two or three prophets should speak, and the others should weigh carefully what is said” (1 Corinthians 14:29 NIV).

God’s word is weighty, and those who are experienced in the things of the spirit know how to assess whether this is God speaking or not. If the message comes out of the mind of the speaker it will be light and without substance. Even worse, if it comes from an unholy spirit – a demon – it may come with power but it will lack the stamp of Divine authority that a true word of God carries.

When you hear the rhema of God, it will have the effect of persuading or convincing you that what is being said is true and right. When this happens, faith is born as a natural consequence. You are persuaded, you are convinced, and so you believe.

Unfortunately, the conviction may be short-lived. More often than not, very soon after you have heard the word, doubts will begin to arise in your mind. “Was that really God?” “Did I understand that correctly?” “Maybe I should ask someone else’s opinion, in case I’ve got it wrong.” “God probably wouldn’t want to speak to me, anyway.” And so on.

When God sows a seed of truth in someone’s heart, the Devil is never very far away, trowel in hand, wanting to dig up that seed and destroy it. We see it with Eve (Genesis 3:1), and we see it with Jesus himself (Matthew 4:3,6). Jesus even warns us about it in the parable of the sower (Matthew 13:3-4,19).

However, the good news is that we don’t have to deal with this on our own. According to Hebrews 12:2, Jesus is the pioneer and perfecter of our faith (NIV), its author and finisher (KJV), its founder and perfector (ESV), the one who leads us into believing and brings us safely through to the other side, just as a shepherd leads his flock “through the valley of the shadow of death” (Psalm 23:4) and brings them safely to abundant pastures and a gently flowing stream.

Does this mean that Jesus somehow “injects” faith into us, so that we can only have faith if He makes it happen, and are doomed to be life-long sceptics if He does not?

This is clearly not the case, because there are a number of occasions recorded in the Gospels where Jesus commends people for having faith (e.g. Matthew 8:10) and rebukes others for not having faith (e.g. Matthew 8:26).

On the other hand, just before he is taken away to be crucified he assures Peter that he has prayed that Peter’s faith should not fail (Luke 22:32). Paul also tells us that God assigns to each one a measure of faith (Romans 12:3). How are we to understand this?

Remember that faith is about being persuaded or convinced, and that faith comes through hearing the word of God. Consider also that people talk about “the conviction of the Holy Spirit”. This is normally referred to in relation to sinners being convinced of their need to repent, but the Holy Spirit also convicts, or convinces, righteous men and women of their need to share their faith with a neighbour, or look for a new job, or contribute financially to a particular ministry or project, or go to a foreign land as a missionary, or a hundred and one other things.

In every case, the conviction brings with it the assurance that no matter how unwise this course of action might appear from the outside, it is in fact the most sensible thing to do, simply because it is a directive from God, who is perfect in wisdom and never makes a mistake. (A good example of this is Noah building a boat when there was no water for it to float in!)

We, however, do make mistakes from time to time, and occasionally what we think was the leading of God’s Spirit turns out not to be so. In this case, we hopefully learn from our mistake and become more discerning next time around. The important thing is that we do not throw out the baby with the bath-water and refuse to ever step out in faith again because one time we got it wrong (Psalm 37:23-24).

In Hebrews 12:2 we look unto Jesus as the outstanding example to us of a life of faith, but He is much more than that. For example, consider what is said about Him in Hebrews 10:11-23.

Jesus is the pioneer, the one who broke through the barrier to make the way for us to follow after him, who has provided a new and living way to bring us into the presence of Almighty God, not to be judged by Him but to be welcomed by Him with open arms – forgiven, cleansed, and adopted as His sons.

He is the founder, pioneer, or author, of our faith in that he is the one who has given us something to believe in – not an empty myth or fable, but the reality of His sacrifice for us, His substitutionary atoning death on the cross, and His miraculous resurrection three days later. If Jesus had not died on the cross and risen again, we would have nothing to believe in, and no hope of salvation.

He is the founder, author, or pioneer, of our faith in that He takes the initiative to speak to us by His word and by the Holy spirit to convince us of the truth of the gospel and the reality of the hope that there is for us, if we will only put our trust in His faithfulness and commit our lives to Him.

He is the finisher, or perfecter, of our faith in that He is the one who will bring to completion that which He has begun in our lives (see Philippians 1:6). “By one sacrifice he has made perfect for ever those who are being made holy” (Hebrews 10:14).

One of the conundrums of the Christian way is that we have been made perfect, but are being made perfect; we have been made holy, but are being made holy; we have been saved, but are being saved.

Jesus initiated the process, and He will complete it, He will finish it, He will perfect it; and when He has done so, our faith, along with our holiness and our salvation, will be finished to perfection.

In the mean time, it is our responsibility to EXERCISE the faith that He has given us so that there is something there for Him to perfect!

Where Is Your Faith?

In Luke 8:22-25, we read that in the midst of a storm on the Sea of Galilee, while the disciples are panicking and fearing for their lives, Jesus calmly stands up, rebukes the storm, and sits down again. His question to the bamboozled disciples is, “Where is your faith?” Why did Jesus expect the disciples to have faith in this situation?

The answer is in verse 22, where Jesus had said to them, “Let us go over to the other side of the lake.” It was obviously Jesus’ intention to get to the other side. He had no plans to end up at the bottom of the lake. He was totally calm, even as the boat filled with water. Why?

Because he knew that God was not going to allow him to die this way. He had a destiny, and that destiny was not yet accomplished, therefore it was inevitable that he would survive the journey. Had the disciples been thinking the same way as Jesus, they also would have been in faith, and probably one of them would have stood up and successfully rebuked the storm – which is exactly what Jesus had wanted them to do!

We often find fault with Peter for saying the wrong thing at the wrong time and causing more problems than he solved. However, in Matthew 14:22-33 we see the positive side of Peter’s impetuousness.

Peter knew that physically it was impossible for him to walk on the water, but he also knew that if he stepped out not on the water, but on the word of Jesus, he would not sink. And he was proved right!

Abraham is referred to by Paul as “the man of faith” (Galatians 3:9), and he is probably the person who comes to mind first when we think of the heroes of faith. He “believed the Lord, and He credited it to him as righteousness” (Genesis 15:6 NIV). Some 13 years later, Abraham saw the beginning of the Lord’s fulfilment of that promise, when Sarah, at the age of 90, gave birth to her first child – Isaac, the child of promise.

The Hebrew name Isaac (‘yits-hawk’) means 'laughter'. Both Abraham (Genesis 17:17) and Sarah (Genesis 18:12) laughed when they heard that God intended them to have a child together at their stage of life. However, the last laugh was the Lord’s, when Isaac was born the following year as promised. It was God who performed the miracle, but the miracle would not have occurred had Abraham and Sarah not taken God at His word and, in faith, done what was physically necessary for them to do as well.

Jonah is not a name that would normally be associated with faith. On the contrary, we think of him as the man who ran away from God’s call and had to be swallowed alive, and then regurgitated, by a whale before he would humble himself and be obedient to the divine command (Jonah 1:1-17; 2:10). But we have to ask ourselves why Jonah ran away.

God instructed him to “go to Nineveh, that great city, and cry against it, for their wickedness is come up before me” (Jonah 1:1 KJV).

Jonah hated the Ninevites. Nineveh was the capital city of the nation of Assyria, which some years later came up against Israel and destroyed the northern kingdom, taking many of the people captive and importing people from a number of other nations to replace them (2 Kings 17:6, 24). One would have thought that Jonah would have been more than happy to “cry against it” in the name of the Lord. When he did eventually get there, his message was very simple: “Yet forty days, and Nineveh will be overthrown!” (Jonah 3:3-4)

From these two verses we can deduce that the city had a circumference of about 60 miles (3 days’ journey), and that Jonah entered at one side, walked straight through the middle, and out the other side – a distance of 1 day’s journey, or approximately 20 miles – preaching his message of condemnation as he went. Having done his job, he sat down on the other side of the city to see what would become of it (Jonah 4:5). However, he already knew in his heart what would happen (Jonah 3:10-4:3). Look at chapter 3 verse 2:

In other words, Jonah knew that if he were to declare the judgement of God to the Assyrians, they might repent; and if they were to repent of their sins, God would forgive them and not destroy Nineveh after all.

Whatever we might say about Jonah’s attitude towards the Ninevites, we can see that he was very clearly a man of faith.

By the way, if you would like a bit more evidence of the depth of Jonah’s faith in God, read through Jonah chapter 2, paying particular attention to verses 2, 4, 6, 7, and 9. Where did Jonah think he was?

Interestingly, the word 'faith' is used in different ways in the Bible to mean a variety of different things. So, let's have a look at these different Types of Faith.