WE CANNOT SEPARATE DOING FROM BELIEVING AS MANY WANT TO DO

In the Myth of Certainty, Daniel Taylor makes the absurd claim that:

• “Faith in God, then, is not a belief system to defend but a life to live out!”

Taylor is half-right. Christianity is a “life to live out.” However, we cannot live this life out without instructions and the rationale or reasons to believe in these instructions – the Word of God.

For Jesus, bearing fruit – living the life – had to begin with embracing the Word of life. In His Parable of the Sower, Seeds and Soils, He highlighted the primacy of His Word for bearing fruit in His conclusion:

• “As for that in the good soil, they are those who, hearing the word, hold it fast in an honest and good heart, and bear fruit with patience.” (Luke 8:15; ESV)

In order to bear, they first had to hear and then adhere:

• “Take care then how you hear, for to the one who has, more will be given, and from the one who has not, even what he thinks that he has will be taken away… My mother and my brothers are those who hear the word of God and do it.” (Luke 8:18, 21) 

According to Jesus, loving Him and living out the life He prescribed wasn’t possible without keeping His Word:

• “If you love me, you will keep my commandments.” (John 14:15)

Therefore, for the Christian, love isn’t a matter of living a “virtuous” life but rather, through faith, the life that He had commanded. Therefore, Jesus parting words commissioned His Apostles to “to observe all that I [Jesus] have commanded you.”

• “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you.” (Matthew 28:19-20)

Clearly, this is not Taylor’s commission!