WHAT IS FAITH?

This question might seem elementary. However, the elementary truths serve as the foundation of the entire edifice. Besides, there exists a lot of confusion about the nature of faith. Some wrongly claim that faith is just a matter of a mental assent to a body of truths.

First of all, faith is a gift from God:

·       For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one may boast. (Ephesians 2:8-9)

Paul claimed that even faith, at least initially, “is not of your own doing.” If we had produced it, we’d have reason to boast. But since it is given as a gift, we have absolutely no reason to boast about it.

Faith is the outgrowth of a regenerated heart. Unless the heart is renewed, we cannot have any appreciation of the things of God:

·       Jesus answered him, “Truly, truly, I say to you, unless one is born again he cannot see the kingdom of God.” (John 3:3)

According to Jesus, Nicodemus, the teacher of the Law who had come to visit Him, should have understood this from the OT:

·       “I [God] will give them one heart and one way, that they may fear me forever, for their own good and the good of their children after them. I will make with them an everlasting covenant, that I will not turn away from doing good to them. And I will put the fear of me in their hearts, that they may not turn from me.” (Jeremiah 32:39-40)

We are incapable of regenerating our heart and mind; God must do it for us. As our heart begins to be renewed, we begin to see what we had long suppressed - the glory of God and His Gospel:

·       “And I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. And I will remove the heart of stone from your flesh and give you a heart of flesh. And I will put my Spirit within you, and cause you to walk in my statutes and be careful to obey my rules.” (Ezekiel 36:26-27)

Faith should also be based upon evidence. Even Jesus told His disciples to not listen to Him unless His teachings were based upon the evidences of His miracles:

·       If I am not doing the works of my Father, then do not believe me; but if I do them, even though you do not believe me, believe the works, that you may know and understand that the Father is in me and I am in the Father.” (John 10:37-38; 5:31-38)

Faith should also come from the evidence of creation and our conscience (Romans 1:18-32; 2:14-16).

The Christian faith consists of a body of truths. Jesus warned His opponents:

·       …“You are from below; I am from above. You are of this world; I am not of this world. I told you that you would die in your sins, for unless you believe that I am he you will die in your sins.” (John 8:23-24; 6:24)

What we believe is so important that Paul had warned:

·       But even if we or an angel from heaven should preach to you a gospel contrary to the one we preached to you, let him be accursed. As we have said before, so now I say again: If anyone is preaching to you a gospel contrary to the one you received, let him be accursed. (Galatians 1:8-9)

However, there is more to faith than just a prescribed set of beliefs.

·       You believe that God is one; you do well. Even the demons believe—and shudder! (James 2:19; Mark 1:24)

Having the right beliefs by themselves will not save; nor is this a Biblical faith. A real faith will eventually produce the fruit of obedience, something absent in the “faith” of demons:

·       What good is it, my brothers, if someone says he has faith but does not have works? Can that faith save him? If a brother or sister is poorly clothed and lacking in daily food, and one of you says to them, “Go in peace, be warmed and filled,” without giving them the things needed for the body, what good is that? So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead. (James 2:14-17)

Faith also contains repentance. Consequently, these two terms are often used interchangeably as a requirement for salvation. In both of Peter’s evangelistic sermons, Peter specified repentance in place of faith:

·       And Peter said to them, “Repent and be baptized every one of you in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins, and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit.” (Acts 2:38)

·       “Repent therefore, and turn back, that your sins may be blotted out, that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord, and that he may send the Christ appointed for you, Jesus,” (Acts 3:19-20)

Jesus also insisted on the requirement of repentance for salvation, without any mention of faith, as if they are so closely associated that to mention the one is also to assume the other:

·       and said to them, “Thus it is written, that the Christ should suffer and on the third day rise from the dead, and that repentance for the forgiveness of sins should be proclaimed in his name to all nations, beginning from Jerusalem.” (Luke 24:46-47)

Paul also preached a message of salvation by repentance:

·       For godly grief produces a repentance that leads to salvation without regret, whereas worldly grief produces death. (2 Corinthians 7:10)

These verses point to the fact that faith and repentance are as inseparable as the two sides of one coin. There are many reasons to acknowledge their inseparable interconnectedness. They both:

·       Arise from a regenerated heart.

·       Represent only one turn to the new life from the old (repentance), a turn to God away from sin.

·       Are sometimes mentioned together as a single requirement (Mark 1:15).

·       Are given as a gift (2 Timothy 2:24-26; Acts 5:31;11:18).

However, some argue that repentance cannot be part of faith, since repentance is a work, which cannot be part of a free gift from God (Ephesians 2:8-9; Romans 3:27-28). However, as there is a distinction between faith and the fruits of faith (obedience), we find the same distinction between repentance and the fruits or the evidences of repentance:

·       “Therefore, O King Agrippa, I [Paul] was not disobedient to the heavenly vision, but declared first to those in Damascus, then in Jerusalem and throughout all the region of Judea, and also to the Gentiles, that they should repent and turn to God, performing deeds in keeping with their repentance.” (Acts 26:19-20; Matthew 3:8)

In light of this, both faith and repentance represent a change of heart and mind and not good works, which we can boast about.

Faith is also a matter of trusting or hoping (both derived from the Greek “elpizo”) in the Lord. It is equated with faith:

·       Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. (Hebrews 11:1)

Trust/hope seems also have been equated with faith in the mind of Jesus. A roman centurion requested and trusted that Jesus heal his servant and said that he was not worthy that Jesus even come to His home. Instead, he understood that Jesus would only have to speak the Word and his servant would be healed:

·       When Jesus heard this, he marveled and said to those who followed him, “Truly, I tell you, with no one in Israel have I found such faith.” (Matthew 8:10)

Jesus had seen the centurion’s trust in Him and called it “faith.” There are also other indications that faith includes a trusting in Him for forgiveness and salvation. If it didn’t, no one would come to Jesus.

Usually, we read that salvation is through faith or believing. However, several verse state that salvation is a matter of believing in Jesus. This suggests that believing is more than just believing in a set of truths but a Person and in His forgiveness:. In these verses, Jesus equates “believing in Him” with “trusting in Him.”

·       “And as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so must the Son of Man be lifted up, that whoever believes in him may have eternal life. For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life.” (John 3:14-16; 3:36; 11:25-26; 1 John 5:10-13)

It seems that to believe in Jesus is also to trust and to hope in Him for salvation. There are other verses that require us to trust in Christ. However, it is often unclear whether the trust is saving faith itself or the result of saving faith.

In light of the above, it seems that we should withhold baptism from those who claim to merely believe in Jesus but refuse to repent and to place their trust in Jesus. To show the folly of this, just consider baptizing the unrepentant, thereby welcoming him into fellowship. If he refuses to repent of his sins, the church would immediately have to withdraw their right-hand-of-fellowship and replace it with a left-hand of discipline and possible excommunication. This argues that we must consider faith as more than just a mere mental assent to a body of truths.