Faith is an integral part of Christianity; indeed, there can be no individual participation in either Christ or Christianity without the exercise of saving faith, nor can there be any progress in the Christian life for the saved without a daily living faith. Obviously, then, faith is a necessary thing both for saints and for sinners alike. Faith marks the difference between the lost person and the saved person, but it is equally true that a strong daily faith marks the difference between the mature believer on the one hand, and the new-comer to the faith, or the stunted and undeveloped believer on the other hand.
Because faith is such an important part of true Christianity, it occupies a very prominent place in the Bible; but the tragic truth of the matter is that so many professing Christians have altogether missed the true import of this word. Too many think that faith is some sort of nebulous, believe-anything, unquestioning gullibility, yet this is far from the truth. Equally mistaken is the idea that faith is a purely mental process, but more of this as we get further in our study.
Hebrews 11 has been rightly called "the great faith chapter," for not only are there a great number of instances of faith there set forth, but also the quality of the faith set forth is great also. For this reason, then, we believe that this will be an appropriate place to begin a study upon this subject. The importance of having a proper understanding of faith is to be seen in verse 6 which declares: "But without faith it is impossible to please him; for he that cometh to God must believe that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that diligently seek him." Since one cannot find acceptance with God except by faith, then it is of the utmost importance that one have and exercise faith; but again, it is important that one has the proper kind of faith, or rather that which truly is faith, for Paul speaks of a vain faith (1 Cor. 15:14), while James speaks both of a "dead faith" (Jam. 2:17, 20), and of a "demon’s faith" (Jam. 2:19). Many people have a misplaced faith, for they trust in themselves and their own abilities, or else in some human work or institution. It is the mistake of many to think that faith itself is what saves, and so they are prone to think too much about how much faith they have, rather than recognizing that the power of faith lies wholly in having the proper object of faith.
But it is never to be forgotten that belief in Christ is belief in him as correctly apprehended, and that where there is misapprehension, where the misapprehension is such that its object is essentially other than the true Christ, omitting, it may be, his Deity, or some attribute essential to the very office of Saviour, the belief that comes from it and goes with it cannot be truly Christian, whatever else it may be. —G.D.B. Pepper, in Baptist Doctrines, edited by C.A. Jenkins, p. 454. C. R, Barns Publishing Company, St. Louis, 1890.
"Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen. For by it the elders obtained a good report. Through faith we understand that the worlds were framed by the word of God, so that things which are seen were not made of things which do appear" (Heb. 11:1-3). These verses set forth the following things: (1) Faith is a substance, or reality; it is an assurance or ground of future things, which have no present reality in fact. (2) It is also a present evidence of invisible things; the eye of flesh sees only the present and visible, but the eye of faith sees infinitely more (Heb. 11:13,27). (3) Faith gives individuals a good report before God. (4) Faith also reveals things about the world that the most knowledgeable scientist cannot find out. This last verse (v. 3) throws an interesting light upon those who believe in evolution, and reveals them in their true character as unbelievers.
However, these verses are not meant to give an exhaustive definition of faith, but, as A. W. Pink says: "The contents of verse 1 do not furnish so much a formal definition of faith, as they supply a terse description of how it operates and what it produces." (Exposition of Hebrews, Vol. II, p. 153, Baker Book House, Grand Rapids, Michigan, 1954). It remains for us to consider a number of other Scriptures, and consider their united voice in order to come to a full understanding of what faith is. We observe therefore—
Many and varied are the definitions that are given of faith, and it is possible and legitimate to have several such definitions if faith is being looked at from several different standpoints, and the different kinds of faith are considered. John Gill, for instance, lists seven different kinds of faith that may be distinguished from each other (Body of Practical Divinity, Book I, chapter 6, p. 730. Turner Lassetter, Atlanta, Georgia, 1950). John Bunyan (Works, Vol. I, p. 225. National Foundation For Christian Education, Marshalltown, Delaware, 1966) also lists seven different kinds.
A definition of faith which is generally suitable for all forms and kinds of faith is that which is given by Chalmers, who said: "Faith, whether in a proposition or a person, is the reckoning him or it to be true, and nothing more." Being as broad as it is, this definition does not reveal to us what is that faith which the Bible speaks of so much, and which is made absolutely necessary for man to be acceptable in God’s sight, and therefore we need to determine what kind of faith we are concerned with, ere we can satisfactorily answer the question "What is faith?"
Coleridge spoke of a form of faith which reveals itself by its actions, and which is the kind of faith that Moses had (Heb. 11:7), and which James spoke of in James 2:17-20, when he said: "Faith is an affirmation and an act, That bids eternal truth be fact." However, for all practical purposes we believe that the different kinds of faith may be classified as historical, saving and daily or living, faith. Historical faith is simply a belief in the historical existence of something or someone, and this is the kind, and the only kind, of faith that most people have. Most people believe in the historical existence of both God and Christ, and they assume—mistakenly—that this is all that is required of man in order to be accepted in God’s sight. That a mere historical faith is inadequate, is to be seen in that this is exactly the kind of faith that the demons have, yet nothing could be further from being accepted in God’s sight than these malignant creatures (Jam. 2:19).
Daily or living faith is that everyday dependence upon the Lord for all needful things, which should characterize every saved person. This is the faith that is spoken of in Romans 1:17: "For therein is the righteousness of God revealed from faith unto faith: as it is written, The just shall live by faith." Daily faith is the fruit that grows out of the root of saving faith, and for this reason the two are often so merged together that they cannot be distinguished. Such is the case with many of the references to faith in Hebrews 11.
The context of Hebrews 11:1, however, shows that saving faith was what was primarily in the writer’s mind as he began this discourse upon this subject, for he says in Hebrews 10:38-39: "Now the just shall live by faith: but if any man draw back, my soul shall have no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe to the saving of the soul." Baptists are often reviled for affirming the doctrine of the eternal security of the believer, and instances are sometimes cited of individuals who have supposedly "believed", but who have turned back to perdition, and supposedly have been lost. However, the writer to the Hebrews has very effectively dealt with this matter in these verses by showing: (1) That faith is not merely a transient thing, but that the justified person lives by faith—it is a daily characteristic of his new life. (2) That any who draw back from the life of faith are such that God has no pleasure in them, and therefore they were never in a state of acceptance with Him. (3) That "we are not of them who draw back unto perdition;" i.e., that both the writer and the Hebrew readers were both not of this class, however the writer had warned of the danger of apostasy. (4) That they were "of them that believe to the saving of the soul;" i. e., that if one believes in the true sense of the word, it is a belief unto salvation—complete deliverance from sin—not a halfway, maybe-yes, maybe-no escape from sin. Later we will find that not only is there a beginning of faith, but that Peter declares that there is also an end result of faith—total, complete salvation from all sin. On the subject of the security of the saints, see the chapter on the Preservation and Perseverance of the Saints.
Though there is a difference in these kinds of faith, yet they all are possessed of certain common principles; E. G. Robinson gives a definition of faith which reveals one of these common principles in all religious faith, when he says: "In the most elementary conception of it, faith is simply crediting the divine declaration as true." (Christian Theology, p. 330. Press of E. R. Andrews, Rochester, N.Y., 1894.) All religious faith is the acceptance of God’s revelation as true, yet we believe that this definition is lacking something for our purpose in dealing with saving faith.
William R. Williams comes closer to a full definition of saving faith when he says: "Faith is but a hearty assent to the whole testimony of God." (Quoted in Robinson, Christian Theology, p. 331. Press of E. R. Andrews, Rochester, N. Y., 1894). Especially is this so if by "hearty" is meant "with the heart," for the heart is very deeply concerned in the exercise of saving faith. The following passages reveal that there is a faith that springs from the heart rather than from the head, and which is therefore of a radically different nature than a mere intellectual belief: "Trust in the Lord with all thine heart; and lean not unto thine own understanding" (Prov. 3:5). "If thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation" (Rom. 10:9-10). "And Philip said, If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest. And he answered and said, I believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of God" (Acts 8:37). "And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith" (Acts 15:9).
Obviously, by "heart" is not meant that physical organ of the human body which pumps the blood, but this is a figure of speech which refers to that part of man’s psychical make-up which has to do with his emotions. Salvation is a complex event which involves the intellect, emotions and will of man; the intellectual or mental process is called "repentance" —a change of mind, while the emotional process is called "faith" or "trust" —believing with the heart; and the voluntary element, or that which has to do with the will is called "receiving" Christ. Thus, salvation might be summed up as a repenting toward God, a relying upon and receiving of Christ as Savior. Let any one of these elements be missing, and there is not a genuine case of salvation for they are very intimately interrelated, and none of these can be disparaged without putting a wrong emphasis upon the others. It is the neglecting of one or the other of these that fills churches with lost people who have had a mere emotional experience without having genuinely repented nor subjected their will to God, or else they have been intellectually persuaded of the truth of the gospel, but they have not been emotionally stirred so as to completely commit themselves to Christ. Horatius Bonar well says:
If you object that you cannot believe, then this indicates that you are proceeding quite in a wrong direction. You are still laboring under the idea that this believing is a work to be done by you, and not the acknowledgment of a work done by another. You would fain do something in order to get peace, and you think that if you could only do this great thing, "believing" —if you could but perform this great act called faith—God would at once reward you by giving you peace. Thus faith is reckoned by you to be the price in the sinner’s hand by which he buys peace, and not the mere holding out of the hand to get a peace which has already been bought by another. So long as you are attaching any meritorious importance to faith, however unconsciously, you are moving in a wrong direction—a direction from which no peace can come. Surely faith is not a work. On the contrary, it is a ceasing from work. It is not a climbing of the mountain, but a ceasing to attempt it, and allowing Christ to carry you up in His own arms. You seem to think that it is your own act of faith that is to save you, and not the object of your faith, without which your own act, however well performed, is nothing. Accordingly, you bethink yourself, and say, "What a mighty work is this believing—what an effort does it require on my part—how am I to perform it?" Herein you sadly err, and your mistake lies chiefly here, in supposing that your peace is to come from the proper performance on your part of an act of faith, whereas it is to come entirely from the proper perception of Him to whom the Father is pointing your eye, and in regard to whom He is saying, "Behold my servant whom I have chosen, look at Him, forget every thing else—everything about yourself, your own faith, your own repentance, your own feelings—and look at HIM!" It is in Him, and not in your poor act of faith, that salvation lies, and out of Him, not out of your own act of faith, is peace to come.
Thus mistaking the meaning of faith, and the way in which faith saves you, you get into confusion, and everything else connected with your peace. You mistake the real nature of that very inability to believe of which you complain so sadly. For that inability does not lie, as you fancy it does, in the impossibility of your performing aright this great act of faith, but of ceasing from all such self-righteous attempts to perform any act, or do any work whatsoever, in order to your being saved. So that the real truth is, that you have not yet seen such a sufficiency in the one great work of the Son of God upon the cross, as to lead you utterly to discontinue your mistaken and aimless efforts to work out something of your own. As soon as the Holy Spirit shows you have this entire sufficiency of the great propitiation, you cease at once from these attempts to act or work something of your own, and take, instead of this, what Christ has done. One great part of the Spirit’s work is, not to enable the man to do something which will help to save him, but so to detach him from his own performances, that he shall be content with the salvation which Christ finished when He died and rose again.
But perhaps you may object further, that you are not satisfied with your faith. No, truly, nor are you ever likely to be. If you wait for this before you take peace, you will wait till life is done. The Bible does not say, "Being satisfied about our faith, we have peace with God;" it simply says "Being justified by faith, we have peace with God" (Rom. 5:1). Not satisfaction with your own faith, but satisfaction with Jesus and His work—this is what God presses on you. —Words For the Inquiring, quoted in William Reid’s The Blood of Jesus, pp. 89-92. James Nisbet and Company, London, 1866. Reprint by Liberty Bell Press, Florissant, Missouri, 1966.
This also explains why the unsaved person cannot understand nor appreciate spiritual things: inasmuch as "Faith is the substance of things hoped for," it deals with things that have no present reality, but are future, and inasmuch as it is "the evidence of things not seen," it deals with things that are invisible to the eye of the flesh, and discernable only to the eye of faith. The lost person simply is not fitted to discern the reality of invisible, future things that the Lord has promised to His own, for he does not have that which enables him to reach out and to grasp them.
Saving faith is therefore not only the belief of the promise of God that He will save all who trust in His Son, but it is also a total, unreserved committal of one’s eternal destiny unto Him. Thus, Paul said: "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12). Saving faith is the depositing of the soul for safekeeping in the bank-vault of heaven. As the individual who deposits money in the bank ceases to worry about it, knowing that it is henceforth no longer his responsibility to keep it safe, but now becomes the responsibility of the bank so the trusting soul leaves the safe-keeping of his soul to the Lord to whom he has committed it. T. P. Simmons defines saving faith as follows:
Man is a responsible creature; of this, there is no question, and for this reason, he is accountable to his Maker, but this is not to say that man is therefore fully able to do all that God requires of him. For example, God has not lowered His standard so far as the ten commandments are concerned, but still requires a complete, continuous, perfect keeping of them, even though man, by his fall has incapacitated himself from keeping them. Therefore, the fact that God calls upon and requires man to trust in His Son does not mean that man has a natural ability to do so; in his original creation, man was capable of a perfect trust in his Maker, even as he was capable of rendering a satisfactory obedience to the commandments, but since man’s fall, he has been incapacitated from both of these, but this does not lessen his responsibility, for he voluntarily, willfully and presumptuously incapacitated himself by his sin. Well has A. W. Pink observed concerning the fall of man:
The Scriptures also emphasize the fact that there is no such thing as a proxy faith, or believing for someone else. It is the teaching of many who practice infant baptism that adults may believe for the unconscious infants, and so they may be baptized upon the faith of the sponsor. But this is nothing more than one of the devil’s substitutes for the truth in order to justify infant baptism. Every one knows that the Bible requires faith before baptism, and this is a candid admission of this fact, but the mistake lies in thinking that someone else can believe for an unconscious baby. That faith is always a personal and individual matter is clear from the statement "The just shall live by faith," Rom. 1:17; Gal. 3:11; Heb. 10:38, all of which are quoted from Hab. 2:4. In harmony with the original statement in Habakkuk, all three New Testament quotations of this read literally "by his own faith" (Grk. ek piste?s z?setai. The verb, being in the middle voice, represents the subject as acting either (1) Upon itself. (2) For itself, or (3) In some way as directly affects itself.). To understand which of these is the sense of this middle voice, we have but to consult the original statement in Habakkuk 2:4, where we read: "...the just shall live by his faith." Clearly, then, all of these passages are testimonies of God’s requirement of a personal faith before anyone can be saved.
But this does not answer the question before us, namely, Whence is this faith? It is obvious from Scripture and from observation that "all men have not faith" (2 Thess. 3:2). Indeed, in the Bible the word "unbeliever" is synonymous with "unsaved." "He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting life: and he that believeth not the Son shall not see life; but the wrath of God abideth on him" (John 3:36). As we have before said, faith stands as a milepost in the life of man, and marks the turning point in his life: before, his life is downward, hell-ward, but afterward, it is upward, heaven-ward. Is this great event and turning point the result of something that is in man by nature? Not so, for it is the result of a Divine impartation to certain ones of saving faith.
Doubtless at this point some will object to what we have just said by reminding us that we have just shortly referred to faith as being a man’s own act, for which he is responsible. To which we answer that the discrepancy is apparent only, for while the Scriptures do refer to the Christian’s faith as being his own, yet this is only by way of showing present possession, and has no bearing upon the source of that faith. Faith is God’s gracious gift to man, as we shall presently see, but after it is once given to man, it is henceforth recognized and spoken of as being man’s. "For the gracious gifts and call of God are never taken back" (Rom. 11: 29), Charles B. Williams Translation, Moody Press, Chicago, 1963.
If faith were a natural ability in the unrenewed man, then one could be saved at any time he pleased, and when he did trust in the Lord, his salvation would be of his own ability, and he could boast in himself, but such is not the case. "For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God: not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8-9). If man has the natural ability to believe apart from Divine grace, then salvation being through (by means of) faith, it is not of God at all, but man is his own savior, and he has every reason to boast. But once recognize that faith is a gift from God, and we see that in saving man through faith, God is simply glorifying Himself in and through His gifts.
Faith is not only the gift of God, but it is the outgrowth of His elective purposes, as it is written: "…and as many as were ordained to eternal life believed" (Acts 13:48). Before this writer came to accept this blessed truth, he tried everything possible to get around the plain meaning of this verse; but neither the order of the sentence, nor the meaning of the word translated "ordained," nor anything else in the verse budged in the least degree, and finally honesty in the treatment of the Bible text compelled him to adjust his theology so as to bring it into harmony with the Bible and the vast majority of Baptists of the past.
Nor does this verse stand alone in teaching this truth, for we also read: "But ye believe not, because ye are not of my sheep, as I said unto you" (John 10:26). Here is the negative side of the matter: as in Acts 13:48, men are said to believe because they are ordained to eternal life, so here unbelievers are said to believe not because they are not of the sheep; i.e., not of the elect. Brethren, these things are strong meat doctrines, and the fact that we may not be able to understand them, nor to see how they can harmonize with the responsibility of man, in no way invalidates them, nor makes them untrue. We must humbly acknowledge the word of the Lord that "My thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord. For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts" (Isa. 55:8-9). The Scriptures speak of several things that are "mysteries," i.e., that they are unknowable apart from a divine revelation concerning them; and the elective purpose of God which He has purposed in Himself is one of these (Eph. 1:3-11 and especially v. 9).
We have but to consider man’s spiritual inability to see that the natural man cannot exercise saving faith apart from a divine enablement. This we observe from several reasons as set forth in Ephesians 2:1-3: First, man is spiritually dead, and therefore is unable to do any spiritual deed: "And you hath he quickened, who were dead in trespasses and sins" (v. l). Second, the natural man does not walk in a spiritual way, but in a worldly way: "Wherein in time past ye walked according to the course of this world" (v. 2a). Third, the natural man also walks according to the devil’s way: "...according to the prince of the power of the air" (v. 2b). Fourth, the natural man’s walk is characterized, not by obedience and faith but by disobedience: "...the spirit that now worketh in the children of disobedience." Fifth, the natural man’s walk is also characterized by fleshly lusts, which work a hindrance to faith: "Among whom also we all had our conversation in times past in the lusts of our flesh" (v. 3). Sixth, the natural man is wholly given over to the "fulfilling of the desires (Grk. "will") of the flesh and of the mind" (v. 3b), not to fulfilling of any spiritual desires or wills. Seventh, the natural man is by nature a child of wrath, and therefore has no spiritual inclinations apart from divine impartation (v. 3f). To hold that man by nature has the ability to believe the gospel and to trust in Christ is to wholly deny this portion of Scripture, and indeed to repudiate the doctrine of the total depravity of man.
That faith is the gift of God to man, that faith, together with repentance is, in the words of the Orthodox Baptist Confession of Faith "inseparable graces wrought in the heart by the quickening Holy Spirit," is taught in many places in the Scriptures. This writer has been constantly amazed at how these proofs keep showing up to one who is willing to see them and receive them. Note the witness of the following verses: "Jesus answered and said unto them, This is the work of God, that ye believe on him whom he hath sent" (John 6:29). "But there are some of you that believe not…Therefore said I unto you, that no man can come unto me, except it were given unto him of my Father" (John 6:64-65). The word "therefore" shows the connection, and actually reveals that the unbelief of these found explanation in the fact that these were not drawn by the Father, as Jesus had spoken in verse 44. "Therefore they could not believe, because Esaias said again, He hath blinded their eyes, and hardened their hearts; that they should not see with their eyes, nor understand with their heart, and be converted, and I should heal them" (John 12:39-40). "Forasmuch then as God gave them the like gift as he did unto us, who believed on the Lord Jesus Christ" (Acts 11:17). "And when they were come and had gathered the church together, they rehearsed all that God had done with them, and how he had opened the door of faith unto the Gentiles" (Acts 14:27). "And put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith," Acts 15:9. Here the act is God’s, not man’s. "And a certain woman named Lydia, a seller of purple, of the city of Thyatira, which worshipped God, heard us: whose heart the Lord opened, that she attended unto the things which were spoken of Paul" (Acts 16:14). This woman’s heart was opened by the Lord so as to instill faith in it, and this caused her to attend to the word and believe it (note the clause of purpose "that"). "And when he was disposed to pass unto Achaia, the brethren wrote, exhorting the disciples to receive him: who, when he was come, helped them much which had believed through grace" (Acts 18:27). Here, faith itself is shown to be by grace, and so a work of God. "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed" (Rom. 4:16). "For I say, through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith" (Rom. 12:3). "Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man" (1 Cor. 3:5). Here "every man" is restricted by the context to believers, and so is no proof of the natural ability of the unrenewed man to believe. "For unto you it is given in the behalf of Christ, not only to believe on him, but also to suffer for His sake" (Phil. 1:29). "Looking unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith" (Heb. 12:2). "Simon Peter, a servant and an apostle of Jesus Christ, to them that have obtained like precious faith with us" (2 Pet. 1:1). The word "obtained" points to a source outside of man for this faith, and shows that it is not a natural ability.
These fourteen passages, together with others to the same effect that could be listed, all show that the source of faith is not in man, but that it is a gracious gift of God, and that it springs from His elective purposes. Not only so, but other passages of Scripture show that faith, so far from accomplishing the new birth, rather spring from it, and is the first evidence of it. "Whosoever believeth that Jesus is the Christ is born of God" (1 John 5:1). The Greek word rendered "believeth" is the nominative singular masculine participle—"every one believing," while the word rendered "is born" is third person, singular, perfect indicative passive (which tense is expressive of past action with a result continuing to the present) —‘has been born of God," so that faith evidences an antecedent birth. We are not born again because we have believed, but we believe because we have been born again. The new birth is logically prior to faith, but not necessarily chronologically prior. The same distinction is observable in many other passages which speak of both the new birth and faith, such as John 1:12-13. If any be inclined to argue that faith is first and produces the new birth, let them argue with the Word of God which clearly shows this.
Faith is therefore the gift of God, but it may be asked, "How does God give faith to man?" "So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Rom. 10:17). This explains why so many people have no faith, yet why they are blameworthy in this matter: they willingly absent themselves from the place of hearing of the Word of God. Some people only come to church often enough to be convicted of their sins, then they drop out of attendance before the Word generates saving faith in them; others who may attend church services regularly, attend churches where a weak, watered-down, works gospel is preached, which never results in saving faith. All such persons are guilty because it is through their love of sin and dislike for God, that they refuse to read or hear the Word of God, which is the only way that saving faith will ever be worked in them.
But those who do continue to hear the Word, do not have faith through the bare hearing of the ear, but they must be taught of God in their internal being, as it is written: "No man can come to me, except the Father which hath sent me draw him: and I will raise him up at the last day. It is written in the prophets, And they shall be all taught of God. Every man therefore that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me" (John 6:44-45). But this hearing and learning is of a nature that the natural man is incapable of receiving, as is written in 1 Corinthians 2:14: "But the natural man receiveth not the things of the spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." In order for the natural man to be capable of this hearing and learning of the Father, something must be done with his heart to render him capable of believing; faith must be instilled in him. From Acts 16:14 we learn that God opened Lydia’s heart and she believed the Word of God, and so it is evident that there must be a spiritual "open heart surgery" performed upon the natural man, and a divine "pace-maker" installed in order for man’s heart to operate rightly and for him to believe the Word. All preparations of the heart in man whereby he is enabled to have the right attitude toward spiritual things, is from the Lord, for, "The preparations of the heart in man, and the answer of the tongue, is from the Lord" (Prov. 16:1).
But some will doubtless object that God cannot and has no right to try to force man’s will. Those who so speak, do so either from ignorance or from bias, or both, for Scripture, experience and history teach us that God both can, and does override our wills and desires, and we ought to be thankful that he does. Daily we exert our wills in the pursuit of things that are not best for us, and God (happily for us) thwarts those desires. All history is a record of God’s thwarting of wicked men’s wills. Not only so, but the Scripture itself testifies that "The king’s heart is in the hand of the Lord, as the rivers of water: he turneth it whithersoever he will" (Prov. 21:1). A king is the highest power and the most nearly unlimited sovereignty in a nation, yet God turns the heart of kings in whatever direction he pleases. The God whom we serve is sovereign in all things, and over all things: "But our God is in the heavens: he hath done whatsoever he hath pleased" (Ps. 115:3). See further Chapter Seven, on Man’s Free Will.
But we must pass on to consider why God has so arranged that man is required to believe upon the Lord, if so be that faith is itself the gift of God, and therefore we note—
Some people have much more talent at finding objections to the truth than at finding the truth and presenting the truth to others. The objection is generally presented that if it is true that God gives faith to some, then all ought to fatalistically fold their hands and sit down and be wholly unconcerned about the whole matter. But such as do this, whether they be hyper-Calvinists, or Arminians, are in either instance individuals who are simply looking for an excuse for personal unwillingness to know and to do the will of the Lord. God’s will does not do away with the use of means for the accomplishment of His will, but actually ordains the use of means. Man cannot generate faith within himself, but he can resort regularly to where the Word of God is preached and taught in its purity, and he can diligently give heed to that Word, and then faith shall be given to him in and by the preaching and teaching of the Word, and this is the only ordained way of accomplishing faith in any one.
But again faith is required of men because one of the things that is necessary before faith can come about, is that there must be an acknowledgement of human impotence to save oneself. No one will trust in the Lord to save him so long as he has any hope of contributing in any way to his own salvation. Looking at the matter from the human side, faith is, in effect, a taking of God’s side in the matter against self. Thus, God requires of man that he recognize and confess his own inability and helplessness, else he may have the proud idea that in some way he has saved himself, or contributed to his salvation. The positive side of faith is that man trusts in the Lord for the salvation of his soul but the negative side of faith is that he casts away all reliance upon human works, deeds, resolutions, promises, etc., knowing that these not only cannot save him, but that they actually stand in the way of his salvation while he rests upon them. The individual who exercises this God-given faith, thereby also at the same time acknowledges his own natural impotence to do anything toward his salvation, and so glorifies God for His saving grace.
But faith is also required of man in order that he might be personally assured of an interest in the atonement made by Christ, and of the peace and strength that flow therefrom. We sometimes hear of individuals who repeatedly keep coming forward in church services, thinking that they need to be saved again, when in reality, they probably only need to be given assurance of their salvation as resulting from their commitment to Christ. But this illustrates what would be the condition of almost all saints were they not required to consciously trust in the Lord. The ability to trust in the Lord is a divine gift, but the act being a conscious one to the individual, gives him an event to which he can couple the promises of God of eternal life to those who believe. "Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee" (Isa. 26:3). This illustrates the case of the doubters above referred to, for when they cease to stay their minds upon the Lord, they open the door to doubts as to whether they are really saved. But a single act of trust in the Lord for salvation, followed by a life of trustful staying upon the Lord gives no room for such doubts. If faith were not required of men as an individual act, then not even the elect could be assured that they were saved, and they would live out a life of doubt. No one can look into heaven and see if his name is on the Lamb’s book of life, but he reaps the personal benefit of assurance by the fact that he has exercised this saving trust in the Lord. "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me: and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out" (John 6:37). One can only know that he has been given to the Son in the covenant of redemption by the fact that he has come to Christ in faith, and that Christ has promised to reject none that come to Him.
Inasmuch as God has ordained the use of human means to bring men to repentance and faith, it is necessary that those same graces should be evident in the human instruments to bring others to trust in Christ. Certainly there can be very little success expected by the individual who can present nothing more than a "hearsay" testimony about salvation, but he who is able to give the same testimony as Paul did, namely, that "I know whom I have believed, and am persuaded that he is able to keep that which I have committed unto him against that day" (2 Tim. 1:12), he will have great influence with men. Experimental knowledge always surpasses theoretical knowledge in its influence with men.
Finally, then, faith is required to be exercised by man in order that God may be glorified for saving man; as we have before observed, faith, if it is rightly understood, is an acknowledgement of human inability, and so it puts the glory for salvation where it belongs—upon the Lord. Yet this cannot be so unless man realizes that his salvation comes from God alone, and that it is a product of grace, and so praises God for wholly accomplishing this salvation. God will not allow any one to usurp the glory that is His alone: "I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images" (Isa. 42:8).
However, we are not to think that saving faith is a barren thing, nor that because it is the gift of God it involves no responsibilities, for we may profitably observe next—
The faith that the Bible sets forth and requires in man is not a dead faith, but one that is living and productive, and therefore one that evidences itself plainly, as it is written: "What doth it profit, my brethren though a man say he hath faith, and have not works? can faith save him?...Even so faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone. Yea, a man may say, Thou hast faith, and I have works: shew me thy faith without thy works, and I will shew thee my faith by my works. Thou believest that there is one God; thou doest well: the devils (demons) also believe, and tremble. But wilt thou know, O vain man, that faith without works is dead?" (Jam. 2:14,17-20).
This does not teach salvation by works; but salvation as evidenced by works. Works that are acceptable to God give evidence that the individual has life, for there can be no true works without life, just as a tree cannot produce fruit unless it is a living tree. Thus well has it been expressed in poetic form:
That faith is not a living tree.
Thus faith and works together grow;
No separate life they e’er can know:
They’re soul and body, hand and heart:
What God hath joined, let no man part.
One has only to read on in James and see the examples cited to see that this is true, for he cites the examples of Abraham and Rahab, both of whom were justified in the sense that he is speaking some time after they were justified in the sight of God. In Abraham’s case, it was some twenty years after he had been pronounced just before the Lord. The verses leading up to this statement of James also reveals that he is dealing with the fruits of faith primarily.
True saving faith produces fruit in the believer as naturally and as normally as the life in a fruit tree will produce fruit in it in its season, and so the believer manifests his salvation, and glorifies God by being fruitful unto all good works. But there are also other fruits of faith.
One of the chief products of faith is love to God, and love to one’s fellow men, for it is written: "For in Jesus Christ neither circumcision availeth any thing, nor uncircumcision; but faith which worketh by love" (Gal. 5:6). And when rightly instructed the believer will find love flowing naturally out of his heart. Thus, Paul instructed Timothy to warn certain teachers at Ephesus not to be led astray on minor things for "the aim of your instruction is to be love that flows out of a pure heart, a good conscience, and a sincere faith" (1 Tim. 1:5; [Charles B. Williams translation]). A sincere faith is the source and love is the stream that flows from it, manifesting its nature for all to see.
But love is not only a natural fruit of the believing heart, but it is also a commanded fruit, and therefore one to be cultivated, for Jesus said: "A new commandment I give unto you, That ye love one another; as I have loved you, that ye also love one another. By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another" (John 13:34-35). The fruit of love is the very foundation virtue of Christianity; since "God is love" (1 John 4:8), he manifested His love in sending Christ to redeem men (1 John 4:9-10), and He commands us to love one another in the common faith (1 John 4:11-12).
Furthermore, faith also produces the fruit of joy and peace in believing hearts: "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing" (Rom. 15:13). "Whom having not seen, ye love; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory" (1 Pet. 1:8). It does this by making real the present salvation, and the future glory that Christ has purchased for His people. Physically, and often times even mentally, we may have doubts about salvation, but by faith we are assured that we have a part in the great redemption that our Lord Jesus has wrought for us, and because we are assured of our part in this, we know that inconceivable glory awaits us, for it is written: "...whom he justified, them he also glorified" (Rom. 8:30). And again, "But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God" (1 Cor. 2:9-10).
Faith also produces submission to God in all things, and the greater one’s faith, the easier it will be to trace all things—even trials and afflictions—to God. It is not necessary to understand the reason for trials and afflictions; if we only recognize that nothing can touch us without first passing our loving Lord, then by faith we can endure the worst of trials. Erich Sauer observes:
Faith, by its very nature, is operative only during the present stage and condition of life, for it deals with the unseen; what is seen with the physical eye requires no faith to accept; its very visibility is a proof of its reality. But spiritual things, because they are invisible to the physical eye, require faith in their reality, but the Lord has promised that a time is coming at which the unseen will become real to our physical senses, and "Faith will become sight." This is what the apostle declares in 1 Corinthians 13:12: "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known." Presently, faith is "the evidence of things not seen" (Heb. 11:1), and it is that which makes the promises of God real to the believer.
This explains why the unbeliever can never have the glories of the hereafter—he does not have the faith to lay hold of them spiritually and to make them his own, yet this is the only way of obtaining that which God has promised. His unbelief is rooted in a distrust of God because his own nature is so fearfully fallen and alienated from the Lord, and thus, because he wavers through unbelief, "let not that man think that he shall receive any thing of the Lord" (Jam. 1:7).
But that there is a blessed end to be received by faith is suggested by Heb. 6:12: "That ye be not slothful, but followers of them who through faith and patience inherit the promises." Faith only receives in this present life a very small part of what is promised to it; the bulk of the blessings that God has for His own, is yet future, and shall be the end blessing of faith when faith shall finally become sight.
But even more explicit evidence of the end of faith is 1 Peter 1:9: "Receiving the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls." Here "salvation" is not in reference so much to the initial act of salvation which takes place when one repents and trusts in the Lord, as it is to the final act of salvation—the redemption of the body of the saint, which is to take place at the return of the Lord from heaven. Let it be remembered that salvation is three-fold: first, it is from the penalty of sin when one trusts in the Lord Jesus; second, it is from the power of sin as one is daily more sanctified—separated and dedicated unto the Lord; third, it shall be from the very presence of sin when our bodies are redeemed at Jesus’ return, and we no more have the internal conflict of the flesh with the spirit. This is the salvation that Peter is now speaking of. Paul also speaks of this when he says: "For we know that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. And not only they, but ourselves also, which have the firstfruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body. For we are saved by hope: but hope that is seen is not hope: for what a man seeth, why doth he yet hope for? But if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it" (Rom. 8:22-25). Note how he refers to this "redemption of the body" as being a form of salvation, yet he distinctly shows that it is yet future, for we must with patience wait for it, so that the end of faith is to enjoy the full, complete salvation of body, soul and spirit. At the moment of trust in Christ, the individual has salvation, and "shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life" (John 5:24), but he keeps on reaping benefits from salvation until the day when he receives the end of his faith, even the completing act of salvation, the glorification of his body, so that it is made to correspond to his soul which was saved and glorified when he trusted in the Lord.
Thus faith has a glorious reward in that its fondest and greatest yearnings are to be fulfilled to us in the Lord, for our future blessings are not limited by the Lord’s power, but by our unbelief, as it is written: "Now unto him that is able to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think, according to the power that worketh in us" (Eph. 3:20). Even in this present life, the Lord "giveth us richly all things to enjoy" (1 Tim. 6:17), and if this be so now, how much more so in the age to come. The Lord gives to man all that he can claim by faith, and while he may not see much of this while he is in the flesh, yet there is a time when man will receive the end of his faith, and all that he has previously claimed by faith will be parts of that package deal which is all a part of the three-fold salvation.
Too often believers allow circumstances to circumscribe and limit their faith, instead of their faith challenging circumstances. We do not worship a God who is at the whim of circumstances; our God is the One who shapes circumstances. A. C, Dixon well says:
When the Lord shall come for His own at the rapture of the saints, we shall see things in their real light, and how ashamed shall we all be for all of our petty grumbling and complaining over our lot in life. Our worst problems and afflictions now shall be revealed then to be only light, momentary afflictions, as Paul declares: "For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory; while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: for the things which are seen are temporal; but the things which are not seen are eternal" (2 Cor. 4:17-18).
In a word, the end of our faith is not only to receive the final complete deliverance from the very presence of sin by receiving new, glorified bodies, but it is also to receive the very Source of all blessings, the Lord Jesus Himself, and all of the inconceivable glory and blessings which surround Him, and which are the common lot of all those who are "heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ" (Rom. 8:17), of which the apostle goes on to conclude that "I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Rom. 8:18). What a glorious, strengthening and stabilizing prospect is this!
While we wait for the end of our faith, we need to recognize the truth of 1 John 5:4-5 and make it operative in our lives: "For whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that overcometh the world, even our faith. Who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?" But so many people miss the whole point of this verse, and needlessly sorrow over problems in their lives. We believe that Buell H. Kazee has put his finger on the true meaning in the following quotation, and we heartily recommend his book as one that will radically change the serious reader’s life for the better. He says:
By Davis W. Huckabee, Pastor,