Your Faith
Your Faith and the understanding of how it plays out in the salvation of Christians by God is one of the most important aspects of foundational Christian doctrine.
Romans 10:8-10
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart”—that is, the word of faith which we are preaching, 9 that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; 10 for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.
Paul was already warning Christians to guard what has been entrusted to you and some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, and by opposing arguments of what is falsely called “Knowledge” or Gnosis some have professed and gone astray from the faith.
I Timothy 4:1-2
But the Spirit explicitly says that in later times some will fall away from the faith, paying attention to deceitful spirits and doctrines of demons, 2 by means of the hypocrisy of liars seared in their own conscience as with a branding iron,
I Timothy 6:20-21
20 O Timothy, guard what has been entrusted to you, avoiding worldly and empty chatter and the opposing arguments of what is falsely called “knowledge” 21 which some have professed and thus gone astray from the faith. Grace be with you.
The primary Greek words that are translated as faith and belief are Pistis and Pisteuo. In the Gospels of Matthew, Mark, and Luke the use Pistis, but John used Pisteuo.
In Hebrews 11 the scriptures reveal to us what Faith is and how that without it, it is impossible to please God.
Hebrews 11:1-3
1Now faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen. 2 For by it the men of old gained approval. 3 By faith we understand that the worlds were prepared by the word of God, so that what is seen was not made out of things which are visible.
The scriptures continue to tell us that by faith men and women of old gained approval. For “By faith Abel”, “By faith Enoch”, “By faith Noah”, “By faith Abraham”, “By faith Isaac”,” By faith Jacob”, “By faith Joseph”, “By faith Moses”, “By faith Rahab” and then the scriptures continue.
Hebrews 11:32-34
32And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Within this great chapter of faith we find the following.
Hebrews 11:6
6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
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- Without Faith it is impossible to please him
- for he who comes to God must believe that He is
- and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! For it gives us the proper order for which God rewards us, and that it is through our faith, and if we do not believe this then we do not please him. By Faith we receive and are rewarded the following gifts,
Justification, Grace, Righteousness, the Holy Spirit, Sanctification, Called the Sons of God, Chosen (Election), and Salvation.
Galatians 3:24
24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith.
Romans 5:2
2 through whom also we have obtained our introduction by faith into this grace in which we stand; and we exult in hope of the glory of God.
Philippians 3:9
9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”
Galatians 3:24
14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Acts 26:18
to open their eyes so that they may turn from darkness to light and from the dominion of Satan to God, that they may receive forgiveness of sins and an inheritance among those who have been sanctified by faith in Me.’
Galatians 3:26
26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Thessalonians 2:13
But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth.
Ephesians 2:8
For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God;
Jesus calls us to ask, seek and knock and then he rewards graciously.
Matthew 7:7-8
7 “Ask, and it will be given to you; seek, and you will find; knock, and it will be opened to you. 8 For everyone who asks receives, and he who seeks finds, and to him who knocks it will be opened.
These are the conditions set forth in the scriptures for our Faith and ultimately our Salvation, for through our Faith we come to him and love him by our own free will. It is God who is at work and it is God who deserves ALL GLORY through the entire process from the Gospel of Jesus Christ, his word, and its call to us, his Justification of us, Gods Grace given to us, the Holy Spirit working in us, his Sanctification working in us, and ultimately his gift of our Salvation.
What an awesome God who foreknew us and loved us before the foundation of the world that he would call us to fall in love with him, and put our trust in him. That is God’s love! Love at Foresight!
He is a gentleman who wants his Bride to accept his offer of marriage freely and he is not a monster who would force himself upon us giving us no choice in the matter.
Matthew 9:28-29
28 When He entered the house, the blind men came up to Him, and Jesus *said to them, “Do you believe that I am able to do this?” They *said to Him, “Yes, Lord.” 29 Then He touched their eyes, saying, “It shall be done to you according to your faith.”
Galatians 3:11-14
11 Now that no one is justified by the Law before God is evident; for, “The righteous man shall live by faith.” 12 However, the Law is not of faith; on the contrary, “He who practices them shall live by them.” 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the Law, having become a curse for us—for it is written, “Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”— 14 in order that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we would receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
Galatians 3:22-26
22 But the Scripture has shut up everyone under sin, so that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe.23 But before faith came, we were kept in custody under the law, being shut up to the faith which was later to be revealed. 24 Therefore the Law has become our tutor to lead us to Christ, so that we may be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor. 26 For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus.
Philippians 3:8-9
8 More than that, I count all things to be loss in view of the surpassing value of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and count them but rubbish so that I may gain Christ, 9 and may be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own derived from the Law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which comes from God on the basis of faith”
Ephesians 2:4-10
4 But God, being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, 5 even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), 6 and raised us up with Him, and seated us with Him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, 7 so that in the ages to come He might show the surpassing riches of His grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. 8 For by grace you have been saved through faith; and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God; 9 not as a result of works, so that no one may boast. 10 For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand so that we would walk in them.
For Ephesians 2:8 let’s look and see how others deal with this verse.
On the website Grace to You one of the most popular teachers of our day John Macarthur has a website with a title “Unleashing God’s Truth, One Verse at a Time” where they write the following on Ephesians 2:8.
Is Faith a Gift.
http://www.gty.org/resources/bible-qna/BQ053113/is-faith-a-gift
“Our response in salvation is faith, but even that is not of ourselves [but is] the gift of God. Faith is nothing that we do in our own power or by our own resources. In the first place we do not have adequate power or resources. More than that, God would not want us to rely on them even if we had them. Otherwise salvation would be in part by our own works, and we would have some ground to boast in ourselves. Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God’s giving it.”
“Some have objected to this interpretation, saying that faith (pistis) is feminine, while that (touto) is neuter. That poses no problem, however, as long as it is understood that that does not refer precisely to the noun faith but to the act of believing. Further, this interpretation makes the best sense of the text, since if that refers to by grace you have been saved through faith (that is, to the whole statement), the adding of and that not of yourselves, it is the gift of God would be redundant, because grace is defined as an unearned act of God. If salvation is of grace, it has to be an undeserved gift of God. Faith is presented as a gift from God in 2 Peter 1:1, Philippians 1:29, and Acts 3:16.”
After review we see the following points raised:
- “faith is nothing that we do in our own power or resources”
This is simply untrue for Faith is the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen as written in Hebrews 11 and by Faith “For by it the men of old gained approval.” And Jesus proclaimed the following verses in which he used the Greek pronoun Hymon, translated as Your.
NOTE: The phrase “Hymon Pistus” or "Your Faith" is used over 40 times in the bible with many more similar phrases.
“Daughter, take courage; your faith has made you well.” Matthew 9:22
“It shall be done to you according to your faith.” Matthew 9:29
“O woman, your faith is great; it shall be done for you as you wish.” Matthew 15:28
“Your faith has saved you; go in peace.” Luke 7:50
“Receive your sight; your faith has made you well.” Luke 18:42
- “God would not want us to rely on them even if we had them.”
This is only partially true for God would not want us to rely solely on our own power or resources, but he does want us to have Faith in Him and his might and his power. Rather it is Satan that does not want us to rely on Faith for he knows that by Faith the Power of the Almighty God is unleashed and as Jesus said that with Faith nothing is impossible for us.
Hebrews 11:32-34
32And what more shall I say? For time will fail me if I tell of Gideon, Barak, Samson, Jephthah, of David and Samuel and the prophets, 33 who by faith conquered kingdoms, performed acts of righteousness, obtained promises, shut the mouths of lions, 34 quenched the power of fire, escaped the edge of the sword, from weakness were made strong, became mighty in war, put foreign armies to flight.
Matthew 17:20
20 And He *said to them, “Because of the littleness of your faith; for truly I say to you, if you have faith the size of a mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move; and nothing will be impossible to you.
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- “Otherwise salvation would be in part by our own works”
Salvation is only God’s to give, and the scriptures are clear that Faith is not a work. And we must note the very first sentence the site states the following “Our response in salvation is faith” and the issue is whether faith is the gift here or grace is the gift.
Romans 3:27-28
27 Where then is boasting? It is excluded. By what kind of law? Of works? No, but by a law of faith. 28 For we maintain that a man is justified by faith apart from works of the Law.
Romans 4:5
5But to the one who does not work, but believes in Him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is credited as righteousness,
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- Grace as the gift “would be redundant, because grace is defined as an unearned act of God.”
This statement again is untrue, for Grace is good will, loving-kindness, favor. It is not defined as an unearned act of God. It is Grace as a gift from God that makes it an unearned act of God. This is further verified by their own statement " If salvation is of grace, it has to be an undeserved gift of God".
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- “Paul intends to emphasize that even faith is not from us apart from God’s giving it.”
This statement again is untrue and if you open our eyes and do not allow yourself to be deceived by these teachings you can see very clearly how Paul verifies that Grace is the Gift in the very next chapters.
Yes, he proves this two more times as two witnesses and for redundancy just to prove his point.
Ephesians 3:7
7 of which I was made a minister, according to the gift of God’s grace which was given to me according to the working of His power.
Ephesians 4:7
7 But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift.
THIS IS VERY IMPORTANT! Last of all it must be noted that by claiming that faith is not "Of Yours", you change the very purpose of these scriptures and the proper connection thereof. It destroys the 40+ times that the scriptures explicitly declare that Faith is "Of Yours". Yet, never once do the scriptures claim that Grace is "Of Yours", but rather it is often laid out plainly as the "Gift of God".
Now do we say that Faith is all Man’s responsibility with God having no part? Absolutely not, for as with all of Creation it is God that deserves ALL of the Glory.
James 1:17-18
17Every good thing given and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shifting shadow. 18 In the exercise of His will He brought us forth by the word of truth, so that we would be a kind of first fruits among His creatures.
We will see in the Sanctification process that there are gifts bestowed on men by the power of the Holy Spirit, and Faith is one of these gifts along with the word of wisdom, the word of knowledge, healing, effecting of miracles, prophecy, the distinguishing of spirits, various kinds of tongues, and the interpretation of tongues.
But one and the same Spirit works all these things, distributing to each one individually just as He wills.
Peter writes to those that have received a faith of the same kind as ours, and continues by giving ALL the Glory to God for all that he has done.
II Peter 1:1-4
Simon Peter, a bond-servant and apostle of Jesus Christ, To those who have received a faith of the same kind as ours, by the righteousness of our God and Savior, Jesus Christ: 2 Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; 3 seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us by His own glory and excellence. 4 For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.
Then he continues to tell us our responsibility in our Faith using the phrase “Hymon Pistus” once again.
II Peter 1:5-9
5 Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence, and in your moral excellence, knowledge, 6 and in your knowledge, self-control, and in your self-control, perseverance, and in your perseverance, godliness, 7 and in your godliness, brotherly kindness, and in your brotherly kindness, love. 8 For if these qualities are yours and are increasing, they render you neither useless nor unfruitful in the true knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. 9 For he who lacks these qualities is blind or short-sighted, having forgotten his purification from his former sins.
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I will bring the following two verse up since they were stated as evidence to support Ephesians 2:8 for Faith being a gift. Neither of these verses are specific to salvific Faith, but rather Faith as a gift of The Spirit in Sanctification to get them through future suffering or "to Suffer" in Philippians and “This perfect health” in Acts.
Philippians 1:29-30
29 For to you it has been granted for Christ’s sake, not only to believe in Him, but also to suffer for His sake, 30 experiencing the same conflict which you saw in me, and now hear to be in me.
Acts 3:16
16 And on the basis of faith in His name, it is the name of Jesus which has strengthened this man whom you see and know; and the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect health in the presence of you all.
Paul makes it clear in II Corinthians “Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves!”. You must question why would you have to test yourself if faith is not of yours and a gift? He continues with “Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you.”, and he closes with the Trinity “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all”
II Corinthians 13:5-14
5 Test yourselves to see if you are in the faith; examine yourselves! Or do you not recognize this about yourselves, that Jesus Christ is in you—unless indeed you fail the test? 6 But I trust that you will realize that we ourselves do not fail the test. 7 Now we pray to God that you do no wrong; not that we ourselves may appear approved, but that you may do what is right, even though we may appear unapproved. 8 For we can do nothing against the truth, but only for the truth. 9 For we rejoice when we ourselves are weak but you are strong; this we also pray for, that you be made complete. 10 For this reason I am writing these things while absent, so that when present I need not use severity, in accordance with the authority which the Lord gave me for building up and not for tearing down.11 Finally, brethren, rejoice, be made complete, be comforted, be like-minded, live in peace; and the God of love and peace will be with you. 12 Greet one another with a holy kiss. 13 All the saints greet you.14 The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit, be with you all.
I will close on Faith with this following point, for why did Jesus pray the following if he knew that Faith was predestined to the elect unconditionally, and that it could never be lost or fail? I believe he is making this perfectly clear to us all. You also see his Foreknowledge at work when he declares "when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.
Luke 22:31-34
31 “Simon, Simon, behold, Satan has demanded permission to sift you like wheat; 32 but I have prayed for you, that your faith may not fail; and you, when once you have turned again, strengthen your brothers.”
From the scriptures we have seen that man is responsible for faith, and that we are justified, sons of God, who receive the promise of the spirit and righteousness which come from God on the basis of that Faith.