Faith(believing, trust, fight of faith)
“Trust, reliance, confidence”
Summary
Trust and reliance upon God and His promises, the essential means by which the redemption of Christ is appropriated and salvation received.
☩Nature of Faith
Faith is essentially trust and reliance upon another. In Scripture, the overwhelming majority of uses mean reliance, not merely intellectual assent to facts. It is 'the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen'—not a mysterious intuition but simple reliance upon a trustworthy God that enables treating the future as present and the invisible as seen. Faith receives and rests upon Christ alone for salvation as He is freely offered in the Gospel.
☩Faith and Justification
Believers are justified by God judicially, by Christ meritoriously, and by faith instrumentally. Faith is not the ground of salvation but the means of receiving it. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousness—this is the pattern for all who believe on Him who raised Jesus from the dead. Faith makes the interchange whereby our sin is imputed to Christ and His righteousness is imputed to us.
☩Faith and Works
True faith manifests itself in works. James asks rhetorically whether faith without works can save, answering that such faith is dead. Paul and James do not contradict each other: Paul emphasizes that faith alone justifies, while James emphasizes that true faith inevitably produces works as evidence. Living faith does not derive life from works, but faith apart from love, whose evidence is works, is dead as the body without spirit.
☩The Life of Faith
Faith in Christ brings salvation, the gift of the Holy Spirit, and cleansing of hearts. The term 'the faith' also refers to the body of Christian truth to be believed and defended. Christians walk by faith, not by sight, as exemplified by Old Testament saints recorded in Hebrews 11. The Lord sometimes rebuked His disciples for lack of faith in daily circumstances, teaching that believers should trust God for all details of life.
☩The Fight of Faith
Scripture describes the Christian life not only as trust but as active combat. Paul charged Timothy to 'fight the good fight of faith, lay hold on eternal life,' and near his own death testified: 'I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith.' The writer of Hebrews reminded early believers that they had already 'endured a great fight of afflictions' and urged them not to cast away their confidence. This fight is not waged with physical weapons: the 'shield of faith' quenches the fiery darts of the wicked one, and the heroes of Hebrews 11 'out of weakness were made strong' and 'through faith subdued kingdoms, wrought righteousness, obtained promises.' Jehoshaphat was told, 'Ye shall not need to fight in this battle... stand still and see the salvation of the LORD'—a paradigm of faith that wins by trusting God's deliverance rather than human effort. There is no perseverance without firm belief in God's faithfulness excludes carnal security and is ever accompanied by the necessity of utmost effort, grace working mightily in every faculty.
Related Verses1002 mentions
References
- 1.John McClintock and James Strong, "Faith," in Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature, vol. III (Harper & Brothers, 1867–1887).
- 2.James Orr (ed.), "Faith," in International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, vol. II (Howard-Severance Company, 1915).
- 3.Andrew Robert Fausset, "Faith," in The Englishman's Critical and Expository Bible Cyclopædia (Hodder & Stoughton, 1878).
- 4.George Morrish, "Faith," in Morrish's Concise Bible Dictionary (George Morrish, 1898).
- 5.James Hastings (ed.), "Faith," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. I (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).
- 6.James Hastings (ed.), "Perseverance," in Dictionary of the Apostolic Church, vol. II (T. & T. Clark, 1915–1918).