Faith is one of the most important things in Christianity.
Without faith, the Bible is almost useless and the sacrifice of Christ is
pointless. But with faith, the Bible is a source of God's wisdom and love and Christ's
sacrifice is humbling. In this post I'm going to explain the importance of
faith and what exactly faith is.
What is faith? The dictionary definition
for faith is: allegiance to duty or a person. Another,
more fitting definition for my purpose here is: belief and trust in and
loyalty to God. That's a good definition and it works fine, however, Hebrews
11:1-2 also defines faith, "Now faith is confidence in what
we hope for and assurance about what we do not see. This is what the
ancients were commended for."
Faith is all that God requires of us and that's all it takes
to be saved by Christ. Romans
10:9-10 says, "If you declare with
your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God
raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart
that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess
your faith and are saved." That's faith, believing in your heart that
Jesus is Lord and that God raised him from the dead. This message is simple and
the most important part of Christianity. God's grace is nonexistent without
faith. Ephesians
2:8-9: "For it is by grace you have been saved, through
faith—and this is not from yourselves, it is the gift of God— not by works, so that
no one can boast."
In this, the five-hundredth year after the Reformation, the
message of justification through faith is being celebrated. This what Luther
and other reformers believed and they wanted the Church to return to this
message. Works won't earn anyone salvation; it can't be earned, rather, it can
only be given to someone by God. There's no way anyone could even hope to repay
Jesus for his sacrifice and suffering on the cross. As Ephesians says, "it
is the gift of God— not
by works, so that no one can boast."
When Martin Luther was a monk he did everything the Church
taught would earn him salvation, everything from prayer and fasting to going
without sleep to self-flagellation. Through all of these acts he was trying to
love God, but it resulted in the opposite. Luther began to see his wretchedness
and began to see God as a tyrant who expected perfection from imperfect people.
He even started hating God. One day he read Romans
1:17: "For in the gospel the righteousness of God is revealed—a
righteousness that is by faith from first to last, just as it is
written: “The righteous will live by faith.”" He knew he couldn't live by
faith because he wasn't righteous.
According to Christianity
Today:
Meanwhile, he [Luther] was ordered
to take his doctorate in the Bible and become a professor at Wittenberg
University. During lectures on the Psalms (in 1513 and 1514) and a study of the
Book of Romans, he began to see a way through his dilemma. "At last
meditating day and night, by the mercy of God, I ... began to understand that
the righteousness of God is that through which the righteous live by a gift of
God, namely by faith… Here I felt as if I were entirely born again and had entered
paradise itself through the gates that had been flung open."
This moment for Luther is what propelled him to write his 95
Theses and started the Reformation.
Now, faith without works isn't faith at all. James
2:14-17 explains, "What good is it, my brothers and sisters, if
someone claims to have faith but has no deeds? Can such faith save them? Suppose a brother or a
sister is without clothes and daily food. If one of you says to them, “Go in
peace; keep warm and well fed,” but does nothing about their physical needs,
what good is it? In
the same way, faith by itself, if it is not accompanied by action, is dead."
This almost sounds contradictory to what Ephesians 2:8-9 tells
us, however, James is saying that works need to compliment faith. Grace through
faith saves you, but works done for God bring Him glory. Matthew
5:16, "In the same way, let your light shine before others, that
they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
Ephesians
2:10 also elaborates, "For we are God’s handiwork, created in
Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do."
A Christian doesn't do good works to earn anything, a Christian does good works
because they want to do what God created them to do.
The take home message here is live by faith as the ancients
did, trust God and believe Him. Faith is all that is required of us to be
saved. However, don't let your faith be a dead faith, do the good works of God to
glorify Him and to be obedient to Him. Do good works because you want to, not
because you want to earn anything.
A quote to end:
“The subject then of these chapters may be stated thus, —
man’s only righteousness is through the mercy of God in Christ, which being
offered by the Gospel is apprehended by faith.”
-John Calvin
