A Short Little Thing About Faith
Romans 11:29 tells us that God's gifts and His calling are irrevocable. And they are. God never sets aside His gifts of grace (charismata) or His invitation to salvation (klesis).
And among all of the gifts of grace God has given us lies one that has to do with our very composition: we are made in the image of God Himself (Genesis 1:27). This means many things: that we are spiritual (part spirit), that we are eternal - but it also means that we are willful, moral creatures. God has given us a will that is capable of weighing evidence and making decisions, and He has given us moral sensitivity so that we can exercise our wills in the realm of righteousness.
But something horrible happened on the way to the party so to speak, and it caused our willfulness and our morality to be corrupted. This was the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Genesis chapter 3 lays out the sordid details.
Because of this, the Bible tells us that we are all sinners and that this sin has left us dead spiritually. Please consider:
Because of the effects of sin, some have said that it is impossible for us to respond to God at all. Dead means dead, blind means blind, crippled means crippled. And they do.
Because of this some have said that unless God basically saves us first in a process called regeneration, we will remain dead in sin and unable to respond to Him. And because of this, and the fact that not everyone is a born again Christian, they say that this must mean that God has decided who He will save (by regenerating them), and who He will allow to die and go to Hell unsaved (because He made the choice not to regenerate them).
This change can't be resisted they say because we are in fact dead. We can't respond any more than can a corpse, nor can we resist God's work for the same reason.
That makes sense logically, but is it rational? If a particular argument is "logical", it means it has a subjective, internal consistency and truth: within the context of itself - it makes sense.
Rationality is a step further out from this. If an argument is "rational", it means that it has an objective, absolute truth. From the outside in, the argument makes sense. A rational argument is one that has a foundation of truth.
How can we judge if the argument above is rational in addition to being logical? Well, we have to go to the very source of truth regarding sin and death, and that is God's word the Bible. The Bible bears testimony to the inside pieces, but does it bear testimony to the argument as a whole.
As it turns out, it doesn't. And the reason it doesn't is because of God's power and God's will. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37) and that is a very good thing because we are all sinners.
So I've made some bold statements - where is the proof? The proof is found in the very person that is called the father of all those saved by faith in God's Word: Abraham.
Please read this carefully. Abraham at this time is an elderly man and his wife Sarah is elderly and barren (unable to have children), and God has just told them that Abraham, through Sarah's womb, would father a son who would be his heir, and through this child via natural means Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Quite a thing for God to tell an old man with a barren, elderly wife - as God describes it: Abraham's body was as good as dead, and Sarah's womb was dead (Romans 4:19 below).
How did Abraham respond to this? Was he even able to respond with trust (faith) in what God had said? How could he since Abraham was dead in sin just like all of us? If God made Abraham believe as the above view holds, then we really wouldn't be talking about Abraham's faith would we? We couldn't if his will didn't make the decision. We would be talking about God's will and His will alone.
Is this how God describes events, or does He give another view? It turns out He gives another view:
Here are some notes on this to bring my own argument to a close:
So back to the beginning... how does all of this happen to creatures that are dead in sin?
The answer is that God is life and nothing is impossible for Him. This whole account of Abraham is about the dead being brought back to life. It is about life being produced from the inability brought about by death. God shows us things like this quite often: He teaches spiritual truths through physical reality.
The death in sin that you and I face is just like Abraham's and Sarah's bodies that were nearly dead - and in fact were dead as far as having children was concerned. But to God death is never the end of the story. He can bring life anywhere and at any time He wishes. He is the resurrection and the life. You can believe that with all of your heart.
And just like God enabled Abraham's faith by revelation, He has done the same thing for us through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that when He was lifted up, He would draw all men unto Himself (John 12:32). And just like John the Baptist was given so that men might believe in Jesus (John 1:6-7), He also said that when He was back with the Father the Holy Spirit would come with not just a mission to the saved, but to the lost: to convict and convince them of the truth of God's word (John 16:6-16).
God has made this same revelation available to us as well, and it is the very thing you have been reading: the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whenever the Gospel is presented God's revelation is made known. Whenever the Gospel is presented faith in that Gospel truth is enabled. What you do with that faith is up to you.
You may choose to let it weaken and die, in which case God may never enable it for you again. Or instead you can choose to strengthen it and follow it to the point of accepting Christ as your Savior.
My prayer for you is that you, like Abraham, will take God at His word and trust Him:
Romans 10:8-13 (NIV)
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
And among all of the gifts of grace God has given us lies one that has to do with our very composition: we are made in the image of God Himself (Genesis 1:27). This means many things: that we are spiritual (part spirit), that we are eternal - but it also means that we are willful, moral creatures. God has given us a will that is capable of weighing evidence and making decisions, and He has given us moral sensitivity so that we can exercise our wills in the realm of righteousness.
But something horrible happened on the way to the party so to speak, and it caused our willfulness and our morality to be corrupted. This was the fall of man in the Garden of Eden. Genesis chapter 3 lays out the sordid details.
Because of this, the Bible tells us that we are all sinners and that this sin has left us dead spiritually. Please consider:
Romans 3:9-12 (NIV)
9 What shall we conclude then? Are we any better ? Not at all! We have already made the charge that Jews and Gentiles alike are all under sin.
10 As it is written: “There is no one righteous, not even one;
11 there is no one who understands, no one who seeks God.
12 All have turned away, they have together become worthless; there is no one who does good, not even one.”
1st John 1:10 (NIV)
10 If we claim we have not sinned, we make him out to be a liar and his word has no place in our lives.
Romans 8:6-8 (NIV)
6 The mind of sinful man is death, but the mind controlled by the Spirit is life and peace;
7 the sinful mind is hostile to God. It does not submit to God’s law, nor can it do so.
8 Those controlled by the sinful nature cannot please God.
Because of the effects of sin, some have said that it is impossible for us to respond to God at all. Dead means dead, blind means blind, crippled means crippled. And they do.
Because of this some have said that unless God basically saves us first in a process called regeneration, we will remain dead in sin and unable to respond to Him. And because of this, and the fact that not everyone is a born again Christian, they say that this must mean that God has decided who He will save (by regenerating them), and who He will allow to die and go to Hell unsaved (because He made the choice not to regenerate them).
This change can't be resisted they say because we are in fact dead. We can't respond any more than can a corpse, nor can we resist God's work for the same reason.
That makes sense logically, but is it rational? If a particular argument is "logical", it means it has a subjective, internal consistency and truth: within the context of itself - it makes sense.
Rationality is a step further out from this. If an argument is "rational", it means that it has an objective, absolute truth. From the outside in, the argument makes sense. A rational argument is one that has a foundation of truth.
How can we judge if the argument above is rational in addition to being logical? Well, we have to go to the very source of truth regarding sin and death, and that is God's word the Bible. The Bible bears testimony to the inside pieces, but does it bear testimony to the argument as a whole.
As it turns out, it doesn't. And the reason it doesn't is because of God's power and God's will. Nothing is impossible with God (Luke 1:37) and that is a very good thing because we are all sinners.
So I've made some bold statements - where is the proof? The proof is found in the very person that is called the father of all those saved by faith in God's Word: Abraham.
Please read this carefully. Abraham at this time is an elderly man and his wife Sarah is elderly and barren (unable to have children), and God has just told them that Abraham, through Sarah's womb, would father a son who would be his heir, and through this child via natural means Abraham's descendants would be as numerous as the stars in the sky. Quite a thing for God to tell an old man with a barren, elderly wife - as God describes it: Abraham's body was as good as dead, and Sarah's womb was dead (Romans 4:19 below).
How did Abraham respond to this? Was he even able to respond with trust (faith) in what God had said? How could he since Abraham was dead in sin just like all of us? If God made Abraham believe as the above view holds, then we really wouldn't be talking about Abraham's faith would we? We couldn't if his will didn't make the decision. We would be talking about God's will and His will alone.
Is this how God describes events, or does He give another view? It turns out He gives another view:
Romans 4:18-5:2 (NASB)
18 In hope against hope he (Abraham) believed, so that he might become a father of many nations according to that which had been spoken, “so shall your descendants be.”
19 Without becoming weak in faith he contemplated his own body, now as good as dead since he was about a hundred years old, and the deadness of Sarah’s womb;
20 yet, with respect to the promise of God, he did not waver in unbelief but grew strong in faith, giving glory to God,
21 and being fully assured that what God had promised, He was able also to perform.
22 Therefore "it was also credited to him as righteousness".
23 Now not for his sake only was it written that it was credited to him,
24 but for our sake also, to whom it will be credited, as those who believe in Him who raised Jesus our Lord from the dead,
25 He who was delivered over because of our transgressions, and was raised because of our justification.
1 Therefore, having been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,
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.
Here are some notes on this to bring my own argument to a close:
- In verse 18 is God saying that God believed *for* Abraham, or that Abraham in fact believed for himself? God says that Abraham believed and this is born out in verse 22.
- In verse 19 we see that Abraham wasn't exhibiting blind faith... saving faith, because of its nature, can never be blind. There is something (someone actually) that it must see in order to be real saving faith. Just as grace requires an object (a target), faith also requires a target. Without a target grace cannot exist, nor can faith for the same reason. Abraham was going into this trial with his eyes wide open. He was thinking about his own body and his age - not to mention the age of his wife and the fact that she was barren. All through their marriage she had been unable to bear children.
- In verse 19, Abraham takes in all of these obstacles to God's word and he has a choice to make. He can let the realities on the ground weaken his trust in what God had just told him, or instead he could cling even harder to what God had said - for the very reason that it was God that had said it.
- In verse 20 we see which choice Abraham made. He took the door of strengthening his own faith. Rather than allowing his and Sarah's human circumstances to undercut his faith in what God had said, he allowed the fact that God was the one making the promises to instead strengthen his faith. And in this strengthening of his faith that he accomplished based on the revelation God had given him, he gave all the glory to God. This is a great truth about real faith in God, and it is one that many miss.
- Although he strengthened his own faith he didn't view that as some type of work of merit or something of which to be proud. Instead he gave all the glory to God. You see, these two things are not mutually exclusive. The only reason Abraham, or any of us, can have faith is because God enables it by revelation (by showing us Himself). Faith needs a target, and when God shows us Himself and His actions faith is automatically enabled. Once God does that it is our faith and we can do with it what we choose. We can grow it, or let it die - and God reciprocates in kind. But the only reason we can have it at all is due to God, and the only reason we can strengthen it is all about God too - by realizing Who it really is in which we are trusting. Thus at one and the same time it truly is our faith in every sense of the word, and all of the glory for that personal faith is due to God Himself. He enabled it, and without Him it would have no target and thus no real existence.
- In verse 21 we get more detail on how this actually works. Abraham, instead of looking to himself or Sarah for a solution, instead looked to God. And he was "fully assured" that what God had said He would do, He could in fact accomplish. Abraham knew God was all powerful, so He could not fail in any task. And he knew God could not sin by bearing a false witness as to His own abilities and intent. That is the anchor to which our faith clings: God's nature and His plan for our lives. The part that our faith plays is this: our faith must take the things that are not yet (God's promises), and treat them as if they are. We must take the promises to be the reality.
- When we do this God reciprocates. Not because He owes us or we are controlling Him... all of this is God's plan through and through. But when we do the part God has set for us, He completes the action. In verse 22 we see the "therefore". When you read that in God's word, always ask what it's there for. It's there because of all the preceding verses we've just studied. Because Abraham didn't let his faith weaken, but he strengthened it in light of God's character; and because he trusted God and took the things that were not as if they already were, God did the same. God took the thing that was not yet (Abraham's personal righteousness), and He credited it to him as if it really existed. "Therefore (because Abraham trusted God) it was also credited to him as righteousness".
- Verses 23-25 are beautiful and they are salvation. This wasn't for Abraham alone, but it was for us also. Everyone who trusts God's word about His one and only Son, and accepts Jesus' sinless life as their own, and His death on the cross as their own, and His resurrection and glorification as their own - will receive the reality of those things themselves through their faith in Christ.
- God takes the things that are not (our personal sinless life, our personal death to sin, our resurrection as a new creature, and our glorification and final deliverance from sin) - and He credits them to our account as if they really were. And all of this for Christ, and through Christ - because of His great and undying love for us.
- And because of this (chapter 5 verse 1), we have peace with God through Jesus. He is our safe harbor - He is the ark for the faithful to protect us from God's wrath.
- And this new relationship with Christ introduces us to God's grace, and we continue to grow in that grace until we are taken up when Jesus returns, or we are taken out to be with Christ through death.
- And verse 2, we exult in the hope of the glory of God. In other words, the thing we look forward to after this (after being credited with righteousness), is the actual fact of righteousness made real in us: the hope of God's glory.
So back to the beginning... how does all of this happen to creatures that are dead in sin?
The answer is that God is life and nothing is impossible for Him. This whole account of Abraham is about the dead being brought back to life. It is about life being produced from the inability brought about by death. God shows us things like this quite often: He teaches spiritual truths through physical reality.
The death in sin that you and I face is just like Abraham's and Sarah's bodies that were nearly dead - and in fact were dead as far as having children was concerned. But to God death is never the end of the story. He can bring life anywhere and at any time He wishes. He is the resurrection and the life. You can believe that with all of your heart.
And just like God enabled Abraham's faith by revelation, He has done the same thing for us through the cross of Jesus Christ. Jesus said that when He was lifted up, He would draw all men unto Himself (John 12:32). And just like John the Baptist was given so that men might believe in Jesus (John 1:6-7), He also said that when He was back with the Father the Holy Spirit would come with not just a mission to the saved, but to the lost: to convict and convince them of the truth of God's word (John 16:6-16).
God has made this same revelation available to us as well, and it is the very thing you have been reading: the truth of the Gospel of Jesus Christ. Whenever the Gospel is presented God's revelation is made known. Whenever the Gospel is presented faith in that Gospel truth is enabled. What you do with that faith is up to you.
You may choose to let it weaken and die, in which case God may never enable it for you again. Or instead you can choose to strengthen it and follow it to the point of accepting Christ as your Savior.
My prayer for you is that you, like Abraham, will take God at His word and trust Him:
Romans 10:8-13 (NIV)
8 But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of faith we are proclaiming:
9 That if you confess with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,” and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved.
10 For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess and are saved.
11 As the Scripture says, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be put to shame.”
12 For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile—the same Lord is Lord of all and richly blesses all who call on him,
13 for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord will be saved.”
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