Faith is believing and trusting in God. Scripture defines it as well:
Hebrews 11:1 Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the evidence of things not seen.What is "hoped for"? Eternal life. Faith is not a one-shot deal. It is ongoing. Christians continually have "the hope of salvation".
"Evidence" is the proof of, and "things not seen" is the Kingdom of God - God sitting on His throne in Heaven with Jesus at His side. The things "hoped for" are what God promises. Of course, the whole point of having faith is to make it to heaven.
From where does faith come?
Romans 10:17 So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.It follows then that the source of faith comes from Holy Scripture - "the Word of God". In context, "hearing" encompasses much more than audibly receiving but understanding. Scripture tells us that in many places. As such, we can't merely read the Word, but must consider and reason about what we hear or read.
Philippians 2:12 Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always obeyed, not as in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, work out your own salvation with fear and trembling.
To obey God is to "work out your own salvation". Part of the working-out is knowing the cost of faith:
Ephesians 2:8 For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God:"The thing hoped for" is salvation. To obtain salvation - coming at the end of life, one must have and keep the faith.
2 Timothy 4:7 I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith:If Paul had to "keep the faith", we do too! Therefore, faith consists of receiving the gift of faith, then keeping it. The gift of faith doesn't come from a dirty Santa Claus who takes it away. Because the gift is not to be taken lightly, it is to have utility. Faith is exercised by the believer. To "keep the faith" requires hard - very hard work because Satan is the "dirty Santa" who seeks to confiscate it.
1 Thessalonians 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;This passage says much! Ephesians 7:8 indicates that faith is a gift of God - it's not yours to give, and gifts are part of God's charity for mankind. As such because God "so loved the world", he provided salvation. Salvation comes by faith. Hence, mankind receives faith out of love from God.
If we love Him, we will cherish his loving gift. God expects something from his charity. I'm sorry, Dr. David Jeremiah, but from the day mankind was created, God has had one expectation - that we love Him back! (His denial of that is Calvinistic). Our created job assignment comes from the following passage:
Genesis 2:15 And the Lord God took the man, and put him into the garden of Eden to dress it and to keep it.With little imagination, it is should be realized that "the garden of Eden" is "The Kingdom of God". What God commanded Adam to do was to dress and keep the Kingdom of God. In that Kingdom, as in the Garden, God sat on the throne. How better to keep the Garden than by love and faith - dressing and keeping the Garden?
Adam had little faith. God gave him one command, and he failed to keep it. Adam certainly believed in God because they spoke with each other. He heard the Word and was given faith - immortality! By not trusting God to do what he said He would do - punish the eating of the fruit by death, Adam failed to trust the Lord. He was given the faith but failed to keep it. "Getting" is by grace, but "keeping" the faith is by works. God wanted Adam's love - reverence if you prefer, but didn't receive it. We soon found out the penalty for not trusting:
Genesis 3:24 So he drove out the man; and he placed at the east of the garden of Eden Cherubims, and a flaming sword which turned every way, to keep the way of the tree of life.God expected Adam to love Him for being his Creator. Adam failed in that by not trusting God. Adam tried to cover his own sin with fig leaves. God had given Adam faith but he failed to keep it. In other words, Adam failed in his one and only purpose in life - essentially to love God. That was to be his vocation, and is ours. Lack of obedience showed a lack of faith. Hence, obedience is faith in action - keeping the Garden and keeping the faith.
God guarded the only entrance to paradise with Cherubim. There is only one way back into paradise, and that is through that one gate. Adam knew how to get back into the Garden, and when he died, he did just that. He entered the narrow gate - faith in the Word, and walked the narrow Way to get there - obedience. The Word, the Apostle John tells us, is God in the flesh - Jesus Christ. Adam knew Jesus personally before He was ever born. (Beat that Loyd Benson who said, "I knew John Kennedy and you are no John Kennedy!") Adam knew the Messiah and he knew the Word
Hence, faith, as can be seen in the beginning, is all about obedience.
Hebrews 11:8 By faith Abraham, when he was called to go out into a place which he should after receive for an inheritance, obeyed; and he went out, not knowing whither he went."Not knowing" is faith because it is the unseen or unknown. Abraham went there. He obeyed.
Romans 4:9 ...we say that faith was reckoned to Abraham for righteousness.Abraham's righteousness was obedience: the willingness to do what God asked of him. As always, it's the willingness to obey rather than the actual obedience which makes it faith. If Abraham had done it out of fear, the obedience would not have had efficacy.
From Abraham's willingness to do God's commands, we see that obedience and faith are spiritual twins. Abraham demonstrated the work of faith. God gave him the faith, and Abraham kept it by obedience.
This faith/obedience connects the Law and grace. As I always submit - there is only one covenant and that was always the case. The patriarchs were no more bound by the Law than we are. However, they knew the connection between obedience and faith. The typical Jew did not - they misunderstood. However, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joseph, and even Adam full-well understood God's plan from the beginning. So get this notion out of your heads; there was never a covenant of works!
Deuteronomy 7:9 Know therefore that the Lord thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations... (forever).Covenant theology is Calvinist doctrine, and has no more truth to it than dispensational theology. God is the same throughout the ages. (Malachi 3:6; Numbers 23:19; Hebrews 13:8). Therefore, salvation was always by grace, and never by works. Jesus confirmed that Himself:
Matthew 5:17 Think not that I (Jesus) am come to destroy the law, or the prophets: I am not come to destroy, but to fulfil.So how is the New Covenant and the Old Covenant the same?
Romans 13:10 Love worketh no ill to his neighbour: therefore love is the fulfilling of the law.It takes no genius to see that The Ten Commandments are the metrics of The Greatest Commandment and the one like unto it - love God and others!
The Ten Commandments were written on stone for a purpose.
Romans 3:31 Do we then make void the law through faith? God forbid: yea, we establish the law.
Matthew 5:18 For verily I say unto you, Till heaven and earth pass, one jot or one tittle shall in no wise pass from the law, till all be fulfilled.Certain Laws are still in effect. We care little about the ordinances and regulations of Moses as the Jews still do, but we are to cheerish the monumental Ten Commandments as love in action - the first four loving God, and the last six loving others.
When we are born-again, we are made "safe" (sozos), and thus have the "hope of salvation" as Paul called it. Jesus and Paul often referred to it as "saved" because they were certain of it. If faith is great enough by works, Christians are assured of their salvation. They have such great hope that they speak as if it as accomplished!
Here is "The Good News!" It takes only a little faith to be born-again. Jesus implied that to Nicodemus. The gift of faith, in that story, is coming to realize that since one is not God, he cannot save himself but Jesus can!
However, just as faithful Job came under attack as his faith was tested, we are as well. The "work of faith" is hard, and we must be sober and vigilant because inside us, there is spiritual warfare going on. God gives us the clue as to our "safety" leading to salvation - we are to put on His whole armor!
Ephesians 6:10 Finally, my brethren, be strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might. 11Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil. 12 For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickedness in high places.A part of that armor of God is the breastplate of righteousness. That is doing God's will - what's right. His will is that we love Him and one another. It's the breastplate because obedience is in the heart. You circumcise the heart, and God protects it. (Philippians 4:7). The "cutting off of the heart's flesh" is obedience. It's not doing our will but God's. God's will is metricized in The Ten Commandments.
Your "safe" condition until you are finally saved is God's hedge around you. He will fight your battles, not for you, but with you:
2 Thessalonians 3:3 But the Lord is faithful, who shall stablish you, and keep you from evil.God keeps us from evil but admonishes us not to "enter into temptation". That's our job!
Matthew 24:12 ...because iniquity shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold. 13 But he that shall endure unto the end, the same shall be saved.
John 3:36 (ESV) ...whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him."Enduring to the end" is keeping the faith. "Obedience" is the evidence of faith. For the Christian, obedience, and thus God's Law, is important to being saved in the end.
Calvinism falls short of scripture. If one is "saved" when they first believe, then they can never be unsaved, or they weren't "saved" at all when they were born-again. Salvation is used because it is having enough faith that one is confident of their future salvation - thus "the hope of salvation" of which Paul spoke, and "closer to the day of salvation than when you first believed". Satan uses disobedience to create doubt. Even the Calvinist doubts his salvation if they are unable to obey!
I'm not Calvinistic, so God keeps tabs on my obedience. He constantly convicts me when I sin, and I feel guilty until I repent. If I quit listening to his rebuking, I will quit obeying. Before long, I may become my own master, and since I can't serve two, God loses out.
Beware! Obedience indicates the sincerity of faith. Those who doubt God, as Adam did, are bound to fall. Don't do that!
To be sure, eternal security is much easier because it doesn't require obedience. That's what makes it so attractive. Calvinists put all their faith in God - dress His Garden, which is good, but take themselves away from keeping it. On the other hand, conditional security is free, we dress his Garden by "the sweat of our brow" is keeping it. It is still by grace alone because our existence to even keep the Garden is by God's grace since He is the Author of Life.
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