Saving Faith (Part 1)

Introduction

Along with grace, faith shows up as among the most frequently discussed concepts in all religious literature.

Like grace, almost no time is taken to define terms. The definition is assumed.

Around 500 years ago, the definitions of both of these terms shifted drastically in the storms of a massive debate among religious powers.

This introduced an incredible amount of baggage into the conversation that we are trying to clear away.l

The Typical Conversation

“We are saved by faith not works” (Eph. 2:8-9; Rom. 3:28).

“Yes, you have to have faith…but also (Jas. 2:24).

Again, we accept the definition and then try to add something to that definition.

Ironically, we probably don’t go hard enough on the passages about works:

They form a foundation of judgment (Rom. 2:6-7; 2 Cor. 5:10; 1 Pet. 1:17).

The are the key element in praise or condemnation in each of the seven churches of Asia (Rev. 2, 3).

They are even spoken of in accounting terms (1 Tim. 6:18-19).

Paul obviously had the ability to refer to works in ways that did not contribute to salvation and ways that certainly did.

He felt at ease talking that way.

We need to learn to talk about faith in ways that exclude a certain type of work but encompass another kind.

What is Faith?

Definitions of faith:

confidence or trust in a person or thing:faith in another's ability.

belief that is not based on proof:He had faith that the hypothesis would be substantiated by fact.

belief in God or in the doctrines or teachings of religion:the firm faith of the Pilgrims.

belief in anything, as a code of ethics, standards of merit, etc.:to be of the same faith with someone concerning honesty.

a system of religious belief:the Christian faith; the Jewish faith.

the obligation of loyalty or fidelity to a person, promise, engagement, etc.:Failure to appear would be breaking faith.

This last definition is not completely foreign in our vocabulary:

“I hereby declare, on oath, that I absolutely and entirely renounce and abjure all allegiance and fidelity to any foreign prince, potentate, state, or sovereignty, of whom or which I have heretofore been a subject or citizen;

...that I will support and defend the Constitution and laws of the United States of America against all enemies, foreign and domestic;

...that I will bear true faith and allegiance to the same;

...that I will bear arms on behalf of the United States when required by the law;

...that I will perform noncombatant service in the Armed Forces of the United States when required by the law;”

It is not:

Mere belief in facts (Jas. 2:19).

A blind leap (Matt. 4:6).

The opposite of any work (Jas. 2:15-16).

Empty optimism (Rom. 8:28).

God has faith (Rom. 3:1-3; 2 Thess. 3:1-3).

Words have faith (Rev. 21:5; 1 Tim. 1:15).

The Septuagint adds more to this very idea:

Offices of trust and responsibility (1 Chron. 9:22, 26, 31).

What is true (Prov. 3:3; 12:17, 22; 14:22).

Conclusion

You may already be thinking about some places where this definition and usage won’t work.

We will try to discuss that some in the next lesson.

But what if this is the base definition and the definition of belief is the one conditioned by context.

In other words, when this word pistis used, faithfulness is typically meant and believe is a possible subset of that larger definition which context may demand.

What we have now, is that belief is the default unless that doesn’t work and I don’t think that is being “faithful” to the language.

In our next lesson we will add some political context to this and then bring that context into using this word in connection to Christ.