Eph. 2:8-10
"Faith is the daring of the soul to go farther than it can see" It is deaf to doubt, dumb to discouragement, blind to impossibilities and knows nothing but success in God. Faith is the principal element that makes victorious living possible. (1 Jn. 5:4)
The Bible says, "That no man is Justified by the law before God is evident: for the righteous man shall live by Faith" (Gal. 3:11).
The use of the word "by" in this verse is interesting. Paul uses the Greek word "en" when speaking about the Law. "En" can be translated as "In" and denotes a fixed position or relation to rest. In other words, Paul is saying, that no man can find rest in the Law. It is evident that the Law could not bring about justification; in that, it could never bring about righteous living.
But, now, on the other hand, Paul says that "The righteous man shall live "by" faith."
This 2nd word "by" is a different Greek word. It is the word "ek" which is translated as "out." This word denotes "origin" here motion or action proceeds. It is the starting point.
Rom.1:17 says, "For in it a righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith; as it is written,
"But the righteous man shall live by faith," Paul said in verse 16 that he is not ashamed of the gospel of Christ. The words "it" in verse 17 refers to the gospel. For in 'it' (the gospel) a righteousness of God is revealed. What righteousness? The word in Greek is "dikahyosoonay" and is translated "Justification" In It (the gospel) justification has been revealed. How? Because the gospel is the pure message of the cross. Christ satisfied the Law through His death and brought justification by rising from the dead (Rom. 4:25). This is the revelation of the gospel!!
Paul goes on to say that a righteousness has been revealed: "from FAITH to FAITH". Now, what does this mean? This righteousness is a God kind of righteousness that cannot be obtained in any other way except by faith. The term "from faith to faith" Is "Ek pisteos eis pistin". "From" meaning "out of faith." Which is the starting point or origin (like in Gal. 3:11 ) and to "eis" indicating the point reached.
Putting it all together-
For in the (gospel) justification has been revealed starting with faith and entering the desired goal of faith. This verse was the very words that infuriated Martin Luther. Before coming to understand this verse, Martin became tormented by the righteousness of God. He hated it and was angry with God- He said "If indeed, it is not enough that miserable sinners, eternally lost through original sin crushed by every kind of calamity by the law of the Decalogue. Without having God add pain to pain by the gospel threatening us with His righteousness and wrath. Thus I raged with a fierce and troubled conscience." He believed that he was truly born again the moment he understood this verse.
Martin Luther said;
At last, by the mercy of God, meditating day and night, I gave heed to the context of the words, namely, "In it the righteousness of God is revealed, as it is written, 'He who through faith is righteous shall live.'" There I began to understand that the righteousness of God is that by which the righteous lives by a gift of God, namely by faith. And this is the meaning: the righteousness of God is revealed by the gospel, namely, the passive righteousness with which merciful God justifies us by faith, as it is written, "He who through faith is righteous shall live." Here I felt that I was altogether born again and had entered paradise itself through open gates. There a totally other face of the entire Scripture showed itself to me. Thereupon I ran through the Scripture from memory. I also found in other terms an analogy, as, the work of God, that is what God does in us, the power of God, with which he makes us wise, the strength of God, the salvation of God, the glory of God. And I extolled my sweetest word with a love as great as the hatred with which I had before hated the word "righteousness of God." Thus that place in Paul was for me truly the gate to paradise." Faith is taking God at His word -
Mark 11:22
Jesus here was showing figuratively how powerful "FAITH" is. Jesus used the largest natural object to demonstrate that the largest obstacle cannot hinder divine promises. In the same way, human obstacles when confronted with biblical faith must flea in the presence of God’s power and divine promises.
Biblical faith is that which directs God's power to the obstacle. The object of biblical faith is the word of God. Biblical faith has as its object the Word of God. Faith is a gift of grace from God. God's grace is not a reward for faith, it is the result of grace. Faith is the principle by which victorious living is made possible
1 Jn. 5:4
"The just shall live by faith" Gal. 3:11 ; The Justified, the one who has been made righteous through the gospel, shall, is expected to live by faith!!
Faith is the words that Christ left behind and is the way a believer transforms his/her life into Christ's image. The bible is the mind of Christ, what He thinks, what He will do for us, what He feels about us etc. To be confirmed is to know the mind of Christ. There are no substitutes, no shortcuts. The more we know His mind (the word, Logos) the more we are conformed to His image and the more we are conformed, the greater our victory will be! All this is done by FAITH!
Faith is belief in ACTION - Heb. 11:4,7,8 etc. "...I will show you my faith by my works." The Bible also speaks of a passive faith, but this kind is NOT a biblical faith Jam. 2:14-20 True faith is ACTION. A faith that does not produce good works is a dead faith; a passive faith (unbiblical). James 2:20 "Are you willing to recognize, you foolish man, that faith without works is "USELESS" (Gr. argos - INACTIVE, IDLE)
A faith that does not work, that is, not put into action, is self-deception- don't deceive yourselves- This is kind of a perversion of true faith. Works will always come from a saving faith - Eph. 2:10
The faith that has been instilled in our hearts by the Holy Spirit cannot be idle. If it is, it is not from the Holy Spirit it is a passive faith and it comes from our own imaginations. True faith will always be under attack - Jam. 1:2-4. A faith that cannot be tested is not worth having. Only as our faith is tested, do we find out what kind of faith it is that we really have. The testing of our faith is the divine process of God for refining it. Peter (1 Pe. 1:7) said that proof (testing) of our faith is more precious than pure gold and that the testing of our faith results in praise, glory, and honor at Christ's appearing.
It also validated our hope for the future - Heb. 11:1, It makes heaven real. What the physical eye cannot see, the eye of faith clearly sees.
Hebrews 11:1 states That faith is the SUBSTANCE (so it is tangible) of thing HOPED (Gr. elpizo; to expect) for the CONVICTION (Gr. elegchos; a proof) of things not yet seen. So then, faith is a tangible proof of the expected hope of God's promise!
Rev Deb
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