Grace #6: OBTAINING GRACE THROUGH "THE FAITH"


The contrite and humbled youth begged, "What must I do to be saved?" His friend delightfully answered him, "All you have to do is believe and you will be saved."


In the religious world one expects to hear such a dialogue. Since I have been retired, I have caught up on a lot of missed readings. I even have read most if not all of Zane Grey's westerns. I have enjoyed stacks of "Christian novels." All of the latter have the above conversation included when Bible salvation is mentioned. It is also the line most repeated on religious shows on radio and television.



Sadly, the answer as given is not Biblical and has no substance for a truth seeker. "All I have to do is believe?" Believe in what? What am I supposed to believe? Perhaps if I cross my fingers and just "believe" like Tinker Bell pleas in the Peter Pan story. A friend from my childhood once told me that he had solved the secret of finding a parking space in his city. Cross two fingers and circle around the block in your car. When you return there will be a vacant parking space. Gorm Sionnach calls it the "Tinker Bell Theology" or "Tinkerbell effect": "The more an individual (or group) believes in something, the more potent it becomes."i It should be sufficient for rational thinkers to agree that this does not answer our question of the Biblical passage, "In what am I supposed to believe?"


Would "believe on the Lord Jesus Christ" suffice? This is Biblical. It's found in Acts 16. But in order for the Philippian jailer to “believe on the Lord Jesus Christ”, he had to hear the "word of the Lord" that was taught by the apostle Paul. “And they spoke the Word of the Lord to him, and to all those in his house(Acts 16:32, AFV). "… and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?" (Romans 10:14). The preaching source to hear must come from the Word of God. “So then, faith comes by hearing, and hearing through the Word of God” (Romans 10:17, AFV).


BY GRACE ARE YOU SAVED


When pressed, some religious teachers might use Ephesians 2:8-9 to support their teaching that "all you have to do is believe" statement.


"For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: [it is] the gift of God: Not of works, lest any man should boast" (Ephesians 2:8-9, KJV).


THROUGH FAITH?


"Salvation comes through faith," they will say, "and faith means believing and isn't that just believing in Jesus?" Actually, in colloquial English "through faith" can mean "through believing" or it can mean "through a belief." There's a difference. Believing is a process; belief is a substance. Believing is a verb, gerund or participle. The word brings us back to "Tinker Bell theology." We still don't know what to believe from a verb. On the other hand, "belief" is a noun. A noun can mean "something believed; especially : a tenet or body of tenets held by a group" (Merriam-Webster online).


On the surface, you might conclude, "What's the difference? We still aren't told what to believe." What if I told you that "the belief" is the title that the apostles used to refer to their doctrine (teaching) from Christ?


It is usually translated as "the faith ." It is not just an elusive name nor whatever you want to believe, but we are saved through a specific body of teaching; specifically here, it is "the teaching [the faith ]" delivered by the apostles (and inspired prophets) of Christ. “At the beginning” after Jesus arose, 3000 were saved by believing and obeying the teaching of the apostles. In Acts 2:42, "They continued stedfastly in the apostles' doctrine [teaching]."


"They (the saved) continued stedfastly", "proskartereo G4342 1. to be earnest towards. 2. (to a thing) to persevere, be constantly diligent. 3. (in a place) to attend assiduously all the exercises. 4. (to a person) to adhere closely to (as a servitor)."ii The saved ones persevered "in the apostles' teaching."


The apostle Jude (1:3) writes, "Beloved, when I gave all diligence to write unto you of the common salvation, it was needful for me to write unto you, and exhort [you] that ye should earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints [believers, cf. Colossians 1:2]."


Jude refers to the salvation that all enjoy in common that had been delivered to the sanctified ones (believers). The admonition is to contend earnestly for that "the faith " that has been delivered. Jude calls this common salvation "the faith ."


The New Testament is full of references to the teaching of the apostles designated as "the faith" (in the English translations).


"And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7).


"But Elymas the sorcerer ... withstood them, seeking to turn away the deputy from the faith " (Acts 13:8).


"Confirming the souls of the disciples, [and] exhorting them to continue in the faith " (Acts 14:22).


"So the congregations kept on being strengthened in the faith , and were increasing in number daily" (Acts 16:5).


"When Felix came ... he sent for Paul and heard him concerning the faith into Christ Jesus" (Acts 24:24).


"By whom we have received grace and apostleship, for obedience to the faith among all nations, for his name" (Romans 1:5).


"Him that is weak in the faith receive ye, [but] not to doubtful disputations" (Romans 14:1).


"Watch ye, stand fast in the faith " (1 Corinthians 16:13).

"Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith " (2 Corinthians 13:5).

Galatians 1:23 "But they had heard only, That he which persecuted us in times past now preacheth the faith which once he destroyed."

Galatians 2:16 "Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law [of Moses,GW], but by the faith of Jesus Christ, even we have believed in Jesus Christ, that we might be justified by the faith of Christ, and not by the works of the law: for by the works of the law shall no flesh be justified."

Galatians 2:20 "I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me."

Galatians 3:23 "But before faith came, we were kept under the law [of Moses, GW], shut up unto the faith which should afterwards be revealed."

Ephesians 3:12 "In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him.."

Ephesians 4:13 "Till we all come in the unity of the faith , and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ"

Philippians1:27 "Only let your conversation be as it becometh the gospel of Christ: that whether I come and see you, or else be absent, I may hear of your affairs, that ye stand fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel"

Philippians3:9 "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith"

Colossians 1:23 "If ye continue in the faith grounded and settled, and [be] not moved away from the hope of the gospel, which ye have heard, [and] which was preached to every creature which is under heaven; whereof I Paul am made a minister."

Colossians 2:7 "Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith , as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."

1 Timothy 1:2 "Unto Timothy, [my] own son in the faith : Grace, mercy, [and] peace, from God our Father and Jesus Christ our Lord.

1 Timothy 3:9 "Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."

1 Timothy 3:13 "For they that have used the office of a deacon well purchase to themselves a good degree, and great boldness in the faith which is in Christ Jesus."

1 Timothy 4:1 "Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from the faith , giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils."

1 Timothy 5:8 "But if any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith , and is worse than an infidel."

1 Timothy 6:10 "For the love of money is the root of all evil: which while some coveted after, they have erred from the faith , and pierced themselves through with many sorrows."

1 Timothy 6:21 "Which some professing have erred concerning the faith . Grace [be] with thee. Amen."

2 Timothy 3:8 "Now as Jannes and Jambres withstood Moses, so do these also resist the truth: men of corrupt minds, reprobate concerning the faith.".

2 Timothy 4:7 "I have fought a good fight, I have finished [my] course, I have kept the faith.":

Titus 1:1 "Paul, a servant of God, and an apostle of Jesus Christ, according to the faith of God's elect, and the acknowledging of the truth which is after godliness."

Titus 1:13 "This witness is true. Wherefore rebuke them sharply, that they may be sound in the faith.";

Titus 3:15 "All that are with me salute thee. Greet them that love us in the faith . Grace [be] with you all. Amen"

James 2:1 "My brethren, have not the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, [the Lord] of glory, with respect of persons"

1Peter 5:9 "Whom resist stedfast in the faith , knowing that the same afflictions are accomplished in your brethren that are in the world."

Revelation 14:12" Here is the patience of the saints: here [are] they that keep the commandments of God, and the faith of Jesus."


Returning to Ephesians 2:8. Actually, the Greek text of Ephesians 2:8 has "the faith" as the following interlinear shows:


"For by favor [Gr.: charis] you are being preserved through [διά] the [της] belief [πίστεως]" (APB English of the Greek-English Interlinear).


Someone might truly say, "Doesn't that passage say that we are saved by grace (in the KJV)?" The answer is, "Indeed, but how is the grace (charis) reached by mortal man?" The answer is in the passage. The grace or favor of God is obtained through the Faith that has been delivered to us through the Holy Spirit's inspired writings of the apostles and as Paul adds in the third chapter of Ephesians the assisting prophets; i.e., the New Testament of Jesus Christ.

So it is Scripturally correct to say that what can save us is found in or “through” The Faith. And God's saving favor is located in The Faith. And what is "the Faith"? It is the teaching delivered by God's Holy Spirit-inspired-apostles of Jesus Christ. It is what we call the New Testament. When one thinks about it, without the apostles preaching and their subsequent writings we not only would not have "THE FAITH" but we wouldn't know anything about Jesus Christ OR HIS GRACE! Some say that the historian Josephus wrote a line or two about Jesus existing, but he doesn't tell us anything about how to be saved. Nothing is stated about the teaching of Jesus nor His apostles. Only through the Faith as recorded in the New Testament can we hope to reach the loving hands of the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. All other media is but "Tinker Bell Theology".


"For the grace of God, which brings salvation for all men, has appeared; Teaching us that, having denied ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live moderately and righteously and godly in this present world, Looking for the blessed hope and the appearing of the glory of our Savior and great God, Jesus Christ; Who gave Himself for us, so that He might redeem us from all lawlessness, and might purify for Himself a unique people, zealous of good works." (Titus 2:12-14, AFV).



Grace covers our walk through the Faith, the Word of God, from believing, repenting, confessing, being baptized, and all the way until we hear the voice of the Lord's final beckoning, "Enter Faithful Servant into the joys of your Lord prepared for you from the foundation of the world!"

Gaylon West
Throw Out the Lifeline



You may also be interested in: Other articles in the kindred "the" series:

SERIES: DEFINITE ARTICLE "THE"


i http://threeshoutsonahilltop.blogspot.com/2013/11/tinker-bell-theology-or-if-you-just.html (accessed 1-26-2014)

ii  G4342. Strong's Hebrew and Greek Dictionary.

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