God’s commitment to us is grace, our commitment to God is faith. But today the word “faith” has been so diluted to mean more or less an intellectual assent, that we need to find another word that accurately conveys the biblical meaning of faith. Indeed, many New Testament scholars now translate the Greek word for faith as “commitment”.
In the church and over the centuries, the word “faith” has come to mean accepting certain doctrinal statements to be true. As a result, “I believe in Jesus” has come to mean, “I believe that there was such a person called Jesus, that he came into the world, that he died for me, that he rose again.” This is “faith” in the church today.
While these doctrinal statements are important, merely accepting them to be true is not the full meaning of faith in the New Testament. Certainly it is crucial to believe that Jesus died for us and rose again, but this alone is not saving faith. The devil believes this too (James 2:19), but that doesn’t save him.
Saving faith is a response to God that finds expression in total commitment. In this context James also speaks of “works”; another widely abused and misunderstood word. James is not afraid to speak of “works” when he says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17,20,26). A dead faith saves no one.
In the church and over the centuries, the word “faith” has come to mean accepting certain doctrinal statements to be true. As a result, “I believe in Jesus” has come to mean, “I believe that there was such a person called Jesus, that he came into the world, that he died for me, that he rose again.” This is “faith” in the church today.
While these doctrinal statements are important, merely accepting them to be true is not the full meaning of faith in the New Testament. Certainly it is crucial to believe that Jesus died for us and rose again, but this alone is not saving faith. The devil believes this too (James 2:19), but that doesn’t save him.
Saving faith is a response to God that finds expression in total commitment. In this context James also speaks of “works”; another widely abused and misunderstood word. James is not afraid to speak of “works” when he says, “Faith without works is dead” (James 2:17,20,26). A dead faith saves no one.
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