Defender Of Faith

The UK's crown prince has a notion to change the motto of the sovereign from F.D. or, defender of THE faith, to defender of faith!  Instead of keeping the faith, it's keeping faith per se!  This disembowels the theology of the church because faith doesn't save, Christ does!  It's the object that matters, not the amount.  People can be sincerely wrong!  In other words, we don't have faith in faith but faith in Christ, even if it's mustard-seed-like.  Faith is seen as the channel that acquires it, grace the source that applies it, and Christ the means that accomplished it.

Faith is an abstract word that can more easily be seen than described.  People who observe us may proclaim:  "Now that's what I call faith!"   That's because true faith expresses itself, it has a testimony to share!   I'd rather exercise it any day than know its definition!  We see someone's faith by their deeds, not because they tell us they have faith.  Abraham was counted faithful because he obeyed. We must be obedient to the faith (cf. Acts 6:7; Romans 1:5; 16:26; 2 Thess. 1:8).  That implies there's no easy-believism and justifies lordship salvation.

Samuel told Saul, "To obey is better than sacrifice" (cf. 1 Sam. 15:22).   Dietrich Bonhoeffer said, "Only he who believes is obedient; only he who is obedient believes."  They are linked and the only test of faith is obedience, not ecstasy, religious experiences or highs, visions, or dreams, or private messages from God.  God doesn't want our achievements either, but our obedience!  Faith is the way to offer ourselves up as living sacrifices--We are not called to martyrdom and the more we suffer doesn't mean we are holier.  Therefore, "stand firm in the faith" (cf. Isaiah 7:9, HCSB).  As believers, we are primarily people "on a mission." 

What is faith then?  It is the gift of God that opens our hearts when the Spirit woos and quickens our spirit.  "This is the work of God, that you believe..."  It is composed of Fiducia, Assensus, and Notatia in Latin, and therefore it has a volitional, emotive, and cognitive element. The elements are confidence, trust, and knowledge.  We must believe the right creed concerning Christ without heresy.  But spreading the Word or the gospel message isn't disseminating a creed but presenting a Person.

We trust God with confidence and faithfulness as we proceed from faith to faith or grow in it.  As we are saved by faith, so ought we to continue in it (cf. Col. 2:6).  We progress in maturity from one faith to another (cf. Romans 1:17).  We may get a spiritual encounter that makes us "high" on the mountaintop but God won't leave us there, He tests our renewed faith as if by fire because it's more precious than silver or gold.  Do we walk by faith or by sight (cf. 2 Cor. 5:7)?  Once we have it we realize faith goes beyond reason, not against it. 

Saving faith is not storybook faith or mere head belief, but in the heart; it's not childish, but childlike, not simplistic, but simple!   Faith is not gullibility and doesn't commit intellectual suicide, but is based on evidence and sound reasoning, and intellectual integrity.  We are not called to believe despite the evidence nor to be irrational.  We have good, sound reason to believe and should defend the faith as Jude called it to contend for the faith (cf. Jude 3).  Faith without evidence or knowing why is blind faith!

Dead faith doesn't save, we must desire to live it out (cf. Romans 7:18) and show it to the world--to give it away!   Works validate faith and without them faith is suspect.  We are not saved by works, though; but not without them either!  The formula of the Reformers was that we are "saved by faith alone, but not by a faith that is alone."  CAVEAT:  Faith that is easy isn't worth much; there must struggle to give it merit--it's a choice a decision of the will.

There are two vital, juxtaposed factors to faith we must never forget:  faithfulness and repentance.  Faith and faithfulness go together and one can distinguish them but not separate them, likewise with repentance--don't divorce them.   Therefore they say there is no genuine repentance without saving faith and vice versa, or we come to God by penitent faith and/or believing repentance.     Soli Deo Gloria!