True Faith?

     If you've read my page "Faith by Default," then you know that this is one of those subjects that weighs heavy on my heart.  It's been several years ago now, but God changed my faith greatly when He began to deal with me concerning the nature of true faith vs. false faith.  The scriptures are clear that we are saved by FAITH ALONE through Jesus Christ. (Galatians 2:16)  If we somehow get it wrong in the area of faith, we've missed it all together.  What a terrifying thought!  I could spend my whole life sincerely believing in and (at least in my understanding) serving Jesus, and then, on judgement day, I could be rejected???  Ouch!
     It becomes obvious, then, that we MUST have a true biblical understanding of what constitutes faith.  Otherwise, we could not possibly judge our own standing with God, much less be able to encourage or lead others into faith!  This understanding should be "Bible 101" for all believers!  Sadly, however, there are many varying teachings about faith, and they can't all be right!  What we've been told may not be entirely true - we would be foolish not to take a healthy, soul-searching look at biblical faith.

     In his essay, "Hebrew Thought Compared With Greek (Western) Thought", (available here: www.hoshanarabbah.org/pdfs/heb_grk.pdf), N'tan Lawrence briefly explores this very topic. He writes:

Similar to this concept is the Hebrew word for faith (emunah), which not only means belief as in mental ascent, but also means faithfulness, or the actions following the mouth's confession to belief in something. For example, there are far too many nominal Christians who have at some time in their life pronounced the words, "I believe in Jesus Christ and accept him as my Lord and Savior" (as per Rom. 10:9-10) as if these words were merely some magical mantra or formula which when pronounced guarantee one's eternal security regardless of subsequent lifestyle and actions. Hebraically, such a concept of pronouncing a word without following it up with actions makes the word null, void, and meaningless. This is the concept that the writers of Scripture had when they penned such popular Christian salvation passages as Romans 10:9-10. To not understand the proper meaning of the words of Holy Scripture Hebraically can result in false teachings going forth leading to false conversions leading to many people thinking they are spiritually saved when in reality they are the walking damned! (p.6)

     Did you catch that????  Words are "null, void, and meaningless" if they are not followed up with action!  This makes perfect sense, and it bears out in scripture when we consider that we are to "bear fruit".  Jesus taught us that a tree is known by its fruit - not by the noise it makes!  Paul outlined for us what fruit we should be seeing in our lives and the lives of other Christians (Galatians 5).  But we tend to separate this from our saving faith.  Scripture does not!  One is the proof of the other!
    Have you ever asked anyone to make you a sandwich, only to hear them say, "POOF! You're a sandwich."?  It doesn't work in Christianity, either.  The Bible gives no support to, "Say this prayer...POOF! You're a Christian!"
     My intention is not to criticize or point fingers at others in any way.  But, if we don't straighten out our thinking on the very DEFINITION of our faith, we are indeed the "walking damned."  And, we will likely create more "walking damned" and praise ourselves for evangelizing!
     Scripture tell us to examine ourselves to prove whether or not we are in the faith (2 Corinthians 13:5), and we would do well to listen!  We must set ourselves straight before we can even hope to help others or lead them into faith (Matthew 7:3-5).
     What I am saying should be no revelation.  I have known many ministers and pastors who have noticed and struggled with the inefficiency and failings of our modern approach to "salvation".  Men and women of God are beginning to realize where things have gone astray, and they are fighting to make things right.  Let's have the same strength in our own lives.  Let's take it seriously and have the courage to change in our lives (or even ministries) whatever we feel has not lined up with the Word of God.  There is still time to get it right, but there won't always be.

"And thou, Solomon, my son, know thou the God of thy Father, and serve Him with a perfect heart and a willing mind:  for the LORD searcheth all hearts, and understandeth all the imaginations of the thoughts:  if thou seek Him, He will be found of thee; but if thou forsake Him He will cast thee off forever."

(2 Chronicles 28:9)

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