A seminary student raises his hand in apologetics class. “I appreciate the arguments we’re learning about the textual reliability of the biblical manuscripts, their internal markers of historical authenticity, and so on. Without these arguments, our Christian commitment would be irrational. We’d just have ‘blind faith,’ right?” Is this student correct?
Recently, I picked up the new edition of volume 7 of the works of the 17th-century Puritan John Owen. This volume includes Owen’s treatise The Reason of Faith (1677), in which he argues for a distinctively Reformed view of the relationship between faith and reason.
His position is that our knowledge of the Bible as God’s Word depends neither on “the authority of the church” nor on “a moral persuasion from external arguments and considerations.” Scripture is divine testimony, faith “is an assent upon testimony, and consequently divine faith [or, faith from and in God] is an assent upon divine testimony.” In other words, the Scriptures reveal God’s own “authority and veracity,” and they provide the “formal reason of our faith.”
I’d just been writing about Alvin Plantinga, and the more I read Owen’s The Reason of Faith (particularly chapter 6), the more I saw that Owen’s view is remarkably like Plantinga’s model of how faith and reason relate.
Ultimately, this isn’t surprising, since Plantinga was deeply affected by the Reformed tradition in his upbringing and early education. His magnum opus on Christian epistemology (the philosophy of how we can know truth), titled Warranted Christian Belief (2000), relies on authors like Martin Luther, John Calvin, Jonathan Edwards, and Herman Bavinck, not to mention the Belgic Confession and the Heidelberg Catechism.
Still, the parallels between these two kindred spirits are worth pointing out.
3 Components of a Faculty-Based Approach to Faith and Reason
According to Owen, there are at least three “distinct faculties and powers of our souls” by which “God is pleased to reveal or make known himself, his mind or will.”
These faculties are (1) “the light of reason” by which we may “see” the truth of claims like “The whole is greater than the parts” without making any inferences, (2) “reason in its exercise” by which we discursively reason from premises to conclusion, and (3) “testimony” by which we simply trust the claims of a testifier about matters we neither “see” the truth of personally nor reason to argumentatively.
The Scriptures reveal God’s own authority and veracity, and they provide the formal reason of our faith.
Similarly, Plantinga has a faculty-based approach to faith and reason. Like Owen, he distinguishes between the noninferential and inferential powers of reason. The noninferential powers deliver us beliefs by way of perception, memory, introspection, and rational insight. The inferential powers deliver us beliefs by way of deductive and inductive reasoning. Like Owen, Plantinga takes “testimony” to be an additional source of belief that goes beyond the other two.
7 Ways Faith Relates to Reason
But Owen and Plantinga aren’t only similar because they assert reason is composed of multiple cognitive faculties. Both authors go on to apply this position to the faith-reason relationship in similar ways, giving special attention to our faith in Scripture as God’s Word.
What follows is a series of moves in Owen I found eerily similar to Plantinga’s argument.
1. Faith is trust in divine testimony.
Full stop, no further arguments needed. Like our ordinary, rational trust in human testimony, divinely produced faith needs no supporting argument to be rational or to count as knowledge.
2. Faith and reason are two ways of knowing.
Faith isn’t an intellectually substandard source of belief. Rather, it’s a different way to get knowledge. I can acquire knowledge of how my wife’s day went by simply listening to her, reposing confidence in her testimony. Likewise, I can come to know “the great things of the gospel” (Plantinga’s phrase, taken from Jonathan Edwards), and much else besides, by simply listening to and assenting to divine testimony.
3. We have no reason to think there’s an inherent faith/reason conflict.
Rather, as Owen puts it, “there is a perfect consonancy” between the deliverances of faith and reason—“They never contradict.” Instead, they “harmonize and perfectly agree one with the other.”
4. We can learn some things by faith that we can’t learn by reason.
And vice versa. After all, some rational faculties (perception) can disclose things not disclosed by the others (memory). As Owen puts it, these faculties are not “equally extensive.” Likewise, faith can enable us to know things not knowable by reason. This is perfectly normal—indeed, to be expected.
5. Faith, as a distinct way of knowing, is just as authoritative as reason.
Faith and reason are on an epistemic par. Of course, there may not be any noncircular way to prove divine testimony is reliable. But the same goes for reason. One would have to appeal to sense perception to prove the reliability of sense perception, appeal to memory to prove the reliability of memory, and so on. But this doesn’t reveal anything improper about our reliance on perception and memory. Ditto for divine faith in the Scriptures.
6. The work of the Holy Spirit is necessary for producing faith in divine testimony.
There’s no true faith—what Owen calls “divine faith”—without this supernatural influence upon us. Of course, the Holy Spirit’s work is not the formal reason why we believe. Rather, we believe the Scripture because it’s God speaking to us. But without “the internal testimony of the Holy Spirit” (Plantinga’s phrase, from Calvin), there’s no saving faith in this fallen world.
7. Supernaturally produced faith can be strengthened by rational arguments.
Owen devotes chapter 3 of The Reason of Faith to “Sundry Convincing External Arguments for Divine Revelation,” and Plantinga is well known for his “Two Dozen (Or So) Arguments for the Existence of God.” The point both writers make is that rational arguments aren’t needed for faith, even if they strengthen the faithful.
Rational arguments aren’t needed for faith, even if they strengthen the faithful.
Both Owen and Plantinga tap into a deeply Reformed conception of how to do the “knowledge project” in a way that upholds the rationality and perfect propriety of faith in divine testimony apart from supporting arguments.
In a world that attempts to pit reason against faith in radical ways, the philosopher’s epistemological arguments combined with the Puritan theologian’s careful Scriptural exegesis may be just what we need. No Christian, including the seminary student with whom we began, is left with “blind faith.”
The first thing each and every Christian must fully realize is that the Holy Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God.
There are many liberal Christians who are starting to question the validity and authenticity of the Bible. I will not use this article to debate the origins of the Bible, all of the authors who wrote the books, and how the different translations came into being. There are plenty of good books at your local Christian bookstore that deal with this topic very extensively.
After studying the Bible in its complete entirety – there is absolutely no doubt in my mind that all of the Bible is God-breathed – that all of it has come directly to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit.
For those of you who believe in the literal interpretation of the Bible, and that all of it has truly come to us from God the Father.
I will use this article to give you some extremely powerful verses from Scripture to show you that not only did all of the Bible come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit to all of the authors who wrote all 66 books of the Bible – but I will also give you some powerful verses from the Bible showing you how powerful the actual words of the Bible really are, and how they can also help to change and transform you into the kind of person that God really wants you to become in Him.
The actual words of the Bible are anointed by the Holy Spirit Himself – and they have the full ability to completely change and transform you if you are willing to work with the divine truths that are contained in the actual words.
Jesus says in the Bible that you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free. However, you first have to know what the real truth is before the truth can start to work to set you free.
This is why Kind David said we must meditate on the words of the Bible – so we can find out what their true meaning is and how all of these divine truths can apply to our daily lives. Meditating on the Bible means to think about, to chew on, to try and figure out the meaning of all of the different verses in the Bible.
Though the Book is long, God has made it as simple and easy as He possibly could. Think about this. There is only one Bible. In one Book, God has given us everything we need to know about Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, the Holy Spirit, the basics of our salvation through His Son Jesus, how He wants us to live this life, the things that He wants us doing, and the things that He does not want us to be doing.
In this one Book are all the ways and commandments of our Lord, along with all the information we are ever going to need on what is awaiting all of us on the other side when we die and cross over – heaven for the saved and hell for the unsaved.
I believe the number one reason God created the human race was for intimate fellowship. Even to the amazement of the angels in heaven, God seems to have some type of special longing and love for the human race.
The fact that God would send His one and only Son Jesus down to our earth in the flesh to go through the worst form of physical death at the time He came, all just to bring us back to Himself, really does show us how much God really does love all of us.
The Bible tells us that the love that God has for all of us is like a “consuming fire.” These two words are showing us a love that is of maximum intensity. With this kind of intense, passionate love that God has for all of us, I believe He is trying to tell all of us one main thing – and that one main thing is that He is looking to enter into a one-on-one, personal, love relationship with each one of us.
Think about this – that the one and only all-powerful God of the entire universe is looking to make a direct, personal connection with you on an individual and unique basis.
If you really step back and look at the big picture and all the things that we see in this life – what is the one thing that most of us long for in this life? What is the one thing that will make you cry when you see this portrayed on the movie screens?
It is the longing for a true soul mate. It is the longing for a pure, true, and unconditional love from a person of the opposite sex. There is nothing that can satisfy the deeper longings of your soul the way that true love can. However, there is just one small catch with this scenario. Even though some of you may have found your true soul mates in this life, there is still one more thing that has not been met.
No matter how perfect you think your mate may be – your mate is still not perfect like God is, since the Bible tells us that all men and women have sinned and have fallen way short of the glory of our God. What this means is that no matter how good of a love relationship you may have with your mate, that person is still not capable of giving you a perfect love because that person is not perfect in their very nature and personality.
Thus, every single one of us still has that little hole in our soul that just cannot seem to be filled with anything else in our lives.
No matter how much money we have, no matter how many material possessions we have, and no matter how many loving children we have – there is still something missing and none of these things can completely fill that little hole that is in all of our souls.
God has purposely left a vacuum, a hole, and a void in each one of our souls when He created us. And the only thing that can fill this hole and void is God the Father Himself, His Son Jesus Christ, and His Holy Spirit.
There is absolutely nothing else on this earth that can fill that empty void. People are literally chasing after the wind trying to find anything and everything to fill that void – and no matter how many lovers they have, no matter how many marriages they enter into, and no matter how many toys they buy with the money they have – nothing they chase after in this life will fill that hole in their souls.
The only thing that will fill that hole in your soul is finding, and then entering into a true, personal, love relationship with God the Father, Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit. There is nothing else that will fill that void!
Since God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit are totally perfect in Their actual natures and have no dark side to Their personalities, then They, and only They, are the only Ones who are capable of giving you a perfect, pure, and unconditional love that no one else can give you in this life.
This is why the Bible tells us that we will find a peace that will pass all human understanding once we have accepted Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior and have become truly born again. That peace we will find is the result of finding the one true Person who can fill that empty void that is on the inside of each and everyone of us – and that one Person is God Almighty Himself.
However, once you have found God through accepting Jesus Christ as your personal Lord and Savior, there is now something you must do. You must now grow in the knowledge of God and grow in the personal relationship that He wants to establish with you.
And how do you start to grow in the personal relationship He wants to establish with you and grow in the knowledge that He wants you to have about Him? By diving head first into the Bible!
When two lovers first meet and fall in love with one another, the first thing they naturally and instinctively want to do is to learn as much as they can about one another.
How can you truly fall in love with another person unless you first seek to know everything you can about your lover, their past, where they have been, what they have been through, who are all of their friends and family, etc. Once you really fall into true love with someone, you will have a major hunger and desire to find out as much as you can about them and their past.
It’s the exact same way in our relationship with God. God obviously knows everything about each one of us since He is all-knowing, but we do not know everything about Him, His Son, or His Spirit. So the only possible way that we can learn all about God is to read and study from the Bible, since the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that will give us detailed information as to who the Three of Them really are.
If a true, born-again, Spirit-filled Christian is really in love with God, and really wants to deepen the personal relationship they have now established with Him – then the first thing that person will really want to do is to get into the Bible so that they can find out everything they possibly can about this awesome God of ours.
The more knowledge you gain about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit from studying the Bible – the stronger and deeper your personal relationship will become with the Three of Them.
As you will see in the Scripture verses listed below, there are several other incredible things that will start to occur in your life if you seek to study the Bible with the intentions on wanting to learn more about God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit in order to deepen your personal relationship Them.
I will break these Scripture verses down under their appropriate captions below so you can see how powerful the Word of God really is, and how it can help change and transform the quality of your life if you are willing to study, learn, and seek to apply the divine truths that are in this incredible Book.
Study these verses very, very carefully. These verses are showing you how powerful and anointed the Bible really is. Since all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father, you can completely trust and rely on that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth.
1. All of Scripture is Given to Us By Inspiration From God the Father
These first two verses will specifically tell us, without any other possible interpretation, that all of the Bible has been given to us by “inspiration of God” through holy men who were “moved by the Holy Spirit” to write what they wrote!
In other words – all of the words in the Bible have come direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. The specific authors of the Bible then wrote under the guidance, inspiration, and illumination of the Holy Spirit.
This is why you can completely trust that what you will read from the Bible will be 100% pure, solid, God-truth! There is no other book on our earth that contains direct words from God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ other than the Holy Bible. God Himself has personally arranged that all of the revelation that He wants us to have in this life about Himself, His Son Jesus, and His Holy Spirit would all be contained in this one incredible Book.
Here are the two specific verses giving us this incredible revelation:
- “All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work.” (2 Timothy 3:16)
- “… knowing this first, that no prophecy of Scripture is of any private interpretation, for prophecy never came by the will of man, but holy men of God spoke as they were moved by the Holy Spirit.” (2 Peter 1:20)
The first verse specifically tells us that all of Scripture, not just some or part of it, comes direct to us by inspiration from God the Father. The second verse then takes it one step further and tells us that the holy men of God who wrote the Bible, all wrote under the guidance and inspiration of the Holy Spirit Himself. It also says that no part of Scripture was of any private interpretation of these authors.
The first verse also lays out the groundwork as to what the Bible is going to be used for – for establishing solid Christian doctrine in the real truths of God, and for instruction in the knowledge and ways of God so that we may all be made complete and thoroughly equipped to go to work for God in the calling that He has set up for each one of our lives.
These two specific verses are powerful, foundational verses in which our study of Scripture has to be based on. If you do not believe that all of the Bible is truly the inspired and infallible Word of God – then the Holy Spirit is not going to move on you to start to really work the truths that are contained in the Bible to change, mold, and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.
Bottom line – if you want the divine truths that are contained in the Bible to really be able to change and transform you – then you will have to believe that all of the Bible comes direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit. If you do not, then the Bible will have little or no transforming effect on you and your life.
2. The Word of God is Living and Powerful
As you will see in the following verses, the words that are contained in the Bible are living, powerful, and sharper than any two edge sword we can make on this earth.
In other words, the words in the Bible have God’s supernatural power and life in them. They are literally anointed by the power of the Holy Spirit Himself. This is why the words and the truths contained in the Bible have the supernatural ability to change and transform you into the kind of person that God wants you to become in Him.
That is why Jesus told the apostles to “feed” His sheep. When you read and study the Bible for increased learning, you are feeding yourself with direct anointed words from God Almighty Himself.
Many Christians who do not regularly feed off the Bible have no idea on what they are really missing out on. The Words that are in the Bible are pure, solid, spiritual food that have the supernatural ability to feed your mind, soul, and spirit. Nothing else will feed your inner man like reading from the Bible will.
Just like our human physical bodies need physical food to be able to survive – so does our mind, soul, and spirit. The food that we feed our physical bodies will not nourish our mind, soul, and spirits.
The only thing that can spiritually feed and nourish us on the inside are true, solid, spiritual truths. And the only true, solid, spiritual truths that can feed us to cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life are divine truths that come direct from God the Father and Jesus Christ.
There are no other spiritual truths from any other sources that we can feed off of that will cause any kind of true spiritual growth to occur in this life.
Any other source is just dead meat. It has no supernatural life or ability to change us because it is not coming direct from God the Father and thus has no anointing on it.
All other false religions and New Age type thinking have no supernatural ability to change and spiritually transform you in this life. Only the divine truths that are contained in the Bible have this supernatural ability.
Now here are 9 major power verses showing you how much supernatural life and power there really is in the Word of God.
- “For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.” (Hebrews 4:12)
- “So shall My word be that goes forth from My mouth; it shall not return to Me void, but it shall accomplish what I please, and it shall prosper in the thing for which I sent it.” (Isaiah 55:11)
- “Is not My word like a fire?” says the Lord, “And like a hammer that breaks the rock in pieces?” (Jeremiah 23:29)
- “It is the Spirit who gives life; the flesh profits nothing. The words that I speak to you are spirit, and they are life” (John 6:63)
- “This is my comfort in my affliction, for Your word has given me life.” (Psalm 119:50)
- “Your words were found, and I ate them, and Your word was to me the joy and rejoicing of my heart …” (Jeremiah 15:16)
- “How sweet are Your words to my taste, sweeter than honey to my mouth!” (Psalm 119:103)
- But He answered and said, “It is written, ‘Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceeds from the mouth of God.’ ” (Matthew 4:4)
- “… as newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word, that you may grow thereby, if indeed you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.” (1 Peter 2:2)
Notice all of the food analogies that God is using to compare His Word with. What He is trying to tell us is that when you are studying the words that are contained in the Bible for increased learning – you are spiritually feeding yourself with supernatural nutrition!
I believe that all of the above Scripture verses are trying to tell us one main thing – that the Word of God is living, powerful, and real spiritual food for the soul and spirit of every person who is willing to feed off of it.
3. The Word of God is Pure, Solid Truth
If the Bible is telling us that all of Scripture is coming direct to us from God the Father through the Holy Spirit – then the next thing that the Bible will be telling us is that all of the words that are coming direct to us from God the Father are 100% pure, solid truth.
If God is all-perfect and all-powerful, then this means His intelligence and knowledge on all things is all-perfect. And if His knowledge on all things is all-perfect, then this means that all of the words that He is conveying to us in the Bible can be counted on as being perfect words, thereby giving us perfect knowledge.
This means that all of the Bible can be counted on as being 100% pure, solid, God-truth with no errors and mistakes. The Bible tells us that all humans will only know in part with what knowledge we are able to gain down here on this earth. Thus every book you read from human authors will never be totally perfect in the knowledge that the author is trying to transmit to you.
However, since all of the Bible is coming direct to us from God Almighty Himself – then the Bible is the only Book that we have down here on this earth that is totally and completely perfect in the knowledge that it is trying to transmit to us.
This is why the Bible has the ability to change your life. No other book on this earth has the amount of wisdom and knowledge that this Book has – and this is all because this knowledge and wisdom is coming direct to us from God the Father Himself.
Now here are 4 very good verses from Scripture that are specifically telling us that every word that proceeds from the mouth of God is 100% pure, solid truth.
- “Every word of God is pure; He is a shield to those who put their trust in Him. Do not add to His words, lest He reprove you, and you be found a liar.” (Proverbs 30:5)
- “The words of the Lord are pure words, like silver tried in a furnace of earth, purified seven times.” (Psalm 12:6)
- “For the word of the Lord is right, and all His work is done in truth. He loves righteousness and justice; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord.” (Psalm 33:4)
- “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
Notice the first verse says that the words that come from God are “pure” words. The last verse then says that all of God’s words are “truth.” Put these two verses together and you get that all of the words that come from God are “pure truth.”
Pure means 100% pure – which means that all of God’s words are pure, solid truth with no errors or mistakes. This is why the Word of God is also called infallible and inerrant. If the Bible says that a thing is so – then it is so – end of discussion. You can literally bank your life on it!
4. The Word of God Can Sanctify You
If all of the words of the Bible are 100% pure, solid truth – then this means that all of the words in the Bible have the supernatural ability to sanctify you, especially since all of the Bible has the anointing of the Holy Spirit Himself on the entire Book.
God’s ultimate and highest aim for all of us after we become saved and born again is to sanctify us, to transform us, to mold and shape us into the express image of His Son Jesus. It is the job of the Holy Spirit to start this molding, transforming, and sanctifying work in us after we get saved.
However, the Holy Spirit needs something to work with in order to get this transformation process kicked into full gear – and that something is knowledge. God wants you to have full knowledge on exactly what it is He wants to change about you before He really starts to move you into this sanctification process with Him.
And where do you get the knowledge that will get God to start this sanctification process within you? From the Bible! There is no other book that we can learn and study from that will give us the direct knowledge that we will need from God the Father to get Him to start this sanctification process within us.
It’s the Word and the Spirit working together in a believer’s life that will get God to start working full force in their life so He can change them into the kind of person He really wants them to become in Him.
Here are several powerful verses from Scripture specifically telling us all of this. The first two verses will tell you that God can literally sanctify you by His Word.
- “Sanctify them by Your truth. Your word is truth.” (John 17:17)
- ” … that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that it should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26)
- “How can a young man cleanse his way? By taking heed according to Your word. With my whole heart I have sought You; Oh, let me not wander from Your commandments! Your word I have hidden in my heart, that I might not sin against You. Blessed are You, O Lord! Teach me Your statutes.” (Psalm 119:9-12)
- “You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.” (John 15:3)
- ” … and receive with meekness the implanted word, which is able to save your souls.” (James 1:21)
- “For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.” (1 Thessalonians 2:13)
Notice the last verse says that the Word of God can “effectively work in you.” This means when you start reading and studying the Bible in order to gain more knowledge about God – it will start to effectively work in you so you can start to change into the person God will want you to become in Him.
Just think of the power this Book has to dramatically change and transform the quality of your entire life. True inner happiness and fulfillment can only be found on the inside of your being, not on the outside with material things and possessions.
Hollywood is living proof that money, fame, and notoriety will not buy you true inner happiness. There are many in Hollywood who truly have what they think is “all” – yet they are miserable, unhappy, depressed, and go from one shrink to another – all in an effort to try and find what is still missing in their lives and why they cannot seem to find true inner happiness with all of the earthly wealth they have accumulated.
The only way to find true inner happiness in this life is to become saved and born again through the shed Blood of Jesus Christ – and then enter into a dynamic personal relationship with God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit. From there, you are to start seeking after the knowledge about God and all of His ways by studying and reading the Bible on your own.
The personal relationship you will establish with God, and the knowledge that you will gain about God from reading and studying from the Bible is what will dramatically transform the quality of your life down here on this earth. Nothing else on this earth will do that for you!
5. The Word of God Will Give You Knowledge and Wisdom
The Bible tells us that we are to grow in the knowledge and ways of God. And the number one way in which we will grow in the knowledge of God is by reading and studying from the Bible.
There is no other way! If you do not seek to learn more about the Lord by studying from the Bible, then your spiritual growth in the Lord will stagnate and you will stop growing in Him.
There are no shortcuts to true spiritual growth in the Lord. You have to pay your dues, and those dues are that you have to gain and increase in knowledge about God and all of His ways before the Holy Spirit will start you on the road to true spiritual growth. And the only Book that will give you the knowledge that will cause true spiritual growth to occur in this life is the Bible.
And not only has God given us everything that we will ever need in this one Book – but He has also given us His Holy Spirit, whose main job is to “teach us all things” and to “guide us into all truth.”
Several verses I will list below will tell you that the Holy Spirit Himself will be the One who will personally open up the meaning of Scripture for you so that you can see the knowledge that God the Father is trying to transmit to you through this Holy Book!
This is a direct supernatural work that can be done for you by the Holy Spirit if you are willing to go into a seeking mode with Him when you study the Bible.
Here are several good verses telling us that the Word of God can impart true knowledge and wisdom to us, and that God does want us growing in the knowledge of Him, His Son, and His Holy Spirit.
- “… but grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” (2 Peter 3:18)
- “And He opened their understanding, that they might comprehend the Scriptures.” (Luke 24:45)
- “But the Helper, the Holy Spirit, whom the Father will send in My Name, He will teach you all things, and bring to your remembrance all things that I have said to you.” (John 14:26)
- “However, when He, the Spirit of Truth, has come, He will guide you into all truth …” (John 16:13)
- Then Jesus said to those Jews who believed Him, “If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.” (John 8:31)
- “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom, teaching and admonishing one another …” (Colossians 3:16)
- “Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path … The entrance of Your words gives light; it gives understanding to the simple … Direct my steps by Your word, and let no iniquity have dominion over me.” (Psalm 119:105, 130, 133)
- “My son, give attention to My words; incline your ear to My sayings. Do not let them depart from your eyes; keep them in the midst of your heart; for they are life to those who find them, and health to all their flesh.” (Proverbs 4:20)
All of the above verses are showing us how powerful the words that are coming direct from God and Jesus really are. The Word of God can truly change your life for the better – but only if you are willing to spend some good quality time seeking to understand what is in this most incredible Book.
6. The Word of God Will Stand Forever
The last thing you will really need to grasp on the power of the Word of God is that the Word of God will last and stand forever – both in this life and the next life to come, which will be heaven.
Here are 3 very good verses from Scripture telling us that the Word of God is not chained and that it will endure to all generations – both in this life and the next life to come, which means forever!
- “… for which I suffer trouble as an evildoer, even to the point of chains; but the word of God is not chained.” (2 Timothy 2:9)
- “Forever, O Lord, Your word is settled in heaven. Your faithfulness endures to all generations …” (Psalm 119:89)
- “The grass withers, the flower fades, but the word of God stands forever.” (Isaiah 40:8)
Not only will your study of Scripture profit you in this life, but it will also profit you in the next life to come – which will be heaven.
I personally believe that we still continue to study the Bible even when we all enter into heaven. I do not believe any one human can truly master the Bible in this lifetime. There is simply way too much knowledge, wisdom, and revelation that is contained in this one Book for any one human to be able to fully grasp all of it in this lifetime.
I believe that the Bible is like a treasure chest that has no bottom to it. And to think that all of this knowledge is contained in just one Book! Only a true God of the entire universe could have put this much knowledge and revelation into one Book.
Conclusion
I will leave you with one last thought. Each Christian must make their own personal decision on this. Once you have become saved and born again by accepting Jesus as your personal Lord and Savior – you now have one of two choices to make.
You can either choose to press in and start seeking after God, Jesus, and the Holy Spirit by spending regular quality time in the Bible to learn as much as you can about the Three of Them – or you can just leave well enough alone, figure you have as much of God as you will ever need in this life, and go on your merry way living for the world and the things of this world – never increasing your knowledge base about the Lord, and never really growing in the knowledge of God and all of His ways.
I am afraid most Christians in this day and age are taking the latter approach. Most Christians have either never read the Bible in its complete entirety, or have read very little of it in their own personal walks with the Lord.
This is one of the main reasons we have started up this website – to try and show everyone how much working knowledge there really is in the Bible, and how this knowledge can dramatically change and transform the quality of your life.
As I have shown you with all of the above Scripture verses, the Word of God is:
- Inspired, Infallible, and Inerrant
- Living, Powerful, and Anointed
- Pure, Solid Truth
- Sharper than Any Two-Edged Sword
- Can Spiritually Nourish Your Mind, Soul and Spirit
- Has the Ability to Sanctify and Cleanse You
- Has the Ability to Teach You, Guide You, and Direct Your Steps in this Life
- And Will Last and Stand Forever – Both in this Life and the Next Life to Come
What more can you ask for in one Book? Bottom line – there is simply no other book on our earth that has this amount of unlimited knowledge direct from God Himself. And it is all there for the taking for anyone who wants to dive in and take the journey.
Faith come by hearing the word of God, here’s come the meaning and full explanation of this Bible verse.
Many may wonder what does this scripture Faith come by hearing the word of God mean, Don’t be disappointed because we got you covered on this one with great explanation.
without faith it is impossible to please God,But then, What’s faith?
What’s Faith?
Faith is the absolute trust, assurance and confidence in God.
Scripturally, faith is the substance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen.
God has also showed us how to get this faith. It’s our responsibility to have faith and not God’s, for every lack of faith, he’s not responsible but you and I.
blaming God for our own lack of faith is nothing in but a pure ignorance.
Same thing apply to salvation of soul.
How?
Faith for salvation comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God (Rom. 10:17).
Paul said in Ephesians 2:8: “For by grace
are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: it is the gift of God.” We know that faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God, but how are we to get faith to get saved?
What does it mean by Faith come by hearing the word of God?
To make the answers brief, Romans chapter 10 beginning from verse 8 tells us more on this, read below;
Romans 10:8-9/13-14
8 But what saith it? The word is nigh thee, even in thy mouth, and in thy heart: that is, THE WORD OF FAITH, WHICH WE PREACH;
9 That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. 10 For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.
13 For whosoever shall call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved.
14 How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed?
and how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard?
and how shall they hear without a preacher?
By Hearing the word of God, men are saved, this goes with the saying; faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). You cannot believe and have faith without hearing the Word. In Acts 10 and 11 we were told a story about Cornelius, a man who was not saved despite his commitment.
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Why was he not saved?
Because he lack the word of God, He hadn’t heard the gospel yet, so how could he have been saved? No, Cornelius was not saved but until he heard the preaching of Peter.
But before then In (Acts 10:3)An angel of the Lord appeared to Cornelius, the angel couldn’t preach the gospel to Cornelius because angels can’t preach the gospel; God sent men to preach.
Recall in (Mark 16:15), Jesus said; Go ye into the world and preach the gospel to every creatures.
The angel was only able to direct Cornelius where to go to get someone who could preach the gospel to him (Acts 11:13).
Still on this topic, Faith come by hearing the word of God, The angel instructed Cornelius to call for Peter: “And now send men to Joppa, and call for one Simon, whose surname is Peter: He lodgeth with one Simon a tanner, whose house is by the sea side:
he shall tell thee what thou oughtest to
do” (Acts 10:5,6). Acts 11:14 reports that the angel said that Peter would preach the gospel to Cornelius: “Who shall tell
thee WORDS, whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved.”
This verse also shows us that men are saved by hearing words God’s word.
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God” (Rom. 10:17). You can’t have faith or believe without hearing. So many are trying to believe without hearing forgetting that it is the word that gives us faith.
Same applies to healing
Healing can’t take place with faith and faith can’t come without the word.
How does healing faith comes?
In Acts 14 we are told the story about the impotent man who received his healing as a result of what he heard.
What did he hear, let’s read ACTS 14:7-10;
7 And there they [Paul and Barnabas] PREACHED the GOSPEL.
8 And there sat a certain man at Lystra, impotent in his feet, being a cripple from his mother’s womb, who never had
walked:
9 The same HEARD Paul SPEAK: who stedfastly beholding him, and perceiving that he had faith to be healed,
10 Said with a loud voice, Stand upright on thy feet. And he leaped and walked.
A casual reader of the Word of God
might say, “Isn’t it wonderful how Paul healed that man?”
You’ve heard that said, and so have I. But Paul did not heal the man. The man was not healed because Paul was an apostle.
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The man was not healed by Paul’s faith. The man himself had the faith to be healed. But notice what had to take place before this man was healed: “And there they [Paul and Barnabas] PREACHED the GOSPEL” (Acts 14:7).
How did this happen?
Recall, Paul did three things which are:
- He preached the gospel to the man.
- He perceived that the man had faith to be healed.
- He told the man to rise up and walk.
Also, The man did three things as well which are:
- He heard Paul preach the gospel.
- He had faith to be healed.
- He leaped up and walked.
The man was not healed by some special power that Paul had, instead he himself had faith to be healed.
Someone may ask: Where and how did he get faith to be healed?
He got it from what he heard!
Recall Acts 14:9 says, “The same man heard Paul speak.
Verse 7 says , “And there they PREACHED the GOSPEL.” If Paul preached what we call the gospel of salvation, how did the man get faith to be healed? The man got faith to be healed because Paul preached what the Bible calls the gospel, which also includes healing.
Faith come by hearing the word of God, what you hear determine what you believe and what you believe determine what becomes of you, endeavor to constantly hear the word of God.
The God-Kind Of Faith – A Biblical, Historical, and Theological Defense
(Part 2)
By Troy J. Edwards
And Jesus answering saith unto them, Have faith in God. For verily I say unto you, That whosoever shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them. -Mark 11:22-24
In Kenneth Hagin’s book, New Thresholds of Faith, he states that the margin of his Bible reads “Have the faith of God.” He goes on to state that Greek scholars say that this should be translated as “The God Kind of Faith.”[1] This is one of the expressions and teachings that have been the hallmark of his ministry – and one of the most criticized areas. Many of his critics have gone beyond just disagreeing with Rev. Hagin on this issue. Due to this teaching, some have accused Hagin of being “heretical” and a false teacher.
The teaching of “The God kind of Faith” implies that God has faith. Hagin is not shy about stating this as he says in the same lesson that God believed and spoke the world into existence. This type of teaching has caused so many critics of the Faith Movement to condemn it, consigning it and Hagin to be heretical and cultic.
It would have been helpful to us if Hagin would have given the names and book titles of the Greek Scholars he referred to when he made the statement. This may have been efficient to shut the mouths of his critics. Adding to the fact that Rev. Hagin does not waste time answering his critics, nor does he even read or listen to their criticism, it’s not likely that we may find those Greek scholars that were referenced.
Why The God Kind of Faith Is Important
Though I face challenges in defending the teaching of “The God-Kind of Faith” I find that it is certainly a Biblical precept, and an important one at that. Whenever I am challenged on the statement “The God-Kind of Faith” I always respond by asking, “What other kind is there?” Human faith cannot believe past that which it can see and we certainly don’t want a devil kind of faith (James 2:19).
Man has always felt a lack of sufficiency in his faith. Jesus’ disciples asked Him for an increase in their faith (Luke 17:5). One man with an epileptic son cried, “Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief.” (Mark 9:24) Even today, so many Christians struggle with “faith insufficiency.” The cry of so many is, “I don’t have enough faith.” Faith is a difficult thing to conjure up from within our human reasoning and understanding, at least the kind of faith that pleases God (Rom. 7:18; Rom. 8:8; Heb. 11:6).
Thankfully, God has provided a means whereby we can receive the type of faith that he wishes to provide: “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17). However, does the Word of God provide an “intellectual faith” or is there a supernatural element to the Faith that God provides? The Hebrew word translated “Word of God” in Romans 10:17 is the Greek word Rhema, which means “the spoken word.” Considering the descriptions God gives of His own Word (rhema) throughout the Bible, I would submit to the reader that the faith given to us is supernatural (1 Thess. 2:13; Eph. 6:17; John 6:63; John 15:7). Luke 1:37 says this about God’s Rhema[3]:
For with God nothing is ever impossible and no word from God shall be without power or impossible of fulfillment. (The Amplified Bible)
God’s Rhema Word has God’s POWER to impart faith to the believer. No doubt that we use our minds to weigh and understand and accept as fact everything the Bible says (1 Thess. 2:13; Rom. 12:1-3). Nevertheless, the Holy Spirit has also been gracious enough not to allow us to lean to our own understanding as we study and hear the Word. He imparts life to the Word (Prov. 3:5-8) . The Faith that the Holy Spirit imparts as a result of His pure and perfect Word is the Faith of God, or the God kind of Faith.
Bible Translations Affirming “The Faith of God”
My research has shown that there are Bible translations that affirm that Mark 11:22 can indeed be translated as “Faith of God” rather than “Faith in God.” Take a moment to read through the translations below:
And Jesus answering saith to them, ‘Have faith of God; for verily I say to you, that whoever may say to this mount, Be taken up, and be cast into the sea, and may not doubt in his heart, but may believe that the things that he saith do come to pass, it shall be to him whatever he may say. Because of this I say to you, all whatever — praying — ye do ask, believe that ye receive, and it shall be to you. (Mark 11:22-24; Young’s Literal Translation)
And answering Jesus said to them, Have faith of God. For truly I say to you that whoever shall say to this mountain, Be moved and be cast into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that what he said shall occur, he shall have whatever he said. Therefore I say to you, All things, whatever you ask, praying, believe that you shall receive them, and it will be to you. (Mark 11:22-24; Modern King James Version, © 1962-1998).
And answering, Jesus said to them, Have faith of God. For truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be thrown into the sea, and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will happen, it will be to him, whatever he says. Therefore I say to you, All things, whatever you ask, praying, believe that you will receive, and it will be to you. (Mark 11:22-24; Literal Translation of the Bible)
And Jesus answering, saith to them: Have the faith of God. Amen I say to you that whosoever shall say to this mountain, Be thou removed and be cast into the sea, and shall not stagger in his heart, but be believe that whatsoever he saith shall be done; it shall be done unto him. Therefore I say unto you, all things, whatsoever you ask when ye pray, believe that you shall receive: and they shall come unto you. (Mark 11:22-24; The Douay Rheims Bible)
And Jesus, answering, saith unto them, “Have the faith of God.” Verily I say to you, whosoever says to this mountain, ‘Be taken up and cast into the sea,’ and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says comes to pass; he shall have it. Therefore, I say to you, all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye received them, and ye shall have them. (Mark 11:22-23; The Worrell New Testament)
So far we see five translations that confirm that Mark 11:22 can be translated “have the faith of God” vice “have faith in God.” Don’t let anyone tell you that it does not make a difference whether we us of or in when dealing with Mark 11:22. These two prepositions describe the source of your faith. One finds it’s origin in God Himself while the other finds it’s source in us. I believe that Jesus is telling us in Mark 11:22 that the source for the faith that we need to move mountains comes from God Himself. The late Greek Scholar, A.S. Worrell said this in his notes on Mark 11:22-23:
Have the faith of God; translators generally render this, “Have faith in God;” but, if this had been the thought, it would have been easy to have expressed it in the Greek. Faith originates with God; and those who have real faith have His faith; the same perhaps as “the faith which is of the Son of God.” (Gal. 2:20) This mountain: nothing short of the faith of God can remove mountains; but His faith, operating through His obedient children, can accomplish this, (Acts 3:6; 9:34)[4]
A.S. Worrell, Robert Young, and the translators of the Douay Rheims Bible were not the only ones who believed this to be the correct translation of Mark 11:22. In the Original 1599 Geneva Bible notes on Mark 11:22 says “The faith of God is that assured faith and trust which we have in him.”[5] A small note on Mark 11:22 in R.A. Torrey’s Treasury of Scripture Knowledge says, “faith in God. or, the faith of God.”[6] So perhaps the margin of Kenneth Hagin’s Bible was not totally wrong after all.
However, does this mean that we can take the statement “the faith of God” and imply that it is “The God Kind of Faith?” Well, before I answer that, let’s read two other Bible translations of Mark 11:22-24 that might just make this implication:
And Jesus, answering, said to them, Have God’s faith. Truly I say to you, Whoever says to this mountain, Be taken up and be put into the sea; and has no doubt in his heart, but has faith that what he says will come about, he will have his desire. For this reason I say to you, Whatever you make a request for in prayer, have faith that it has been given to you, and you will have it. (The Bible In Basic English)
He responded, “Have the kind of trust that comes from God! Yes! I tell you that whoever does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what he says will happen can say to this mountain, ‘Go throw yourself into the sea!’ and it will be done for him. Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours.(The Jewish New Testament by David Stern)
Have God’s faith!!! (BBE) What other kind of faith can God have other than His own kind? Have the kind of trust that comes from God!!! (JNT) What kind of trust would God give us other than His kind of trust? My dear reader, I do not see anything heretical or cultic about the phrase “The God Kind of Faith.”
On the contrary, research done by Joe McIntyre, author of the outstanding book, “E.W. Kenyon: The True Story” shows that one Greek scholar taught that the phrase, “The God Kind of Faith” can is indeed a correct translation. I will give you the quote from Pastor McIntyre’s book:
Here again we must appeal to the root idea of the genitive as the case of genus or kind. The resultant idea is due to the context and one must not suppose that the Greek genitive means all the different English prepositions used to translate the resultant idea. Thus in Mark 11:22 we rightly translate ‘have faith in God,’ though the genitive does not mean ‘in,’ but only the God kind of faith.[7]
The quote is from a well known Greek Scholar named A.T. Robertson. As Pastor McIntyre also points out in his book, one popular critic of the Faith Movement who references Robertson’s work to speak against this translation fails to quote him completely. This is quite dishonest on the part of this critic. Perhaps, Kenneth Hagin was right when he stated that Mark 11:22 can be translated as “The God Kind of Faith.”
Other Scriptures In The KJV Affirms The Faith of God
If we go back to the King James Version, which seems to still be the most popular and most widely read version, we will see other passages translated using the preposition “of” rather than “in.”
Knowing that a man is not justified by the works of the law, 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. -Gal. 2:16
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. -Gal. 2:20
According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord: In whom we have boldness and access with confidence by the faith of him. -Eph. 3:11-12
For what if some did not believe? shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? …..Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference: For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God; -Rom. 3:3, 22-23
In whom also ye are circumcised with the circumcision made without hands, in putting off the body of the sins of the flesh by the circumcision of Christ: Buried with him in baptism, wherein also ye are risen with him through the faith of the operation of God, who hath raised him from the dead. -Col. 2:11-12
Many of the different translations I have sought on the above verses differ in how they translate the above verses. For example, most of the older versions are consistent in translating Galatians 2:20 as “faith of the Son of God” while many of the newer translations have interpreted this verse as “faith in the Son of God.” In many of the modern translations of Romans 3:3, this verse is translated as “the faithfulness of God” vice “the faith of God.” It is to be noted however, that the Greek Word “pistis” is used in this passage which is translated “faith” in many other passages of the Bible.
We will deal with the subject of God’s faithfulness in a later lesson. Allow me to state for the record that I do not have any problems with the above translations as all of them convey a truth. Though I believe in the God-kind of faith, this faith finds it’s object in God Almighty Himself. God does not impart faith in the individual that gives him or her a separate power apart from Himself. We would then become dependent on the power of faith itself (as the critics already claim that we do) rather than on the one in which we should place our God given faith. God is both the source and the object of our faith (Acts 27:25).
Returning to the translations. The greatest variety of interpretations are to be found in Colossians 2:12. Some have translated this as “faith in the power of God,” “Faith in the working of God,” One translation interprets it as “God’s faithfulness that worked when He raised Yeshua from the dead.” (Jewish New Testament). However, the three most interesting translations of Colossians 2:12 is below:
Ye are buried with Him in baptism, wherein ye also are risen with Him through the faith wrought by the operation of God, who hath raised Him from the dead. (Col. 2:12; Third Millennium Bible)
having been buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead. (Col. 2:12; Weymouth Bible).
having been buried with Him in your baptism, in which you were also raised with Him through faith produced within you by God who raised Him from among the dead. (Col. 2:12; Wesley New Testament)
These translations see the faith that we have in Jesus Christ being raised from the dead as a faith that is produced in us by God Himself. What other kind of faith will God produce in us other than His own kind? I submit to the reader that if he or she really want to see the results in their lives that only comes as a result of exercising faith, they will do what they can to receive the God Kind of faith, the type of faith that is produced in us by God Himself.
This is the highest type of grace. God knows how we struggle to trust and believe Him and His Word. He knows that because we live in physical bodies and we live in a physical world, spiritual realities are so often difficult for us to discern. We do not see them. We believe them because we know that God would not lie but the real test comes when it is time to appropriate them. Mental acknowledgment of God’s promises have failed us every time. Yet when we meditate upon God’s Word, God – the Holy Spirit imparts life in His Word and produces faith in us which causes us to have complete unwavering confidence in what we do not yet see in the physical (Heb. 11:1).
Answers to the Objections Concerning “The God Kind of Faith”
The “God-Kind of Faith” teaching has caused quite a stir in the body of Christ and has raised many objections. The majority of the objections are a result of several books written that present the modern Faith movement as “cultic” and “heretical.” The faith teachers have certainly done away with the traditional, or more correctly, hyper-Calvinistic view of God’s sovereignty. They have never denied sovereignty of God but do not interpret this attribute of God as traditional Christianity has done.
An objection to the teaching of “the God kind of faith” is excellently summed up by one young man who debated me on an internet discussion forum. He stated to me that, “If God has faith, then who does God have faith in? To say that He has faith in Himself is a non-sense statement. Faith, by definition, requires that a being places belief in something OUTSIDE of itself; and faith is only as good as the object that you place it in. So, if God has faith, what object outside of Himself is He placing His faith in? Is this object GOOD. If it is GOOD, then why isn’t IT God? So, I think we could say that if God has faith, then He really isn’t God. His Deity is undermined.”
It’s an understandable objection. However, it is an object born in ignorance concerning the teaching of the God-Kind of faith. It shows that the person does not understand what is being taught by those who teach faith in this manner. It also tells me that the person has no understanding of what “faith” is, especially if they are thinking of faith on a human level.
If we looked at the word “faith” as confidence and certainty, we could get a better understanding of the teaching that God has faith which He imparts to every man (Rom. 12:3). God has complete and perfect confidence in His power and ability to bring to pass that which He decrees. Unlike us, God is never ever tempted to DOUBT Himself because He cannot be tempted with sin and that which is not faith is sin (Rom. 14:23; James 1:13-14).
This falls under one of the several “cannots” of God. So many people say that God can do anything. I beg to differ. God cannot be tempted to sin. He cannot be tempted to doubt and disbelieve in His ability to cause His Word to come to pass. Faith was never even an issue with God or man until the first man demonstrated a lack of faith by his disobedience (Gen. 3:1-7).
Therefore, God has complete confidence in Himself. He is certain concerning His Word and His ability. Unlike man, God does not even remotely consider that He could fail or that He may not be able to accomplish that which He has said He would do. He wants His children to have that same confidence in Him that He has in Himself. Yet, even if we don’t, God will continue on with His plan. In another of the “cannots” that find in the Bible, we see that God cannot deny Himself:
It is a faithful saying: For if we be dead with him, we shall also live with him: If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us: If we believe not, yet he abideth faithful: he cannot deny himself. -2 Tim. 2:11-13
Again, the issue is not whether God has faith or not. The issue whether God would ever question or deny Himself. That, He explicitly states that He cannot do. There are some things that God cannot do and the Bible makes it clear what those things are. He cannot be tempted with evil and He cannot deny Himself.
So we have answered several of the objections to the teaching of the God-Kind of Faith without denying the deity or sovereignty of God. The fact that God has confidence in Himself and is certain of Himself does not take away His deity or the fact that He rules the universe but strengthens this argument. What would do damage to the teaching of His deity and sovereignty would be for us to imply that God could ever doubt or disbelieve.
I also believe that 2 Tim. 2:13 answer the question as to the object of God’s faith (confidence, certainty). He cannot deny Himself which shows that He has complete confidence in Himself. Hebrews 6 gives us some more insight as to why the object of God’s faith is Himself:
For when God made promise to Abraham, because he could swear by no greater, he sware by himself, Saying, Surely blessing I will bless thee, and multiplying I will multiply thee. And so, after he had patiently endured, he obtained the promise. For men verily swear by the greater: and an oath for confirmation is to them an end of all strife. Wherein God, willing more abundantly to shew unto the heirs of promise the immutability of his counsel, confirmed it by an oath: That by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation, who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us: -Heb. 6:13-18
Here is another one of the “cannots” of God. If we did more of a study of what God cannot do, we would have more insight into the character of God. More of God’s confidence could be supernaturally imparted into us if we understood God’s self imposed limitations. God cannot lie (Titus 1:1-2) and Hebrews tells us that it is impossible for Him to do so.
There is no one in the universe greater than God. When making an oath to Abraham, there was no one else He could swear to. So who did He swear and make His vow and oath to? Himself. Why did He make this oath confirmation to Himself to keep His promise to Abraham? Because He is the greatest in the universe. He is the creator of the universe. He cannot lie or break a promise. His immutability will not even allow Him to change His mind concerning any promise that He has made. So He could swear to Himself simply because He has complete confidence in His own ability and character.
God’s Word To The Nations Bible Translation interprets Heb. 6:13 this way: “God made a promise to Abraham. Since he had no one greater on whom to base his oath, he based it on himself.” God based the fulfillment of His promised to Abraham, not so much on Abraham’s on ability to appropriate the promise but primarily on His own ability to fulfill it. God has complete confidence in Himself, glory to His holy and righteous name.
And He desires that you and I have this same confidence. He is not an unjust God who requires something of us without making the means available (Heb. 6:10; 1 John 1:9). Therefore, He gives us a measure of His own confidence and ability to fulfill His promises and act upon His commands.
In our next study on “The God Kind of Faith” we will see that the modern day faith teachers were not the first to teach this principle the way we are presenting it here. We will see that several men who are see today as great men also advocated this truth and also saw Mark 11:22 as our Lord teaching us to receive God’s faith.
Notes
1. Hagin, Kenneth E. New Thresholds of Faith (Tulsa, OK: Rhema Bible Church, 1985), p. 80
2. Ibid., p. 82
3. The King James version uses the word “nothing” in the place of the phrase “no word.” However, The Vines Expository Dictionary of Biblical Words (New York: Thomas Nelson Publishers, 1984) affirms that the word “nothing” was translated from the Greek word “Rhema.”
4. Worrell, A.S. The Worrell New Testament (Springfield, Missouri: Gospel Publishing House, 1980) First published in 1904
5. Original 1599 Geneva Bible Notes can be graciously found at http://www.reformed.org
6. Treasury of Scripture Knowledge by Canne, Browne, Blayney, Scott and others about 1880, with introduction by R.A. Torrey
7. Robertson, A.T. A Grammer of the Greek New Testament in the Light of Historical Research (Nashville, TN: Broadman Press, 1934), 500. As quoted in the book, E.W. Kenyon: The True Story by Joe McIntyre (Lake Mary, FL: Creation House, 1997).
The God kind of Faith (Part Two)
(c) Copyright 2001 by Troy J. Edwards and Victory through the Word Ministries
This is the first post in a three-part series titled “Three Things Remain.” The purpose of this series is to go deeper into the meaning of the three greatest gifts: faith, hope, and love.
So now faith, hope, and love abide, these three; but the greatest of these is love.
1 Corinthians 13:13
Faith is a word that Christians and non-Christians commonly use. Though they may use it differently and not even rightly. Historically, the word faith was translated in English from the Latin word fides, which means trust or confidence.
One definition of faith from the Merriam-Webster dictionary is “a belief and trust in and loyalty to God.” Additionally, the Oxford English Dictionary defines faith as “complete trust or confidence in someone or something.”
However, over time, the definition of faith has changed. And it’s modernly used to express belief in something with little to no evidence. The Merriam-Webster dictionary has another meaning for the word faith. It is a “firm belief in something for which there is no proof” and the Oxford English Dictionary as “strong belief in the doctrine of a religion, based on spiritual conviction rather than proof.”
But which of the two is the biblical definition of faith? Is it a confident belief or blind trust? Before we answer that question, let’s look at the meaning of the word faith used in its original Hebrew and Greek.
Faith in Hebrew
The first appearance of the word faith in the old testament depends on the translation used. In the NKJV, the word “faith” appears twice. The first time is in Deuteronomy 32:20. “And He said: I will hide My face from them, I will see what their end will be, for they are a perverse generation, children in whom is no faith.”
According to Strong’s concordance, the Hebrew word translated as faith is emun, which means faithfulness. The word emun, however, appears four other times in the Old Testament: Proverbs 13:17, Proverbs 14:15, Proverbs 20:6 and Isaiah 26:2.
Faith appears for the second time in Habakkuk 2:4. “Behold the proud, His soul is not upright in him, but the just shall live by his faith.”
According to the Strong’s Concordance, the word faith here is the Hebrew word emunah, which means firmness, steadfastness, fidelity. It first appears in Exodus 17:12, but the translation is steady. Emunah appears forty-eight other times in the Old Testament, mostly as faithfulness or faithfully such as in 1 Samuel 26:23 and 2 Kings 12:15.
Emunah and emun both come from the root word aman, which means established, confirm, and support. So, we can conclude that faith means being steady and firm in what you believe, and it‘s long-lasting.
Faith in Greek
Faith first appears in the New Testament in Matthew 8:30, “Now if God so clothes the grass of the field, which today is, and tomorrow is thrown into the oven, will He not much more clothe you, O you of little faith?”
From Strong’s Concordance, the Greek word used in that verse is pistis, which means belief, trust, confidence, and fidelity. Pitis appears over 200 times in the New Testament.
Pistis comes from the root word peitho, which means to persuade, have confidence, come to trust. So, we can conclude that faith is an absolute and confident belief. It is being persuaded and assured that He is who He is.
Putting it all together
The Bible defines faith in Hebrews 11:1 as “the assurance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen.”
The amplified version says, “Now faith is the assurance (title, deed, confirmation) of things hoped for (divinely guaranteed), and the evidence of things not seen (the conviction of their reality- faith comprehends as fact what cannot be experienced by the physical senses).”
From both the Hebrew and Greek words of faith and the verse above, the right definition of faith is a complete belief, trust, and confidence in something. It is steady, unwavering, and lasts forever.
For Christians, to have faith in God means to confidently believe in Him, to be assured and convinced that He exists even though we can’t see Him. And to steadily trust Him no matter what goes on in our life. Faith means to trust God.
As Martin Luther King Jr. said, “faith is taking the first step even when you don’t see the whole staircase.” But by modern definition, faith is walking in the dark, believing you are on a staircase without evidence.
Many Christians believe in the modern definition of faith (I once believed that too). When I became a Christian, I thought faith meant believing without proof, so I never tried to look up for facts. But I don’t think God wants us to have blind faith.
Romans 1:20 states that God has left us enough evidence to enable us to believe in Him confidently and “we are without excuse“. Furthermore, 1 Peter 3:15 says that we must always be ready to defend our faith and “give the reason for the hope that is in you.” We can’t do that if we have nothing to show for it.
However, we are not always going to have “proof” for everything God asks us to do. Sometimes God may ask us to “take a leap of faith,” ask us to walk in the dark and can’t see where we are going. But because we have a confident trust in Him, we can obey Him and go wherever He leads us, even though we may not know where. Our faith, our trust is in the One who leads us, not the destination nor journey.
Attributes of Biblical faith
Faith appears over 200 times in the new testament. Hebrews 11, also known as the “Hall of Faith” or the “Faith Hall of Fame,” features many examples of people who lived by faith. Here is what the Bible has to say about faith
1. Faith is a gift from God. It is not something we can produce on our own
For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God,
Ephesians 2:8
2. Faith in God comes first, without it we cannot please Him.
And without faith it is impossible to please him, for whoever would draw near to God must believe that he exists and that he rewards those who seek him.
Hebrews 11:61
3. Faith is priceless and it is tested and refined through trials
In this you rejoice, though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been grieved by various trials, so that the tested genuineness of your faith—more precious than gold that perishes though it is tested by fire—may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.
1 Peter 1:6-7
4. Faith comes through the Word of God
So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ.
Romans 10:17
5. Good deeds evidence real faith
So also faith by itself, if it does not have works, is dead.
James 2:17
6. Faith produces miracles
He said to them, “Because of your little faith. For truly, I say to you, if you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, ‘Move from here to there,’ and it will move, and nothing will be impossible for you
Matthew 17:20
7. Faith is a lifestyle
For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith for faith, as it is written, “The righteous shall live by faith.”
Romans 1:17
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Read part two on hope next