FAITH
When we refer to faith, we have in mind something that may incorporate human sight and logic, but that also extends itself well beyond such boundaries. We could also say that faith is “exercised” in the direction of something or someone higher than ourselves.
In the spiritual realm, faith follows 1 of 4 divergent paths.
-- PANTHEISM: suggests that everywhere and everything is “god.” While pantheists would insist that any expression of faith necessarily leads everyone to the same end, that end can only be a “god” that is in no way distinct from any other aspect of experience — and, therefore, essentially no god at all.
-- POLYTHEISM:typically supposes that variant expressions of faith are merely a function of variant localized determining influence. Therefore, many Greeks today suggest that while we rightly understand from the Bible that god is Christ, others — in Bahrain, for example — can just as legitimately derive from the Koran that god is Allah … or if you are from the Far East, you may know god as Buddha. Moreover, if you grew up in Greece, polytheism simply posits that Christianity suits the character of the Greek better.
-- AGNOSTICISM: is an expression of faith that has two basic variations:
- empirical agnostics,don’t entirely rule out the possibility that grounds for belief in God could exist
- absolute agnostics,deny that evidence for the existence of God could ever reasonably manifest itself. While somewhat distinct from each other, each of these renditions of agnosticism exalts unaided human reason as the only true “god,” because it alone, can be the final arbiter of what can and cannot be.
-- MONOTHEISM: true monotheism insists that there is one god, and one god only. The three most pervasive monotheistic religions are: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam.
Of these three, of course, Biblical Christianity is the only one that embraces Jesus Christ as both 100% man and 100% God.
We have now spoken some of what / of who, exactly, is the object of our faith. As Christians (that is, as followers of the risen and living Christ), we place our faith in the triune God, Jesus Christ, Himself, being the second person of the Godhead. Jesus Christ is fully God and occupies an equal position with the other two persons of the Godhead (God the Father and God the Holy Spirit). Moreover, analyzing what true faith in God looks like can only be done as we gaze through the lens of the Holy Scriptures.
Hebrews 11:1
“Faith is the assurance of what we hope for, and the certainty of what we cannot see!”
Faith, therefore, means that while I do not see God, I believe in God and am certain of His promise that He exists in me by means of the person of the Holy Spirit (that precious Holy Spirit who is promised to dwell within every person who has consciously chosen to place their faith in Christ).
Also, faith means that in addition to trusting in Christ as the one and true God, I also trust in Christ the Living Word of God as the very founder of my faith that is anchored in the very written Word of God, the Bible. In the pages of the Bible, we see that man chose to distance himself from God; in order for our relationship with God to return to its originally intended intimacy, we must each repent of our sin and turn to Christ for forgiveness and reconciliation. But for forgiveness to occur, we must in faith embrace the sacrifice of Christ on the cross as the only acceptable and just payment for our sin, so that we can then be fully reunited (reconciled) with God.
Faith, therefore, means that not only do I understand with my mind that Christ alone can be my savior, but that I also fully trust with my will this living Christ who being such bless was faithful to His mission to take our sins upon Himself and die a sacrificial death that justly rescues from sin and death every person that places his or her faith in Him.
Consciously repenting from sin and self is then the trigger of the true saving faith that renders a person a child of God; then only will follow the works which God has prepared for His children as expressions of his new and ongoing faith-relationship with Himself.