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Abraham
and the Struggle for Faith,
Having faith in salvation |
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| Alethia |
| Posted:
Mar 17 2003, 09:38 PM |
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Archived
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The
Faith of Abraham
Do you wish you had more faith? I do.
When we think of Abraham, we think of a man who
had a very strong faith. He believed God and he
acted on that belief. He did what God told him to
do, even when what God had promised seemed impossible,
when it seemed like he was hoping against hope.
Although Abraham is an Old Testament character,
he is one who is referred to very frequently in
the New Testament as well. He is mentioned at least
60 times is the New Testament, particularly in four
chapters: Romans 4, Galatians 3, Hebrews 11, and
James 2. In all cases, Abraham’s faith is the basis
of proof that salvation came not from the law but
from faith. Remember those four chapters.
The key verse in the life of Abraham is Genesis
15:6 “And he believed in the LORD; and he counted
it to him for righteousness.” This verse is quoted
three times in the New Testament: Galatians 3:6,
Romans 4:3 and James 2:23. As such, it is one of
the most oft quoted Old Testament Scriptures. Yet
it is such a short simple statement that we might
almost pass over it without paying much attention
to it, were it not so prominent in the New Testament.
In Romans 4, it is quoted in verse 3. Let’s look
at the point Paul is making. Beginning in the previous
chapter in verse 28, Paul is showing that God justifies
us for faith, and not for the works of the law.
He then shows that this has always been the case.
That the law of justification by faith was not new,
but had been true since the events of Genesis. Then
in Romans 4:3: “For what saith the scripture? Abraham
believed God, and it was counted unto him for righteousness.”
Later in the chapter in vv 23-25, Paul tells us
that those words are recorded for us, not just for
Abraham. The lesson in Gen 15:6 of righteousness
by faith is for us. Verse 5 emphasizes the lesson
for us. “But to him that worketh not, but believeth
on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is
counted for righteousness.”
We might not realize it, but Belief and faith are
the same word in the Bible. We sometimes think of
faith as being more than mere belief, and so it
is. But the words in Greek are the same. Believe
is the verb and belief is the noun of the same Greek
root word. The Greek words are the noun pistis (faith,
belief), and the verb pisteou (to have faith, to
believe). To believe is to have faith. They are
the same root,just as believe and belief are the
same root. When Paul quoted Genesis 15:6, the words
could say that Abraham “had faith,” and God counted
it to him for righteousness. It is not merely about
simple belief, but about faith.
Hebrews chapter 11 is one of the other New Testament
chapters where Abraham plays a big role, and of
course Hebrews chapter 11 is the faith chapter.
Whenever you see Abraham in the New Testament, you
may guess it is going to talk about faith.
Hebrews 11:1 is often quoted as the definition of
faith, “Now faith is the substance of things hoped
for, the evidence of things not seen,” but I think
it is not a definition at all. It tells us what
faith does for us. It tells us the results or the
product or benefits of faith, rather than the definition.
I think that verse 6 of Hebrews 11 better defines
Biblical faith:
Hebrews 11:6 “But without faith it is impossible
to please him: for he that cometh to God must believe
that he is, and that he is a rewarder of them that
diligently seek him.” Faith, in the Biblical sense,
is a conviction that God not only exists, but that
he can and will save us; That he will keep his promise
of salvation; That we can rely upon his salvation.
Biblical faith refers to confidence in God’s promises
to us. It is conviction and trust that he will do
what he has said he will do. Biblical faith is dependence
on our belief in God.
So the rest of the examples of faith in Hebrews
11 show how the people of faith depended on God’s
deliverance. Abraham gets by far the biggest piece
of the chapter, 12 verses, from 8 to verse 19, but
it also mentions Noah, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses,
Joshua, Rahab and others mentioned by deed rather
than by name, who did great things by depending
on God. Because they depended on God to save them,
they had the courage to do great deeds and to endure
great trials. It was their dependence on God, not
their own courage, that made it possible.
Perhaps you noticed the difference between Romans
4 and Hebrews 11. Romans 4 is about salvation by
faith. Hebrews 11 speaks action by faith - of accomplishing
or enduring through faith. Faith is a something
that shows in this life, not merely a conviction
of salvation in the life to come.
When we think of faith like Abraham had, what do
we think of our own faith? I will tell you what
I think, and it has been my experience that many
others share that thought: Here is what I think:
“I guess everyone else but me has faith like that.”
I look around the room and wonder why I am the only
one who seems to have doubts, fears, despair even.
I see everyone else just calmly and simply accepting
God’s promises in utter and complete faith, and
I wonder why I am the exception. I think that I
don’t have enough faith. I wonder whether God will
be willing to save someone like me whose faith is
so weak. I see someone like Abraham, and I think
that I could never even dream of having faith like
that. But I think the reality is that while we may
all have somewhat different sorts of struggles,
most of us do struggle with faith.
Is it harder to do works, or to have faith? It may
seem like salvation by faith is great thing. It
would seem like it should be wonderful that we are
freed from the works of the law. But it is only
wonderful if we have faith. If we don’t have faith,
it would be better to be asked to do works. Faith,
you either have or you don’t. Works you can always
try harder at. But how do you work harder at faith?
I would actually prefer that salvation was by works,
rather than by faith. I would rather believe that
there was some ritual that could be performed, or
some sacrifice that could be offered, that would
bring salvation. I wish that faith were not required;
Because works are just a matter of doing them. We
can come to meeting on Sunday. We can be baptized.
We can do our Bible readings. We can contribute
money to the poor or to the preaching efforts. We
can visit the sick. We can preach to others. It’s
just a matter of deciding to do so. But faith is
not something you can have simply by deciding to
have it. I can tell you what great thing faith is,
and that it will do all sorts of good things for
you, both in this life and in the life to come,
and you may hear that and say to yourself, yes,
I have decided to have faith. But deciding that
you want it doesn’t automatically give it to you.
While Paul in Romans 4 tells us that Abraham was
justified by faith, another of our four chapters,
James 2:23, uses the very same quote to show that
Abraham was justified by works. Faith and works
are inseparable. But the works that James refers
to are not work of the useful sort – building or
producing something, but of actions that proved
his faith. It was his work of faith in offering
Isaac. Was it the offering of Isaac that endeared
Abraham to God? Did God love Abraham and make promises
to him because Abraham had faithfully done what
God asked of him? No. For the statement that God
counted Abraham righteous because of faith had happened
many years before Isaac was even conceived.
Perhaps we might think that had Abraham refused
to offer Isaac, that God might have turned away
from him. That would be a hypothetical. We cannot
know for sure what would have happened if things
were other than they really were. We do know however
that ALL of the men of faith in the Bible, at one
time or another, failed to do what God asked of
them. We know that Abraham’s faith was not perfect
. We know that he struggled to believe. We know
that Sarah had serious doubts. Yet God did not turn
aside from them. Their doubts and their struggles
did not cause God to reject them.
Some people accuse Christadelphians of believing
in earning righteousness by works; of emphasizing
the epistle of James over the epistle to the Romans.
It is bad enough that some others think that about
us, but it is far worse that some of us may believe
it also. Our emphasis on the necessity to obey,
and the clear scriptural fact that salvation is
not by faith ALONE, can mislead us into thinking
that it is rather our works that we need to do that
will save us. We start to think we have neither
enough faith, nor enough works to be saved. Our
doubts about the sufficiency of our faith can cause
us to be discouraged in our faith. If we fear that
we do not have enough faith, then we fear that we
will not be saved, and we lose our faith in our
salvation. As Franklin Roosevelt said, the only
thing we have to fear, is fear itself. When we recognize
that we have no reason for fear, our faith is strengthened.
Abraham was convinced that God would do for him
what he has said he would do. If we doubt that our
faith is strong enough, then we doubt God’s power
to save us. We think that God somehow needs our
help to save us. In a boat in a storm, like the
apostles on Galillee, we may feel we are not rowing
hard enough against the storm, but God controls
the storm. Our rowing is not what will get us to
safety, but our trust in God.
So Paul reassures us repeatedly in Romans 8 that
we need not be afraid that God will turn away from
us.
Romans 8:
V28 And we know that all things work together for
good to them that love God, to them who are the
called according to his purpose.
V 31 If God be for us, who can be against us?
V 32 He that spared not his own Son, but delivered
him up for us all, how shall he not with him also
freely give us all things?
V 35 Who shall separate us from the love of Christ?
shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution,
or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword?
V 38-39 For I am persuaded, that neither death,
nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers,
nor things present, nor things to come, Nor height,
nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able
to separate us from the love of God, which is in
Christ Jesus our Lord.
Mark 9:23-24 are probably my favorite verses in
the Bible. To a father who was begging him to heal
his child, Jesus said to him, “If thou canst believe,
all things are possible to him that believeth. And
straightway the father of the child cried out, and
said with tears, Lord, I believe; help thou mine
unbelief.”
There are those same Greek root words again. pisteuo
– to have faith, apistia – lack of faith, unbelief.
So that verse could also be translated: “Lord I
have faith. Help thou my lack of faith.”
That man didn’t think he had enough faith. He desperately
wanted the help that Jesus was offering him if he
had faith. He was struggling with his faith. So
he appealed for faith, and his prayer was answered.
God strengthens faith. Jesus told the disciples
in v29 that they too needed to pray for more faith,
and that if they did, God would give it to them.
He said that such faith was obtained by prayer and
fasting.
Prayer is required, and we are told specifically
that this prayer WILL be answered. We are specifically
told that the prayer of the publican in Luke 18:13
“God me merciful to me a sinner” would justify the
man who so prayed. Jesus said of that publican:
“I tell you, this man went down to his house justified”
That word “justify” is the same word used in three
of the four New Testament chapters that center on
Abraham: Romans 4, in verses 2, 5, 5:1, and again
in Galatians 3:8, 11, 24, and in James 2:21, 24.
It is in the three chapters that speak of faith
bringing salvation, but not in Hebrews 11 which
speaks of faith and deeds. We need not have the
sort of faith the Abraham showed in offering Isaac.
We need only have enough faith to come to God and
ask for his mercy. This is a prayer that God specifically
tells us that he will hear. When we pray for faith,
God will give it to us.
I think that there may be two kinds of people: Those
who struggle with their faith, and those who have
no faith. I suppose there may be those whose faith
is so pure and innocent that they have no doubts
and never question their faith. I don’t know - maybe.
I don’t read about very many people like that in
Scripture. I am suspicious of the depth of faith
of someone who does not question or struggle with
their faith. Unquestioned faith is faith untested,
and faith untested is not strong.
What was it that Abraham believed God about? It
was that he would have a son, a seed, and that his
descendents would be as innumerable as the stars.
Abraham believed that God would give him descendents,
yet he succumbed to Sarah’s scheme of fathering
a child by Hagar. Also, in Egypt and then again
in Gerar, his faith failed him, so that he lied
about Sarah, saying she was his sister instead of
his wife. In fact, only two verses after the famous
declaration in Gen 15:6 about Abraham’s faith counting
for righteousness, Abraham asks God to give him
proof of his promise of the land. 15:8 “And he said
“LORD God, whereby shall I know that I shall inherit
it.” He asks: How can I know? He asks for proof.
He is asking for something to give him faith in
the fulfillment of God’s promise to him.
That same promise made to Abraham is made to us
also in the 4th of our 4 chapters. And it says that
all of us who have been baptized have been made
heirs. Gal 3:26-29 “For ye are all the children
of God by faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of
you as have been baptized into Christ have put on
Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is
neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor
female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus. And
if ye be Christ’s, then are ye Abraham’s seed, and
heirs according to the promise.” It says that we
are the children of God by faith in Christ. And
it says that we are then also (with Christ) the
seed of Abraham – heirs of the promises.
We might ask, as Abraham did, how shall we know
that we will receive this promise? In Abraham’s
case, in Genesis 15:9, we are told that the promise
was sealed with the blood of the sacrifice of an
heifer, a she-goat, a ram, and turtledove and a
pigeon. Hebrews 9:13-14 tells us “For if the blood
of bulls and of goats, and the ashes of an heifer
sprinkling the unclean, sanctifieth to the purifying
of the flesh: How much more shall the blood of Christ,
who through the eternal Spirit offered himself without
spot to God, purge your conscience from dead works
to serve the living God?” This sacrifice represented
on the communion table is a far better proof of
the reliability of God’s promise to us, of which
the animals slain by Abraham were but a pre-figuring.
If God gave his son, so that he could save us in
spite of our sins, will we then doubt that he will
do what he says? Will we ask if we are good enough
to be saved? If we do, we doubt the effectiveness
of Christ’s sacrifice.
What do you think that Jesus was thinking about
at Gethsemane, as he prayed to his Father to let
this cup pass from me? Unquestionably, Jesus had
faith in God. Yet he obviously wished there were
some way to avoid the trial he had to face. Why
would he pray for deliverance from crucifixion unless
he actually thought there might just be some chance
at least of God finding another way? Would he not
think back to Abraham and his offering of Isaac
. In that instance, God was satisfied when Abraham
had proven that he was willing to sacrifice Isaac.
God did not require Abraham to go through with it
once he had shown that he really would do it. Would
not Jesus also hope that God might do the same for
him, sparing him at the last moment? But of course,
the lamb that God provided to Abraham, to take the
place of Isaac, was in fact the representative of
Christ himself. He finally was that lamb that God
supplied for each of us . When we come in faith
to God, God supplies to each of us, this lamb –
the lamb of God.
Did Christ die for the righteous? Did Christ die
for the obedient? No. In Romans 5:8-10, Paul tells
us “But God commendeth his love toward us, in that,
while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us. Much
more then, being now justified by his blood, we
shall be saved from wrath through him. For if, when
we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the
death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we
shall be saved by his life.” He says that God saved
us when we were his enemies. How much more will
he save us now that we are his children.
As long as we do not give up on God’s forgiveness,
it will always be there . God will not reject us.
Only we can reject God. Everyone who has faith struggles
with it. That is why we come together for fellowship:
To help ourselves and to help each other in that
struggle. To remember the only person who never
lost that struggle. And he struggled too. He didn’t
want to do what he had to do. He asked to be spared
that death. He did do what God had asked, and did
so perfectly, so that we who continue to fail can
still receive the promise of everlasting life. |
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