I read somewhere this week (Maybe at Mike’s site or another, I can’t remember) that Luther rediscovered the truth about faith 500 years ago, when he was teaching from Romans. And that it wasn’t “our” faith, that saved us….it was the faithfulness of all that Christ as the Son of God was and did and gives to us the knowledge of through the Holy Spirit. Faith is not a work we do, but if we are given it we exhibit it in our lives. That’s not an exact quote but more how I would summarize the concept.
Faith Alone is just one of the five solas of our Reformed Doctrine.
From my own perspective I sometimes wonder if Paul was describing the three dimension of our Spiritual Souls/Bodies, when he use the three terms, Faith, Hope and Love in such letters he wrote:
1 Corinthians 13:13 And now abideth faith, hope, charity, these three; but the greatest of these is charity. KJV
I like to think about our three dimensional physical bodies. How tall we are, and how wide and deep we are (sometimes too much so, if we over eat!). But in our spirit or soul, we have these three dimensions of size in our Christian walk. In the past, Faith in how the Father choose us, Jesus died and rose for us, and the Holy Spirit revealed this to us at some point in our Past. Faith in the New Testament is often described with terms of size: little, great, etc. Hope is in the future of our own resurrection and eternity, we have hope today that the future taught in the Bible is True. And Charity or Love, how we work this out in the Present, how we live out our walk.
Other passages say…
1Th 1:3 Remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ, in the sight of God and our Father;
1Th 5:8 But let us, who are of the day, be sober, putting on the breastplate of faith and love; and for an helmet, the hope of salvation.
Faith itself can also be an external covering:
Ephesians 6:16 Above all, taking the shield of faith, wherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked.
Ephesians 6:17 And take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God:
As to what Mike Ratliff says at the ending of today’s post reading…I constantly keep coming back to John 6. These verses echo our assurance.
John 6:37-40 All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out. 38 For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me. 39 And this is the Father’s will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. 40 And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day.
Rainbow Trout 