Faith is relationship
God was never alone. He has existed since eternity as a perfect community: "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God" (John 1,1). The early church referred to this divine unity of Father, Son, and Holy Spirit as "perichoresis." It is a mutual indwelling in perfect unity and devotion. True love always requires a counterpart, as Paul impressively describes: "For in him (Jesus) he chose us before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him in love" (Ephesians 1,4).
From the beginning, God's purpose in creation was to welcome humanity into his family and to share with us the intimate relationship between Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. He did not create us to glorify himself, but to experience and share his love: "We have come to know and believe the love that God has for us: that God is love; and whoever abides in love abides in God, and God in him."1. John 4,16When we recognize God's love, God allows his faith to arise and grow in us.
Problem of sin
Through the disobedience of Adam and Eve, sin entered the world. From a biblical perspective, sin means the transgression of a commandment given by God. God gives life – but whoever turns away from him and sins separates himself from the source of life, falls into the domain of evil, and loses connection to the divine source: "Behold, the Lord's arm is not shortened that he cannot save, nor his ear dulled that he cannot hear. But your iniquities have separated you from your God, and your sins have hidden his face from you, so that he will not hear" (Isaiah 5).9,1-2).
Separation from God is the real illness, while individual sins and moral transgressions are merely symptoms of this underlying disorder. Is faith, then, a prerequisite for restoring fellowship with God? Not at all. The Father's love extends to murderers, criminals, dictators, and all other sinners as much as to believers. He loves every person as perfectly as he loves Jesus. Did Jesus give his life for us because we were his friends or because we impressed God with our good works? No! "But God demonstrates his own love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us" (Romans 1:14). 5,8).
God loves the people he created in his image – but not sin itself. The incarnation of God was not necessary so that he could finally love us again, but it happened because he loved us from the beginning: "For God was in Christ, reconciling the world to himself, not counting their trespasses against them, and entrusting to us the message of reconciliation" (2. Corinthians 5,19). In his Son Jesus, the Father reconciled humanity, which was hostile to him, with himself.
Definition of faith
The term "faith" is used exclusively from a human perspective. We use terms like love, mercy, goodness, justice, and faithfulness to describe God's attitude toward the world. The first Christians called themselves "the believers," and they called the path to becoming a Christian "coming to faith." We will examine the precise meaning of the term "faith" in three aspects.
Believe to be true
An essential part of our faith is that we "hold beliefs as true." For example, Christians believe that Jesus died and rose again: "I delivered to you first of all that which I also received: that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures; that he was buried; that he was raised on the third day according to the Scriptures; and that he was seen by Cephas, then by the twelve" (1. Corinthians 15,3-5). Paul delivered this fundamental truth to the believers in Corinth, and they accepted the truth by faith.
Believing means knowing
The second point is the relationship between faith and knowledge. Colloquially, the term "believe" is used to emphasize that something can only be assumed and presumed, as in the saying: "To believe is not to know." The Epistle to the Hebrews describes what faith should be understood: "Now faith is the substance of things hoped for, the conviction of things not seen" (Hebrews 11,1).
Our sense of sight is the sensory organ that provides us with proof of the existence of the material world. Its spiritual counterpart is unlimited faith in God and in the existence of the future, invisible, and spiritual world. Faith means clinging to what is unseen as if we were seeing the unseen.
Faith is trust
Faith is not just about convictions and facts, but above all and first of all about people. As believers, we speak of the faith founded in Christ: "And great is the mystery of faith, as everyone must confess: He was revealed in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, appeared to angels, preached to the Gentiles, believed on in the world, taken up into glory" (1. Timothy 3,16).
Jesus Christ is the mystery of faith! Jesus repeatedly called on people to trust him. If we want to do God's work, it begins with trusting Jesus. Those who entrust themselves to God without reservation will be pardoned and set free by him: "But to him who does not work but believes in him who justifies the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness" (Romans 1:10). 4,5). Faith is therefore a relational concept – like love, it presupposes a counterpart.
Origin of faith
Before we consider the origin of faith, let us first clarify what it is not. Faith is not a prerequisite or precondition that man must or can fulfill through his own strength in order to attain communion with God.
Faith comes from God's grace
Faith is rooted in God's grace and love. Without a prior divine work, we could not believe because our hearts are veiled: "But their minds were hardened. For to this day this veil remains over the old covenant whenever it is read; it is not lifted up, because it is done away with in Christ" (2. Corinthians 3,14).
Before our conversion, we were all covered with a veil, like the Jews in Jesus' time. Only the Father can remove this veil: "No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him, and I will raise him up on the last day" (John 6,44).
No one can repent on their own. When we express repentance for our sins or faith, it is a sign that God's Spirit has already worked in us.
Faith is a gift
Faith itself is life in relationship with God and at the same time a gift: “For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, not a result of works, so that no one can boast” (Ephesians 1:2). 2,8-9). This passage does not refer to grace alone. The entire preceding statement about salvation includes faith as an essential component. If people are called to believe, then even this faith is part of God's saving gift and cannot be produced by one's own strength.
Faith comes from preaching
Biblical faith always has its origin directly in God's Word. Everything that is not based on the Word of God is not biblical faith: "So faith comes from hearing, and hearing through the word of Christ" (Romans 10,17).
Faith comes from preaching: "How can they call on him in whom they have not believed? How can they believe in him of whom they have not heard? How can they hear without a preacher? How can they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news and bring good tidings!" (Romans 10,14-15).
The prerequisite for proclamation is that the messenger of joy preaches the good news, God's grace, love, and the gospel of Jesus Christ. After his resurrection, Jesus said to his disciples: "Peace be with you! As the Father has sent me, so I send you." And when he had said this, he breathed on them and said to them, "Receive the Holy Spirit!" (John 20,21:22).
Everyone who has accepted Jesus Christ as their Savior and believes in their heart that God the Father raised Jesus from the dead, recognizes, acknowledges and confesses this Jesus as the Lord appointed by God: "For if you confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved" (Romans 1:14). 10,9).
Are we Christians ready to leave our circle and go to those who don't yet know Jesus? Most of us—myself included—can become more courageous in telling others about Jesus. We have been born again through the incorruptible seed of God's Word: "For you have been born again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, through the living and enduring word of God" (1. Petrus 1,23). God's Word brings about a change within and leads to a new spiritual birth.
The Parable of the Sower
Our task is to sow, preach, and testify to this word. How do we do this? The parable of the sower provides the answer: "Listen! Behold, a sower went out to sow" (Mark 4,3).
The sower – Jesus – sowed the word (verse 14). The problem of unfruitful fruit is not the seed or the method of preaching, but the nature of the soil.
The path – The Word of God is heard, but immediately taken away by Satan. No chance to take root.
The rocky ground – Enthusiasm when listening, but lacking depth. When faced with difficulties, faith quickly fades.
The thorn-covered ground – God's Word is stifled by worries, wealth, and desires. It remains fruitless.
The good soil – The word is received, understood and brings forth thirty, sixty or one hundred times the yield of what was sown.
We should sow the Word freely, without prejudging our listeners—only God knows the soil of their hearts. Whether the sowing bears fruit does not depend on the seed, for the quality of the seed is always good, and the Word of God has power. In good soil, the seed bears fruit because the Holy Spirit has prepared the heart. Like the seed in good soil, faith only lives in relationship. Ultimately, salvation comes entirely from God's hand, from beginning to end.
by Pablo Nauer
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