Faith vs. Works

So I hope you enjoyed a little piece of my testimony, but now it is back to work.  As I explained when I started this blog, I want to transition to make this more of a Bible Study than just a narrative.  I believe that opening your Bible and reading what it has to say will have a great impact on your life.  So I will slowly stop including the text of the Scriptures I am using, hoping that you look them up on your own.  However, if you don't have access to a Bible (we have several readers from around the world) let me know.  You don't have to agree with me, but then search in the Bible to find an answer.  Keep up the work, it will be greatly rewarded!

The word faith is used 250 times in the Bible (according to blueletterbible.org).  Any guesses to how many time it is used in the Old Testament?  The New Testament (which is significantly shorter) uses it 246 times while the Old Testament only uses it 4 times.  Of these 246 times approximately 140 of them are used in Acts or the writings of Paul while only about 23 are used in the gospels.  The gospels and the writings of Paul plus Acts are about the same length yet Paul uses the word faith almost 7 times as much.  Why do I bring this up? 

The use of the word faith is a perfect illustration to show the shift of how a person comes to Christ.  In the Old Testament and the gospels it was always a faith plus something economy.  You had to believe and then prove your belief through an action.  Let’s look at a few Old Testament examples.

First, Noah was a righteous and blameless man who walked with God (Genesis 6:9).  He surely believed God when God told him to build an ark, but Noah still had to build it (Genesis 6:22).  Then, Abraham also had to put feet to his faith when God asked him to leave his family and a land that was familiar to him and set out for a land he did not know (Genesis 12:1).  Moses, Joshua, David and many other Old Testament characters added action to their faith.

Jesus had an interesting encounter with a rich man.  Read Matthew 19: 16-21, “¹⁶ And someone came to Him and said, “Teacher, what good thing shall I do that I may obtain eternal life?” ¹⁷ And He said to him, “Why are you asking Me about what is good? There is only One who is good; but if you wish to enter into life, keep the commandments.” ¹⁸ Then he said to Him, “Which ones?” And Jesus said, “YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT MURDER; YOU SHALL NOT COMMIT ADULTERY; YOU SHALL NOT STEAL; YOU SHALL NOT BEAR FALSE WITNESS; ¹⁹ HONOR YOUR FATHER AND MOTHER; and YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.” ²⁰ The young man said to Him, “All these things I have kept; what am I still lacking?” ²¹ Jesus said to him, “If you wish to be complete, go and sell your possessions and give to the poor, and you will have treasure in heaven; and come, follow Me.”

What did the Rich man ask?

What was Jesus’ first answer?

What was Jesus’ second answer?

What must we do to have eternal life?  Read Romans 10:9-10, “⁹ that if you confess with your mouth Jesus as Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised Him from the dead, you will be saved; ¹⁰ for with the heart a person believes, resulting in righteousness, and with the mouth he confesses, resulting in salvation.”

Ephesians 2:8-9 emphasizes that it is apart from anything we do that we are saved.  Paul’s writings focus on a faith plus nothing economy.  Simply believe, get rid of your contingency plans and have faith.  Now don’t be confused, faith is something.  Faith is a huge something, it is putting all your trust and hope in one plan.  Are you ready to let go of all the other good stuff you are doing and simply trust God?  If you are ready then tell Him and see what happens next.